City of Xenia Sued for Fraud, Misappropriation, Violation of Election Law

Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito -- Do not give in to evil, but proceed ever more boldly against it.

Today a lawsuit was filed in the Greene County Court of Common Pleas against the City of Xenia, City Council and City Manager for various violations of Ohio Election Law, violations of Title VII of Ohio Revised Code, Fraud and Misappropriation of Funds.

The lawsuit is seeking permanent and temporary injunctions against the City of Xenia’s use of public funds for advertising and promoting Issue 7, an income tax levy increase of 28.5%, and is attempting to put a stop to further spending of taxpayers funds on surveys and consulting activities of Avakian Consulting, a political consulting firm contracted by the City of Xenia for the apparent purpose of helping with the passage of Issue 7 in the May 4, 2010 election.

While the City of Xenia publicly denies that the reason for the no-bid contract with Avakian was for the sole purpose of facilitating the passage of Issue 7, internal meeting minutes, City Council statements, statements from City Manager Percival, and e-mail exchanges between Xenia employees and Avakian tell a different story, and show that the City is indeed spending taxpayer dollars to fund, promote and facilitate the passage of a ballot initiative, in violation of Ohio Election Law. Avakian Consulting also helped the city of Huber Heights with a passage of a tax levy initiative, something which has been referenced by Xenia City employees, showing the focus of the City is the passage of this levy and the promotion of the levy passage to residents.

The lawsuit also seeks a temporary injunction against the Greene County Board of Elections, asking the court to remove Issue 7 from the May 4 ballot until the questions about the City’s activities have been fully answered.

You can read the complaint below:

Xenia City Lawsuit

New City Documents Paint Another Picture

A recently filed FOIA request with the city of Xenia paints a picture different from the one the City is trying to present to the community. What is claimed to be an "emergency" driven tax levy, turns out to be a carefully crafted and created message by the City, with the help of consulting firm Avakian Consulting, from Columbus, OH.

In a completely disregard of its own policies and laws, which are in place for the protection of taxpayers and the prevention of fraud and misappropriation of funds, the City of Xenia awarded an "emergency" no-

bid contract to Avakian for the amount of $25,000 for the purpose of helping "educate" city residents. What the city really means is, "help pass Issue 7." The problem with these actions is that they are in direct violation of Ohio Election laws, and citizens should not, and cannot stand for it. The City of Xenia, to say it in the plainest words possible, is using taxpayer funds to sell taxpayers a tax levy.

Not only this, but as the documents attached show, City Management know what they are doing is highly inappropriate, with City Councilmen being outright confused by the direction taken by Mr. Percival, Xenia City Manager. During a Special Budget Meeting on January 30, 2010, Mr. Percival was asked by Councilman Smith:

"if the goal [of Avakian] was to pass the levy or improve the city's image. Mr. Percival said both. Councilman Smith asked what the number one priority was. Mr. Percival did not think one could be done without the other...The image, marketing and promotional campaign will be directly tied to the levy campaign; you can't separate the two."

Mr Percival even expressed frustration at the fact that Ohio Election law

prevents the CityCouncil from knocking at doors to directly promote the levy, saying "it was ridiculous the city council couldn't go out and promote it [the levy]."

The City Manager was also questioned by Councilman Louderback, inquiring about the same issue: was the purpose of the consultants to pass the levy? Clearly, the ultimate and primary goal for retaining Avakian is being reinforced by the answers repeatedly

: to pass the tax levy. Knowing that it would be very difficult to justify the hiring of a consultant for that express purpose however, the City is attempting to bypass election law by throwing in other services, such as "magazine articles and other things to promote the City."

Unfortunately followup emails originating in the Clerk's office paint a different picture, again, that of Avakian's role being that of solely helping the passage of the tax levy by the city, all using public funds and taxpayers dollars. In an email dated January 28, 2010, City Clerk Michelle Johnson sent an email to Joel G. from Avakian, making it clear what the primary purpose of the relationship was: passage of the levy.

