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The city of Mason and Top Gun Sales Performance launched the opening of the new Mason Tech Center on May 22, 2013. From left are Mason Mayor David Nichols and Top Gun owners Becky and Steven Osborne. The Enquirer/Rachel Richardson

Top Gun Sales Force owner Steven Osborne needed a larger space to grow his global sales training and operational support business.

Mason city officials wanted to woo high-tech jobs to vacant office space in the heart of the city.

The solution: A unique public-private partnership Mason Mayor David Nichols describes as a “win-win-win” for attracting and nurturing high-tech job growth in Mason.

On Wednesday, city and business officials celebrated the culmination of that collaboration with the opening of the Mason Tech Center.

The partnership launched in late 2011 after Osborne scouted for larger office space to accommodate his fast-growing company of 90 employees.

After considering locations in West Chester and Blue Ash, Osborne approached the city about the former CNG Financial building at 5155 Financial Way, off Mason-Montgomery Road.

With 68,000 square feet, the building offered more than double the space needed by Top Gun — but at a considerable extra cost.

And so, an agreement was reached: The City of Mason and the Mason Port Authority each provided $200,000 loans to support Top Gun’s $4-million relocation.

In return, Top Gun will provide discounted second-floor office space for start-up digital information technology and bio-health IT companies.

Not only are the lease rates “ridiculously low,” said Osborne, but they also include a variety of amenities including utilities, security, internet and janitorial services. Rents are set to gradually increase with lease renews, typically every three years, he said.

“Class A office space goes for about $16 a square foot and that doesn’t include a lot of those amenities. Many of the tenants are in here at $8 and $10 a square foot, some of them at 50 percent market rate. That’s how we’re paying the city back,” said Osborne.

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Posted in: Business, News |

Tags: Tags: biohealth, city of mason, david nichols, mason, mason tech center, mayor, start-ups, steven osborne, tech, top gun sales force

Cliff Turrell won Mason’s calendar photo contest in 2012 with his photo “Proud of our Heritage and Town.” Provided

Wednesday is the deadline to enter the City of Mason’s annual calendar photo contest.

Photos must have been taken in Mason city limits in 2012 or later.  Entry forms are available online at www.imaginemason.org/things-to-do.  Digital entries are preferred and can be e-mailed with entries to PIO@masonoh.org.

Professionally printed or digital entries may also be mailed or dropped off to the Mason Municipal Center, attn. Calendar Photo Contest, at 6000 Mason-Montgomery Road, Mason, Ohio 45040.

Contest winners will be selected in May.  The calendar will be available for purchase by the time of the Heritage Festival in August.

Posted in: Community, News |

Tags: Tags: calendar, city of mason, deadline, heritage festival, mason, photo contest

Douglas Boucher, 39, of Mason died after a 2009 tasing incident with Mason Police. Boucher’s family has filed a a lawsuit in federal court against the city and two officers involved.  Provided photo

The city of Mason and two police officers have asked the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a federal judge’s ruling denying them immunity in a civil lawsuit filed by the family of an unarmed, mentally ill Mason man who died after a confrontation with police.

Gary F. Becker, a Cincinnati attorney representing Mason and both officers, filed an appeal Thursday arguing the court should overturn Judge S. Arthur Spiegel’s March 22 decision to deny qualified and sovereign immunity to the city and officers.

Qualified immunity shields public officials from legal liability unless they knowingly violated a person’s clearly established legal or constitutional rights. Sovereign immunity is a legal doctrine that makes it difficult for private citizens to sue the government.

• Judge lets Mason stun-gun death suit go forward
• Details of the confrontation
• Read the judge’s ruling

The case centers on Douglas Boucher, who died on Dec. 13, 2009 after two Mason police officers Tased him seven times, kicked and repeatedly struck him with a baton — all mostly after he had fallen face-first onto cement and stopped moving.

The suit alleges Mason Police Officers Daniel Fry and Sean McCormick unreasonably seized and used excessive force on Boucher, 39, and that the city of Mason failed to adequately train and supervise officers’ use of Tasers or conduct a meaningful investigation of the incident.

