Golf Manor Police Activity Reports
Mayor Densmore initiated monthly Activity Reports of the Golf Manor Police Department, to better inform residents of Police Initiatives, Citations, Safety Events and Priorities. He has also outlined a plan for the Police Department to establish a Community Watch collaboration with residents to proactively address community concerns. There are many advantages of having our own police department, most significantly how much more residents and police come to know and trust one another. Mayor Densmore supports initiatives that bring a closer relationship between our police officers and ALL members of our community, building friendship and trust for greater security and quicker response times. Mayor Densmore honors the sacrifices made by peace officers, while taking very seriously the role of elected representatives in making sure that residents have a department they can trust and respect.
Speed Bumps throughout the Village!
Mayor Densmore is VERY proud that we have managed to get speed bumps on just about every street block of the village. When he became mayor one of the first inquiries he made to the village administrator was how to get speed humps throughout the village, as exist in several surrounding communities. Thanks to Federal and State funding for road projects successfully captured by the administration, speed bumps now reside on almost every residential street in the village! Mayor Densmore supports infrastructure initiatives that promote safety for the residents and businesses of Golf Manor.
New Playground Equipment in the Park!
Mayor Densmore created a Parks Task Force, specifically to receive input from the parents and kids in the community about what new playground equipment they would like to see in the village parks. Prior to this, the municipality was making choices without wide input from the community. Mayor Densmore personally went door-to-door throughout the village and visited local childcare centers soliciting input from Golf Manor residents. With Mayor Densmore’s leadership, we will continue to do the same and seek to increasingly reach more residents for input in municipal decision making.
Publicly Accessible Strategic Plan for the Village
Mayor Densmore published the FIRST publicly accessible Strategic Plan for the Village of Golf Manor, successfully gaining unanimous support from the various factions of the Village Council. It is an ambitious plan, worthy of the hopes and dreams we all have for the future of the Village. Built into the document are provisions for community input into the priorities pursued by the administration, as well as stewardship for future generations. You can view the strategic plan on Mayor Densmore’s “Values and Priorities” page.
WeThrive Health and Wellness Partnership with Hamilton County Public Health
This partnership initiated by Mayor Densmore provides the Village with grants and programming to benefit all residents. Having a background in Community Mental Health, Mayor Densmore was aware when he first joined council, of partnerships with the Hamilton County Public Health Board available to municipalities that asked for it. Mayor Densmore made the council aware of one of these partnerships, called the WeThrive initiative, which brings grants and programming to benefit health and wellness in communities. Consequently, the Village of Golf Manor officially joined the WeThrive initiative and have subsequently received several grants to provide health and wellness programming, as well as infrastructure improvements in our parks.
Executive Board Member for the First Suburbs Consortium of Southwest Ohio.
Mayor Densmore was asked to join the executive board of the First Suburbs Consortium of Southwest Ohio, which advocates for communities like Golf Manor across the region, to secure more grant opportunities and best practices for revitalization of our local neighborhood and greater community. The honor is one of many that Mayor Densmore has received regionally for his service in Golf Manor. Regional partnerships mean more opportunities for our village, both for new infrastructure and services, as well as external funding. Mayor Densmore is committed to best practices for implementing new creative ideas for the revitalization of Golf Manor and similar suburban villages.
Changing Tables in Municipal Restrooms
Mayor Densmore was able to secure a grant from Procter & Gamble to obtain changing tables for all our municipal restrooms, including those in the park and in the municipal building. As a father of six kids, Mayor Densmore changed a LOT of diapers, and knows how frustrating it can be to not have a changing table available. Dad’s are more hands-on than previous generations when it comes to changing diapers, though diaper changing stations are still not always readily available in men’s public restrooms. That’s no longer the case in the Village of Golf Manor, thanks to Mayor Densmore!
More Trees!
Mayor Densmore initiated the Mayor’s Tree Program, securing funding from the Duke Energy Foundation to plant more trees in public spaces of the village, and to give residents FREE trees to plant in their yards. Mayor Densmore creatively secured funding to maintain this program without cost to the village. The goals of the program are to increase the tree canopy of the Village from its current level of 30.5% to over 40% for climate resiliency, prioritizing the creation of shade along streets, sidewalks, and within community gathering areas. The program aims to plant more trees in the village annually, in alignment with Mayor Densmore’s commitment to a more beautiful and climate-resilient Village. The Mayor’s Tree Program Application Form
Serving As Mayor During the COVID-19 State of Emergency.
