NEW MIAMI, Ohio — Just outside Hamilton in the small village of New Miami, there's a big divide between council members and some residents.
It stems from an incident last month. At the time, WCPO 9 interviewed Mayor Jewel Hensley who said that with the frigid temperatures, she wanted to open the village town hall as a warming shelter for the homeless.
She claimed some council members and employees at the town hall fought the idea, forcing her to open the shelter somewhere else.
You can hear more on how the mayor found an alternative below:
“They didn’t want the homeless in there, they didn’t want us to open up as a warming center," Hensley said last month. "I didn't want to argue with them."
Now some people are saying that's not the full story.
The village council met Thursday night and discussed the incident. Some people accused the mayor of lying, with letters written by some town hall employees calling for the mayor to resign.
Hensley stood by what she did and told everyone she had no plans to resign.
Among those calling the mayor out was Howard Beare, who is on the board of public affairs for the New Miami Water Department.
Watch the tense moments from Thursday's village council meeting here:
Beare said no one was against the idea of a warming center, but it could have been handled better. He said Hensley's claim that some town hall employees and council members didn't want to open up the town hall to the homeless is not true.
"They never said don't do it, they just wanted to make sure that some things were in place before the people were brought over," Beare said.
Beare said he doesn't necessarily want Hensley to resign, but he's worried about how her actions have impacted employees and their families. He said he's tired of the bickering and finger-pointing, and noted he just wants the village to be more united.
"I just hope that the council and the mayor and the employees can work more together," said Beare said.