Neither officer was disciplined, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation cleared both of wrongdoing.

The suit demands a jury trial and seeks compensatory damages and legal costs. It also asks for punitive damages against the officers, not the city.

“Qualified immunity is specifically designed to protect the officers not only from liability, but from the prospect of having to go through the rigors of a trial,” said Becker. “The city has elected to avail themselves of that right to appeal that decision now.”

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Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: appeal, city of mason, civil suit, daniel fry, doug boucher, douglas boucher, excessive force, gary becker, jennifer branch, lawsuit, mason, mason police, sean mccormick, sixth circuit court of appeals, speedway, taser, tasing

The city of Mason, AssureRx Health Inc. and BioOhio are teaming up to hold the Ohio Biomedical & Pharma career fair in Mason today.

Twelve local bioscience companies are expected to participate in the fair, which takes place from 2-6 p.m. at the Mason Municipal Center, 6000 Mason-Montgomery Road.

More than 150 job-seekers are expected to take part in the event, which is free and open to the public.

Companies represented include: Advanced Testing Laboratory, Aerotek Scientific, Alliance Scientific, Amylin Ohio, AptalisPharmatech, Assurex Health, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Forest Pharmaceuticals, Lab Support, Medpace and Patheon Pharmaceuticals

Tours of AssureRx’s health genetics lab and the Mason Community Center will also be offered.  AssureRx develops diagnostic tests that help physicians prescribe optimal medications for neuropsychiatric patients.

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Posted in: Events |

Tags: Tags: assurerx health, bio-medical, bioohio, bioscence, career fair, city of mason, job, mason, ohio

New to Mason? Meet your neighbors and get involved at the next Mason Coffee event at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Mason Community Center.

The informal, family-friendly gatherings are hosted by Community Basket representative Courtney Allen and sponsored by the City of Mason and the Northeast Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.

Get a tour of the Mason Community Center and a one-day free pass to try out the programs offered there. Complimentary refreshments will be provided by Meet Me on Main Cafe.

The gatherings are held on the first Wednesday of each month at the Mason Community Center, 6050 Mason-Montgomery Road. For more information, call the center at 513-229-8555.

Posted in: Community, Events |

Tags: Tags: city of mason, coffee, community basket, courtnet allen, mason, mason community center, new, northeast cincinnati chamber of commerce, residents

Douglas Boucher, 39, of Mason died after a 2009 tasing incident with Mason Police. Boucher’s family has filed a a lawsuit in federal court against the city, police department and two officers involved. . Provided photo

A federal judge on Friday refused to throw out a civil rights lawsuit filed in the case of an unarmed, mentally ill Mason man who died after a confrontation with police.

Judge S. Arthur Spiegel denied a request by the city of Mason to dismiss the suit filed by the family of Douglas Boucher, who died on Dec. 13, 2009 after two Mason police officers Tased him seven times, kicked and repeatedly struck him with a baton — all mostly after he had fallen face-first onto cement and stopped moving.

The suit alleges Mason Police Officers Daniel Fry and Sean McCormick unreasonably seized and used excessive force on Boucher, 39, and that the city of Mason failed to adequately train and supervise officers’ use of Tasers or conduct a meaningful investigation of the incident.

Neither officer was disciplined, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation cleared both of wrongdoing.

The two officers apprehended Boucher after a 19-year-old clerk at the Speedway gas station on Reading Road reported to them that the 6-foot-tall, 290-pound musician allegedly made a lewd comment to her.

When officers tried to take Boucher into custody, police say he punched Fry in the head twice and then chased the store clerk. Fry shot Boucher in the back with his Taser, the shock of which knocked Boucher face-first onto the pavement.

• Read more details of the confrontation
• Read the judge’s ruling

Boucher died of a skull fracture sustained from the fall, although Butler County Deputy Coroner James Swinehart said he couldn’t rule out that the seven Taser shocks contributed to his death.

