One of the best attributes of the Substack platform is that there are scores of other publications that are doing the same work being done here, providing independent reporting for their own hometowns. Additionally, the Substack platform allows opportunities for readers to discover these publications and through these discoveries, there are new opportunities to learn about what is happening in other places.

I wanted to take some time and highlight some other Substacks that are covering different parts of Ohio and encourage you to read these other publications and even subscribe to their work. So, here they are, in no particular order.

The Westerville News

Gary Gardiner is the creator of the Westerville News and takes a unique approach to covering this Columbus suburb. Gary’s work is known mostly for his photography; knowing that pictures often say more than words ever could, Gary has his amazing photographs tell the story of what is happening in Westerville.

The Westerville News

Trader Joe's In Westerville's Future

Trader Joe’s plans new Polaris-area store near Westerville…

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a day ago · 9 likes · Gary Gardiner

The Hilliard Beacon

Staying in the Metro Columbus region, the trio of Tim Hoffman, Kevin Corvo and Jordan Smith have created The Hilliard Beacon. The work being done here is really fascinating, as the trio work hard to uncover some of the more interesting stories happening in local government in the growing community, looking at local courts, schools and city hall. A nice addition to this work, is their Audio Companion Podcast, where the three often bring on guests to talk about the issues of the day. The three guys invited me on back in 2024 and we had a great conversation. You can listen to it with the below link.

The Hilliard Beacon

William Lutz of Civic Capacity - HBAC 77

Kevin is getting comfortable with his new teaching schedule - his written pieces will return next week…

Listen now

2 years ago · 3 likes · 1 comment · Tim Hofmann, Jordan Smith, A. Kevin Corvo, and William Lutz

Marysville Matters

Marysville Matters, created by Joe Case, might be the gold standard for a daily newsletter. Joe does an amazing job of creating a well-balanced and broadly informed newsletter and even puts out breaking news. He covers everything from local unemployment data to gas prices and the scuttlebutt on the newest businesses coming to town and also spends time talking about the history of Union County as well. By spending just a couple of minutes a day, Joe’s readers really know what is happening in Marysville.

Marysville Matters

Hoyt hits the exit | 'As Jerome Turns': Chief charges dismissed for now, but what's next? | Impact Station returns in August

In this edition, sponsored by Martinizing Cleaners on Emmaus Road in Green Pastures…

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a day ago · 39 likes · 2 comments · Joe C.

Shelby News Reporter

David Jacobs is covering Shelby, Ohio (not to be confused with our local Shelby County), a northern Ohio community in Richland County near Mansfield. Each day is filled with numerous editions focusing on part of community life, from photo essays to local high school sports.

Shelby News Reporter

Manufacturer to create 53 Richland County jobs in Sandusky Township

COLUMBUS — The state on Monday announced the approval of five economic development projects around Ohio, including one in Richland County…

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2 days ago · Shelby News Reporter

New London Newsroom

The same folks that bring us the Shelby News Reporter, also bring us the New London Newsroom. New London is a village of just over 2,000 people in between Norwalk and Ashland in the northern part of the state. While not a daily publication, it comes out a few times a week.

New London Newsroom

4 legislative items presented to New London council

Two ordinances and two resolutions are on the New London London Village Council agenda for its upcoming meeting…

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3 days ago

This Week In Toledo

This Week In Toledo, is a weekly roundup of some of the happenings in the Glass City. I will readily admit, I am not as familiar with this publication as the others on the list, but if you live in Northwest Ohio, this may be a good resource for you. It comes out weekly and has been around for a few years. Certainly one of the longest running newsletters on our list today.

This Week in Toledo

July 25, 2026 (w/ sources)

• On Wednesday, city officials announced that Toledo Police Chief Michael Troendle will retire effective November 1. He will be replaced with Assistant Chief Kevin Braun. [source…

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4 days ago · 1 like · Sean Nestor

The Ohio Register

This publication is a group effort, with stories from a group of indivdiuals that cover communities such as Findlay, Springfield and Perry, with stories of interest for all Ohioans.

The Ohio Register

The Non-Disclosure Blackout and Capture of Champion Farms?

PERRY, Ohio — Internal correspondences from early 2024 seem to expose the massive financial leverage applied to local municipal decision-makers to secure political cooperation behind closed doors on the Champion Farm land deal before any public notices were issued regarding the Champion Farm data center development…

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8 days ago · The Ohio Register

Announcing our July Community Survey!

Every other month, this publication takes time to ask our readers how they feel about the happenings in their hometown! What are the challenges? What are the opportunities? Is your hometown headed in the right direction? Our survey is the easiest way for you to express your thoughts. Next month, this publication will report out on the results.

ACCESS THE SURVEY HERE!

