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Speaker 1: She talks station about eighty forty seven. Ryan Thomas pleased

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Speaker 1: as he can be, Please as I can be to

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the fifty five KC Morning Show. Hamlon County

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Speaker 1: Commissioner Alisha Rees. Alicia, it's great to have you on

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Speaker 1: the morning show. Thanks for coming on today, Thanks for

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Speaker 1: having me on. Please do and please to see you

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Speaker 1: stepping over the plate. Hamilon County Prosecutor Connie Pillage, I understand,

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Speaker 1: actually showed up in your budget discussion meeting. As I understand,

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Speaker 1: you and the other county commissioners are currently working on

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Speaker 1: the county budget, which must be approved by December thirty. First,

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Speaker 1: if I've got that right, it was noted by local news.

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Speaker 1: I think The Inquiry and Fox nineteen I know both

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Speaker 1: reported on it. You said, the first time you've ever

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Speaker 1: seen a prosecutor come in in person for the presentation,

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Speaker 1: because Connie Pillage is worried about the budget cut coming

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Speaker 1: her way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the first time that since I've been elected

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Speaker 2: that I've seen the actual prosecutor come in on. In

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Speaker 2: terms of a budget, they usually send their budget people,

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Speaker 2: and she came in herself and let me just say,

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Speaker 2: we've got a budget and you know, for anything, you've

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Speaker 2: got to get to votes. And I have been fighting

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Speaker 2: against a lot of things that have been going on

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Speaker 2: for you know, decades, because people who elected me said, hey,

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Speaker 2: we want to we want to make sure that the

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Speaker 2: citizens and the taxpayers come first. And so in this budget,

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Speaker 2: I'm really want to make sure that we have safety.

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Speaker 2: We've got to have safety, and we have to have affordability.

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Speaker 2: So I've been fighting against property high property tax increases,

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Speaker 2: you know, I've been fighting for the thirty percent that

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Speaker 2: was promised to the people we went to the Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I've been fighting that.

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Speaker 1: And thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank

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Speaker 1: you for being the ones that say, listen, we promised

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Speaker 1: the voters we would do this. Let's step up and

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Speaker 1: do what we were what we promised. Thank you very much.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. So it's been a real tough fight because this

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Speaker 2: time they didn't go with it. My two colleagues passed

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Speaker 2: a new deal with the Bengals, and the advisor said,

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Speaker 2: if we pass this particular new deal, it would cut

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Speaker 2: out the promise to the homeowners. And so that's why

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Speaker 2: I couldn't go with that deal. I said, let's get

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Speaker 2: a different deal. Let's try to do what Denver did

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Speaker 2: get some more private investment, and most of the deals

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Speaker 2: now for the stadiums have more private investment. But I

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Speaker 2: was out numbered, and they went with this deal. And

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Speaker 2: they knew that in this deal, and in my speech

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Speaker 2: with the experts, the finance people, they knew that the

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Speaker 2: homeowners would get cut out. And so now in this

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Speaker 2: budget they only want to give four percent to the

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Speaker 2: homeowners when they were supposed to get thirty percent. So

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Speaker 2: the property tax this year will go up. And then

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Speaker 2: they tried to blame the homeowners, said, well, the homeowners,

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Speaker 2: they're going to bankrupt the fund. No, the stadium deal

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Speaker 2: is bankrupt in the fund because we didn't get a

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Speaker 2: better We didn't get a better deal. So taxes are

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Speaker 2: going up there. So I've been fighting that. Then they

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Speaker 2: wanted to add can you imagine this in this budget.

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Speaker 2: They wanted to balance it by adding a new transfer

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Speaker 2: tax if you sell your home. And so the relatory

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Speaker 2: alliance folks and the relatives that everybody came down the

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Speaker 2: experts yesterday in our hearing and said we can't do that.

