December 22, 2022 • 28 mins
Hamilton County Administrator Jeff Aluotto talks about the County's biggest achievements in 2022 with some of his top operations staff. Human Resources Director Frank Spataro, Senior Policy Manager Marc Von Allmen and Assistant County Administrators Holly Christmann and Lisa Webb take the mic to discuss some of their favorite projects in 2022 and what they have to look forward to in 2023. Hamilton County continues to launch new programs that improve lives of our residents, our businesses, and our employees. This is the penultimate edition of Heart and Hustle in Hamilton County (the final episode for 2022 was canceled so we could use the word-of-the-day “penultimate” in the podcast).
To learn more about Hamilton County, Ohio, our services and job openings, visit hamiltoncountyohio.gov.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jeff Aluotto (00:12):
Welcome to heart and hustle in Hamilton County a
podcast entirely dedicated tothe people and policies that
form Hamilton County governmentin Ohio. This is the holiday
version of our podcast. I'm herewith my co host Bridget Doherty
as always, hello, hello, hello,happy holidays. And for those of
you tuning in for the firsttime, why the name heart and
(00:33):
hustle Well, best describes thepublic servants who make our
local government work. Each ofour episodes focuses on creative
solutions to the challenges our49 communities face, as well as
how our different countydepartments tackle those
challenges. It's a localgovernment 101. For listeners
who are curious and want tolearn more. I'm your host, Jeff
Aluotto County Administrator.
And as I've already said with meis my co host, and I'll
(00:54):
introduce some other guests thatwe have. We're happy holidays,
and also happy new year comingup. This is our last podcast of
2022. I'm not even sure how manypodcasts we did in 2022. But I'm
not sure either. But more to thepoint. This is our penultimate
episode, but we're canceling thelast one. So
(01:15):
penultimate episode, but we'recanceling the last one. There
you go. All right. So again,this is our holiday edition. And
it's gonna be our 2020 To recapedition. I'm really excited
about this particular edition ofheart and hustle. It's been a
busy year in Hamilton County,we've done a lot of things.
We've gotten a ton of grantmoney out into the community.
(01:39):
We've seen infrastructureprojects come up and out of the
ground, we've addressed some ofour most time, timely personnel
issues. We've been working onprojects like consolidating or
911 and Ema facilities, just alot of things happening. I wish
that I could actually sit downwith each Hamilton County
(02:00):
resident and tell them directlywhat the county government this
year has been doing on theirbehalf. But seeing that I'm not
Santa Claus. Bridgette, I don'thave the time. I can't make that
kind of time throughout thecommunity. I've done the very
next best thing. What's that,Jeff? I have corralled as, as
(02:23):
many as I can of the county'stop leadership team to help
describe for county residentswho are listening to this
podcast, some of the best thingsthat have happened in 2022, and
maybe more importantly, whatthey are looking forward to as
we go into 2023 the county's topbrass County's top brass, absent
(02:44):
a couple who couldn't make it.
Okay. So with that, I just wantto do a few introductions here
with us here today in noparticular order. But we've got
an all star cast, and around thetable today. So we have Holly
Chrisman, our assistantadministrator who oversees many
of our county departments,especially those with a
(03:05):
development and infrastructurefocus. Holly, welcome.
Unknown (03:09):
Thank you. Happy holidays, everyone.
Jeff Aluotto (03:11):
We have Lisa Webb, also assistant administrator who
oversees all of our voted leviesfor the county and who also
coordinates the connectivitybetween our criminal justice
operations and various socialservices like mental health and
addiction response. Lisa,welcome to the program. Thank
you, Jeff. We have of course asalways, Bridget Doherty, my co
host who does all thecommunications work for, for
(03:34):
Hamilton County, Bridgette, andalso
Bridget Doherty (03:36):
the important job of muting and unmuting mics
which you will hear later on inthis episode is not a perfect
science.
Jeff Aluotto (03:44):
So okay, it's all right. It's the penultimate
holiday episode. So anythinggoes today. We have friends
Mataro, our director of humanresources. So all the work
that's done whether it iscompensation benefits, risk
management, recruitment, HRdevelopment for all the
employees under the Board ofCounty Commissioners, Frank
(04:04):
Spataro brings that to us. SoFrank, welcome.
Unknown (04:07):
Thank you, Jeff. And happy holidays everyone.
Jeff Aluotto (04:10):
And last but not least, we have Mark Vaughn
almond mark is our Senior PolicyManager for economic
development, who single handedlyoversees many of our economic
development programs in thecounty with a focus on
revitalizing the first ringsuburban communities. So Mark is
here with us to talk about someof our economic development
programming this year. Mark,welcome.
Unknown (04:32):
Hello, Hamilton County.
Jeff, thrilled to be on thispenultimate episode. Thanks for
having me.
Jeff Aluotto (04:36):
Awesome. And I'm happy to have you here, Mark. So
we may have a couple of otherguests Join us as we go
throughout the throughout thepodcast today. But really, what
we wanted to do today was justdo a year in review. So what
were some of the top things thathappened this year? And where do
some of the what are some of thethings that the county's top
(04:56):
leadership team looks at asbeing major art opportunities
are things that they're lookingforward to in 2023. I think we
have a great year in front ofus. The board will be kicking
off again in early January, Ithink we had a great year and
2022 all starts with, withguidance and policy guidance
from the board. We got somegreat guidance this past year
(05:18):
that allowed us to do somereally neat things I mentioned
some of them at the top of theof the podcast, but at the end
of the day, the work happens,where this team comes into play
in terms of implementingpolicies and programs that
ultimately affect the lives ofour Hamilton County residents.
So with that, we're gonna getright into this. And we're gonna
(05:39):
go to HR director Frank Spataro,Frank. Again, the assignment was
simply something that you'reextremely proud of that you
thought when really well onbehalf of the residents in
Hamilton of Hamilton County in2022. And what you're looking
forward to most in 2023.
