CINCINNATI — For the first time in months, the regularly scheduled meeting of the Hamilton County Veterans Service Commission met with a full board of commissioners and the executive director in attendance.
Executive Director William Boettcher wasn't willing to face questions tied to his office's operations for the first WCPO Homefront report that focused on the office's spending and overall services they provide for veterans. This was the first time the public had the chance to hear from him and have the chance to ask questions. WCPO was the only station in attendance.
Throughout the meeting, there were productive conversations about bus routes and wrapping Metro buses with advertising for the county Veterans Service Office. There were suggestions to change the monthly meeting to a bi-weekly meeting to more quickly advance changes or approve items to better assist veterans. There was also an update from Administrative Assistant Pam Minser on the progress of updates to the commission website.
Newly appointed Commissioner Urulee Watson mentioned the need to create committees to be assigned tasks to accomplish things tied to transportation, financial aid and other issues to assist with accountability. An issue he pointed out shortly after the meeting began as he referenced the previous meeting minutes.
“There was a list of items attached to that meeting,” he said. “There was no action taken on them in the January meeting and my concern was why were they there, and what were we going to do with them. Were they action items, were they discussion items or what kind of items were they?”
He pointed out in his opinion that some of the items appeared to have more importance than others. The list in question is tied to the Hamilton County Veterans Service Commission website, their advertising, outreach, interviews, referrals, staffing and budget.
“Was there any action taken on these issues,” he asked.
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Commissioner Jerry Rowland and Commission President Robert Brewster responded yes, to which Watson questioned that there was no record in the commission minutes as to what, if any, action was taken on any of the issues listed.
Commissioner Jean Wilson suggested that Pamela Minser, the administrative assistant for the office, could "look at the list and go one by one what we discussed" to which Watson responded, "That should be on the record of what we did with it."
“There was no action taken on a lot of that stuff,” interjected Boettcher.
Minser and other commissioners claimed they were still reaching out for details, and nothing finalized had come about regarding many of the items.
Watson responded.
“There are a lot of items that we deal with,” he said. “Some of them are action items, some of them are information items, some of them are discussion items. How do you know which is which if you don’t have a record of what you did with those items in the meeting.”
On the point of meeting agendas and the lack of information, Commissioner Steven Staniford brought up the need to either audio record or video record their meetings moving forward to allow for better accountability and transparency of their overall operations for the general public and veteran population they serve.
“If we were able to video record and broadcast it on YouTube, it solves a whole lot of headaches for this office because it would be posted for everyone to see,” Staniford said.
Watson said he agreed with those concerns of transparency while Commission President Bob Brewster didn’t see a need for the suggestion.
“We’ve never done that before,” Brewster responded. “I don’t see the mechanics of that. I don’t see the necessity.”
The issue of violating Ohio Sunshine Laws popped its head up again at this meeting despite previous Homefront reports pointing out that the monthly meetings didn’t follow the laws that govern how public meetings are to operate.
As Brewster motioned to go into executive session, he was interrupted by Eric Munas from the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office who advised Brewster that he was there to ensure they were following proper procedure and then explained the law to the commission.
Once the corrected motions were made the executive session began.
The executive session lasted 51 minutes and upon entering the conference room following the meeting Brewster welcomed everyone back after what he described as a "heated discussion" during executive session.
While the details tied to financial aid and other items are kept within the executive session, Staniford mentioned in the open discussion following the session that he had asked Brewster, Rowland and Wilson to step down from their positions. He told those in attendance that they all denied the request.
Minutes later, a back-and-forth between Staniford and Boettcher began.
“Are you a protected employee or an at-will director as the ORC states,” Staniford said.
“At will, I’d have to be,” Boettcher said. “And more importantly at my will.”
“And also, at the commission's will,” Staniford replied.
Boettcher chuckled to himself and then mumbled under his breath, “asshole.”
“I do have hearing aids, but I can hear that,” Staniford said.
“That’s good,” Boettcher replied.
“Do you want to state in a public meeting loud enough so she can get it in the meeting minutes?” Staniford said.
“I don’t care,” Boettcher replied. “Just do what you got to do; I don’t care.”
Staniford requested that Brewster include the comment in the minutes of the meeting.
This took place in front of a group of citizens watching the public portion of the meeting including Mike Riley, Commander of VFW District 4.
“Excuse me, sir,” he said to Boettcher. “What did you call him?”
“An asshole,” Boettcher replied.
“That is absolutely, unequivocally unwarranted. You do not have the right to call this man a name in a public forum and you should step down. I believe that you’ve been here for 32 years, and maybe 30 years too long. You exude the confidence of somebody who rules with an iron fist. It’s time for you and maybe some of you other ones to step down.”
“Not a bad idea,” replied Boettcher before Rowland replied back to Riley saying he didn’t have any idea what they do.
“I request that you retire as well,” Riley said.
Anchor Craig McKee asked Boettcher directly after the meeting if he would issue an apology to Staniford for the statement.
“No, not from what I’ve seen from him and heard from him up to this point, no,” Boettcher said.
McKee then asked Boettcher if he should remain the executive director.
“I don’t know. You know I’m 77 years old, maybe it’s a good time to go to Hawaii,” Boettcher replied.
That discussion aside there were other issues discussed during the meeting.
Staniford suggested the commission approve the hiring of more Veteran Service Officers, stating that according to the Ohio Revised Code, the office should be operating with eight officers and support staff to match the increased work. He said that number is directly tied to the veteran population in the county. The office he says currently operates with 4 VSO members. Boettcher replied that they had budgeted for this year to increase by one.
There was also a discussion about the lack of space within their current location at 230 E. 9th St. to be able to expand personnel. Boettcher and Staniford signaled they had both been in contact with Hamilton County regarding a possible new location. The specific location of the building was not mentioned.
Despite discussion of these topics, there were no formal motions officially voted on and passed, other than approval of the previous minutes, current agenda, and voting in officers.
Commissioner Jean Wilson and Commissioner Urulee Watson agreed verbally to discuss with one another outside of the meeting on the types of committees they believe would be necessary to form. They confirmed to Anchor Craig McKee that the meeting would only involve two commissioners.
Brewster said they’ll meet to discuss that at the next meeting which is set for March 13 at 2 p.m.
If you have a veteran story to tell in your community, email homefront@wcpo.com. You also can join the Homefront Facebook group, follow Craig McKee on Facebook and find more Homefront stories here.