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Speaker 2: That will make or break and be passed on to

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Speaker 2: the homeowners, the buyers, the sellers, and run people to

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Speaker 2: Clearmont County Warrant County in Kentucky because we would have

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Speaker 2: the highest transfer tax on fighting to get that out

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Speaker 2: of there. Now, on top of that, we having the

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Speaker 2: budget where they only put slats for the prosecutor's office.

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Speaker 2: And I said, wait a minute, I mean they have

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Speaker 2: positions that need to be felled. And the prosecutor came

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Speaker 2: down and said she would have to lay off people.

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Speaker 2: And let me be absolutely clear, safety and affordability are

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Speaker 2: my two biggest things. And I said, wait a minute.

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Speaker 2: The prosecutor's office must be fully funded and staffed to

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Speaker 2: make sure that we're taken on crime. We're having justice

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Speaker 2: and we've got safety, and then the other thing in

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Speaker 2: state law. To be honest, the prosecutor's office could go

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Speaker 2: to the courts and get the budget. They don't have

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Speaker 2: to be working, you know, with us. So I'm happy

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Speaker 2: that the prosecutor county pillage. We said, hey, let's try

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Speaker 2: to work this thing out. But I'm telling the administrator

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Speaker 2: and I'm only one vote, but very important, we've got

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Speaker 2: to have a voice. I said, she needs to make

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Speaker 2: sure that her office is funded, has the right staffing

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Speaker 2: to make sure that the whole county is safe. I'm

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Speaker 2: talking villages and townships and cities. I mean, this is

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Speaker 2: the core of the budget, and we've got to make

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Speaker 2: sure that it happened. We can't be funding stadiums and

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Speaker 2: then come back and say we can't fund the prosecutor's office.

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Speaker 2: It just doesn't make sense, really.

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Speaker 1: And that's one of the more profound points that came out,

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Speaker 1: and I'm glad you embraced that. You know, we've got

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Speaker 1: to consider priorities. We agreed to spend three hundred fifty

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Speaker 1: million dollars on pay corps, and I know we have

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Speaker 1: a lease obligation to do something along those lines where

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Speaker 1: you're going to have to, you know, tighten the belt elsewhere,

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Speaker 1: and we need to keep the prosecutor's office fully funded.

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Speaker 1: I sort of viewed this flat budget that Jeff Alito,

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Speaker 1: the Kunty administrator, suggested, which will result in I think

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Speaker 1: eighteen prosecutors getting laid off or late eighteen people being

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Speaker 1: laid off in the prosecutor's office, is analogous to kind

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Speaker 1: of like defund police. If the prosecutors don't have the

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Speaker 1: ability to prosecute cases, then either they're going to enter

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Speaker 1: into real soft plea agreements so they don't have to

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Speaker 1: take people to trial or they're just going to not

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Speaker 1: prosecute them at all. That is not good for the

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Speaker 1: state of crime in the county.

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Speaker 2: No, that's a safety hazard. And I've indicated to the

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Speaker 2: administrator I don't know and even to her budget person,

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Speaker 2: how in the world did we come in flat on

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Speaker 2: the prosecutor's office. I mean, that's where you kind of

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Speaker 2: start off, and then you know, the prosecutor's office, the

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Speaker 2: shares office. We've got to have safety and we have

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Speaker 2: to have affordability, and that's how I look at the budget.

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Speaker 2: I want safety and then I want affordability so the

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Speaker 2: people can afford to live here. And right now we're

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Speaker 2: in an imbalance as it relates to those areas. And

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Speaker 2: you mentioned you said we have obligations with the stadiums.

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Speaker 2: Remember that obligation had expired. True, So we had a

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Speaker 2: chance to do a new thing, and we came back

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Speaker 2: with a new thing that axed out a three hundred

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Speaker 2: and fifty million, eight hundred total million deal with interest,

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Speaker 2: and we came in with something axing out the homeowners.

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Speaker 2: And that's why I wanted to take it to the ballot.