Unknown (05:57):
Thanks, Jeff. We had a busy year in 2022, with our
focus being on being recognizedas an employer of choice. One of
the things that I'm reallyexcited about is the investment
we've made in employeedevelopment. And we did that by
reintroducing our tuitionreimbursement program. And then
(06:18):
also to supplement that we'veentered into for collaborative
agreements with local collegesand universities to provide
tuition discounts to ouremployees, with UC Xavier,
Eastern Kentucky University andWestern Governors in those
schools have agreed to offer ouremployees discounts ranging from
(06:41):
10 to 25%, on their tuition, soI think that's going to be well
received, we have someexperience with tuition
reimbursement that we introducedover the past summer. And it's
proven to be really popular withwith our employees. One of the
big accomplishments in 2022 wasthe completion and
(07:03):
implementation of a compcompensation study that for
which we looked at the salariesof our employees and market data
in the surrounding areas andcomparable employers, and made a
number of adjustments to help uswith our traction and retention
(07:25):
of employees. That's, that'sreally tough. We're in a tough
market right now competing withlocal employers. And this has
been a real help to us toupgrade and update our salary
and salaries for employees. Andthen, one of the things we did
back in June as we had a jobfair, and it was widely
(07:49):
attended, we had greatattendance, we filled in a
number of vacancies, and more ofnot more importantly, but
importantly, it allowed us toshowcase employment where the
county showcased our benefitpackage, and different
employment opportunities. It waswell received, and we plan to
(08:10):
make it an annual event. So thatwe can continue to be working on
our image and the efforts wemake is being an employer of
choice. With regard to 2023, oneof the things that I'm really
interested in focusing on iskeeping our attention on our
diversity, equity and inclusionefforts. In 2022, we actually
(08:35):
made some rather significantgains in our diversity. And our
mindset is to focus on theequity and inclusion portion of
the triad there to give ourmanagers the tools and resources
to work on improving and in somecases, really even understanding
(09:00):
what equity and inclusion is sothat they can be mindful of how
they apply those in theireveryday decision making. And
then lastly, for 2023, we'relooking at again, in the spirit
of being an employer of choice,some affordable benefit
enhancements that includechildcare and parking
(09:21):
assistance. So if those aregoing to be our focus for 2023
Jeff Aluotto (09:27):
That's fantastic, Frank. It's a huge it's a great
list of accomplishments, a greatlist of things to look forward
to. And for those of you who arelistening to the podcast again,
Hamilton County is hiring. We'rehiring. The best and brightest
in Hamilton County, as we say toevery person that we onboard
under the Board of CountyCommissioners. We know there's a
lot of job opportunities outthere right now for people it's
(09:47):
very tough labor market. But aspeople look at Hamilton County
as they grow up in HamiltonCounty, there's a lot of
worthwhile things. You can do alot of worthwhile organizations
where you can go to get a jobwhen You want people to think I
want to, if I'm going to stay inHamilton County, I'm going to
come back to Hamilton County,and I'm going to work for
Hamilton County, because notonly do I have the opportunity
(10:09):
to do great things, which we'regoing to be hearing about some
more of that here just in asecond. But also, the county
treats their employees well, andso thank you, Frank, and 2022,
for all that you've done to helpus toward that goal.
Bridget Doherty (10:21):
So I just think with Frank, we should have had
him on his own podcast probablyin 2022. Because you guys have
been so incredibly busy thispast year. And clearly, that's
where a lot of the budgetfocuses is it. And I feel like
your team has been incrediblybusy. So thank you, you've got a
great team. And you guys havedone a lot of good work. Thanks
a lot.
Jeff Aluotto (10:42):
Thank you, Frank.
Next, we're going to go toAssistant Administrator Lisa
Webb, to talk about some of theaccomplishments in whether it is
levy implementation, criminaljustice, social services, a lot
of great stuff has happened,especially as it relates to
connecting some of those thingsin 2022. So Lisa, again, the the
challenge was something that youare really proud of for 2022 and
(11:06):
something you're really lookingforward to and 23.
Unknown (11:11):
Yeah, thanks, Jeff. To start, I would say 2022 is a
very big year in Hamilton Countyfor county property tax levies.
It is the one year every fiveyears with three levies on the
ballot. This year, Countytaxpayers overwhelmingly
approved levies for seniorservices, indigent care and
mental expanded services formental health that levy was an
(11:34):
increase, given the situation inmental health, not just in
Hamilton County, but throughoutOhio and throughout the country,
that we'll be able to use it toput more dollars towards access
to care and care for individualsin our community. That is a six
month process with the countytax levy review committee. It's
(11:54):
nine independent countyindividuals that are appointed
by the commissioners thatoversee the review of each of
these levies over six monthswith public hearings before
commissioners make that finaldetermination on levy sizing. In
addition, 2022 saw the start ofthe nationwide opiate
(12:14):
settlements and the fundingdollars coming through with
that. The start of that was thecreation of the one Ohio region
two board which is going tofunnel millions of dollars into
Hamilton County to supportaddiction response. We set up
the we set up the 22 memberboard for that and with a
variety of cross section ofpeople from throughout the
(12:34):
county commissioners, citycouncil members, village mayor's
township trustees, small citymayors, as well as people in the
community education mentalhealth treatment community, the
business community and the faithcommunity all coming together to
make recommendations on the bestneeds the best ways to serve as
(12:56):
needs in Hamilton County for ourresidents. So we've gotten
started with that excited for2023. When the initial funding
and grant applications will comeforward with that we'll
definitely keep everyoneinformed and connected as that
moves forward. as well. TheOffice of addiction response the
newly created office re appliedfor and received over $6 million
(13:18):
in grants towards addictionresponse issues, over 2 million
for the expansion of the drugtreatment and recovery court and
coordinate nation with JudgeSanders their expanded Quick
Response Team outreach effortsin the community as well as
funding towards preventionservices for as at risk youth in
schools, and expansion of theJustice centers, medication
(13:41):
assisted treatment program.
Those are all taking place andawarded recently and kicking off
end of this year into next year.
