QUESTION: What are the reasons you are running for county commissioner?

OSCHE: I have been involved in community leadership all my life, starting as young as a child in Girl Scouts.

I believe that I have been very fortunate to work with so many talented people in this county, in business, in government, in the churches, in community organizations, in the school districts, all of whom have taught me many things. And I have been fortunate to engage with many people and have the opportunity to listen.

It came the time for me to deploy all those things that I have learned and gained, and give it back to the community in this fashion.

QUESTION: What services should Butler County provide its senior citizens? Should its 10 senior centers remain open or should some or all be closed or consolidated?

OSCHE: I have visited five so far, and I'm scheduled to see a few more, so I've had the opportunity to sit down and listen to the seniors' concerns.

While I realize that this is a complicated issue because the finances are complicated; we have money in silos, as we typically do in government funding.

Clearly, for seniors, its better for them to remain in their own communities as best they can, and they want to stay in those centers. That said, I think the additional offering or the offering of a center at the mall was a creative concept and not such a bad idea.

I also believe that there is an opportunity to partner with private funders, perhaps businesses who might want to make contributions to those senior centers in order for them to remain in their communities.

I think that those senior centers are important to the citizens. I think if we can provide expanded services to the younger seniors, if the demand is actually there, then we actually need to look at how we do that, because we want to serve the most people with the money that is available to us.

QUESTION: What is your view of the county budget? Should revenue increase to meet rising costs or should expenses be cut? Explain your specific proposals.

OSCHE: We are soon going to cap out on what we can increase by way of property tax, so I would not be in favor of increasing property taxes by any means to fund the county budget.

So the first thing that we absolutely have to do is sit down and look long-term at what the real services are that we need to provide and are mandated to provide, and how we are doing that and where we can create the efficiencies, because if we can't manage the cost now, long-term it's going to be a problem.

So there has to be not only initial review of how we're managing the current expenses, but also a long-term plan for salaries, for technology, for maintenance of facilities, and to ensure that as much of the services are going back to the taxpayers as possible.

I think also that any additional revenues that are going in because of growth in the county as abatements expire, we should be looking at how we invest those dollars back into positive development as opposed to internal county costs and rising costs of overhead.

QUESTION: How much should the county commissioners and county residents be allowed to talk at commissioners meetings?

OSCHE: I think that citizens should have a voice and they should be entitled to speak in meetings.

Obviously, this is government by the people for the people. But you do have to manage time allotments for folks. Most in the business world, nonprofit world, anywhere we work, we know we have to manage the amount of time that we have to speak, because, first of all, people can only digest so much information at a time, so it becomes cumbersome for people to sit through long, extensive meetings.

I think citizens should be able to come and speak, but they should be prepared to get their message across in a time frame. We all face those time frames on a daily basis.

So I think there has to be a time limit, but they should be encouraged to come and speak.

QUESTION: Explain what you think should be the role of the county commissioners in their oversight of county agencies such as the county housing and redevelopment authority, the county industrial authority, the tourism bureau and the planning commission?

OSCHE: I am fascinated by the term authority in general, because it has seemed over the last several years that the authorities have been islands unto themselves. If there are county taxpayer dollars involved in these authorities, then the county should have an extremely vested role in how those dollars are spent.

Coming from the nonprofit community, where I represented donors' dollars and their best interest who wanted a return on their investment, I think that we should be looking at that the same way. If we have dollars invested and we are representing the best interest of the citizens of the county, we need to make sure that, not only are those authorities' governance effective, but that our taxpayers are getting a return on what that investment is.

QUESTION: What role do you think the county commissioners should have in economic development in the county?

OSCHE: I have said that it is a priority, but the county should be supportive of the economic development efforts. Government should be supportive and coming alongside of, but not in-the-way of. We should be helping, and not getting in the way.

I think that departments in the county that can be effectively supportive, the first thing we have to do is make sure that they are doing what they need to be doing and are equipped and trained and have technology to provide support of development and growth.

We should be ambassadors for economic growth and tourism. We should be reaching out where we need to be reaching out. We have to put the business leaders first. They really should be engaged and first.

Again, coming from a nonprofit background, we always knew that it was important for those business leaders to be driving that economic development or driving those efforts forward. They've got to be in the forefront. We have to provide the support necessary to make economic development successful.

QUESTION: What role do you think the county commissioners should have in helping to coordinate with community services such as water and sewer authorities, emergency medical services and bus transportation?

OSCHE: That's where I believe the county should be working with the various municipalities, municipal leadership and the various planning commissions or authorities related to those things, on plans and advocating on their behalf on the state and federal level on what needs to happen or what changes need to occur.

It should be a much more collaborative discussion between the county and the municipal leaders. I think that there may have been more in the past, but I think that the township officials association and those groups should get together regularly.

I think there should be much more ongoing conversation regarding the county and the authorities and how we can insure that infrastructure is sound and solid, and how we can advocate on behalf of our residents to make sure that happens for them.

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