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Speaker 2: Because if you don't go to the ballot, they'll ax

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Speaker 2: you out. And then you come back and say, now

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Speaker 2: we're going to add the transfer text and then let

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Speaker 2: me say this. People said, where are you going to

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Speaker 2: find some of the money. Well, that in the in

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Speaker 2: the budget we had approved and I support sundance. I

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Speaker 2: supported it two million dollars, but we didn't get sundance.

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Speaker 2: We also approved another five million dollars for a women's

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Speaker 2: soccer league. I supported that, but we didn't get it.

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Speaker 2: So that I told the administered I said, that's seven

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Speaker 2: million dollars I just found that we didn't use. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: why can't we Why can't we put that toward the

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Speaker 2: prosecutor's office. He said, well, normally, you know, those are

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Speaker 2: interest earning funds that he found, and he said, normally

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Speaker 2: we don't do that one time. But remember our budget.

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Speaker 2: We have one time budgets because we do at the county.

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Speaker 2: Unlike other governments, we have a yearly budget. So do

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Speaker 2: it now sales tax. Hopefully the economy recovers and then

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Speaker 2: we worry about it next time. But we have us

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Speaker 2: we have an emergency to make sure that the prosecutor's

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Speaker 2: office is fully staged. Yeah, and can do their jobs.

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Speaker 2: And because safety is on the line and then affordability

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Speaker 2: is on the line, and those are the two things

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Speaker 2: that I think are important in the budget. So I've

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Speaker 2: been fighting for these things because there's some tough times

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Speaker 2: out here.

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Speaker 1: Alisha Reice. You just got done finding seven million dollars.

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Speaker 1: Give the prosecutor's office a two million dollars shortfall that

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Speaker 1: that will cover them until next year. And we'll always

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Speaker 1: going to face problems, right, Alisia, deal with it next year.

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Speaker 1: You got five million extra that you didn't spend. Why

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Speaker 1: not throw that at some of the other problems that

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Speaker 1: people are screaming about? You are you? Is there is

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Speaker 1: there a possibility as you see things right now, Commissioner Lisha,

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Speaker 1: that they will that county pullets in the Prosecutor's office

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Speaker 1: will get that money that they obviously need in the

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Speaker 1: interest to Hamilton County and the residents. Is not over yet, No,

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Speaker 1: it's not over.

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna fight like hell, I'm only one vote. But

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Speaker 2: you know when I put the thirty percent up when

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Speaker 2: I first got elected, they said, oh, there's no way

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Speaker 2: you're gonna get it. We was able to get it

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Speaker 2: one year. I was able to get the second year

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Speaker 2: if you get the people. We got to have the people,

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Speaker 2: and always tell people when I'm down there, yes there's

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Speaker 2: three of us, but I'm representing two hundred and eighteen

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Speaker 2: thousand people that voted for me. So it's you know,

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Speaker 2: the people call and get involved in I've instructed the

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Speaker 2: administrator to get with the Prosecutor's office and let's try

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Speaker 2: to work this out because safety and affordability are the

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Speaker 2: two biggest things right now, and we've got to make

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Speaker 2: sure that the county is safe.

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Speaker 1: Excellent a call to action from kind of Commissioner Lisha

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Speaker 1: Revee to do everything that you and I want, which

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Speaker 1: is keep Hamilton County safe, get the prosecutor the funds

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Speaker 1: that she needs so we can prosecute crimes. Alicia, thank

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Speaker 1: you for being a void of reason. I will look

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Speaker 1: forward to having you back on this show, and if

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Speaker 1: we don't talk between now and December, I wish you

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Speaker 1: the best on the budget and I wish you and

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Speaker 1: your family are very happy holiday and Merry Christmas.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Happy holidays, Merry Christmas to you as well

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Speaker 2: and your listeners, and thanks for having me on to

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Speaker 2: get the word out

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Speaker 1: Any time Commissioner reaset anytime eight fifty six, right now,

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Speaker 1: if you have Karsite talk station,