Centerville Mayor: ‘Economic development doesn’t happen overnight’

Editor’s note: We asked listeners to share what questions they would ask their local mayor. Over the next few months, WYSO will be speaking with local mayors to answer these questions.

The city of Centerville has a population of approximately 25,000 people and is one of the higher income areas in the Miami Valley. We asked Mayor Brooks Compton about issues identified by readers and listeners, including the city’s approach to development and possible overdevelopment.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Centerville Mayor Brooks Compton: Well, I think one of the main things that we’re doing now is that we have really strong partnerships, strong partnerships with parks, libraries, schools in Washington Township and Sugar Creek Township. And I think that has led to some really solid growth in the cities of Centerville and Uptown. Development is moving very positively. The cornerstone was very positive. We also have Cross Pointe, which has become a good economic engine for the city of Centerville. And we’re moving forward in a very positive direction with the addition of several apartment complexes near Yankee Trace. And so we feel very good about the direction of the city.

But for now, I think we feel good that Centerville is moving in a certain direction: We’re working within a strategic plan, our second strategic plan. We had our first strategic plan going from 2018 to 2023, and we’re now working on our second strategic plan, and I think it’s going very well. We have strong community support. We have received strong support for improvements in terms of economic development throughout the community. Cornerstone received very strong support. As I said, Uptown has received very strong support. We are getting a lot of interest from businesses to locate in Uptown, and they have already located a number of new restaurants and businesses there. So yeah, we’re very happy with how things are going now.

Jerry Kenny: You mentioned current and future developments. Some Centerville residents are concerned about the revitalization of brownfield sites and how some of the partially vacant developments and large parking lots can be renovated and promoted.

Compton: Yes, I think it’s always an economic development issue. And Cross Point is an example. Cross Pointe is doing very well and they are putting a lot of emphasis on their development, parking, landscaping, etc. Cornerstone is a prime example. Cornerstone has been a very successful project and they are also doing an outstanding job in securing this development. And if you look at Centerville Place, which we have, Kettering Health is there. They have done a great job updating this site.

And you know, there’s probably going to be some redevelopment of all of Centerville Place, development, and that’s a good thing. But we have a market (Kroger) on the south end that is very successful. And then we added that, obviously, we have some restaurants there, but Kettering Health Network played a big role in that. We are very happy with this and the outlets are developing very well. We obviously have a coffee shop there, but we have a Wendy’s there, we have a new Chipotle, and they’ve all renovated their own locations there. So we’re very happy with how things are going. Also, I mean this is a work in progress. Economic development does not always happen overnight. This is something that evolves over time, and the city is committed to its economic development program to support businesses. We have the Centerville Community Improvement Corporation and Joanne Rau, the president of that organization, and they support businesses uptown with landscaping or building improvements.

KENNY: Another resident expressed concern about what they called visual damage because the power lines are above ground. And they believed Centerville’s visual appeal could be improved by burying those power lines. What control does the city actually have in this matter?

Compton: I think the PUCO and perhaps the utility itself are monitoring this as well. In most cases, the city has the ability to revise development plans and see when they will appear. But the city has no way of telling the PUCO how you’re going to lay out your lines or where they’re going to put them. their. But the city, through its engineering and development departments, coordinated these efforts through any new developments. If you go to Cornerstone, there is a lot of work to do in terms of working with utilities to properly determine what electricity and water is and the utilities that come with it. And in Uptown, we work collaboratively with the owners of these businesses to make them look as good as possible, understanding that this is an older neighborhood and you’re not going to turn around and move everything underground.

But new developments or working with utilities to reduce the appearance of those utilities and the new parking that was associated with the commuter area has done a great job of reducing what would be considered utility blight or whatever. And it went very well. I think if you look at the development downtown from a parking perspective, it looks really nice and you don’t have these types of utilities running all over the place. So we have something that is obviously part of any development plan.

Kenny: Another issue that has been brought up on social media is perhaps the city of Centerville’s budget process and the potential disparity between rental properties, especially older rental properties, and owner occupied homes and how that could impact for the city budget. What can you tell me about this?

