A note to my neighbors
A plain explanation of the proposed charter amendment, written by me, Logan Junger, one of your council members, so you can read the facts and check them yourself.
I am voting yes, and this is the full case, so you can decide for yourself.
General election, Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Reading this page takes about five minutes, and every claim links to its source.
I. The ballot question · II. What changes · III. What doesn’t change · IV. The downtown buildings · V. Common questions · VI. The documents · VII. Who I am · How to vote
Section I
Madeira’s charter is the 1959 document that sets the rules for how our city government works. It has been amended at ten elections since. Beginning in 2024, Council’s Law and Safety Committee reviewed it section by section. The result is one ballot question that updates eight parts of the charter, including the rules for the three city‑owned historic buildings downtown, placed on the ballot by Ordinance No. 26‑05, by a vote of six in favor, none opposed, and one abstention.
Proposed Charter Amendment
City of MadeiraA majority affirmative vote is necessary for passage.
In plain terms: one amendment updating eight parts of the charter, from meeting notices to the historic district rules. Section II lists all eight in plain words.
Read the exact ballot language
The proposed amendment would amend Articles II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XVI, and XVII of the Charter of the City of Madeira and make related drafting changes throughout the Charter. If adopted, the amendment would:
- modernize terminology and gender references; add continuity and severability provisions; allow electronic notice of special Council meetings while increasing the minimum notice from 24 to 48 hours; clarify Council vacancy language; and move, without changing, the rule requiring three readings of ordinances and resolutions having the force of law;
- allow Council to appoint a qualified person to perform the Manager’s duties when the Manager cannot perform those duties for an extended period;
- eliminate the Treasurer office created by the Charter and the authority to combine the Clerk and Treasurer offices; replace the requirement that the Treasurer sign and the Manager countersign expenditure warrants with authorization by the Manager; require Council members and the Manager to agree annually on an administrative threshold for contracts and purchases, with Council approval above that amount and administrative approval below it; and revise public contracting notice and bid selection provisions;
- revise the Planning Commission’s source of authority to include municipal legislation; remove its duty to submit an annual five‑year capital improvement list; and allow the Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals not to meet when they have no business; and
- replace the Charter’s automatic protection of the Hosbrook House, Muchmore House, and Railroad Depot with Charter protection only for properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places or designated as historic by City ordinance; require qualifying properties to be preserved and maintained under applicable federal, state, and local guidelines to the greatest extent practicable; and provide that no property is subject to mandatory preservation, protection, location, or other restrictions under the Charter unless it is so listed or designated.
Shall the proposed charter amendment be adopted?
Yes
No
Sample ballots post in mid‑September; check yours then at votehamiltoncountyohio.gov
A majority “yes” adopts every change. A majority “no” leaves the charter exactly as it reads today.
Section II
Eight updates, in plain words.
1. Special meeting notice. The required notice grows from 24 hours to 48, and it can be sent by email.
2. Plain language. “Councilman” and “he” become neutral terms. No provision changes meaning.
3. Manager absence. If the Manager can’t serve for an extended period, Council may appoint a qualified person to fill in.
4. Treasurer office eliminated. The charter‑created Treasurer position, a 1959 job description, is removed. Expenditures are authorized by the Manager and must still be certified against the appropriation. The city’s FAQ says a professionally appointed Finance Director takes over the function.
5. Contract threshold. Instead of a fixed $10,000 line set decades ago, Council and the Manager agree each year on the amount above which contracts need a Council vote. Ohio’s competitive bidding rules still apply above the state threshold.
6. Planning Commission. Its authority now includes city ordinances as well as state law. It no longer has to submit an annual five‑year capital improvement list; the city handles capital planning through the annual budget and the Comprehensive Plan. It and the Board of Zoning Appeals may skip a month when there’s no business.
7. Housekeeping. Officials stay in office when amendments take effect; if a court strikes one part, the rest stands; newspaper‑ad requirements replaced with the methods Ohio law now allows; Council may reject all bids.
8. Historic buildings. Article XVI ties charter protection to National Register listing or a public Council ordinance, instead of naming three buildings. The details are in Section IV.
Section III
1. Your taxes. The amendment raises no tax and creates no fee.
2. Council‑Manager government. Council keeps its seven at‑large members, and a professional Manager keeps running daily operations.
3. Terms and term limits. They stay exactly as they are.
4. Three readings. Ordinances still get three readings unless five members vote to waive; the rule moves to a different article.
5. The Railroad Depot. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, protected before this vote and protected after it.
6. Initiative, referendum, recall, and your right to amend this charter. Every one of them stays in the charter, unchanged.
7. Open records and open meetings. Council business stays public, and city records stay open to any resident.
Section IV
This is the part most people ask about, so I will take it one piece at a time.
This vote does not decide what happens to these buildings. It decides whether the community is allowed to have a full, public conversation about the best use of this corner.
In the city’s 2023 survey
89%
of residents said more dining and entertainment would bring them downtown more often.