Mask Mandate at Village Bus Stops. At the onset of the pandemic Mayor Densmore quickly saw the danger to residents and acted on several protective initiatives faster than the State of Ohio. Mayor Densmore issued a mask mandate to be in effect at public bus stops within the Village until the expiration of the Governor’s Declaration of the COVID-19 State of Emergency. Mayor Densmore’s mask mandate preceded by several months the mask mandate that would eventually be declared by the Ohio Department of Transportation for all bus stops in Ohio. Mayor Densmore recognized that many Golf Manor residents who are senior citizens, or battling chronic illness, are dependent on public transportation– and that consequently bus stops were areas of significant risk to their safety– and acted quickly to protect them.
FREE N95 masks. Mayor Densmore also initiated and lead a successful effort to provide FREE N95 masks to all the residents of the Village during the pandemic. The Village of Golf Manor was one of the only municipalities in the Hamilton County Ohio to offer N95 masks free to all residents. Mayor Densmore was able to provide these masks without cost to the Village.
Honoring Golf Manor Healthcare Professionals. Mayor Densmore initiated and lead a successful effort to honor residents who continued to work in the healthcare sector, despite risk to themselves, during the COVID-19 State of Emergency. He and a group of volunteers hand-delivered to each residence in the Village a request for help in identifying these residents. The replies that were received were compiled for a public proclamation honoring their service. Mayor Densmore invited Hamilton County Health Commissioner, Greg Kesterman, to help thank and honor each healthcare worker in attendance, by providing each with a personal framed copy of the proclamation, and photo to remember the ceremony (Note: you can see these photos and the text of the proclamation on the Village website).
Annual Juneteenth Celebrations!
Mayor Densmore supported the creation of village’s inaugural Juneteenth Celebration. Often when something is being done for the first time, the process can be slowed to the point of standstill, and even abandonment, as all the t’s are crossed and all the i’s dotted. Mayor Densmore gave specific direction to our administration and council to afford the residents planning the event more leeway and assistance given the significance of the event. This upset some who felt such affordances hadn’t been granted in the same way to other projects. As Mayor, decisions like this need to be made even if it means you personally take the fallout. Mayor Densmore is proud of his decision and the fact that during his term in office Juneteenth has become an annual village celebration.
Bringing Back the Recreation Commission
In January of 2020 Mayor Densmore created a Plan to Relaunch the Recreation Commission, which had disintegrated. The plan included the creation of a Community Engagement Committee to recruit the necessary number of commissioners. Frustratingly, two months later the COVID Pandemic struck and the full efforts at community engagement, and public recreation in general, were put on hold in the interest of public safety. Last year, with national confidence rising about the safety of public gatherings, the community engagement committee was able to effectively recruit community support for several successful community events. With these positive results, this year the community engagement committee began actively recruiting for the new Recreation Commission.
Incumbent on the successful launch of a new Recreation Commission is an understanding of why the old one eventually failed. In his first year in office, Mayor Densmore identified the cause. The old Recreation Commission had not been in compliance with the village charter for a number of years, having too few members to legally spend money. In response to this, when the village charter was changed, in 2019, a provision was included that changed the way the Commission is structured— allowing for changes in the commission to occur by village ordinance, rather than direct vote by the residents. Soon after this, an ordinance was reportedly passed that changed the required number of commission members, such that quorum was easier to meet, for meetings and spending of recreation funds.* Even with this change, the commission continued to struggle to meet quorum, and despite the honorable efforts of commission volunteers, eventually burned out. Changing the rules didn’t fix the problem, e.g., lowering the number of commission members for quorum was not the correct direction to take. The true problem was that we failed in community engagement, both in terms of recruiting new membership, and in terms of seeking more broad based input from the community, about recreational activities of interest. To be clear, this was not the fault of the volunteers who selflessly continued to operate the commission. It was a failure of leadership.
The lack of engagement with our diverse community undermined the success of the commission. Mayor Densmore’s successful response through community engagement has produced a slate of diverse community members, enough to fill the positions well beyond quorum for the new Recreation Commission!
Designing Committee Structure to Increase Transparency of Village Decision Making.
As Mayor, Stefan has the authority to create committees and assign members to them in service of the Village. Mayor Densmore has used this authority to balance factions on Council, and promote transparency. An example of this was the appointment to the finance committee of a vocal critic of village spending. Some didn’t like Mayor Densmore doing this, but his appointment proved successful in addressing misconceptions about Village spending. Transparency is the best policy. If you don’t understand why the village does what it does financially, or are critical of Village spending, Mayor Densmore invites you to come to, or even join, the Village Finance Committee, to see first hand how decisions are made. Mayor Densmore strives for inclusivity and openness about Village decision making, and uses the Village Committee membership structure to advance these goals.
Initiating Rules of Council to Better Insure Fairness in Legislative Proceedings.
Mayor Densmore initiated new rules that extend the traditional “Right to Reconsider” in Golf Manor’s Rules of Council. The new rules address what is referred to in parliamentary proceedings as “minority opinion”. These new rules allow voices of concern to be heard when legislation is moving too fast to otherwise accommodate such a hearing. This format is formally part of the Golf Manor Rules of Council now, demonstrating Mayor Densmore’s commitment to fairness in legislative proceedings of the Village Council. Here’s a link to a flow chart that shows how the procedure works when requested in Council meetings.