Mason had requested the case be dismissed, arguing the officers acted reasonably and within the bounds of the law in response to an encounter with an aggressive subject who resisted and assaulted officers.

While Spiegel dismissed the plaintiff’s claim that stopping Boucher was a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights, he denied the officers qualified immunity.

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Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: al gerhardstein, city of mason, cyril wecht, daniel fry, daubert, death, denied, doug boucher, douglas boucher, excessive force, gary becker, jennifer branch, lawsuit, mason, mason police department, s. arthur spiegel, sean mccormick, taser, tasing, u.s. district court, unreasonable siezure, wrongful death

Two state grants awarded to the city of Mason will help pave the way to increased business development in the city.

The city has received a $150,000 Ohio Department of Development 629 grant and an additional $50,000 through the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Office of Jobs and Commerce.

Both projects will be used to complete an extension of Alliance Drive in the Lakewood Commerce Park off Mason-Montgomery Road, north of downtown Mason.

The city constructed the roadway three years ago as part of a development deal in which the city received property to construct Mason Fire Station 51 in exchange for building the roadway, said City Manager Eric Hansen.

The roadway extension will connect to the site of a proposed new meat processing plant. Empire Foods purchased 21 acres of land in November and has plans to build a $7 million, 90,000-square-fot manufacturing and packing plant on the parcel, according to city officials.

The project will create 200 jobs within three years of operation, generating an estimated $5 million in annual payroll. Construction of the plant is expected to be finished by the end of next year.

The roadway extension also opens up 11 acres of light industrial ground within the park, making it an attractive site for developers, said Hansen.

“If it weren’t for (the road construction), that would be additional cost borne by the business to get access for their property. This takes the additional burden off the company,” he said.

The two grants cover 50 percent of the road construction’s cost, with the additional amount funded through the city and developer Henkle Schueler, he said.

Work is already underway on the roadway extension and is expected to be completed by early summer, said Hansen.

Posted in: Business, News |

Tags: Tags: alliance drive, business, city of mason, construction, development, empire foods, eric hansen, grants, henkle schueler, mason, meat processing plant, state grants

Douglas Boucher, 39, of Mason died after a 2009 tasing incident with Mason Police. Boucher’s family has filed a a lawsuit in federal court against the city, police department and two officers involved. . Provided photo

A federal judge will decide if a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the city of Mason and two police officers should move forward in U.S. District Court.

Judge S. Arthur Spiegel Tuesday heard arguments in two motions filed by the city in the case of Douglas Boucher, who died in 2009 after Mason police shocked him with Tasers

Attorneys for the city filed both a motion for summary judgment in the case and to exclude the expert opinion testimony of Dr. Cyril H. Wecht concerning the alleged cause of death.

The suit alleges Officers Daniel Fry and Sean McCormick unreasonably seized and used “dangerous” and “excessive” force on Boucher, 39, who was mentally ill when he died on Dec. 13, 2009 after he was Tased seven times in the parking lot of a Speedway gas station.

The suit, filed by renowned Cincinnati civil rights lawyer Al Gerhardstein, demands a jury trial and seeks compensatory and punitive damages from the city of Mason and the two officers.

Officers Fry and McCormick were at the Speedway gas station on Reading Road the night of the incident when Boucher allegedly made a lewd comment to the 19-year-old clerk. The frightened clerk reported the incident to the officers and told them Boucher had made the same comment to her earlier that day, according to court records.

The two officers approached Boucher, a 6-foot-tall, 290-pound musician who had untreated bipolar disorder, and asked him to go outside. When Boucher tried to get in his car to leave, McCormick said he approached Boucher from behind and put a hand on his shoulder.

Boucher allegedly then spun around, clenched his fists and screamed at McCormick, who said he pulled his Taser and ordered Fry to handcuff Boucher. Fry said he cuffed Boucher’s left wrist when Boucher turned and punched the officer in the head twice.

