Wilmington Weekly with Matt Purkey

Matt Purkey

Wilmington Weekly is a local podcast focused on Wilmington, Ohio City Council and how local government decisions actually work. Hosted by former Council President, Matt Purkey, the show provides context, explains process, and helps residents better understand what’s happening at city hall and why it matters.

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22 episodes
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English

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S1 · E35
Yesterday · 28 min
Episode Thirty-Five - Council Wrap Up (9/3/26) and Reflections
In Episode Thirty-Five, Matt wraps up Wilmington City Council's September 3, 2026 workshop and regular meeting, including the nearly two-hour public hearing on the US 68 data center rezoning. He covers the death of the old camping ordinance and its two replacements, a $200,000 unexplained jump in the city's Consultant Services line, the first reading of a CivicPlus contract to replace the city's Google Drive system, and the passage of the data center zoning and rezoning ordinances tied to the Sharp v. Wilmington consent order. The hearing itself included testimony citing recent Ohio Supreme Court rulings, a resident's AI-assisted legal brief, and a First Amendment exchange with the council president. Matt also announces a format change for the show going forward, retiring the Wednesday preview episode in favor of wrap-ups and special episodes, and walks through a corrected legal timeline for the referendum effort now facing the city, including why Wilmington's status as a statutory (not charter) city matters for when, or if, voters actually get a say.
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S1 · E34
September 2 · 10 min
Episode Thirty-Four - Council Preview (9/3/26)
Thursday's meeting could be one of the biggest of the season. Two ordinances tied to a federal consent order, including the data center zoning amendment at the center of this year's biggest story, are positioned to pass with emergency clauses intact, foreclosing a public referendum, the same way a similar ordinance did at the last meeting without a single council member explaining why. A public hearing on a related rezoning runs the same night under the same unlimited-time format as the last one. This episode walks through the suspension-of-rules math, what happened last time, and what's still unexplained heading into Thursday.
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S1 · E33
August 21 · 20 min
Episode Thirty-Three - Council Wrap Up (8/20/26) and Reflections
Thursday's special meeting produced the strongest finding this show has surfaced all season: sworn testimony that the data center zoning amendment at the heart of this fight may never have been legally initiated in the first place. Fourteen people spoke. Seven raised the same specific legal question about whether either ordinance actually meets the standard for an emergency. Council asked zero follow-up questions, three separate times. Two council members carried nearly all the substantive engagement in the room. Two others never spoke at all. One ordinance passed that night with its emergency clause intact, no referendum window. The other moves to September 3rd, with the same math already on the table. This episode is a full accounting of what happened, what didn't, and what it means that the public has a right to a referendum this council chose not to explain taking away.
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August 19 · 11 min
Episode Thirty-Two - Special Meeting Preview (8/20/26)
Thursday isn't a normal council meeting - it's a special meeting built around two public hearings on the AWS-related ordinances that aren't the big one, both carrying emergency clauses. This episode digs into what's actually in each ordinance, applies a brand-new Ohio Supreme Court ruling on emergency legislation and referendum rights, and lays out the exact vote math that decides what happens Thursday night. Also: a Public Works Committee meeting on fluoride that deserves its own look, with the deeper dive coming this weekend.
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S1 · E31
August 10 · 22 min
Episode Thirty-One - Council Wrap Up (8/6/26) and Reflections
Council came within one vote of fast-tracking a new public camping ban Thursday night, despite the city's own police chief, prosecutor, and cleanup crew all saying it wasn't ready. It failed to suspend the rules 4-2 and heads to a second reading September 3rd. Its companion, a public urination and defecation ordinance, passed clean the same night, built the right way from the start. Also this week: a fire department ordinance authorizing nearly double the current staffing passed with zero discussion, a family connection on the dais nobody mentioned, and a string of real solutions raised and dismissed with nothing but "we don't have the money." Matt closes by asking the question nobody on the dais did: if this is really the city's biggest problem, why didn’t the administration ask for help with that instead of a new safety building?
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S1 · E30
August 5 · 6 min
Episode Thirty - Council Preview (8/6/26)
In this episode: the AZEK Group decision, Thursday's light agenda, why the public hearing notice actually matters, the August 20th/September 3rd split on the data center ordinances, and a closer look at O-26-45's history.
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S1 · E29
July 23 · 10 min
Episode Twenty-Nine - Repeal, Replace, or What?
Three ordinances are headed to Wilmington City Council’s August 20th public hearing, all carrying emergency language, all tied to the data center project. In this special episode, Matt breaks down what “emergency” actually means under Ohio law, and walks through a piece of process almost nobody talks about.
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S1 · E28
July 18 · 18 min
Episode Twenty-Eight - Council Wrap Up (7/16/26) and Reflections
Council voted down a previously unanimous data center ordinance, five to one, with no discussion on the floor, right after the longest executive session of the year. The same night, the city quietly added three public hearings to address the federal court's order on the AWS ordinances. A department raise and a twenty-year fire department framework both moved forward with little scrutiny, and seven of eight public commenters independently called the court's order a gift, a reset, a second chance. Matt walks through what happened, what wasn't explained, and why the silence itself is this week's story.