So it's a pretty exciting timein terms of opportunities to
help the opioid crisis here inHamilton County 2023 I'm really
looking forward to that grantprocess coming together for one
Ohio. As I said, when that comesthrough, there'll be a lot of
(14:05):
discussion in the communityabout it trying to make sure
we're setting we're casting aswide a net as possible and
making sure everyone is aware ofthose grants and opportunities
as they come together. Inaddition, 2023 is a fun year for
the levy reviews because the zoolevy is up for renewal. So
encourage people to renew theirzoo passes and get out there not
(14:25):
just for the Festival of Lightsthis time of year, but the rest
of the year and go and seeFiona.
Jeff Aluotto (14:30):
Awesome, Lisa, thanks so much. And thanks for
all the work that you've donethis year. Just to think back
five, seven years ago to thinkabout the amount of resources
that we have funneled into thiscommunity right now for things
like mental health and addictionresponse, things that have been
really a plague in our communitythat that you just again go back
(14:53):
a few years and there was noreal sense of understanding as
to how people are suffering withthese With the disease of
addiction, the disease of mentalhealth, and we have an
opportunity to do some thingsnow in Hamilton County to really
make a real difference on that.
And you're leading that charge.
And thanks for all of yourefforts in coordinating those
efforts and linking thoseefforts together, especially as
(15:14):
they have touch points with thejudicial system, the criminal
justice system, to make surethat we are giving people in
this community a second chanceand giving them the resources
they need to succeed as peoplein the community. So thank you
for that.
Unknown (15:28):
I think one of the one of the strong pieces on that,
too, is that collaboration thatHamilton County has with the
addiction response coalition,bringing together all of those
not just departments, agenciesand community, community
providers together at the tableto look at addiction and how we
attack it comprehensively in thecommunity.
Jeff Aluotto (15:46):
Absolutely. Thank you, Lisa. So I was initially
going to go to Mark Phenomenex,but I think it'd be we have some
equipment stuff that has to goon here first. So I don't know,
Mark, if you want to pick updown there. In the meantime,
we're gonna go to AssistantAdministrator Holly Chrisman,
Holly, I, unfortunately, I don'tthink you've been all that busy
(16:10):
this year. Not at all.
But But But why don't you justtell us what you have been up to
this year. So anything thatstands out, and something that
you're looking really lookingforward to next year?
Unknown (16:26):
Well, I have to say, I stretched the assignment a
little bit. So instead ofpicking one thing, I picked a
category that has several thingsunderneath it.
Jeff Aluotto (16:36):
So the eye rolls across the table are palpable
over the podcast, but no,excellent, holistically,
Unknown (16:42):
because there is so much I think, great stuff that
we've done over the past year.
And so my heading is how we havehelped our residents. And we
have done that through literallyhelping 1000s of people get
rent, mortgage and utilityassistance through the great
work of job and family services.
We've done that by helpingresidents improve our air
quality by getting rebates forelectric electric mowers, which
(17:05):
was so successful, we're gettingmore money next year to do that.
We continue to provide no costCOVID testing for the public to
help reduce the costs for peopleto help mitigate COVID. We've
had record number of buildingpermits that our building staff
put to have have issued,including 321 new residential
(17:27):
permits, which is we knowhousing is so important right
now. And speaking of housing,we've deployed funding 1.1
million for new affordablehousing to help facilitate 58
new units. And I think the lastthing I want to mention is our
critical function of 911. Our911 employees, we've had two
(17:49):
employees who helped deliverbabies this year, we had a
dispatcher, a dispatcher,receive trainer of the year, and
we've had a dispatcher who had anon breather call and help save
their life. And he was able tomeet that person over the past
year. I could go on and on, ofcourse about all of our great
employees. But I think those Ithink distill all the great work
(18:12):
we've done for our residents inHamilton County, and we hope
they stay in our county. Oh, andfor 2023, I would say the thing
I'm most excited about isdeploying the 33 and a half
million dollars in affordablehousing that the board just
approved last week. And becauseI can't Just name one, I will
(18:32):
also say getting the new 911facility up and running will be
an exciting challenge for usnext year.
Jeff Aluotto (18:39):
That's fantastic.
Holly, thank you, and truly anincredibly busy year for you. So
thanks for all of your efforts,everything that you've done and
what I really liked about whatyou said there was really
focusing on the day to day,nitty gritty work that county
employees do because again, Ithink if people could see what
the employees of this county aredoing on their behalf every
(19:01):
single day, I think they wouldbe really impressed by it. And
you mentioned a couple of them911 The permitting system, but
we have employees out there whoare operating the jail who are
running election systems who arehelping people with addiction,
mental health issues, people whoare focusing on revitalizing our
communities and getting thecommunities throughout Hamilton
County, improvements ininfrastructure, etc. And that's
(19:25):
going to be a good segue intoour next guest who is marked von
Allman or a Senior PolicyManager. Mark, things you're
really excited about in terms ofthat we've got done in 2022 and
that you're excited about for 23
Unknown (19:44):
Thanks, Jeff. I just want to say I was ready to
follow all of the rules that youset for for this podcast, but
everyone's stretching the rules.
So I think I'm gonna do it alittle bit as well. So 2022 I
think the county was a A verypositive and a more active force
in driving revitalizationthroughout the cities, villages
and townships and HamiltonCounty. And one of probably our
(20:05):
main tool, and doing so has beenthe community revitalization
grants. So here's the stretchingpart. We technically launched
that in 2021. But I think thevast majority of that round were
approved in 2022. So weessentially had two rounds of
community revitalization grantsin 2022, at 17 projects, 11
communities $4.5 million, and awide variety of projects. But as
(20:30):
interesting as it was to getcloser, okay, sorry about that.