The full question was “Which of the following would make you more likely to visit Downtown Madeira?” Every response:
Why this corner matters so much: the 2025 assessment calls Miami and Railroad “effectively the heart of the retail district, the corner of Main and Main.” (Assessment, p.2)
7701 Railroad Ave.
Protected · nothing changes
It was built in 1866 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022. It sits partly on railroad property, it remains protected under the new language, and no one has proposed doing anything with it.
7010 Miami Ave.
Not eligible for the National Register
In 2015 the Ohio Historic Preservation Office found there wasn’t sufficient historical significance to include the house in a National Register district, and recommended leaving it out so the Depot’s nomination wasn’t jeopardized. A preservation consultant reached the same conclusion in 2021.
7014 Miami Ave.
Not eligible for the National Register
Both reviews reached the same finding for this house. It has been vacant since 2023, and a 2025 real estate assessment describes the interior as in poor condition and substandard for business use.
Article XVI.
Madeira Historic District / Preservation
The City of Madeira was deeded and assumed ownership of the “Hosbrook House” located at 7014 Miami Ave. and the “Muchmore House” located at 7010 Miami Ave. In addition to these two properties the City also has ownership of the historic Railroad Depot located at 7701 Railroad Ave. These three important and historic properties are to be preserved, protected, and left standing on the same ground that the structures were built upon. These three historic structures will be included in the “Historic District.”
Adopted by the voters on November 4, 2014 · full charter, PDF
What that sentence does in practice, in the words of the city’s 2023 appraiser:
The historic guidelines “prevent the removal and redevelopment of the subject site resulting in an inherent functional and external obsolescence.”
Pillar Valuation Group appraisal, 2023, as quoted in the Urban Fast Forward assessment, page 4
Read plainly, that means the current language bars any change to the two houses or the ground under them, no matter what residents prefer, and no matter what a public process concludes.
Nothing. Cleo Hosbrook’s attorney prepared the deeds. They contain no restriction on use and no requirement that the buildings remain.
The city’s 2023 appraisal put the Hosbrook House at $130,000, down 13 percent from its 2018 appraisal, and the Muchmore House at $210,000, down 9 percent. The Muchmore House is leased to a boutique through May 2026, with a tenant option to extend to 2031; the Hosbrook House has no tenant. The 2025 assessment’s blunt conclusion: the rents these buildings can earn won’t repay the investment they need. (Assessment, pp. 4, 8–9)
In 2025 the city hired Urban Fast Forward to assess the best commercial use of the two houses. The firm laid out four paths.
| Option | Under today’s charter |
|---|---|
| A. Sell as‑is at the best price, with the historic restrictions attached. The assessment’s caution: a sale “transfers site control to a present or future entity whose objectives may not align with community goals.” |
Allowed |
| B. Remove the designation so the land can be sold or developed, including new construction. | Requires charter change |
| C. Offer the houses to someone who would move and preserve them elsewhere in Madeira, freeing the corner. There is precedent: in 1962 the Leever House was moved from Laurel to Southside to make way for the Kroger. |
Requires charter change |
| D. Remove the designation to allow major redesign, such as linking the two houses or adding on. | Requires charter change |
Three of the four paths are closed today. The amendment doesn’t pick one. It lets the city and residents weigh all four in public.
The city’s CBD Master Plan drew a full redevelopment of this corner (the left‑hand drawing below).
Ms. Hosbrook gave the land; that year’s Streetscape Plan already showed a significantly altered restaurant structure at 7014 Miami.
A proposal to join or move the houses for the Swingline restaurant, supported by a majority of the Historical Society’s board, fell through; Swingline was built next door.
Voters added Article XVI by petition, over Council’s formal opposition. The state found the Depot qualified for the National Register and the houses did not.
After a taxpayer demand letter, a leader of the petition drive sued to block a land sale beside the Muchmore House. The courts sided with the city. (Case No. A1506891)
A preservation consultant reached the same conclusion the state had; the city nominated the Depot alone, and it joined the National Register in 2022.
In the city’s Comprehensive Plan survey, 89% of residents said more dining and entertainment would bring them downtown more often.
Council approved selling both houses for a wine bar at a November 4 special meeting. Eight days later the same attorney from the 2015 suit sent a taxpayer demand on behalf of a different resident; the city declined to sue, and no lawsuit followed. The full story is in the questions below.
The buyers withdrew in March, citing the designation’s limits, and the city commissioned the Urban Fast Forward assessment of the two houses.
A newly seated Law and Safety Committee proposed the revised Article XVI. Council passed Ordinance No. 26‑05 on July 13, six in favor, none opposed, one abstention, sending it to your November 3 ballot.
Proposed Article XVI.
The City of Madeira recognizes the value of preserving historically significant structures and sites within the community. Protection under this Charter shall apply only to properties that are officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places or that are designated as historic landmarks or districts through an ordinance adopted by City Council. Properties meeting these criteria shall be preserved and maintained in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local guidelines to the greatest extent practicable.