Thanks for your time and your participation! It is greatly appreciated!

This is what it looks like when residents stay informed. If you find value in this work, share it with a neighbor, a colleague, or anyone who cares about this community. Paid subscriptions keep it going — $5 a month.

Subscribe now

Share

Civic Capacity runs on one thing: readers who believe local journalism matters. If you want to support this work without a subscription, you can now make a one-time contribution through Buy Me a Coffee — or in my case, Buy Me an Iced Tea. Click the button below. Every contribution goes directly into the work you read here every day.

Buy Me A Cold Beverage

Over the next couple of weeks, county residents will start receiving their second-half property tax bills, and all of those checks and payments will end up going to one small office on the first floor of the Safety Building in downtown Troy: the County Treasurer’s Office. So, as that office gears up for a busy stretch, it’s worth looking into this small office by asking: what exactly does a County Treasurer do?

The County Treasurer is one of a handful of elected officials here in Miami County, part of the decentralized system of county government unique to Ohio. In the same election cycle we elect a Treasurer, we also elect two County Commissioners, a Prosecutor, an Engineer, a Coroner, a Clerk of Courts, and a Sheriff — all quadrennial terms running together. The County Auditor runs on a separate, offset cycle, along with one of the three County Commissioners. Here in Miami County, our Treasurer is Jim Stubbs, who has served as County Treasurer since 2011 and ran unopposed for his current term in 2024.

County Treasurers are, in effect, the county’s banker. They’re responsible for taking in county funds — every tax payment made to the county passes through the Treasurer’s office, from real estate taxes to dog licenses. Those tax bills are prepared by a different office, the County Auditor, but the funds are collected by the Treasurer — a separation of duties that ensures the office sending the bills isn’t the same office receiving the money. Think of the Auditor as the county’s “accounts payable” side and the Treasurer as “accounts receivable.” That split matters beyond bookkeeping tidiness: it means no single office both bills you and cashes your check without an independent check on the other end, which is the kind of internal control residents should expect from anyone handling public money.

Residents have several ways to actually get that payment to the Treasurer’s office: by mail, in person at the Safety Building, or online through the county’s payment portal, with checks made payable directly to the Treasurer. If a payment is late, the Treasurer’s office is also the one responsible for collecting the resulting penalties and interest, and for working with property owners who fall behind before a delinquency escalates toward a tax lien or foreclosure. That collections role is easy to overlook, but it’s a significant part of the office’s day-to-day work, especially in the weeks right after a due date passes.

The Treasurer is also responsible for investing the county’s funds, most of which sit in securities that are risk-averse and tightly regulated to protect public dollars. Many local governments, including Miami County, invest through STAR Ohio, a state-run investment pool that offers competitive returns while preserving the liquidity and security local governments need day to day. For a county like ours, that pool functions like a high-yield savings account for tax dollars sitting between collection and disbursement, rather than money sitting idle.

Finally, the Treasurer sits on several county boards, most notably the County Budget Commission — a three-member body made up of the Prosecutor, Auditor, and Treasurer. The Budget Commission sets tax rates for the “inside millage” portion of property tax bills, the unvoted share, by reviewing budget requests from cities, villages, school districts, and other taxing authorities and allocating that inside millage based on each entity’s certified need. This isn’t an abstract exercise: last December, the Commission voted unanimously to cut a combined $12 million in property taxes countywide starting in 2026. If you’re opening a tax bill this month, that decision is part of why the number on the page may look different than you expected.

Announcing our July Community Survey!

Every other month, this publication takes time to ask our readers how they feel about the happenings in their hometown! What are the challenges? What are the opportunities? Is your hometown headed in the right direction? Our survey is the easiest way for you to express your thoughts. Next month, this publication will report out on the results.

ACCESS THE SURVEY HERE!

Thanks for your time and your participation! It is greatly appreciated!

This is what it looks like when residents stay informed. If you find value in this work, share it with a neighbor, a colleague, or anyone who cares about this community. Paid subscriptions keep it going — $5 a month.

Subscribe now

Share

Civic Capacity runs on one thing: readers who believe local journalism matters. If you want to support this work without a subscription, you can now make a one-time contribution through Buy Me a Coffee — or in my case, Buy Me an Iced Tea. Click the button below. Every contribution goes directly into the work you read here every day.

Buy Me A Cold Beverage

One of the smaller, but still meaningful, parts of Miami County’s economy comes in the form of tourism. Though the most recent comprehensive data available is a little dated, a report from the Miami County Visitors and Convention Bureau found that visitors generated $194.7 million in direct spending in 2021, rising to $235.2 million in direct spending in 2023 — along with an estimated 3,478 tourism-related jobs and $22.4 million in state and local tax revenue in 2021.

