Published on March 8, 2010
Chris Monzel: Well, I mean number one is the financial [and] the budget aspects of the county and how we’re going to come up with balancing the budget, especially—which gets us now to the second issue—and that is the stadium fund, which is draining the resources of the county budget. So right there that’s your top two issues. And then out of that we can talk a little bit further about reengineering and restructuring the county government in order to right-size it so we can get out of this budgetary mess and figure out what services we actually need to be providing from a county level. Third, and just as important as all of them, is public safety. Making sure that when we do this prioritization of the county services that we don’t forget that public safety is the number one priority for our citizens and the county. So to me those are kind of the three top issues: dealing with the budget, the stadium fund, and then handling public safety, and making sure that we address all three of those adequately and correctly.
Steve Fritsch: You mentioned public safety. Many Hamilton County Sheriff’s deputies acknowledge that a new jail needs to be built. Obviously, there have been differences among local leaders and the public on how exactly to make that happen. The jail tax was defeated, of course, last year, but the problem of housing inmates remains an issue. Do you think we need a new jail, and if so, can we do it without raising taxes?
Chris Monzel: Well, I think we have to do it without raising taxes. I mean I just don’t think in this environment and with the economy that we’re in that you’re going to get people to agree to raise taxes. That’s the last thing we need to be putting on the burdens of our already hardworking citizens of the county is another tax. Not to mention, if you kind of look at, it’s a city problem. It’s [the city of Cincinnati] that’s really driving the crime rate compared to the rest of the county and the suburbs. So here we are going to two-thirds of the population and saying, “Hey, you got to solve the problem of one-third of the population.” That’s not fair and that’s not right. I don’t think you are going to be able to pass a tax in order to build a jail. It’s just a wrong model to go forward [on]. But I think we can go look at other ways of doing this. [For example], going to the city and getting [their] support—which I supported [on city council]—of the creation of temporary structures and tent jails. Also looking at third parties to come in and actually build and operate the jails for us, and kind of get out of that jail business, is another idea that we can look at.
Steve Fritsch: So essentially you’re saying to somewhat privatize the jails?
Chris Monzel: Absolutely. There are companies that do it across the country, as well as in the state of Ohio. [So we should] look at those avenues as well. To me it’s definitely an important issue [and] we have to resolve it, but we can’t raise taxes.
Steve Fritsch: Since you mentioned your work on Cincinnati City Council and trying to deal with the county on [the jail] issue, what kind of relationship do the county commissioners have with city council? Do they often work together? Is there often interplay between the two? After all, many former county commissioners have first been on Cincinnati City Council.
Chris Monzel: I think there is from a political standpoint if you’re of the same partisan nature. When the Republicans had a majority on the county commission I definitely had a better working relationship [with them] than I do with the current county commissioners, [which is] now a Democratic majority. So I definitely was more involved then, and talked to [the county commissioners] more frequently when they were Republicans. And to me it definitely shows. [Whichever party] has the majority is going to talk to their [fellow party members more] down at City Hall. And I think you got to have that dialogue, but not only with the city of Cincinnati. [It’s also got to be] with the suburbs, with the townships, and with our other local villages and municipalities. I’ve been visiting a lot of these folks now since hitting the campaign trail and [many of these] people just feel ignored. It kind of reminds me of some our city neighborhoods who just feel totally ignored by City Hall, and we got the same problem in our county. Some of these townships and municipalities are not feeling like their voice is being listened to by the county commissioners office. So I think that’s another big problem, and I can bring that relationship with the city [to the county commission], but I think we really need to also improve it from a county perspective, for all the municipalities and townships.
Steve Fritsch: This is a bigger topic for another time, but would some type of district representation help solve some problems that certain parts of the community have about feeling ignored?
Chris Monzel: No, I don’t think so at this point. Honestly, it’s just better communication. From time to time I see problems in the business world and all it comes down to a lack of communication. And when I’m out talking to these folks, that’s it, that’s what they want. They want to have a chance to be heard and a chance to at least be consulted. I think a lot of times that can be handled without having to do some massive reorganization of government, and instead just open the lines of communication.
For example, my office, we send out one of our liaisons. One of my administrative assistants goes out to all the different community councils throughout the year. I envision a similar type process when I’m county commissioner; an aide that would go to these different township trustees meetings and municipality meetings to at least have somebody present that can say, “I’m representing Commissioner Monzel, these are the issues, and we want to hear from you.”
Steve Fritsch: And then the aide would directly report that back to you?
Chris Monzel: Exactly.
Steve Fritsch: You have already mentioned the Democratic majority on the county commission. Looking back, is there anything that Todd Portune and David Pepper have done that you have really disagreed with? Something that people would never see a Greg Hartmann/Chris Monzel majority do?
Chris Monzel: Well, there is one right off the bat. That was the sales tax that they tried to put on… the super-sized sales tax for the public safety initiative that David Pepper and Portune put in to increase our sales tax—automatically—without a vote of the people. Luckily people rose up and put it on the ballot in a referendum and defeated that. So that would be number one. I don’t think we can ever have the commissioners go and just increase taxes on our citizens without a vote by the people.
