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Meet Denise Driehaus, Hamilton County Commission incumbent

woman in blue shirt smiles, as seen from shoulders up. background is blurred greenery
Courtesy
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denisedriehaus.com
Denise Driehaus

County commissioners make up the general administrative body for county government. They hold authority for government taxing, budgeting, appropriating, and purchasing; and they hold title to county property. There are two seats on the three-member commission up for grabs: one that starts Jan. 2, 2025, and the other that starts Jan. 3, 2025. Denise Driehaus is running for the term that would begin Jan. 3, 2025. She is a current commissioner, serving two terms.

Candidates were given the same survey questions and word limit of no more than 250 words to respond to each question. Answers have been lightly edited for clarity and style only.

LISTEN: Cincinnati Edition's interview with Denise Driehaus and Adam Koehler

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    Candidate name: Denise Driehaus

    Party affiliation: Democrat

    Campaign website: www.denisedriehaus.com

    Biography

    In 2016, Denise Driehaus became Hamilton County’s second woman elected to the Board of County Commissioners and she was re-elected in 2020.

    Denise is proud to have founded the Commission on Women and Girls, which has driven policy changes in areas of pay equity, access to period products, and combating domestic violence. She also chairs the Hamilton County Addiction Response Coalition (HCARC), which has helped save countless lives by connecting those who are suffering from substance use disorder to treatment and long-term recovery. Denise has been an advocate for environmental initiatives, has encouraged economic development, and is focused on building strong partnerships with businesses and our communities.

    To promote and inform the work of Hamilton County, Denise serves as the vice chair of the National Democratic County Officials, second vice president of the County Commissioners Association of Ohio, a board member for the Portman Policy Institute, and a board member of the Community Learning Center Institute.

    Prior to her service as a commissioner, Denise served four terms in the Ohio House of Representatives for the 31st Ohio House District. Denise also previously owned and operated two small businesses. She understands many of the hurdles facing small businesses and economic development.

    Denise earned her B.A. in political science from Miami University (OH). She enjoys traveling, biking, and is a licensed beekeeper. She is the mother of two children, Sarah and Andrew, and resides in the Cincinnati neighborhood of CUF.

    What life or professional experiences make you the best person for this position?

    I believe that I have the experience to continue to move Hamilton County forward. The county was in a very precarious financial position at the time I was elected with inadequate resources needed to invest in our workforce, including our 911 call takers, sheriff deputies and case workers who keep kids safe in our community. As a former small business owner and member of the House Finance Committee, I had the experience making strategic, informed decisions. We made the tough decisions to get the county back on stable ground and instituted a structurally balanced budget.

    After being elected by my colleagues to serve as the president of the Board, we, like everyone, faced incredible challenges with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. I am grateful for the many partnerships we established with Hamilton County Public Health, the state of Ohio and the federal government during this time. As a result of the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan Act dollars, we were able to invest to keep people in their homes, businesses open, and make critical investments in housing and youth mental health.

    I worked with the late Todd Portune to establish the county’s Office of Equity and Inclusion, laying the foundation for a disparity study and today’s inclusion procurement policies. I negotiated difficult economic development projects to bring vitality to the riverfront, the convention center district and OTR. I have also been the champion of providing partnership dollars to all 49 jurisdictions in the county to revitalize important projects throughout the county.

    What concerns or themes are you hearing in conversations with people in Hamilton County? How do you specifically plan to address those issues?

    As the chair of the Hamilton County Addiction Response Coalition, I often hear from constituents about the addiction crisis facing our region. Even though we have seen an historic decrease in overdose deaths because of the collaborative approach of our community, we are still losing far too many loved ones to addiction. I will continue to advocate for more resources for treatment, prevention, harm reduction, and interdiction.

    The stress of the COVID-19 pandemic compounded some of the pre-existing mental health issues within our community, especially with our young people. I was pleased to support county efforts to collaborate with community partners to ensure access to in school as well as out of school support.

    I hear a lot about the need for housing in our community. In response, we allocated $40 million of our ARPA dollars to address housing shortages, home repairs and outreach to those who are unhoused.

    As a county commissioner, people often bring up the Bengals and our stadiums. Because of our stewardship, we do not have to build a new stadium, and we will not be raising any new taxes for the stadiums. We will negotiate a lease that is balanced and beneficial to our taxpayers. The improvements to the stadium will be a shared cost between the county, the Bengals, the NFL and potentially other partners.

    Hamilton County and Cincinnati are in the middle of a historic, multi-billion dollar sewer system upgrade that is often contentious. What would be your approach to keeping this project on time without overburdening ratepayers?

    We are under a multi-billion dollar unfunded federal mandate to fix our combined sewer/stormwater system, built many years ago. The challenge is that we need to respond to the consent decree while keeping rates as low as possible. Rates were held flat for the first years I was in office and the recent increases have been kept as low as possible.

    The Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) has a unique, inefficient structure: it is owned by Hamilton County but operated by the city of Cincinnati. Hamilton County approves the MSD budget, but MSD implements their budget and plans in a silo outside of the county. This has created expensive inefficiencies. I have proposed that we change the structure so that the senior leadership of MSD, less than a dozen people, becomes county employees while the rest of their workforce remains city employees. This would ensure the city’s retirement system stays intact and eliminate the expensive inefficiencies.

    I would like to continue pursuing state legislation that would allow sewer districts the ability to establish different fee structures for different in-need populations, like seniors, and our low-income neighbors.

    Finally, there is a committee of interested parties representing many within our community exploring ways to address MSD’s rate structure, including the feasibility of an impervious surface fee. I look forward to hearing their proposals to make rates more equitable, and thus more affordable for the average ratepayer.

    As the Bengals’ lease with Hamilton County for Paycor Stadium nears its end, how would you approach extension negotiations and what are your key priorities for that relationship/any potential new lease?

    Over the last few decades, we have made strategic investments to ensure our stadiums are well maintained without exposing our taxpayers to any additional liability. Because the county has been a good steward of those stadiums, we do not have to build a new one.

    This is good news for the taxpayers. The master plan, in conjunction with the facilities assessment report, is now the starting point for us to create a renovated stadium that serves the needs of the team while better serving the public.

    The first priority is a better deal for the taxpayer.

    Additional priorities include (1) a financial stack that includes the Bengals, the NFL, and the state of Ohio sharing the burden with the county in a fair and equitable way; (2) a more connected stadium that can be utilized outside of the football season; (3) a stadium that is more inclusive of every fan from ticket pricing to accessibility to accommodations; and (4) a smarter design that better integrates with The Banks district and our Downtown. 

    I look forward to our negotiations with the Bengals. Together, we can build on our recent successes in providing a top-class asset for our community.

    What criteria will you use to evaluate and vote on tax levies the commission is responsible for approving for public vote?

    I take seriously the need to strike a balance between the needs of our vulnerable communities and the burden that levies place on taxpayers. That balance is especially important to consider in the context of all seven of the levies under our purview. I have intentionally supported specific levies at different times so that within one year the impact on taxpayers is minimized.

    Additionally, when I approach a tax levy, I ask the following questions to help in my decision-making process:

    (1) Is this levy adequately serving a population in need?

    (2) Is this levy increasing taxes? Is that tax increase absolutely necessary?

    (3) Are there any other funding sources available for the programs funded by the levy? If so, have those sources been maximized?

    (4) What would the impact be if we did not fund these programs via this levy?

    Senior Editor and reporter at WVXU with more than 20 years experience in public radio; formerly news and public affairs producer with WMUB. Would really like to meet your dog.