As interesting was as importantas it was to, for the county to
budget that money, what the realneat part has been, is just
seeing the number of communitiesthat as soon as that money was
(20:51):
budgeted, they're ready to stepup and essentially punch above
their weight class and reallytackle business district
revitalization in a very activeway. So for example, the city of
chivvied Acquiring a buildingsmack dab in the build in the
middle of their businessdistrict and going out there and
trying to find people toactivate that for some sort of
(21:15):
vibrant space in the middle oftheir downtown or village of
North Bend, kind of followingtheir dreams and trying to
establish kind of a regionaldraw of riverfront park right
there. On the banks of Ohio andNorth Bend. I could name them
much more. But it was great thatthe county was able to set aside
(21:37):
establish these funds. And it'sgreat that we're able to work
with our partners in these newways and that they're ready to
step up right away and, andreally capitalize on these
community revitalization grants.
So that was that was probably myhighlight of 2022. As far as
looking forward, I think it'sgoing to be a big year for the
county site Readiness Program,which was established before I
(21:59):
got here. And but as far as thatthe previous sites that we've
been working on that Drake andcarousel site, there's going to
be demolition on that site. Andgetting it ready for jobs in the
future. The Dow site and readingthere's going to be demolition
(22:19):
work starting there. Hopefullywe can get something going at
the Gibson site and Amberley aswell, in addition to the site
readiness, again, be ingredientsaying two things are those
community revitalization grants,we're going to do it all over
again $3 million again. But whatI'm looking forward to is kind
of now that we've got up andrunning just more strategic
(22:45):
tracking program results andchanging it in a way so that we
can make sure that sure we'resetting aside this monies for
for cities and townships andvillages, but we're getting the
biggest bang for our dollarmoving forward like number of
jobs per dollar invested ornumber of commercial space
brought online. So kind ofcontinuing to tweak and
(23:08):
formalize that program movingforward as wonky as that sounds,
but that's what I'm lookingforward to in 2023.
Jeff Aluotto (23:15):
Now, it's fantastic, Mark, thank you. And
thanks for all of your effortsas a part of this leadership
team to make sure that theboard's vision of a revitalized
Hamilton County comes tofruition. Hamilton County has
invested a huge amount over thepast couple of years in
revitalizing its first ringsuburban communities and making
sure that we have tracts of landin this community available for
(23:35):
redevelopment or a sitereadiness program. And you've
run point on that since you'vebeen here. So thank you very
much for that. Appreciate it.
All right, Bridget. I'm gonnathrow it. We didn't really talk
about your my co host. I don'tknow this is really fair, but
I'm just going to throw it outto you anything that you wanted
to hit on. Besides, I know yougot some brand spanking new
equipment that you're workingon. Thankful to for that. Yeah.
(23:57):
And
Bridget Doherty (24:00):
so far, I'm thankful that there are no edits
happening in this podcast sofar. But am I on the jingle
bells? No, I think last year wasactually this year. 2022 was a
great year, especially for theemployees, I got to help the
employee advisory committee,which is a group of employees
(24:20):
from each of the departmentsthat kind of weigh in on things
that the employees would like tosee around Hamilton County, and
we put on it was the first timethat I think that the board and
administration had ever donesomething like this, but we did
an employee appreciation lunchand you know, we we had some
food trucks. We the city ofCincinnati helped us close down
(24:42):
Court Street and it was thefirst time we kind of showed
some appreciation in that mannerto employees. And I know because
of how many people came up to usand I'm sure all of you just how
appreciative the employees were.
I mean, there's just somethingtotally different that they
weren't expecting. And I thinkthat I saw a lot I saw a lot of
hugs and people are gettingtogether for the first time. And
(25:02):
I think that's what was neat.
You did especially coming in atCOVID. You saw a lot of just
camaraderie and justappreciation of being together.
It was a little chilly, but itwas a really great day. So I'm
really proud of that event. Ithought it was fun.
Jeff Aluotto (25:19):
Awesome. No, and thanks for your personal
dedication to pulling thattogether, Bridget, for those of
you listening to the podcast,Bridget is the glue that kind of
holds our floor and ourleadership team together. I
remember when you were workingsomewhere else. And I said every
office needs a bridge authorityin it. So we're going to go out
and get her back. And we did wewere successful in that. So
(25:41):
thank you for being here. Thanksfor all that you do to drive the
work of the county andspecifically of this team.
Bridget Doherty (25:47):
Thanks, Steph.
And then next year, I'm reallylooking forward to our next
episode. We might have one inbetween there. But we know can
we tease it? You can absolutelytease it. We know next year
we're going to electrocute fishas part of our episode, which I
didn't know the county did. Butthat's why we have this podcast.
Evidently
Jeff Aluotto (26:07):
we do it routinely. And we are proud of
Bridget Doherty (26:09):
it. And it's You mean yes. Yeah. Yeah. So
we're electric eating fish forscience.
Jeff Aluotto (26:15):
We're going to do it on we're going to do it on
site. As much as we can see byyour face that that's not
entirely possible gonna
Bridget Doherty (26:21):
do Okay, we're gonna have natural, natural
sounds of the stream and thefish and electrocution.
Jeff Aluotto (26:29):
It's going to it's going to be it's going to be
awesome. So I want to thankeverybody here today. I also
want to give a special shout outand thanks to JFS director,
Michael Patten to AssistantAdministrator for Budget and
Finance, John Bergen, both ofthem can be here for very good
reasons. So I want to wish themthe happiest of holidays. And I
(26:49):
just want to say on a personalnote, that I am thankful in
2022, that I've had theopportunity to work with just a
such a fantastic and incrediblegroup of professionals who do so
much work day in and day out onbehalf of Hamilton County and
its residents, and all everysingle day of the amount of work
that this that this group does.
So I want to thank each andevery one of you for everything
(27:11):
that you've done this year. Iwant to thank all the employees
of the county as well,especially Holly mentioned, as
well, folks in 911 folks in thesheriff's deputies, corrections
officers, JFS, the folks in 241,kids are the social workers,
keeping our our children safe,especially all of those that
(27:32):
will be working over theholidays, want to thank them for
all their work day in and dayout. There is a thing called the
Athenian oath, which says thatwe will leave the community not
only not less, but greater andmore beautiful than it was given
to us. And I think everyonearound this table today,
exemplifies that perfectly as dothe employees of Hamilton
(27:54):
County. So with that, I want tothank you for listening to the
holiday penultimate edition ofheart and hustle in Hamilton
County. Be sure to subscribe onApple podcast, Spotify and other
providers. And you can find thepodcast on our website, Hamilton
County ohio.gov on my web page.
