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.

  1. 3d ago

    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.

  2. Jul 18

    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.

  3. Jul 15

    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.

  4. Jul 6

    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.

  5. Jul 1

    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.

  6. Jun 21

    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.

  7. Jun 17

    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.

  8. Jun 6

    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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Ratings & Reviews

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About

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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