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S1 · E27
July 15 · 6 min
Episode Twenty-Seven - Council Preview (7/16/26)
A preview of Wilmington City Council’s July 16th meetings, workshop at 6, regular meeting at 7. On the agenda: third readings on the AZEK Group’s Prairie Road zoning and annexation, a same-night second and third reading on updated city salary ranges, and a correction on the fire department restructuring ordinance after an emergency clause quietly disappeared from an earlier draft. Also covers an unusually placed executive session ahead of a data center zoning vote, and a federal court order in Sharp v. Wilmington that puts the AWS project’s next steps squarely in council’s hands, with the agenda giving no indication of how they plan to respond.
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S1 · E26
July 6 · 21 min
Episode Twenty-Six - Council Wrap Up (7/2/26) and Reflections
Thursday's council meeting produced two corrections to last week's preview: the CRA Housing Council appointment turned out to be two separate resolutions, and the data center zoning amendment did not reach final passage as expected. Matt covers what actually happened instead, including a legal conversation council members and the Mayor all asked about and none got an answer to, a building inspection contract increase that drew zero questions, curbside recycling vanishing from the agenda entirely, and the Mayor's extended remarks addressing Amazon negotiation rumors. Reflections this week: three different kinds of silence from Thursday's meeting, and why the difference between them may not matter as much as it seems.
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S1 · E25
July 1 · 7 min
Episode Twenty-Five - Council Preview (7/2/26)
Thursday’s Wilmington City Council meeting carries the heaviest agenda of the season. Council is set to give final passage to the data center zoning text amendment, the same use category currently being challenged in federal court, five days ahead of the next hearing in that case. A fire department restructuring ordinance gets its first reading, and its text contains an emergency declaration that directly conflicts with what the Safety Director told council last month. And curbside recycling, after months of delay, was pulled from the agenda entirely before this episode published. Matt walks through what’s on the table Thursday and what to listen for.
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S1 · E24
June 21 · 15 min
Episode Twenty-Four - Council Wrap Up (6/18/26) and Reflections
Council took data centers from a permitted use to a conditional one on the same night a separate rezoning locked one specific property out of ever becoming one. A fire department restructuring got its second presentation without becoming an ordinance. A zoning amendment missed its filing deadline with no documented justification for how it got added anyway, a sitting council member says he hadn't even seen it in time. And a financial case for ending curbside recycling doesn't survive contact with the city's own numbers. Matt walks through what changed, what's still missing, and why residents keep getting left to connect the dots themselves.
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S1 · E23
June 17 · 8 min
Episode Twenty-Three - Council Preview (6/18/26)
Episode Twenty-Three previews Thursday's Wilmington City Council workshop and regular meeting. The meeting opens with two public hearings: a zoning text amendment touching the data center use category at the center of an active federal lawsuit, and a separate rezoning request that explicitly excludes data centers from its proposed use. The episode also covers third readings on a transportation grant and a health benefit plan renewal, a transit civil rights compliance program, a traffic control change downtown, and a rundown of commitments, including recycling and fire department staffing legislation, that remain absent from the agenda.
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S1 · E22
June 6 · 15 min
Episode Twenty-Two - Council Wrap Up (6/4/26) and Reflections
Episode Twenty-Two is the wrap-up from the Wilmington City Council meeting of June 4, 2026. Thursday night's meeting ran less than an hour. The agenda was light. But light meetings in a heavy season carry weight, and this one leaves out quite a bit worth examining. The episode covers the formal appointment of the new Clerk of Council, two public comment appearances that received no response from council, a detailed Safety Director presentation on transitioning away from the city's thirty year old tornado siren system, and a zoning code amendment that passed without emergency language but with suspended rules. It also runs through several items on the watch list including the recycling commitment that did not materialize, the Davids Drive contractor letter with no public record of being sent, East End Elementary with no public resolution, and the housing council that has not yet been created despite a state mandate. The episode closes with the June 16th injunction hearing and June 18th council meeting on the horizon, and a direct ask that council begin having the public conversation this city deserves.
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June 3 · 4 min
Episode Twenty-One - Council Preview (6/4/26)
Thursday night is one of the lighter agendas of the year, but there is enough context worth understanding before the meeting. The workshop opens at 6:00 with Columbus Street parking. The regular meeting follows at 7:00 with the formal appointment of a new Clerk of Council, two Finance second readings, and a zoning permit amendment that could pass Thursday night. Plus a check-in on legislation that was promised and has not arrived, and a look at what is coming on June 16th.