(28:14):
Thank you, everyone, and we'llsee you in 2023
Welcome to heart and hustle in Hamilton County a
podcast entirely dedicated tothe people and policies that
form Hamilton County governmentin Ohio. This is the holiday
version of our podcast. I'm herewith my co host Bridget Doherty
as always, hello, hello, hello,happy holidays. And for those of
you tuning in for the firsttime, why the name heart and
(00:33):
hustle Well, best describes thepublic servants who make our
local government work. Each ofour episodes focuses on creative
solutions to the challenges our49 communities face, as well as
how our different countydepartments tackle those
challenges. It's a localgovernment 101. For listeners
who are curious and want tolearn more. I'm your host, Jeff
Aluotto County Administrator.
And as I've already said with meis my co host, and I'll
(00:54):
introduce some other guests thatwe have. We're happy holidays,
and also happy new year comingup. This is our last podcast of
2022. I'm not even sure how manypodcasts we did in 2022. But I'm
not sure either. But more to thepoint. This is our penultimate
episode, but we're canceling thelast one. So
(01:15):
penultimate episode, but we'recanceling the last one. There
you go. All right. So again,this is our holiday edition. And
it's gonna be our 2020 To recapedition. I'm really excited
about this particular edition ofheart and hustle. It's been a
busy year in Hamilton County,we've done a lot of things.
We've gotten a ton of grantmoney out into the community.
(01:39):
We've seen infrastructureprojects come up and out of the
ground, we've addressed some ofour most time, timely personnel
issues. We've been working onprojects like consolidating or
911 and Ema facilities, just alot of things happening. I wish
that I could actually sit downwith each Hamilton County
(02:00):
resident and tell them directlywhat the county government this
year has been doing on theirbehalf. But seeing that I'm not
Santa Claus. Bridgette, I don'thave the time. I can't make that
kind of time throughout thecommunity. I've done the very
next best thing. What's that,Jeff? I have corralled as, as
(02:23):
many as I can of the county'stop leadership team to help
describe for county residentswho are listening to this
podcast, some of the best thingsthat have happened in 2022, and
maybe more importantly, whatthey are looking forward to as
we go into 2023 the county's topbrass County's top brass, absent
(02:44):
a couple who couldn't make it.
Okay. So with that, I just wantto do a few introductions here
with us here today in noparticular order. But we've got
an all star cast, and around thetable today. So we have Holly
Chrisman, our assistantadministrator who oversees many
of our county departments,especially those with a
(03:05):
development and infrastructurefocus. Holly, welcome.
Unknown (03:09):
Thank you. Happy holidays, everyone.
Jeff Aluotto (03:11):
We have Lisa Webb, also assistant administrator who
oversees all of our voted leviesfor the county and who also
coordinates the connectivitybetween our criminal justice
operations and various socialservices like mental health and
addiction response. Lisa,welcome to the program. Thank
you, Jeff. We have of course asalways, Bridget Doherty, my co
host who does all thecommunications work for, for
(03:34):
Hamilton County, Bridgette, andalso
Bridget Doherty (03:36):
the important job of muting and unmuting mics
which you will hear later on inthis episode is not a perfect
science.
Jeff Aluotto (03:44):
So okay, it's all right. It's the penultimate
holiday episode. So anythinggoes today. We have friends
Mataro, our director of humanresources. So all the work
that's done whether it iscompensation benefits, risk
management, recruitment, HRdevelopment for all the
employees under the Board ofCounty Commissioners, Frank
(04:04):
Spataro brings that to us. SoFrank, welcome.
Unknown (04:07):
Thank you, Jeff. And happy holidays everyone.
Jeff Aluotto (04:10):
And last but not least, we have Mark Vaughn
almond mark is our Senior PolicyManager for economic
development, who single handedlyoversees many of our economic
development programs in thecounty with a focus on
revitalizing the first ringsuburban communities. So Mark is
here with us to talk about someof our economic development
programming this year. Mark,welcome.
Unknown (04:32):
Hello, Hamilton County.
Jeff, thrilled to be on thispenultimate episode. Thanks for
having me.
Jeff Aluotto (04:36):
Awesome. And I'm happy to have you here, Mark. So
we may have a couple of otherguests Join us as we go
throughout the throughout thepodcast today. But really, what
we wanted to do today was justdo a year in review. So what
were some of the top things thathappened this year? And where do
some of the what are some of thethings that the county's top
(04:56):
leadership team looks at asbeing major art opportunities
are things that they're lookingforward to in 2023. I think we
have a great year in front ofus. The board will be kicking
off again in early January, Ithink we had a great year and
2022 all starts with, withguidance and policy guidance
from the board. We got somegreat guidance this past year
(05:18):
that allowed us to do somereally neat things I mentioned
some of them at the top of theof the podcast, but at the end
of the day, the work happens,where this team comes into play
in terms of implementingpolicies and programs that
ultimately affect the lives ofour Hamilton County residents.
So with that, we're gonna getright into this. And we're gonna
(05:39):
go to HR director Frank Spataro,Frank. Again, the assignment was
simply something that you'reextremely proud of that you
thought when really well onbehalf of the residents in
Hamilton of Hamilton County in2022. And what you're looking
forward to most in 2023.
