Pictured are Clermont County Sheriff's deputies, contracted to cover Batavia Township, explaining how 911 services would work to village of Amelia residents at the latest township meeting on Nov. 6, 2019. From left: Jesse Kidder, Chad Popham, and Jason Swallen.

By Brett Milam
Editor

The Batavia Township Board of Trustees met on Nov. 6, the first such meeting after Amelia residents voted to dissolve their village, and fold partly into the township.

Ed McCoy behind Free Amelia and Renee Gerber, the new mayor of the village, along with a dozen other residents were on hand to hear from the township.

On Nov. 5, voters in the village voted to surrender corporate powers of the village, meaning the village would dissolve into Batavia and Pierce Townships.

But far as the trustees were concerned, it was just “another day of doing business.”

Part of that business as usual involves taking up all the services the village provided, at least for the area of the village that will fold into the township.

Adele Evans, the interim township administrator to replace outgoing Rex Parsons, welcomed the Amelia residents to the “Batavia Township family,” saying the township is going to try to make this “as best for you as possible.”

Brad Harris, zoning inspector, said they’re going to take a look at organizing the permits that were done in the village over the last number of years.

The cost of getting that data organized will be $200 to $300, Harris said, with an additional $500 for additional services.

Harris said they should be able to do it “pretty easy.”

Addresses are another area to take up; Harris said they’ve been working with Clermont County Geographic Information Systems to look at a spreadsheet of current addresses in the village, and suggest new addresses. GIS is also working with a number of other agencies and services to notify them of the address changes as well.

Only addresses along state Route 125 through the village — about 110 addresses on both sides — will be altered. Those addresses will go to four digits to match the township.

Harris said they’re also working with Pierce Township and the 911 Call Center to make sure the mailing of new addresses goes out at the same time.

“We also would like to go to some of the businesses down through there to explain to them what’s going on, maybe a week or two before the letters go out, so they’re not going to freak out,” Harris said. “Because they have a lot of money spent on those addresses.”

Money spent includes signage and envelopes and anything else addresses might be printed on.

The mail will continue to be delivered to either address for up to a year to ensure time for the transition.

Evans also noted that they are working with legal counsel to see what their options are with zoning since absorbing Amelia into the township doesn’t necessarily follow the same path as it would if it was an annexation.

One of the options is a moratorium for building permits that are in disagreement with the township’s zoning plan until the township can go through the process for a zoning amendment to the map.

That could be about a three-month process, Evans added.

Harris and Evans both said the downtime heading into December makes the addresses and zoning issues easier to deal with.

Ken Embry, service director, said the township is looking at about an additional five or five and a half miles of road to take care of, and get up to the standards expected in the township.

“I want to say to the residents, don’t expect miracles,” he said. “We will do our best to provide the same services to you folks as we do to our folks that we have now.”

Randy Perry, board president, noted another area to bring Amelia up to the township’s standards is on signage. The township follows state standards, which the village did not, he said.

There’s also the matter of adding two additional cemeteries, Perry said, and dealing with the record-keeping. Those cemeteries are Methodist and Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Deputy Jesse Kidder, who is contracted through for the township through the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office, was also on hand to answer questions about 911 services. Kidder was joined by two other deputies, Chad Popham, and Jason Swallen.

In total, six deputies from the Sheriff’s Office are contracted to cover the township.

Gerber said most of the concern is about visibility within the village.

“I think that’s the biggest question mark at this time,” she said.

Another resident said she was worried about response times.

Popham said he doesn’t see response time being that much of a factor because deputies are always on the move with 24-hour coverage and they are always on state Route 125. Amelia is also “centrally located,” he said.

“We’re always going to be in the area, essentially,” he added.

Swallen also noted that when a call comes into the 911 Call Center, it’s screened, and categorized by priority, so higher priority calls will garner a faster response time.

“So I assure you, if it’s something with an urgent response, you will have units there within a timely fashion no different than you would have with Amelia PD,” he said.

But the response time will be “a little low” on non-priority items, Swallen added.

Kidder said another benefit to new residents is that they can draw on the resources available from the Sheriff’s Office, such as detectives, the Special Response Team, K-9 units, drones, and other assets.

“There’s no middle man now as far as Amelia PD,” he said.

Bonnie Batchler, chair of the Pierce Township Board of Trustees, was also in attendance, and said the township’s police department is also nearby and able to offer mutual aide.

“I don’t think anything is going to change much, I really don’t,” she said. “If they need back-up, they’ll have officers from all over, depending on the type of run.”

Amelia Police Department officers are still within the village boundaries, but as far as the deputies are aware, Amelia police aren’t allowed to issue citations. The Sheriff’s Office will step in for any follow-up investigations or arrests are necessary, Kidder said.

That will be the case until certification goes through on Nov. 25.

Kidder said he wants this to be as seamless as possible so there’s no hiccups.

“I just want to add one thing: the professional you’ve seen from these guys tonight, is exactly what we’ve had the 10 years I’ve been here with the Sheriff’s [Office]. They are a truly professional organization and we think the world of them,” James Sauls, trustee, said. “They’ll do their darnedest and work hard for you, I’ll tell you that.”

Perry added that the township gets top quality people, and having good people is “what matters most.”

“It’s going to be a process, but it’s going to be pretty flawless and seamless we hope,” Perry said.

The trustees said they would like to work with Pierce to keep the Amelia Christmas parade going, too.