Secondly, in regards to the stadium deal, is the whole property tax rollback that was within the stadium deal, with the stadium tax, when that passed. That just came up in a proposal to kill that. Now luckily Portune sided with Hartmann and didn’t approve that, but it looked at the time that it was going to happen that both Democrats, Portune and Pepper, were going to agree to break that deal that the taxpayers were given, [which was] if we vote for the stadium deal that we’re actually going to get the property tax roll back from that. So to me, that’s just two right off the top of my head.
Steve Fritsch: When we look at cities and counties across the country, the successful ones seem to have a consistent winning formula. They have lower tax rates, they are business-friendly, and they attract educated and skilled workers. Having said that, every county is also unique and has different problems to address. How can the county commissioners help make Hamilton County one of the top counties in America? Is it a realistic goal?
Chris Monzel: Yeah, I definitely do think it’s a realistic goal and I think we should strive for that goal. If we don’t set goals we’re never going to succeed, we’re never going to improve. So I’m always a big believer in setting goals in order to measure your success. I think we really need to look at—and I said this earlier—what are the services that the county must provide? There is a list that the state mandates by law. We need to look at that list because we have to do them. [We also have to] look at them and say, “Are there any of them that we can push back and get our state legislators to get [us] out of having to do? Some of those are unfunded mandates that we have to pay for that are pushed down by Columbus. We have to analyze those and then we have to look at everything else that isn’t mandated by law, that’s on the table, that we can get rid of. [For example, so] that we can look at these community compass planning sessions that they have done for so many years. Why do we still need to foot the bill on that? Why do we need an environmental czar at the county? Why do we need to have an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) there when we have a state EPA and a federal EPA? I mean those types of programs aren’t mandated by state law. So therefore why are we paying for it?
Another one [is] the use of outside lawyers. We are paying millions of dollars to lawyers to deal with the stadium issues, as well as the Banks development. We can easily use that money and put it into the budget and actually use our prosecutor’s office—who are the county’s lawyers—to handle it. So to me there [are] many opportunities to really make our county improve by just reengineering how we do county government and really looking at what is the right size [that] county government should be. Now, also with that, we have to come up with ways to grow the county from a standpoint of bringing new businesses in, and [aiding] economic development, and doing that is by keeping our taxes low, making sure our crime is in check, making sure that there’s opportunities for [new] business development, as well as [existing] development, within our county so we can attract new homeowners and attract new businesses. I had my campaign kickoff at AMP in Blue Ash where they take ordinary cars and turn them into electric vehicles. Those are the type of innovative businesses that we need to be attracting. I’m an engineer at GE (General Electric) and we’re trying to retransform the Evendale plant. [It’s] the same idea: to try to bring new jobs in to grow it so that it helps the county out. I mean those are the types of things that we need to focus on as well, and not only [focusing on] reengineering and right-sizing county government and services, but also look at redeveloping and growing the tax base of this county itself.
Steve Fritsch: You’re first order of business in the quest to become a county commissioner is to win the GOP primary, held on May 4. For those Republican voters who do not yet know who they will vote for, explain to them why they should vote for Chris Monzel?
Chris Monzel: Well, it’s pretty simple. I’m the proven conservative who will not raise your taxes. I’ve never supported a tax increase. I’ve never voted for any tax increase while on city council. Actually I’ve led the fight to roll back property taxes at City Hall for the past eight years. And I’ve been a consistent fighter of wasteful spending here at City Hall and I will continue to do that at the county level. I bring a common sense, logical approach of an engineer to solving problems. That it doesn’t take the chaos here at City Hall—the fighting, the yelling, the screaming—but rather the rational, common sense, logical approach of solving problems. And with my engineering background I can do that. I think the folks understand I bring a common sense message to solving our problems. You know, that if we can’t afford it, don’t spend it. If we can’t tax our way out of a problem, than we’re going to have to be able to right-size the government and make sure that we are providing the right services. So, to me that’s why I believe I am the best choice for the Republican primary in May.
Steve Fritsch: What can people do to help you become the next Hamilton County Commissioner?
Chris Monzel: There are several things. One, they can volunteer and they can contact our web site at monzel.com. They can [also] contact my campaign manager Christa Criddle as well. That’s just huge to be able to get that ground support, which by the way, we have had. We’ve had over forty different elected officials and former elected officials across the county endorse our campaign. We’re getting tons and tons [of help] from the grassroots movement and people supporting me and getting out the word, which has been great. Also, if [people] want to put up a yard sign, if they want to walk in a parade [with us], all those types of volunteer activities are huge.
The second thing is if they want to donate as well. Any type of financial assistance is much appreciated, because you have to pay for all those things. So you can also do that through our web site, and we have a Pay Pal account set up.
Third, I need them to vote. Most importantly I need them to vote and I ask for their vote in the primary on May 4th. Because if people don’t vote then we’re not going to be able to say, “Who’s going to be our next county commissioner?” And I believe that I’m going to be that person and I’m going to do a great job for the county, but I need their vote. I ask for those three things.
Steve Fritsch: Any final words you would like to leave with the voters?
Chris Monzel: You know, I’m just very excited. I’m from the suburbs. I grew up in Loveland. I’ve lived in the county for so many years that I feel like this is a great opportunity, especially for Republicans, to take back the county from the tax-and-spend policies that we’ve been seeing from the Democratic majority. I think it’s just a great opportunity to put Hamilton County on the right rack of common sense leadership, of doing the right things, and that’s why I’m very excited about this race and so many other people are too. And I feel we will be victorious in both May and November.