Unknown (05:57):
Thanks, Jeff. We had a busy year in 2022, with our
focus being on being recognizedas an employer of choice. One of
the things that I'm reallyexcited about is the investment
we've made in employeedevelopment. And we did that by
reintroducing our tuitionreimbursement program. And then
(06:18):
also to supplement that we'veentered into for collaborative
agreements with local collegesand universities to provide
tuition discounts to ouremployees, with UC Xavier,
Eastern Kentucky University andWestern Governors in those
schools have agreed to offer ouremployees discounts ranging from
(06:41):
10 to 25%, on their tuition, soI think that's going to be well
received, we have someexperience with tuition
reimbursement that we introducedover the past summer. And it's
proven to be really popular withwith our employees. One of the
big accomplishments in 2022 wasthe completion and
(07:03):
implementation of a compcompensation study that for
which we looked at the salariesof our employees and market data
in the surrounding areas andcomparable employers, and made a
number of adjustments to help uswith our traction and retention
(07:25):
of employees. That's, that'sreally tough. We're in a tough
market right now competing withlocal employers. And this has
been a real help to us toupgrade and update our salary
and salaries for employees. Andthen, one of the things we did
back in June as we had a jobfair, and it was widely
(07:49):
attended, we had greatattendance, we filled in a
number of vacancies, and more ofnot more importantly, but
importantly, it allowed us toshowcase employment where the
county showcased our benefitpackage, and different
employment opportunities. It waswell received, and we plan to
(08:10):
make it an annual event. So thatwe can continue to be working on
our image and the efforts wemake is being an employer of
choice. With regard to 2023, oneof the things that I'm really
interested in focusing on iskeeping our attention on our
diversity, equity and inclusionefforts. In 2022, we actually
(08:35):
made some rather significantgains in our diversity. And our
mindset is to focus on theequity and inclusion portion of
the triad there to give ourmanagers the tools and resources
to work on improving and in somecases, really even understanding
(09:00):
what equity and inclusion is sothat they can be mindful of how
they apply those in theireveryday decision making. And
then lastly, for 2023, we'relooking at again, in the spirit
of being an employer of choice,some affordable benefit
enhancements that includechildcare and parking
(09:21):
assistance. So if those aregoing to be our focus for 2023
Jeff Aluotto (09:27):
That's fantastic, Frank. It's a huge it's a great
list of accomplishments, a greatlist of things to look forward
to. And for those of you who arelistening to the podcast again,
Hamilton County is hiring. We'rehiring. The best and brightest
in Hamilton County, as we say toevery person that we onboard
under the Board of CountyCommissioners. We know there's a
lot of job opportunities outthere right now for people it's
(09:47):
very tough labor market. But aspeople look at Hamilton County
as they grow up in HamiltonCounty, there's a lot of
worthwhile things. You can do alot of worthwhile organizations
where you can go to get a jobwhen You want people to think I
want to, if I'm going to stay inHamilton County, I'm going to
come back to Hamilton County,and I'm going to work for
Hamilton County, because notonly do I have the opportunity
(10:09):
to do great things, which we'regoing to be hearing about some
more of that here just in asecond. But also, the county
treats their employees well, andso thank you, Frank, and 2022,
for all that you've done to helpus toward that goal.
Bridget Doherty (10:21):
So I just think with Frank, we should have had
him on his own podcast probablyin 2022. Because you guys have
been so incredibly busy thispast year. And clearly, that's
where a lot of the budgetfocuses is it. And I feel like
your team has been incrediblybusy. So thank you, you've got a
great team. And you guys havedone a lot of good work. Thanks
a lot.
Jeff Aluotto (10:42):
Thank you, Frank.
Next, we're going to go toAssistant Administrator Lisa
Webb, to talk about some of theaccomplishments in whether it is
levy implementation, criminaljustice, social services, a lot
of great stuff has happened,especially as it relates to
connecting some of those thingsin 2022. So Lisa, again, the the
challenge was something that youare really proud of for 2022 and
(11:06):
something you're really lookingforward to and 23.
Unknown (11:11):
Yeah, thanks, Jeff. To start, I would say 2022 is a
very big year in Hamilton Countyfor county property tax levies.
It is the one year every fiveyears with three levies on the
ballot. This year, Countytaxpayers overwhelmingly
approved levies for seniorservices, indigent care and
mental expanded services formental health that levy was an
(11:34):
increase, given the situation inmental health, not just in
Hamilton County, but throughoutOhio and throughout the country,
that we'll be able to use it toput more dollars towards access
to care and care for individualsin our community. That is a six
month process with the countytax levy review committee. It's
(11:54):
nine independent countyindividuals that are appointed
by the commissioners thatoversee the review of each of
these levies over six monthswith public hearings before
commissioners make that finaldetermination on levy sizing. In
addition, 2022 saw the start ofthe nationwide opiate
(12:14):
settlements and the fundingdollars coming through with
that. The start of that was thecreation of the one Ohio region
two board which is going tofunnel millions of dollars into
Hamilton County to supportaddiction response. We set up
the we set up the 22 memberboard for that and with a
variety of cross section ofpeople from throughout the
(12:34):
county commissioners, citycouncil members, village mayor's
township trustees, small citymayors, as well as people in the
community education mentalhealth treatment community, the
business community and the faithcommunity all coming together to
make recommendations on the bestneeds the best ways to serve as
(12:56):
needs in Hamilton County for ourresidents. So we've gotten
started with that excited for2023. When the initial funding
and grant applications will comeforward with that we'll
definitely keep everyoneinformed and connected as that
moves forward. as well. TheOffice of addiction response the
newly created office re appliedfor and received over $6 million
(13:18):
in grants towards addictionresponse issues, over 2 million
for the expansion of the drugtreatment and recovery court and
coordinate nation with JudgeSanders their expanded Quick
Response Team outreach effortsin the community as well as
funding towards preventionservices for as at risk youth in
schools, and expansion of theJustice centers, medication
(13:41):
assisted treatment program.
Those are all taking place andawarded recently and kicking off
end of this year into next year.
So it's a pretty exciting timein terms of opportunities to
help the opioid crisis here inHamilton County 2023 I'm really
looking forward to that grantprocess coming together for one
Ohio. As I said, when that comesthrough, there'll be a lot of
(14:05):
discussion in the communityabout it trying to make sure
we're setting we're casting aswide a net as possible and
making sure everyone is aware ofthose grants and opportunities
as they come together. Inaddition, 2023 is a fun year for
the levy reviews because the zoolevy is up for renewal. So
encourage people to renew theirzoo passes and get out there not
(14:25):
just for the Festival of Lightsthis time of year, but the rest
of the year and go and seeFiona.
