Written with the help of AI from the Middletown City Council agenda, Tuesday, November 3, 2026 and the meeting video.
What council approved
This recap is based on the meeting video and the agenda. All five members voted yes on every item that came to a vote.
The most debated item was Ordinance 02026-59, a change order with the engineering firm Burgess and Niple, which manages the state-backed cleanup of the Middletown Paperboard site. An ordinance is a city law. It adds $104,000 to the firm’s contract because of unforeseen delays, changes to the state’s voluntary action plan guidelines and added work to secure a no further action letter from Ohio EPA. Staff said the city’s finances face no long-term effect because the money will be replenished to the property development fund from the Ohio Department of Development’s brownfield remediation program. The measure passed as an emergency, which lets it take effect immediately. Staff said it had been tabled at an earlier meeting until more detail could be provided.
Council also approved a resolution (R2026-28) appropriating a $10,000 donation from the Atrium Medical Foundation to the Division of Fire for a whole blood pilot program, which allows blood to be given to patients with traumatic injuries in the field. It required no additional city money.
On the motion agenda, council authorized the city manager to accept a $2,500 grant from the TransCare hazmat team response fund to buy a universal suit tester for the Division of Fire’s Hazmat 81 team. Staff said the team is one of three hazmat teams in Butler and Warren counties and now relies on the Butler County EMA to test its protective suits. No city funds are required.
Council also authorized an equipment lease for a new restaurant at 6 South Broad Street. It lets the business use city-owned restaurant equipment, originally bought through a forgivable loan to the previous owner, Primo. The lease costs $1 a year, and staff said the new restaurant can take ownership of the equipment through repairs and upgrades.
The consent agenda, which bundles routine items into one vote, passed. It covered council minutes from Oct. 20 and Oct. 27, receiving several board and commission minutes, two conditional staff appointments (a network administrator in information systems and a corrections officer in the Division of Police), an oath of office, and the final plat for Renaissance section 14. Council also voted to go into executive session to consider the appointment, employment, promotion or compensation of a public employee or official, then returned to open session. No action from the closed session was announced.
The paperboard site debate
A Burgess and Niple hydrogeologist told council the firm’s earlier work included asbestos abatement and demolition funded by $3 million in federal pandemic-relief money through the Butler County commissioners, followed by remediation and site grading funded by $1.5 million from the Ohio Department of Development. He said bids for that work came in lower than expected and that the firm cut this request by $20,000 from its August proposal. He attributed the added cost to Ohio EPA rule changes in 2025 and a further set of changes in June, and to being unable to test the building before it came down. He said he expects the no further action letter by the end of the year and that no further change orders will be needed.
Council Member West pushed back on the pattern of change orders and on language in the staff material suggesting the letter could be delayed without the added money, saying a contract is a contract. The firm’s representative said he did not intend it as a threat and that the added work must be done either way. Other members said the explanation cleared up their earlier confusion. The vote followed.
2027 budget preview
The city manager presented the proposed 2027 budget. No vote was taken. Proposed general fund spending is roughly $60 million, up $455,357 from the initial 2026 budget. Income tax revenue is projected to rise about 3% over the 2026 budget.
The budget includes a 2% cost-of-living increase for non-union employees and a 3% placeholder for firefighters that remains subject to collective bargaining. The city expects health insurance costs to rise 3.5%. Departments were asked to look for 10% cuts in non-personnel spending.
Staffing changes include moving the deputy clerk from part-time to full-time, which drives a roughly 23% increase in the city council budget. They also include a new part-time communications specialist, a code enforcement supervisor to replace a code specialist midyear, and removal of an engineering construction inspector position that has been vacant since 2024. One patrol officer’s base salary in narcotics would move to the opioid settlement fund.
The projected 2027 ending general fund balance is about $9.1 million, or 16.3%. The manager noted the 2026 budget included about $7.4 million in supplemental appropriations for downtown revitalization through the Middletown Tomorrow fund, including $4 million for the Manchester project, which is expected to be reimbursed in late 2027 or early 2028.
Proposed capital spending includes about $11.95 million from the general capital fund, with about $9 million for local street paving ($2.55 million city money and $6.45 million from other sources). Another $8 million is proposed for sewer projects, $7.21 million for water and $1.65 million for storm water. The proposed water fund budget is $15,148,461.