Compton: Well, the city, most of the city’s budget in terms of revenue comes from the municipal income tax. And the city receives very little of its internal real estate revenue. Thus, a property assessment that impacts the City of Centerville budget has very little impact on the City of Centerville property tax budget. But I will say in this regard that the revaluation of the revaluation that has been carried out by the State and the auditor over the last three years has certainly not revealed any indication that there has been any disproportionate undervaluation of rental properties as opposed to rental properties . single family residential building. But in the city we have a department that enforces the rules and is always on the lookout for any property that may be below an acceptable standard for the area and the community. In this case, notifications appear. But we are certainly not aware of any, as I said, disproportionate assessment associated with what might be considered a rental as opposed to what might be considered a single-family home.

Kenny: And the last thing we were concerned about was crime. This was common to all the cities we will be addressing. What can you tell me about your police department’s budgeting staffing process? Do you have what you need? Is this department getting what it needs? And what can you say to people who are worried about this?

Compton: I can tell you that the Centerville Council, through its budgeting, fully supports the Centerville Police Department. We have a 24/7 emergency dispatch system that delivers throughout Centerville. And we also provide dispatch services in West Carrollton for the Fire, EMS and Police departments. And every year in the budgeting process, the police department does an analysis of what they think they need, and through the city manager’s office, we get a recommendation to the city council, and we then act on that in our normal budgeting process for the year . We are implementing a five-year budgeting program. But from the point of view of analyzing our budget, we act on this principle every year. But we fully support it. We have a nationally accredited police department and several officers on the streets at all times who patrol our neighborhoods in a very coordinated manner. And we’re very positive about the response we’re getting from the community.

The police have good relations with the community. Not only do we provide support to neighbors and businesses, but we also provide school resource officers for schools, Centerville schools, and schools in our community. As far as relationships go, it’s a great relationship. In terms of what they would like to have and what they think they need, we’re very supportive of that. There is no effort to reduce the budget from what the police bring us, but they do bring us a responsible budget. They don’t bring unrealistic budgets. They know what they need. We strongly support them. They provide excellent service.

I think this becomes obvious if you take Mystery Night Out as an example. Every year more and more people participate in us. I think this year we had over 700 people attend Mystery Night Out, the police department’s community event. And Americana is another example of how many people stopped by the police booth at Americana to talk about what a great job they were doing. And what I mean is that if you walk around in the late afternoon or any time of the day, you will see a police officer and a Centerville Police Department patrol car constantly on the move. And at every public event that takes place in the city center, they establish contacts with people. And it’s incredible how many people know different police officers in our community. And what I mean is that the Centerville Police Department brings us true community policing. And I think people really like this idea. They know that when they call 911, that call goes to Centerville Dispatch. These dispatchers know Centerville. Same thing with West Carrollton. They know West Carrollton too. And so we feel very good about it. We believe this is a strength of our department.

Kenny: When we talk about crime and we talk about health and human services, we talk about the availability of illicit fentanyl. What can you tell me about the resources the city has and how it’s addressing a problem that’s really common to many cities?

Compton: Yes, this is an area that the city is spending a lot of time on from a policing standpoint. And we work with the Crime Suppression Unit or TCSU, which is a combination of a number of organizations, primarily through the Miami Valley Communications Council, where they all come together and discuss, and not just as one organization, but across all organizations . regarding what can come into the community, how to solve those problems that are constantly in contact with other entities. Because it is not limited by geographic or jurisdictional boundaries. This is a widespread problem everywhere. So they communicate. Our police department is very aware of this and monitors everything that comes in there. We have I-675 that runs through here. Any community with a major interstate system running through it needs to be on alert. And our community is working with our partners – Kettering, Bellbrook, Sugar Creek, Washington Township, Montgomery County – we’re all working on this together.

Kenny: Centerville Mayor Brooks Compton, thank you very much.

Compton: Sir. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about what’s going on in the city of Centerville. And thanks for coming to talk to us.