Sunday, January 11, 2009

DISCUSSION: SERIES - PART II WILL IT BE A MERGER OR A "COMBINING? THE STARK COUNTY ENGINEER/SANITARY ENGINEER ________________?

The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) was recently down to Southway to interview Stark County Engineer Mike Rehfus.

This is the second of a series in which The Report will be detailing for Stark Countians many of the particularities of the Engineer's office which affect all our pocketbooks.

Today, (in the video below) Engineer Rehfus discusses the much discussed consolidation of county engineering functions under Rehfus' leadership.

Readers/viewers will note that in the video Rehfus gets somewhat "nuanced," "euphemistic," or "finessing," - if you will, in referring to the consolidation as a "combining."

The Report prefers refer to the contemplated action as a "merger." For when it is all said and done, there will be no Stark County Sanitary Engineer after the two entities come together.

Now retired Commissioner Jane Vignos was vehemently opposed to the blending of the two county engineering functions. But she is gone now and The Report has it on good word that the merger will take place.

What Stark Countians ought to be focusing on is this.

How much money will have been saved taxpayers once county engineering operations are under one administration staffed by an appropriate number of employees for the functions handled?

A glimmer of the savings to be realized will be apparent on viewing the accompanying video. But more parts of the Rehfus interview are coming in ensuing days. You need to see the total package to get a better handle on the savings to be potentially realized.

The Report sees itself as primary a "political accountability" mechanism. So in a year The Report will be back to Engineer Rehfus to get a fix on the actual dollars being saved and to gauge how much better the county is doing in raising grant money for specific "sanitary" projects.

Now here is the video:

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