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S1 · E20
May 24 · 18 min
Episode Twenty — Council Wrap-Up (5/21/26)
Episode Twenty is the wrap-up from the Wilmington City Council meeting of May 21, 2026. This episode opens with a disclosure: Matt served ten years on council, knows people involved, and is not neutral about Wilmington. This was not a usual meeting and this episode does not follow the usual format. The meeting itself covered a new law director introduction, a state-mandated housing council creation, a $380,000 emergency supplemental appropriations package, a public comment on Ohio's new nondisclosure mandate that received no response from council, and routine legislative business. Combined workshop and regular meeting ran just over an hour. At the end of the meeting, following an executive session added to the agenda by motion that same night, council voted 4-3 to remove Annen Vance as Clerk of Council. No public explanation was given. The city's video recording did not capture the return to open session. The episode covers the full sequence of public record events, the process questions those events raise, and what the executive session education section of the show has been building toward all season. It closes with an update on the federal litigation surrounding the data center project, including a court order restricting Planning Commission action on data center site plans and Amazon's motion to intervene.Episode Twenty is the wrap-up from the Wilmington City Council meeting of May 21, 2026. This episode opens with a disclosure: Matt served ten years on council, knows people involved, and is not neutral about Wilmington. This was not a usual meeting and this episode does not follow the usual format. The meeting itself covered a new law director introduction, a state-mandated housing council creation, a $380,000 emergency supplemental appropriations package, a public comment on Ohio's new nondisclosure mandate that received no response from council, and routine legislative business. Combined workshop and regular meeting ran just over an hour. At the end of the meeting, following an executive session added to the agenda by motion that same night, council voted 4-3 to remove Annen Vance as Clerk of Council. No public explanation was given. The city's video recording did not capture the return to open session. The episode covers the full sequence of public record events, the process questions those events raise, and what the executive session education section of the show has been building toward all season. It closes with an update on the federal litigation surrounding the data center project, including a court order restricting Planning Commission action on data center site plans and Amazon's motion to intervene.
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S1 · E19
May 20 · 9 min
Episode Nineteen - Council Preview (5/21/26)
Episode Nineteen is a preview of the Wilmington City Council meetings scheduled for Thursday, May 21, 2026. This episode covers both the 6:00 PM public workshop and the 7:00 PM regular council meeting. Workshop items include the swearing-in of Police Officer Clayton J. Storer, a Law Director Recommendation introduction, and a Housing Committee Appointments Discussion. The regular meeting opens with a public hearing on a zoning text amendment requiring zoning permit approval before building permit applications can be accepted, with a discussion of what that means in practice for any project where zoning is uncertain or in dispute. Other items include second and third readings on the CHIP housing grant partnership ordinance, an emergency supplemental appropriations ordinance that grew significantly from its original form, an RTA Pilot Program grant resolution, a city employee health insurance contract, and a Law Director Contract under Judiciary. The episode also covers the Prairie Road annexation absence, the expected timing of recycling legislation, a federal court order related to the data center project, a Planning Commission membership roster update, and a look ahead to June 18.
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S1 · E18
May 10 · 26 min
Episode Eighteen - Council Wrap Up (5/7/26) and Reflections
Episode Eighteen is the wrap-up from the Wilmington City Council meeting of May 7, 2026. This episode covers the city treasurer's financial overview, a water tower engineering supplement tied to the AWS data center project, the supplemental appropriations package, the first reading of a Prairie Road annexation ordinance, a unanimous committee recommendation to end curbside recycling, and two executive sessions. The episode also covers Tuesday's Planning Commission meeting, where a rezoning recommendation and a data center conditional use amendment both advanced to council. The reflection examines a pattern playing out across multiple meetings — community input that is procedurally accepted and practically unanswered. The episode closes with newly surfaced public documents raising questions about the referendum filed against the February 19 rezoning vote.
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S1 · E17
May 6 · 9 min
Episode Seventeen. - Council Preview (5/7/26)
This episode previews the Wilmington City Council meeting scheduled for Thursday, May 7. The meeting includes a 6 p.m. public workshop followed by the regular Council meeting at 7 p.m. In this preview, I walk through the main items on the agenda, including the Union Township fire and EMS agreement, supplemental appropriations, the CHIP housing grant partnership with Clinton County, the Prairie Road annexation ordinance, curbside recycling, and two scheduled executive sessions. I also touch briefly on the AWS community open house scheduled for Tuesday, May 12, and explain why the larger Planning Commission and data center conversation will wait for the wrap-up episode. Items covered include: Union Township fire and EMS agreement Supplemental appropriations, including David’s Drive Phase Three and water tower engineering review CHIP housing grant partnership with Clinton County Prairie Road annexation ordinance Curbside recycling discussion Executive sessions for economic development and personnel AWS community open house calendar note Wilmington City Council meets Thursday, May 7, with the workshop at 6 p.m. and the regular meeting at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers.
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S1 · E16
April 17 · 16 min
Episode Sixteen -Council Wrap Up (4/16/26) and Reflections
This week’s Wilmington City Council meeting was shorter than usual, but it still covered a wide range of topics, including long-term fire department planning, routine legislation, and a fast-moving zoning change that raised important procedural questions. In this episode, Matt walks through the full meeting from start to finish, including: Fire department staffing and long-term planning Routine council business and infrastructure updates The return of the data center conditional use discussion A detailed breakdown of Ordinance O-26-21 What actually qualifies as an emergency under council procedure How framing, urgency, and presentation shape decisions in real time The episode closes with a broader reflection on how information is presented in public meetings, how decisions are guided, and why that matters for transparency and public trust. Whether you watched the meeting or are catching up now, this episode is designed to slow things down and make the process clear.
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