Council members thanked staff. One said the gap between spending and revenue is narrowing and expressed hope for a structurally balanced budget for 2028. The mayor said the city lost 15 police officer positions and laid off 12 firefighters in 2014, and that the goal is to return to at least 90 police officers by 2028.
Infill lot program
The economic development program manager said the city has 355 residential infill lots, 121 of which are buildable or could be made buildable through steps like merging parcels. Council members were told fewer than 121 homes may result because some parcels would be combined. The previous side lot program let adjacent owners buy vacant lots, generally paying the greater of $500 or the city’s reimbursed maintenance costs.
Staff proposed a proposal-based process in which developers and neighbors submit plans, with an expected 12 to 18 months to build before the property could revert to the city. The community and economic development director said the aim is a framework approved in the first quarter of 2027 and a rollout in the 2027 construction season. Lots would be released in batches of perhaps 25 to 30 so applications can be compared rather than awarded first come, first served.
Several council members said they want single-family homes that must be owner-occupied, with one suggesting a 10-year requirement and several saying no rentals or short-term rentals. Another member said some lots may serve neighbors better as side yards, driveways or garages, and suggested requiring a fence, landscaping or driveway for those. A member also raised concerns about transitional or step-down housing in some remodeled homes. No vote was taken.
Items on first or second reading
Several measures came up with no action requested until the next meeting on Nov. 17.
Resolution R2026-29 would replace an earlier agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation, which sent the city the wrong one, for the 2027 urban paving program on State Route 122 (Roosevelt Boulevard) from Jackson Lane to the Grand Avenue-Roosevelt Boulevard split. The project costs $2.8 million, with the city’s share at $1.4 million.
Ordinance 02026-64 would authorize a $350,000 contract with HCI (Hendrick Company) to rehabilitate the Avalon lift station, which has served Riverside Village since the 1970s and was last rehabilitated in 2003. Crews have run a bypass system since June, only one quote was received, and the pumps have a 16-week lead time. One council member suggested acting immediately to save two weeks, but another preferred to ask staff questions first, so it stays on the normal schedule.
Ordinance 02026-65 would award an $8.6 million contract to Building Crafts for secondary aeration improvements at the water reclamation facility, where the blowers date to the 1970s. The bid is 11% below the engineer’s estimate.
Ordinance 02026-66 would award R.E. Middleton Construction a $160,000 contract, including $10,000 for contingency and a $5,000 performance bond, to reconstruct a deteriorated section of the 1700 block of a city street damaged by heavy truck traffic. Ordinance 02026-67 would extend the Smart Bill Limited water bill printing and mailing contract through December 2027.
Resolution R2026-30 would adopt a goal of zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries. The city has $220,000 in federal funding for a transportation safety action plan, with a $50,000 city match, and a draft plan is expected in early 2027.
Public comment
One resident spoke. A Middletown resident who founded a breast cancer awareness ministry thanked the mayor and Council Member Mulligan for attending the group’s second peace, prayers and positivity cancer walk on Oct. 24, and thanked the other members for acknowledging it.
Council comments and upcoming events
Council Member Mulligan noted a lunch with Keep Middletown Beautiful volunteers and the Kiwanis Club of Middletown’s 100th anniversary celebration on Oct. 30. Members wished veterans a happy Veterans Day on Nov. 11.
The mayor listed upcoming events, including the opening of the Re-Imagine Middletown ice rink downtown on Friday, Nov. 6, and the 2026 State of the City address on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. at the Robert Sunny Hill Community Center, 800 Lafayette Ave. The address is free. The CBI Turkey Trot is Saturday, Nov. 14 at 10 a.m., starting and ending at Triple Moon Coffee Company, 1100 Central Ave.
Next meeting
The meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m. Council’s next regular meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers.
Source: Middletown City Council agenda, Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Meeting video: watch on YouTube.
By the numbers: Jobs in Montgomery County paid an average of $1,279 a week in Q1 2026 (BLS QCEW). See the data. Montgomery County’s median household income was $66,349 in 2024. See the data.
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