Village Holiday Declarations Now Include a Menorah.
Mayor Densmore initiated a practice of placing a Menorah with the traditionally included Christmas Tree in the lobby of the Municipal Building during the holiday season. Including a Menorah as part of the holiday decorations previously hadn’t been done, despite the significant constituency of Jewish residents in Golf Manor. Mayor Densmore believes it is important to recognize the themes of bringing love and light to darkness that religions around the world share during this season, and that doing so acknowledges the solidarity incumbent on all civil societies. Mayor Densmore is the only non-Jewish Mayor to have attended Shabbat Services at the Golf Manor Synagogue. Mayor Densmore attended with his wife and six children, and was honored to have a guided tour, as well as lunch and fellowship with member families. Mayor Densmore makes a point to make it clear that he represents ALL of Golf Manor, and takes the extra steps necessary to reach out and demonstrate it.
Hosting Breakfast with Santa.
The Mayor and each council member are individually given a stipend while in office to do with as they please (e.g., some consider it their salary). Continuing in the tradition of former Mayor Ziffiro, Mayor Densmore has donated his stipend each month to charity, or to financially support special projects of the village. The 2022 Breakfast with Santa was one such event, financing breakfast for 50+ residents and their kids. Breakfast with Santa had been an annual secular tradition in Golf Manor, which was in danger of operational failure. The leadership of Golf Manor’s prior Recreation Commission had not been in compliance with its own operating codes for a number of years, having too few members to legally spend money. The Mayor recruited assistance from friends, family, and whoever on council was willing to help, to make the 2022 Breakfast with Santa a success. Mayor Densmore believes re-establishing the Golf Manor Recreation Committee should be one of the highest priorities of community engagement, in part to secure that Golf Manor’s secular traditions, like Breakfast with Santa, continue to thrive in the village.
Golf Manor’s Non Discrimination Ordinance.
Mayor Densmore successfully championed the first suburban non-discrimination ordinance in Hamilton County. The protections in this legislation provide our residents a mechanism to seek support if they feel they have been discriminated against. Support includes advocacy and resources, as well as a process for dispute resolution, and ultimately fines against parties operating in Golf Manor who engage in illegal discrimination. We put this all in place prior to the U.S. Supreme Court decision that secured similar protections. But it was a hard road to get there. Factions of council had a difficult time agreeing over the wording of the ordinance, creating several different versions of the proposed legislation. Whenever there is division like this, there are those who try to benefit by demonizing their opponents, and there was a lot of that going on, on all sides. In response to the deadlock, Mayor Densmore led the effort to meticulously go through the proposed legislation, line by line, publicly– to make any edits to the legislation that were agreeable to both sides. He invited those who had concerns about the legislation to speak to him about it, and publicly called-out anyone who’s words demonized or were bigoted. Mayor Densmore worked closely with the Director of Equality Ohio, and the Director of Government Affairs for Augdath Israel, as well as countless residents to better understand the full breadth of concerns. Mayor Densmore fought HARD to insure that all sides had a respectful, safe process and environment, in which to share their concerns. Mayor Densmore measures success in situations like this by whether or not those on the “opposing side”, still find you to be someone who can be trusted, and as someone who has integrity. It is the job of the Mayor to be the deciding vote when Council is deadlocked, and Mayor Densmore settled the deadlock in a decision that was later upheld in a referendum by more than a 60% margin. As Mayor Densmore stated his full support of the resulting legislation, he made clear his commitment to continue to protect the rights of all Golf Manor residents, and to insure a respectful and safe environment for oppositional discussion of any civic topic.
Moderating Efforts to Abolish the Death Penalty in Ohio.
Mayor Densmore was honored to participate in a bipartisan Ohio initiative to abolish the death penalty. He was asked to moderate a panel that included Democrat Representative Cecil Thomas, and Republican Representative, Jean Schmitt, about their support of this bipartisan legislation in Ohio. The event was live streamed and recorded on YouTube, where he took questions from the audience and posed them to the bipartisan panelists. Mayor Densmore is aware that nonpartisan research shows that the death penalty is disproportionately used against low-income people of color, more so than any other demographic, even when differences in crime rates are accounted for. Mayor Densmore is also aware that incidents of individuals being proven innocent (e.g., by DNA analysis) after they are executed, continue to occur. And Mayor Densmore is aware that the death penalty is more expensive to the State of Ohio to operate than to imprison a murderer without the possibility of parole. Because of this financial expense, and the moral expense of unfair and mistaken use of capital punishment, Mayor Densmore supports the Ohio bipartisan legislation to abolish the death penalty.