Antani, who represents the township, among other areas of Montgomery County, told trustees the additional $700 million of taxpayer dollars that were a state budget surplus and allocated to special projects statewide as part of the “One-Time Strategic Community Investment Fund” — sometimes called “OTSCIF” — was “too much.”
“Usually, the pot is about $150 million,” he said. “This time it was that $150 million plus the $700 million, so $850 million. I did not feel that’s an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars.”
Antani said that had trustees called him to advocate for those projects, he would have explained that they didn’t get funded because of his opposition to OTSCIF. He said he didn’t receive any calls or emails from trustees expressing their displeasure with his position.
He said their call for his resignation came “in the dark of the night” and “in a cowardly fashion.”
“Calling for my resignation because you disagree with me? That feels a little harsh to me,” he said, noting he has disagreed with many of the things trustees have done. “I feel you all have failed on many accounts, but I haven’t called for your resignations.”
Trustee Vice President Terry Posey Jr. contested Antani’s assertations, saying “If you’re going to come in here and make statements, you’re rewriting history at this point.”
He lambasted Antani for not relaying to the board his position against spending OTSCIF revenue.
“You didn’t say ‘Just so you guys are aware, I’m not participating in this,’” he said. “You didn’t say anything beforehand. The township expended money preparing plans so they would have an appropriate project to submit.”
“So to say that we didn’t communicate with you, you didn’t communicate with us,” Posey said.
Community Development Director Alex Carlson said attempts were made by city officials to reach Antani’s office, including multiple voice mails that were not returned.
“The one comment I received was the one word response of ‘received,’” Carlson said. “That’s all I got from Senator Antani after we submitted the application packet was just ‘received.’ No additional comments, or questions or guidance were provided.”
He said he followed up with the office of State Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, and received “a great amount of support and guidance.”
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