Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Montgomery and Sycamore Township

A coach stop that became a commuter suburb

Montgomery was settled in 1795 and laid out in 1802 by Nathaniel Terwilliger. Settlers from a town of the same name in New York arrived in 1806 and 1807 and named the place after home. It grew as a stop on the Cincinnati to Zanesville road, later the Montgomery Pike, with an inn, two taverns, a grist mill and a carding mill.

The village stayed small until the 1960s, when it turned into a bedroom community for Cincinnati workers, and it became a city in 1971. The 2020 Census counted 10,853 residents. So the housing runs from a handful of older buildings near Montgomery Road and Main Street to the much larger stock of homes built during and after that commuter boom.

Sycamore Township, with 19,563 people in 2020, adds subdivisions, condos and apartments. A cleanup in one of the older houses near the city's core may mean original wood and plaster; in a newer township home it is more likely carpet, pad and subfloor.

Getting a crew to the right street

Montgomery Road, now US 22, is still the main north and south route, as it was in the stagecoach years. I-71 runs to the east of Blue Ash, and I-275 passes to its north. Cooper Road, where Blue Ash City Hall sits, is another route people use to find their way.

Because township islands and city lines zigzag here, two houses on the same road can sit in different jurisdictions. Tell the provider whether the address is inside the city, Blue Ash, Sycamore Township or Symmes Township so the right police report and permits can be referenced.

City police, sheriff's deputies and the coroner next door

Montgomery runs its own city police department. Sycamore Township has no police force of its own; it contracts with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office for deputies and cruisers assigned only to the township. Symmes Township, which shares 45249, uses the same kind of sheriff's contract, with deputies working from the Symmes Township Safety Center.

The Hamilton County Coroner's Office is unusually close. Since 2021 it has worked from a new office and crime lab on Carver Woods Drive, a building that carries a 45242 address. Coroner investigators decide on any examination, arrange release to a funeral home and return belongings.

Neither Sycamore Township deputies nor the coroner's staff clean the property. That job lands with whoever controls the house: its owner, an estate's executor or a landlord. In a Montgomery condo or Kenwood apartment, the association or property manager often has to approve outside contractors.

How 45242 and 45249 split the map

ZIP 45242 carries a Cincinnati mailing name, and the postal list also allows Blue Ash and Montgomery. It holds Montgomery City Hall at 10101 Montgomery Road and Blue Ash City Hall at 4343 Cooper Road, along with the coroner's Carver Woods office.

ZIP 45249 sits a bit farther north and also mails as Cincinnati, with Montgomery and Symmes accepted as names. It takes in more of the city and reaches into Symmes Township.

Sycamore Township itself is broken into three separate pieces by annexations. The central piece includes the Dillonvale, Rossmoyne, Kenwood and Concorde Hills areas, and the northern piece includes Highpoint and Brecon. Some of those sections mail under 45236 or other ZIPs, so check the address before you call.

Township rules and paperwork

Sycamore Township has used a limited home rule form of government since 1993, with a three-member board of trustees. If a cleanup produces bulky waste or needs a dumpster on the street, the township or city office is the place to ask about rules. The city handles brush pickup and permits through its own public works and community development staff.

For a crime-related death in Montgomery or Symmes Township, the police or sheriff's report number will be needed for any Ohio victims compensation claim, which may cover up to $750 of scene cleaning for eligible victims.