LIBERTY TWP. — The effort to build a full interchange at Interstate 75 and the Michael A. Fox Highway is heating up in Butler County, even boiling over into a public spat between Gov. Bob Taft and Commissioner Mike Fox.

        Liberty Township leaders must soon pick a point person to organize the drive for a eastern link off the expressway, officials with the Butler County Transportation Improvement District told trustees Monday evening. Motorists now can go only west on the Fox highway after leaving I-75. The proposed interchange would connect the Fox highway east of I-75 with Cox Road, which would be extended north from Hamilton-Mason Road.

        “There needs to be a lot of work done. This will be a task,” said Bob Faxon, Liberty's TID representative. “This is a major issue and it is critical. This could happen quickly. In 12 to 18 months, we could have this done.”

        But, he added, it's “time-sensitive” and that action is needed before available local funding runs out.

        Supporters say the full interchange is critical to spurring commercial development needed for Liberty, whose population grew by 147 percent in the last decade.

        There is concern that delays could lead to residential growth soaking up the land targeted for the interchange.

        Liberty officials aren't sure who the point person will be — a trustee, Administrator Nell Kilpatrick, a consultant or a resident. But Trustee Christine Matacic said she expects a decision will be reached at a special trustee meeting before the next regularly scheduled one, Sept. 16.

        Meanwhile, one of the interchange's biggest supporters, Mr. Fox — for whom the highway is named — clashed with Mr. Taft on Sunday over the project at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new school complex in New Miami.

        Mr. Taft had declined to meet that day with Mr. Fox and other county officials about the interchange, according to Mr. Fox.

        So Mr. Fox and the other two county commissioners approached him in the gymnasium after the event ended. They wanted to urge him to call the Ohio Department of Transportation to get approval for the interchange.

        The $8 million project would be financed completely with local funds, but state approval is being delayed until results are available of a regional study of the I-75 corridor, which is expected to be finished early next year.

        But instead of Mr. Taft's blessing, Mr. Fox got a tongue-lashing. The governor scolded Mr. Fox for telling the media Mr. Taft was dragging his feet.

        “I said, "Governor, the bottom line is the only way this is going to get done is for you to pick up the phone and call the director of the Ohio Department of Transportation and tell him to just do it,”' Mr. Fox said.

        “And he just flew off. He said, "Well, I'm not going to do that.' Then he proceeded to berate me.

        “I said, "Well, governor, the Department of Transportation is dragging its feet and we're a year behind their schedule now,”' Mr. Fox recalled.

        “He said, "Well, you could have picked up the phone and called me.' He was yelling and pointing his finger at me.”

        Mr. Taft's spokesman, Joe Andrews, confirmed that the governor talked with Mr. Fox about the interchange Sunday. He said Mr. Fox and the others caught the governor off guard.

        “The governor obviously did tell Mr. Fox in no uncertain terms there is a process that has to be followed in order to accomplish the interchange,” Mr. Andrews said. “We have been trying for a couple of weeks now to set up a meeting with the commissioners and ODOT and the governor's staff, but haven't been able to get that on the books. There are several projects on the table down there and we are going to look at them.”

        The interchange, Mr. Fox maintains, would unleash commercial development opportunities on hundreds of acres that otherwise will be snapped up by residential development.

        A University of Cincinnati study released last week estimates the interchange would lead to more than 15,000 new jobs and $14.9 million in local property, income and sales tax revenues.

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