No property shall be subject to mandatory preservation, protection, location, or other restrictions under this Charter unless it has been formally listed on the National Register of Historic Places or designated as historic by City ordinance.
Every added and deleted word is marked in the redline, Ordinance 26‑05, Exhibit A, pp. 25–26
In plain terms: charter protection follows National Register listing or a public Council ordinance. The rules are clear and written down. Any decision about these buildings would happen in the open, on the record, at noticed public meetings you can attend, with plans posted on the city’s Looking Ahead: Downtown Madeira page and a survey you can answer. The city’s own Looking Ahead page says it the same way: “A ‘yes’ vote does not require redevelopment or create immediate changes.”
Section V
Yes. The Depot is on the National Register, so it’s protected under the new language automatically. “Greatest extent practicable” is standard preservation language; it means the city must follow preservation guidelines in any work it does, except where something is physically or legally out of its hands, such as the portion of the site the railroad owns. No one has proposed changing the Depot.
The Manager authorizes expenditures, and every one must be certified as covered by the appropriation Council adopted. The city’s FAQ says a professionally appointed Finance Director will run day‑to‑day finance. Council still adopts the budget, the state still audits at least every two years, and every record stays public.
The $10,000 figure was set decades ago. Now Council and the Manager set the number each year, in an open meeting, so it can track inflation without another charter election. Everything above it still needs a Council vote; everything above the state bidding threshold still goes to competitive bid. And every dollar still appears in the public appropriation Council adopts.
The city plans capital through the annual budget and the Comprehensive Plan. The charter requirement duplicated that. Council still controls every capital dollar through the budget and the capital improvement reserve fund.
State law allows either. Council chose one question because the changes came out of one review and read as one document. A version was ready in 2025 (Ordinance 25‑10), and Council held it off that fall’s ballot so the downtown assessment could be weighed first; at a July 2025 hearing, the Chamber of Commerce told Council the business community favored that more strategic approach. The redline marks every word added or removed, so nothing hides in the bundle.
Property negotiations are one of the few things Ohio law lets a council discuss in executive session. The decision itself was made in public: Council voted at a noticed special meeting on November 4, 2024, and the city published the terms the same week. Agendas and minutes for every meeting are on the city’s website.
Council approved selling both houses at a noticed special meeting on November 4, 2024, and the city announced the terms the same week: $280,000, with a commitment of at least $60,000 in reinvestment. Eight days later a taxpayer demand arrived, sent by the same attorney who had brought the 2015 suit, this time on behalf of a different resident. It insisted the city go to court to undo its own sale, with a copy to the nonprofit intermediary handling the transaction. The law director declined, no lawsuit followed, and Council voted to cover the intermediary’s legal costs. In March 2025 the buyers withdrew, having found the property “unworkable as it stands, specifically citing the limitations of historic designation,” and said they’d continue talking if the designation were removed. The 2025 assessment records one other recent expression of interest: a former mayor exploring a podcast studio in the Hosbrook House. (The announcement · the November 25 minutes · the demand letter · the city’s response · assessment, p.8)
Once. In December 2015, after a taxpayer demand letter, a leader of the 2014 petition drive sued to block the city’s sale of vacant land beside the Muchmore House for the Swingline project, arguing it violated the new Article XVI. The Court of Common Pleas ruled for the city, the First District Court of Appeals affirmed, and the sale closed in 2017. The full complaint, including the deed, Council’s Resolution 10‑14 opposing the 2014 amendment, and the demand letter, is in the documents below. (Case No. A1506891)
The deeds say nothing about preservation. The 2014 charter language was added by a ballot petition 25 years after the gift. The state’s own preservation office twice found the houses didn’t qualify for the National Register.
The city can, and that option stays open. The 2025 assessment says the rent the houses can earn won’t cover the investment they need, and that the city being a landlord is “a distracting business for government.” What today’s charter blocks is every other path: a renovation that changes the building’s envelope, a move, or a sale for redevelopment. The amendment doesn’t force a choice. It allows the conversation.
This is one question that covers many changes. The scope came out of a deliberate, section by section review, and every update is connected to the same purpose: modernizing the charter to serve this community for the years ahead while keeping the vision and heart of the people who founded it. Even so, you vote on the whole package at once, and for some neighbors that makes this a genuinely tough decision. And if you believe the two houses should stand exactly where they are, permanently, today’s charter is the strongest tool for that; this amendment replaces it with a public process. A no vote keeps every current rule exactly as it is. The rest of this page is my case for yes. The decision is yours.
Section VI
You do not have to take my word for any of this. The documents are short, and they are all here.
The 2015 taxpayer lawsuit
Verified complaint & exhibits, Case No. A1506891 · filed Dec. 18, 2015 · 35 pages
Open PDF ↗Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Polls are open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
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Dates and hours from the Ohio Secretary of State’s 2026 voting schedule and the Hamilton County Board of Elections.