I urge you, if you are a Xenia City resident to stand up to this injustice, to the unjust ways in which the City of Xenia is spending your money, and the ways in which the city is trying to manipulate you and your voting intentions. Please join us on the Stop Xenia Tax Facebook page and voice your opinion about this attempt to undermine your authority as a citizen, and the blatant mismanagement of public funds.

The Ugly Truth: It's about Union Contracts!

Recently a very motivated citizen had the chance to sift through the 160+ pages of the Xenia City budget and wrote the following:

[Xenia] Union has taken concessions and wage freezes in the past 2 years, but haven't given anything up they have just delayed the inevitable..... they will get a 11% cost of living increase in 2011!! The City pays full ride health dental and life insurance for most of the City employees. The health insurance is a PPO plan with a $250 deductible for single person and a $500 deductible for family. The city could save 3-6% just buy asking the city employee's to pay for more, $750 deduct for single and $1500 for family. Could even save more if they put city employee's on a HSA plan with a $1500 deduct single and $3000 deduct for family, if the city partially fund the deduct by putting $750 for single and 1500 for family into the HSA account. At the end of the day the City could save the tax payers 3-5 hundred thousand dollars a year! The current cost to the City for Heath Insurance right now is $1.667 million. These r just estimates based on my meeting with a Anthem ins agent a few days ago.As i said before i have a complete City budget and personnel budget as of feb 15th.

Dear Xenia resident, will you vote to pay more taxes just to satisfy the outrageous Union benefits listed above? Please vote NO on Issue 7 on May 4, 2010!

Can you trust City of Xenia politicians?

Stay tuned - soon to be published: Internal Xenia City documents shine disturbing light into city processes and the City's disregard for the real needs of its citizens!

A FOIA request filed with the city of Xenia revealed internal documents, correspondence, contracts and discussions containing disturbing elements:

1. City of Xenia awarded no-bid contracts in violation of its own policies and city laws.
2. City of Xenia spent $4,000 of taxpayers funds on a biased community survey which was in fact a front for reading the community's possible response for a planned tax increase, and a clearly inappropriate spending of city funds.
3. City of Xenia spent $25,000 of taxpayers funds on a consultant to help sell the tax levy to the community, in apparent violation of Ohio Elections laws.
4. City of Xenia is using a "fact sheet" and the monthly utilities mailing process as means to advertise and promote the planned tax increase, in apparent violation of Ohio Elections law.
5. Rather than giving citizens honest and heart-to-heart answers, the City of Xenia is using a secret internal document called "TALKING POINTS" marked "***NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION***" which contains canned answers provided by outside consultants who are not even residents of Xenia, aimed at promoting and advertising Issue 7 by the city, in apparent violation of Ohio Election laws.

Copies of these documents and more will be made available here on this website, and we are counting on YOU, the resident of Xenia to step up and say "enough" to this kind of non-chalant attitude by City Management towards you and your hard-earned income.

Help stop the Xenia Tax Levy

This web page is an effort by Xenia City residents attempting to create awareness and put a stop to the Xenia City's efforts to raise our income tax by an astounding amount of 28.57%. The City placed the tax levy increase on the May 4 primary elections ballot as Issue 7.

The City of Xenia has mounted an aggressive marketing campaign to promote and provide support for the tax levy via websites and marketing materials mailed to the homes of city residents, so we need your support in defeating this measure.

What you can do to help defeat this measure:

1. Contact all your friends and family and let them know that the City of Xenia is trying to raise their income tax by 28.5% - tell them to VOTE NO ON ISSUE 7.
2. Tell every resident you know to go vote on May 4, 2010 and not stay home. The city places this measure on the May ballot for a reason, counting on only a few people voting such as city employees, union workers and those in favor of the tax increase.
3. Calling the city to complain will not help as they already created a "talking points" list in order to feed you canned answers when you contact them.
4. Call local newspapers, radio stations and media to let them know that you do not want this measure to pass.

Please contact us at stopxeniatax@gmail.com with questions.