Middletown City Council on Jan. 6 approved five ordinances, including a second-reading adoption of the citycodified ordinances supplement and emergency measures to extend a billing contract and authorize three collective bargaining agreements with the Fraternal Order of Police Ohio Labor Council.

Law Director Alex Ewing introduced ordinance O2025-75 to enact the 2025 supplement to the codified ordinances of the City of Middletown; the council moved and approved the measure by roll call.

City Manager Ashley Combs provided staff reports on the other ordinances. Combs said the council approved an extension of the city's contract with SmartBill Ltd. for printing and mailing water bills at a rate of "approximately 16cents plus postage" to maintain service while the city transitions to new utility-billing software; the city mails about 18,500 water bills monthly, she said. "Since 2009, SmartBill has handled this service after submitting the lowest bid," Combs said, adding the finance department recommended continuing the contract pending a software transition.

The council also approved three collective bargaining agreements with the Fraternal Order of Police Ohio Labor Council covering different bargaining units for the term Jan. 1, 2026 through Dec. 31, 2028. City staff summarized negotiated changes across the agreements, including revised arbitration selection language, adjusted sick-leave conversion rates, holdover/overtime language changes, and wage increases (staff summarized 5% in 2026, 4.5% in 2027 and 4% in 2028 in the contracts). The civilian employees agreement includes longevity pay provisions and a lump-sum/time bonus tied to body-worn camera review; staff estimated supplemental appropriation needs for 2026 ranging from about $14,900 for the civilian employees contract to roughly $30,180.83 for corrections officers and approximately $87,404.49 for dispatchers, based on budgeted expectations cited by staff at the meeting.

Each ordinance was moved, seconded and approved by roll-call vote. Council members did not request additional public hearings on the contracts during the meeting.

Votes at a glance: the consent agenda and all five ordinances introduced during the Jan. 6 meeting passed by roll call with unanimous "yes" votes as recorded on the meeting roll calls.