Given Miami County’s location along Interstate 75 and its proximity to a large share of the national population, this isn’t much of a surprise. Tourists traveling one of the nation’s busiest interstate corridors often stop in Miami County for gas, meals, or even a few hours of downtime. That’s true even though Miami County isn’t home to beaches or mountains — the kind of pristine landscapes tourism marketers usually lean on.

Miami County’s tourism efforts are led by the Miami County Visitors and Convention Bureau (MCVCB). One of the Bureau’s main responsibilities is promoting and marketing the county to visitors of all types. That work spans a wide range of activities: producing and distributing visitor guides, placing printed palm cards at rest areas, maintaining an attractive website and digital presence for prospective visitors, and reaching out to trade associations and organizations to book meetings and conventions here — bringing in business travelers along with leisure ones.

The Bureau’s work is funded almost entirely by the county’s lodging tax. Miami County is home to a modest hotel inventory with about fourteen hotels here in Miami County.

Miami County levies a 3% lodging (bed) tax on hotel and motel room rates, and nearly all of that revenue flows directly to the MCVCB for tourism promotion. That tax generated $591,351 in 2023, up from $532,410 in 2022 — an increase of roughly 11% year over year.

Under Ohio law, counties may levy a lodging tax of up to 3%, and Miami County has adopted the full rate, applied on top of the state and local sales tax already charged on room rentals. That puts Miami County toward the lower end of Ohio’s combined lodging tax spectrum. In some Ohio jurisdictions, the statewide maximum climbs to 6% when a municipality or township tax is layered on top of a county tax — a stacking approach that cities like Columbus and Cincinnati have used.

Unlike counties where lodging tax revenue is split between the general fund and a visitors bureau, Miami County directs its lodging tax collections almost entirely to the MCVCB. Under Section 5739.092 of the Ohio Revised Code, money collected by a county and distributed to a convention and visitors’ bureau must be used “solely for tourism sales, marketing and promotion, and their associated costs, including, but not limited to, operational and administrative costs of the bureau, sales and marketing, and maintenance of the physical bureau structure.” In practice, that means the Bureau cannot spend these dollars on general county operations, capital projects, or anything unrelated to tourism promotion.

Tourism dollars are generally viewed favorably by local economies because they represent capital flowing in from outside the community — money spent by people who don’t otherwise live, work, or pay taxes here. Tourists also tend to place a lighter burden on public services than full-time residents: they use local roads for a limited time and rarely require direct police or fire response during their stay. That dynamic is part of why economic development officials often describe tourism spending as a comparatively low-cost form of economic growth, even in a county without dramatic natural scenery to draw crowds.

Announcing our July Community Survey!

Every other month, this publication takes time to ask our readers how they feel about the happenings in their hometown! What are the challenges? What are the opportunities? Is your hometown headed in the right direction? Our survey is the easiest way for you to express your thoughts. Next month, this publication will report out on the results.

ACCESS THE SURVEY HERE!

Thanks for your time and your participation! It is greatly appreciated!

This is what it looks like when residents stay informed. If you find value in this work, share it with a neighbor, a colleague, or anyone who cares about this community. Paid subscriptions keep it going — $5 a month.

Subscribe now

Share

Civic Capacity runs on one thing: readers who believe local journalism matters. If you want to support this work without a subscription, you can now make a one-time contribution through Buy Me a Coffee — or in my case, Buy Me an Iced Tea. Click the button below. Every contribution goes directly into the work you read here every day.

Buy Me A Cold Beverage

Troy City Council’s committees meet tomorrow night with a packed agenda touching infrastructure, small business support, and a committee that rarely convenes. The Streets and Sidewalks Committee will discuss the 2026 Sidewalk Replacement Program. The Finance Committee has a number of items: items: several small business loans, a depository agreement with local banks, and an $8.5 million grant application for water and sewer upgrades serving the industrial area on the city’s west side.

The item worth watching, though, is the first meeting of this council term for the Safety and Health Committee — a committee that doesn’t meet often, and has two items on the agenda.

Dog Vaccination Rule Gets a Practical Update

The first item is a staff-requested amendment to Section 505.15 of the city’s Codified Ordinances, which currently requires dogs to be vaccinated against rabies every year. According to the staff report, that annual requirement is out of step with current veterinary practice — some rabies vaccines are effective for up to three years, and Police Chief McKinney confirmed this with a local veterinarian.

As written, the current ordinance puts pet owners with valid three-year vaccinations in technical violation of city law, even though they’re following accepted veterinary guidance. The proposed fix would tie compliance to the vaccination certificate’s actual expiration rather than a flat one-year clock.