McCormick said he then deployed the Taser on Boucher, shocking him in the chest and causing him to fall to his knees. The officers say Boucher then spotted the clerk outside, got up — dislodging the Taser probes in the process — and ran toward her while screaming.

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Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: al gerhardstein, city of mason, cyril wecht, daniel fry, death, doug boucher, douglas boucher, excessive force, gary becker, jennifer branch, lawsuit, mason, mason police department, s. arthur spiegel, sean mccormick, taser, tasing, u.s. district court, unreasonable siezure, wrongful death

The city of Mason is on the fast-track to hiring nine additional full-time firefighter/paramedics positions.

Six of those positions were made possible thanks largely to a two-year $1.1 million grant awarded through FEMA. The three other hires are to fill existing positions, said Fire Chief John Moore.

The Staffing Adequate Fire Emergency Response — or SAFER — grant is a competitive grant program that aids departments in hiring personnel to meet staffing standards established by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

The new positions will swell the department’s ranks to 36 full-time firefighters/paramedics, in addition to six uniformed personnel, including the chief and deputy chiefs, said Moore.

The hiring process is mostly complete and the new hires could be on the payroll as soon as the end of March, he said.

Current staffing demands are split 50-50 amongst the department’s full-time staff and 24 part-time firefighters, only half of whom are also paramedics. The new positions will reduce dependence on part-time personnel by about 15 percent, said Moore.

The grant covers between 66-75 percent of the costs of the new employees, he said. Costs to maintain those positions after the two-year grant’s end have been factored into the department’s future budget predictions.

“We hope that will stabilize the staffing and allow us to staff to the national standard levels of staffing,” said Moore.

City Manager Eric Hansen said the move is a cost-cutting one that will save the department money over time.

“If you can get part-time firefighters and if you can get them consistently, that’s a cheaper way to staff than full time,” he said. “But they become increasingly difficult to get and when they’re not there, that creates a hole that often is filled with overtime, which is more expensive than full time.”

The department struggles with about a 25 percent attrition rate amongst part-time staffers, said Moore. Administrative costs are also incurred in training and equipping such a large part-time staff.

“That’s kind of the nature of the beast. They’re looking for a full-time job and we’re looking for quality people and the people who get the (full-time) jobs are quality people,” he explained. “We’re competing for those good people. They come and then move on to full-time jobs. It’s a competitive world.”

The city maintains two fire stations, which handle more than 3,600 calls each year. Its annual emergency services budget is around $5.9 million, said Moore.

Posted in: Community, News |

Tags: Tags: city of mason, employment, eric hansen, fema, firefighters, hire, jobs, john moore, mason, mason fire department, paramedics, positions, safer, staffing adequete fire emergency response

Eric Hansen

The city of Mason’s credit is tops with Wall Street.

Moody’s Investors Service affirmed the city’s AAA bond rating this month, citing Mason’s diverse tax base, stable financial operations supported by healthy cash reserves and manageable debt burden.

The AAA credit rating, the highest rating a municipality can receive, means that Mason will have a lower interest rate and it will cost the city less to borrow money, translating to a savings of about $700,000 in 2013, said City Manager Eric Hansen.

The city first received the rating in 2010, he said.

“That is an extremely rare rating, especially for municipalities,” said Hansen.  “It’s higher than the state of Ohio has. It’s higher than pretty much most municipalities in the state.”

Other Greater Cincinnati communities with a AAA credit rating include Montgomery and West Chester.  Ohio’s credit rating is AA2.

Hansen credits the city’s aggressive approach to attracting new businesses as a factor in the credit rating.

Mason has seen a string of high-profile development deals in recent years, including Seapine Software’s new $7 million technical center on Western Row Road, and headquarters expansions by Intelligrated Inc., AssureRx Health Inc., Rhinestahl Corp. and Top Gun Sales Performance.

“The city thinks like businesses think. We know the type of environment businesses appreciate and contribute to their success,” he said.

Posted in: Business, City Council, News |

Tags: Tags: aaa, city of mason, credit rating, eric hansen, mason, moody's investors service