Jeff Aluotto (14:30):
Awesome, Lisa, thanks so much. And thanks for
all the work that you've donethis year. Just to think back
five, seven years ago to thinkabout the amount of resources
that we have funneled into thiscommunity right now for things
like mental health and addictionresponse, things that have been
really a plague in our communitythat that you just again go back
(14:53):
a few years and there was noreal sense of understanding as
to how people are suffering withthese With the disease of
addiction, the disease of mentalhealth, and we have an
opportunity to do some thingsnow in Hamilton County to really
make a real difference on that.
And you're leading that charge.
And thanks for all of yourefforts in coordinating those
efforts and linking thoseefforts together, especially as
(15:14):
they have touch points with thejudicial system, the criminal
justice system, to make surethat we are giving people in
this community a second chanceand giving them the resources
they need to succeed as peoplein the community. So thank you
for that.
Unknown (15:28):
I think one of the one of the strong pieces on that,
too, is that collaboration thatHamilton County has with the
addiction response coalition,bringing together all of those
not just departments, agenciesand community, community
providers together at the tableto look at addiction and how we
attack it comprehensively in thecommunity.
Jeff Aluotto (15:46):
Absolutely. Thank you, Lisa. So I was initially
going to go to Mark Phenomenex,but I think it'd be we have some
equipment stuff that has to goon here first. So I don't know,
Mark, if you want to pick updown there. In the meantime,
we're gonna go to AssistantAdministrator Holly Chrisman,
Holly, I, unfortunately, I don'tthink you've been all that busy
(16:10):
this year. Not at all.
But But But why don't you justtell us what you have been up to
this year. So anything thatstands out, and something that
you're looking really lookingforward to next year?
Unknown (16:26):
Well, I have to say, I stretched the assignment a
little bit. So instead ofpicking one thing, I picked a
category that has several thingsunderneath it.
Jeff Aluotto (16:36):
So the eye rolls across the table are palpable
over the podcast, but no,excellent, holistically,
Unknown (16:42):
because there is so much I think, great stuff that
we've done over the past year.
And so my heading is how we havehelped our residents. And we
have done that through literallyhelping 1000s of people get
rent, mortgage and utilityassistance through the great
work of job and family services.
We've done that by helpingresidents improve our air
quality by getting rebates forelectric electric mowers, which
(17:05):
was so successful, we're gettingmore money next year to do that.
We continue to provide no costCOVID testing for the public to
help reduce the costs for peopleto help mitigate COVID. We've
had record number of buildingpermits that our building staff
put to have have issued,including 321 new residential
(17:27):
permits, which is we knowhousing is so important right
now. And speaking of housing,we've deployed funding 1.1
million for new affordablehousing to help facilitate 58
new units. And I think the lastthing I want to mention is our
critical function of 911. Our911 employees, we've had two
(17:49):
employees who helped deliverbabies this year, we had a
dispatcher, a dispatcher,receive trainer of the year, and
we've had a dispatcher who had anon breather call and help save
their life. And he was able tomeet that person over the past
year. I could go on and on, ofcourse about all of our great
employees. But I think those Ithink distill all the great work
(18:12):
we've done for our residents inHamilton County, and we hope
they stay in our county. Oh, andfor 2023, I would say the thing
I'm most excited about isdeploying the 33 and a half
million dollars in affordablehousing that the board just
approved last week. And becauseI can't Just name one, I will
(18:32):
also say getting the new 911facility up and running will be
an exciting challenge for usnext year.
Jeff Aluotto (18:39):
That's fantastic.
Holly, thank you, and truly anincredibly busy year for you. So
thanks for all of your efforts,everything that you've done and
what I really liked about whatyou said there was really
focusing on the day to day,nitty gritty work that county
employees do because again, Ithink if people could see what
the employees of this county aredoing on their behalf every
(19:01):
single day, I think they wouldbe really impressed by it. And
you mentioned a couple of them911 The permitting system, but
we have employees out there whoare operating the jail who are
running election systems who arehelping people with addiction,
mental health issues, people whoare focusing on revitalizing our
communities and getting thecommunities throughout Hamilton
County, improvements ininfrastructure, etc. And that's
(19:25):
going to be a good segue intoour next guest who is marked von
Allman or a Senior PolicyManager. Mark, things you're
really excited about in terms ofthat we've got done in 2022 and
that you're excited about for 23
Unknown (19:44):
Thanks, Jeff. I just want to say I was ready to
follow all of the rules that youset for for this podcast, but
everyone's stretching the rules.
So I think I'm gonna do it alittle bit as well. So 2022 I
think the county was a A verypositive and a more active force
in driving revitalizationthroughout the cities, villages
and townships and HamiltonCounty. And one of probably our
(20:05):
main tool, and doing so has beenthe community revitalization
grants. So here's the stretchingpart. We technically launched
that in 2021. But I think thevast majority of that round were
approved in 2022. So weessentially had two rounds of
community revitalization grantsin 2022, at 17 projects, 11
communities $4.5 million, and awide variety of projects. But as
(20:30):
interesting as it was to getcloser, okay, sorry about that.
As interesting was as importantas it was to, for the county to
budget that money, what the realneat part has been, is just
seeing the number of communitiesthat as soon as that money was
(20:51):
budgeted, they're ready to stepup and essentially punch above
their weight class and reallytackle business district
revitalization in a very activeway. So for example, the city of
chivvied Acquiring a buildingsmack dab in the build in the
middle of their businessdistrict and going out there and
trying to find people toactivate that for some sort of
(21:15):
vibrant space in the middle oftheir downtown or village of
North Bend, kind of followingtheir dreams and trying to
establish kind of a regionaldraw of riverfront park right
there. On the banks of Ohio andNorth Bend. I could name them
much more. But it was great thatthe county was able to set aside
(21:37):
establish these funds. And it'sgreat that we're able to work
with our partners in these newways and that they're ready to
step up right away and, andreally capitalize on these
community revitalization grants.