The amendment would also drop the requirement that dogs wear a rabies tag on their collar. Per the memo, Troy police don’t do random vaccination checks or enforce the tag rule day-to-day — officers verify vaccination status when investigating dog bites or other animal complaints, and a tag on a collar is a weaker proof point than a vaccination certificate. Under the new language, owners would need to produce proof of current vaccination on request, not a physical tag. Violations would remain a minor misdemeanor.

A Vehicle-Living Ban With No Data Behind It

The second item is more consequential — and less clearly justified. The committee will discuss legislation to prohibit people from living or residing in a vehicle (cars, trailers, campers, vans, trucks, RVs, boats, or similar equipment) on public right-of-way.

The staff memo requesting this legislation offers no data, incident counts, or examples showing this is an active problem in Troy. Its entire justification reads: “In attempting to deal with situations of where persons may be living and/or residing in vehicles on the public right-of-way, it has been recommended that the City enact more specific legislation to assure that the Police Department can proceed with enforcement.” The memo also asks council to consider passing this as emergency legislation, which would let it take effect immediately and skip the standard thirty-day waiting period for legislation and would also prohibit the measure from being subject to a referendum.

That combination — a policy with real consequences for people who may be unhoused or in vehicles by necessity, requested without supporting evidence, and pushed on an emergency timeline — is the kind of item residents should watch closely rather than take on faith. If there’s a documented problem, council and the public deserve to see it before voting to fast-track an emergency measure.

Announcing our July Community Survey!

Every other month, this publication takes time to ask our readers how they feel about the happenings in their hometown! What are the challenges? What are the opportunities? Is your hometown headed in the right direction? Our survey is the easiest way for you to express your thoughts. Next month, this publication will report out on the results.

ACCESS THE SURVEY HERE!

Thanks for your time and your participation! It is greatly appreciated!

This is what it looks like when residents stay informed. If you find value in this work, share it with a neighbor, a colleague, or anyone who cares about this community. Paid subscriptions keep it going — $5 a month.

Subscribe now

Share

Civic Capacity runs on one thing: readers who believe local journalism matters. If you want to support this work without a subscription, you can now make a one-time contribution through Buy Me a Coffee — or in my case, Buy Me an Iced Tea. Click the button below. Every contribution goes directly into the work you read here every day.

Buy Me A Cold Beverage

Fourteen people talked to the Troy Planning Commission during their public comment period last week about the new rulebook the city is writing for how land and buildings get used — called the Unified…

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It is one of the most diverse and interesting forms of local government in Ohio. There are more than 1,300 townships altogether in the state, most carved out of neat squares of roughly thirty-six squ…

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Yesterday, the Troy Planning Commission heard public comments on the proposed Unified Development Code. Roughly a dozen residents offered thoughtful and respectful comments about the new development …

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Troy’s Planning Commission meets this Wednesday, July 22 at 3:30 p.m., and public comment is welcome on the city’s draft Unified Development Code — the document that will govern what gets built where…

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Troy City Council meets Monday, July 20, and while the agenda looks routine on paper, it carries forward a debate that has quietly divided members for months: whether the city’s zoning freezes are pr…

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Each month, the city’s Police Department puts a report in a council packet about their activities and some of the most interesting data is about parking enforcement…

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Over the last few days, Ohioans have had to deal with something unpleasant from our northern n…

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Troy City Council’s Committee of the Whole took its clearest step yet toward a final decision on the West Main Street intersection redesign, with a straw poll at their July 13th meeting showing a working majority leaning toward the roundabout option over a signalized alternative.

Nothing was formally adopted, but after years of informal discussions, feasibility studies, public meetings, and engineering presentations, this was the first time this council actually took a collective position rather than simply absorbing information.

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Monday night, City Council met as a Comittee-of-the-whole. An opportunity for all members to weigh in on the West Main Street roundabout and give direction to the admi…

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Ask around Troy, Piqua, or Tipp City and you’ll hear a common complaint: things are growing too fast. But two centuries of census records tell a different story — one…

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The Good Government Movement is an enduring concept that transcends time and place, encapsulating ideals of transparency, accountability, fairness, and efficiency in g…

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Last week, the city’s Planning commission held a long discussion on the city’s draft Unified Development Code and while data centers were a part of that discussion, …

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The Ohio Ethics Commission is the state agency responsible for keeping public officials honest — including the city council members and local leaders you vote for …

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On July 13th, Troy’s City Council will meet as a Committee of the Whole. Years of discussion and study on the West Main Street/Experiment Farm Road/South Stanfield Road intersection are finally comin…

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This past Wednesday, the City’s Planning Commission met to continue wading through the proposed Unified Development Code — the master document that will regulate signs, subdivisions, and zoning for at least a generation.

In the first draft, the language on data centers was thin. That was a problem in a county where data centers have quickly become a hot topic and a flash point. The new regulations now on the table are a step in the right direction.

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