Our Top Ten Stories of 2025: Part Two

Vol. III, No. 212 - Our top five stories here at Civic Capacity in 2025

As has been the tradition here at Civic Capcaity over the last couple years, this publication takes the last couple days of the year to look back at some of them most popular stories that broke through in 2025. And whether these stories helped explain how government works, or dived deep into what happened in our communities in real time, all of these stories were widely read and circulated, by you, our loyal readers.

For those that are paid subscribers, enjoy clicking on the stories and take a look back at 2025 and feel free to comment on which one of these stories were some of the most impactful in our community. For that are not paid subscribers, what are you waiting for? You get access to our entire catalog of work and the ability to join the conversation. More than that, you get to support an effort that works to provide information to every corner of the community without annoying paywalls. And you can get this for less than $1 per week!

Number 5 - Piqua City Commission Hears From County Leaders on Jail

Last month, County Commissioner Wade Westfall and County Sheriff Dave Duchak, hit the road to explain the need for a new county jail by making a presentation to the Piqua City Commission. This publication dug into the presentation and talked about what the plan for county corrections will look like.

Number 4 - Piqua City Commission Puts On a Show

On November 4th, the Piqua City Commission was absolutely giddy to bring a data center campus to town, by waiving the three reading rule, adopting emergency measures, that even commission members said there was no emergency, all done under the expert guidance of out of town lawyers and a non-disclosure agreement. What happened last month may not be a new low for local governance, but it sure did come close.

Number 3 - Local State Representatives Wants Annexation Law Change

Back in February, our new State Representative Johnathan Newman introduced legislation that would make fundamental changes to how cities annex adjoining land. This came after a contentious annexation added hundreds of acres of to Huber Heights from Bethel Township, in which both the county and the township found themselves helpless to stop the agressive land grab.

Number 2 - Ithaca, We Hardly Knew You

This one is a complete shock. Up to this point, this publication never discussed anything that was happening in neighboring in Darke County, but once word got out that the tiny village of Ithaca, may be dissoved, it certainly became an interesting story; it’s not everyday a village gets wiped off the map.

Number 1 - Understanding the Ohio Public Works Commission

Again, another shocker. This story isn’t so much about something that happened, but is more like a “Local Government 101” story on how a well known state agency helps make public improvements possible in communities of all shapes and sizes here in Ohio.

Happy New Year!

Thank you to all our readers, supporters and even those that read this, but publicly say they don’t. I am grateful for all of you and thank you for supporting our effort. I hope you had a great 2025 and here’s to making 2026 the very best for our hometowns — no matter what town you call home!

A New Handbook to grow Civic Capacity!

Recently, we created a new digital handbook, “The Citizen’s Guide to Public Records”. This handbook is designed to help residents have a better understanding of public meetings and meeting records. It’s filled with templates, ideas and other information that will open a new world of public affairs.

Also, if you have ideas for future handbooks, please let us know at pinnaclestrategiesltd@gmail.com.

Want to Learn More About Troy’s Businesses?

Our publication has recently released our September 2025 Economic Abstract, the most comprehensive and up-to-date report on the businesses and industries in the City of Troy. For those that want to understand our community’s business and industries, this is a must-have report.

Thank you to our New Media Partners!

Recently, many of our stories has been showing up on the local news website, www.mymiamicounty.com. We are grateful for the good folks for sharing our work with their audience and we would encourage our readers to check them out at their website!

Our publication would also like to recognize the good work being done at www.piquanewsnow.com. Piqua News Now is a new web-based news and information site for the Miami County area, with a specific focus on Piqua!

In addition, the good folks at Piqua News Now have started a new, 24-hour streaming YouTube channel. This channel is awesome with continuous weather updates and more importanly, it provides a 24-hour audio feed from county wide dispatch. Check it out here!

You Can Help Support This Work!

Our readers and subscribers have been asking for a new way to support the work being done here at Civic Capacity! Some of our readers do not like the idea of having to sign up for another subscription service. Some of our subscribers occasionally want to give more support through a one-time transaction.

Civic Capacity is partnering with “Buy Me A Coffee” to give our readers, subscribers and friends an opportunity to give one-time support to Civic Capacity. Personally, I don’t like coffee, but I will never turn down a nice iced tea. If you feel compelled to support this effort, just click the button below. In other words, this is an online tip jar.

Also, thanks for reading today’s Civic Capacity Newsletter! Please feel free to share this information with your friends and neighbors.

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