So that was that was probably myhighlight of 2022. As far as
looking forward, I think it'sgoing to be a big year for the
county site Readiness Program,which was established before I
(21:59):
got here. And but as far as thatthe previous sites that we've
been working on that Drake andcarousel site, there's going to
be demolition on that site. Andgetting it ready for jobs in the
future. The Dow site and readingthere's going to be demolition
(22:19):
work starting there. Hopefullywe can get something going at
the Gibson site and Amberley aswell, in addition to the site
readiness, again, be ingredientsaying two things are those
community revitalization grants,we're going to do it all over
again $3 million again. But whatI'm looking forward to is kind
of now that we've got up andrunning just more strategic
(22:45):
tracking program results andchanging it in a way so that we
can make sure that sure we'resetting aside this monies for
for cities and townships andvillages, but we're getting the
biggest bang for our dollarmoving forward like number of
jobs per dollar invested ornumber of commercial space
brought online. So kind ofcontinuing to tweak and
(23:08):
formalize that program movingforward as wonky as that sounds,
but that's what I'm lookingforward to in 2023.
Jeff Aluotto (23:15):
Now, it's fantastic, Mark, thank you. And
thanks for all of your effortsas a part of this leadership
team to make sure that theboard's vision of a revitalized
Hamilton County comes tofruition. Hamilton County has
invested a huge amount over thepast couple of years in
revitalizing its first ringsuburban communities and making
sure that we have tracts of landin this community available for
(23:35):
redevelopment or a sitereadiness program. And you've
run point on that since you'vebeen here. So thank you very
much for that. Appreciate it.
All right, Bridget. I'm gonnathrow it. We didn't really talk
about your my co host. I don'tknow this is really fair, but
I'm just going to throw it outto you anything that you wanted
to hit on. Besides, I know yougot some brand spanking new
equipment that you're workingon. Thankful to for that. Yeah.
(23:57):
And
Bridget Doherty (24:00):
so far, I'm thankful that there are no edits
happening in this podcast sofar. But am I on the jingle
bells? No, I think last year wasactually this year. 2022 was a
great year, especially for theemployees, I got to help the
employee advisory committee,which is a group of employees
(24:20):
from each of the departmentsthat kind of weigh in on things
that the employees would like tosee around Hamilton County, and
we put on it was the first timethat I think that the board and
administration had ever donesomething like this, but we did
an employee appreciation lunchand you know, we we had some
food trucks. We the city ofCincinnati helped us close down
(24:42):
Court Street and it was thefirst time we kind of showed
some appreciation in that mannerto employees. And I know because
of how many people came up to usand I'm sure all of you just how
appreciative the employees were.
I mean, there's just somethingtotally different that they
weren't expecting. And I thinkthat I saw a lot I saw a lot of
hugs and people are gettingtogether for the first time. And
(25:02):
I think that's what was neat.
You did especially coming in atCOVID. You saw a lot of just
camaraderie and justappreciation of being together.
It was a little chilly, but itwas a really great day. So I'm
really proud of that event. Ithought it was fun.
Jeff Aluotto (25:19):
Awesome. No, and thanks for your personal
dedication to pulling thattogether, Bridget, for those of
you listening to the podcast,Bridget is the glue that kind of
holds our floor and ourleadership team together. I
remember when you were workingsomewhere else. And I said every
office needs a bridge authorityin it. So we're going to go out
and get her back. And we did wewere successful in that. So
(25:41):
thank you for being here. Thanksfor all that you do to drive the
work of the county andspecifically of this team.
Bridget Doherty (25:47):
Thanks, Steph.
And then next year, I'm reallylooking forward to our next
episode. We might have one inbetween there. But we know can
we tease it? You can absolutelytease it. We know next year
we're going to electrocute fishas part of our episode, which I
didn't know the county did. Butthat's why we have this podcast.
Evidently
Jeff Aluotto (26:07):
we do it routinely. And we are proud of
Bridget Doherty (26:09):
it. And it's You mean yes. Yeah. Yeah. So
we're electric eating fish forscience.
Jeff Aluotto (26:15):
We're going to do it on we're going to do it on
site. As much as we can see byyour face that that's not
entirely possible gonna
Bridget Doherty (26:21):
do Okay, we're gonna have natural, natural
sounds of the stream and thefish and electrocution.
Jeff Aluotto (26:29):
It's going to it's going to be it's going to be
awesome. So I want to thankeverybody here today. I also
want to give a special shout outand thanks to JFS director,
Michael Patten to AssistantAdministrator for Budget and
Finance, John Bergen, both ofthem can be here for very good
reasons. So I want to wish themthe happiest of holidays. And I
(26:49):
just want to say on a personalnote, that I am thankful in
2022, that I've had theopportunity to work with just a
such a fantastic and incrediblegroup of professionals who do so
much work day in and day out onbehalf of Hamilton County and
its residents, and all everysingle day of the amount of work
that this that this group does.
So I want to thank each andevery one of you for everything
(27:11):
that you've done this year. Iwant to thank all the employees
of the county as well,especially Holly mentioned, as
well, folks in 911 folks in thesheriff's deputies, corrections
officers, JFS, the folks in 241,kids are the social workers,
keeping our our children safe,especially all of those that
(27:32):
will be working over theholidays, want to thank them for
all their work day in and dayout. There is a thing called the
Athenian oath, which says thatwe will leave the community not
only not less, but greater andmore beautiful than it was given
to us. And I think everyonearound this table today,
exemplifies that perfectly as dothe employees of Hamilton
(27:54):
County. So with that, I want tothank you for listening to the
holiday penultimate edition ofheart and hustle in Hamilton
County. Be sure to subscribe onApple podcast, Spotify and other
providers. And you can find thepodcast on our website, Hamilton
County ohio.gov on my web page.
(28:14):
Thank you, everyone, and we'llsee you in 2023
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