Anderson Concerned Citizens Facebook Page – Your Place for an Anderson 2020 Update - Please become a new friend and supporter. We need all supporters of the Anderson 2020 Plan to continue the grassroots efforts to see this plan come to fruition. It appears that the leaders in charge of turning this plan into a reality will need a more aggressive schedule if the Anderson 2020 plan is going to make it across the finish line. The project appears to be at a standstill. So what can we, as a supportive community, do to help? Please continue to let your voice be heard and share this information, it truly does make a difference, we experienced the proof! Now that the election issues are behind us, and this is no longer an issue regarding a political candidate or a levy which requires a vote, we would like to welcome all Forest Hills staff, and Anderson Township residents who are teachers in other communities, to take this opportunity to get involved. Their contracts prevented them from getting involved prior to election day, but now is their time and opportunity to join the bandwagon. They are the ones that know how critical a new high school facility is to our School District and the added benefits the Anderson 2020 Plan will bring to all of Anderson Township. We would also like to welcome all students, PTA/PTO and Booster Club Officers and members to do what they can to express their support. If you have not done so already, please contact the School Board Members and let them know why you think it is priority #1 for the School District to build a new Anderson High School given this opportunity. The Anderson Concerned Citizens Facebook page has 93 friends before this post went out. Let’s do what we can to increase the number of friends. The more supporters involved, the better for everyone. Please ask all your fellow supporters that are not already friends to the Anderson Concerned Citizens Facebook page to join us. We believe that it is important for the community to know, that all Trustees and all School Board Members have expressed support for the Anderson 2020 Plan to date. But the rub, is that there is always a level of risk to doing something that is this big and bold. When the time comes in the near future to actually vote for the Anderson 2020 Plan, our leaders, especially the School Board Members, need to know that we understand the risk level, but regardless, they have our full support to vote yes! All the leadership representatives at the October 15th's joint meeting, agreed that step #1 moving forward, would be to schedule a meeting that would set the foundation for all legal concerns to be vetted right away. Unfortunately for everyone, this meeting has yet to be scheduled as of November 8, 2015, the date of this post. The Anderson Township Management Team is responsible for scheduling the meeting. As Anderson Concerned Citizens, our next step is to express our concern in this delay to our leaders, that we are disappointed in the standstill, and request that the problem be remedied right away. The following is a list of representatives that will need to be in attendance at the meeting: Township Administrator/Management Team The Township’s Legal Council Representative(s) School Board Representatives The School Board’s Legal Council Representative Park Board Representatives The Park Board's Legal Council Representative Representatives of the Development and Design Team Continental RE Company Representative Representatives of the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority As a supporter of the Anderson 2020 Plan YOUR CALL TO ACTION TODAY: Please email the Anderson Township Trustees to encourage them to schedule this meeting. Email addresses are below for your convenience. Russ Jackson russelljackson@fuse.net (and while you are emailing Russ, please thank him for his many years of public service and the benefits he made possible for the Township) Russ Jackson is the Trustee who proposed that the Township buy the Beech Acre property while options are explored. Andrew Pappas APappas@AndersonTownship.org Andrew Pappas has been supportive of the Anderson 2020 Plan from day one. Josh Gerth Josh.Gerth@am.jll.com Josh Gerth, with his knowledge and vision as to what our Township needs, is the Trustee that brought this plan to the community in the first place. Dee Stone will not be inducted as a Trustee until January 2016. Dee Stone has also been in support of the Anderson 2020 Plan from day one. Evidence, to all parties involved, of forward progress of the Anderson 2020 Plan is critical. The School Board needs to see support that all other parties involved are making necessary progress toward the same goal, with no delays, in order to meet the mid-February deadline of whether the final decision that the School Board needs to make, is for a new Anderson High School, or whether the final decision is staying the course with the renovations. If the Anderson 2020 Plan does not happen now, it will not happen ever. Time is of the essence! A common concern for all residents is that our property values are at stake! Many supporters of the Anderson 2020 Plan believe that this plan is so valuable to fulfilling the needs to our community that we cannot afford not to make it happen. What are your thoughts? The Park Board stated in its last newsletter that “if the end result (of the Beech Acre property) is not a school, the Township is on record as saying it would be parkland.” If this concerns you, while you are contacting and reaching out to our Trustees, please also take the time to ask our Trustees: Is this true? And if so, how do we pay for the Beech Acres property that the Township purchased to remain parkland? In other words, what, exactly, is the contingency plan if a school does not work on the Beech Acre property? Call, write a letter, or email all parties involved. If you choose, you can copy and paste the following into an email to send to the Trustees. I am a supporter of the Anderson 2020 Plan and I would like to take this opportunity to express my concern with the standstill in the progress. Please do all that you can to remedy the problem at your earliest convenience. I would also like to know the Township’s contingency plan should a new high school not work on the Beech Acre property. Will the property remain parkland, and if so, how do we pay for that? Other email addresses for your reference: Forest Hills School Board: Randy Smith - randysmith@foresthills.edu Julie Bissinger - juliebissinger@foresthills.edu Tony Hemmelgarn - tonyhemmelgarn@foresthills.edu; Forest Heis - forestheis@foresthills.edu; Jim Frooman - jimfrooman@foresthills.edu Ken Kushner – Executive Director of the Park Board - KKushner@AndersonParks.com Dee Stone - deefortrustee@gmail.com Let’s support our leaders to champion the Anderson 2020 Plan across the finish line and work together to take Anderson from good2GREAT!