Wednesday last was an eventful day at the regular Stark County commissioners meeting.
Hartville police chief Larry Dordea made an appearance in which he shared a spellbinding revelation that he has made a discovery that may turn out to lead to a $1 million, if not more, savings to Stark County's centralized 9-1-1 rehab. The Report is in the process of editing extensive video that yours truly took on Wednesday that will give Stark County Political Report readers/viewers a good sense of Dordea's proposal.
Also, the SCPR is working on a story involving Stark County Board of Elections member Curt Braden and his travels to Columbus.
But in this story, the subject is the Stark County Dog Pound.
On January 27, readers will recall, the commissioners fired Evert Gibson from his position of dog warden of some five years.
Well, this week there was another citizen complaint that spurred Commissioner Todd Bosley into action. Bosley called interim warden Kevin Fox before the board to discuss ways and means of making progress on Stark County rectifying the deficient public services that Bosley believes the pound is and has been, for some time, rendering to Stark Countians.
This session was not a blame Kevin Fox for the continuing problems. Rather it seemed to be a "we are still dealing with the undone remediations of chronic problems that led to the firing of Evert Gibson. In fact, Commissioner Pete Ferguson complimented Fox (who is handling management responsibilities while remaining a union member - a kind of "high-wire act,") for doing a good job. Moreover, Commissioner Bosley was quick to make it clear that the problem that led to the Fox call in was a carryover and not a "on Fox's watch" problem.
The Report is presenting this edited version of Wednesday's meeting as it pertains to the dog pound problem so as to give readers/viewers insight into the historical problems of the pound and a look at measures that Fox and the commissioners are taking to remediate.
Of particular note is an exchange involving Commissioner Steve Meeks, county administrator Mike Hanke and Fox on the "bad" contract that had been negotiated by a prior board with the union which represents workers at the pound.
Another curiosity is why the prior board had hired an answering service (to take after-hours-calls) that is based in Pennsylvania (which Fox and Meeks say appears to be the failure point) in the face of Canton having a first-rate (according to Fox) answering service located at 12th Street and Cherry in Canton.
The message that the SCPR is driving home with this blog and the accompanying video is that prior boards of commissioners have made a number of questionable decisions in relative anonymity that have resulted in bad local government services to Stark Countians.
A further point. With the work of the SCPR, the anonymity is gone and by following The Report Stark Countians can keep abreast of the decisions of the board and what they mean in terms of quality and effectiveness as being the focus of the board in discharging its singular local government function of serving the citizens of Stark County in such a fashion that Stark Countians are getting the most bang for the taxpayer buck.
Here is the video.
Well, this week there was another citizen complaint that spurred Commissioner Todd Bosley into action. Bosley called interim warden Kevin Fox before the board to discuss ways and means of making progress on Stark County rectifying the deficient public services that Bosley believes the pound is and has been, for some time, rendering to Stark Countians.
This session was not a blame Kevin Fox for the continuing problems. Rather it seemed to be a "we are still dealing with the undone remediations of chronic problems that led to the firing of Evert Gibson. In fact, Commissioner Pete Ferguson complimented Fox (who is handling management responsibilities while remaining a union member - a kind of "high-wire act,") for doing a good job. Moreover, Commissioner Bosley was quick to make it clear that the problem that led to the Fox call in was a carryover and not a "on Fox's watch" problem.
The Report is presenting this edited version of Wednesday's meeting as it pertains to the dog pound problem so as to give readers/viewers insight into the historical problems of the pound and a look at measures that Fox and the commissioners are taking to remediate.
Of particular note is an exchange involving Commissioner Steve Meeks, county administrator Mike Hanke and Fox on the "bad" contract that had been negotiated by a prior board with the union which represents workers at the pound.
Another curiosity is why the prior board had hired an answering service (to take after-hours-calls) that is based in Pennsylvania (which Fox and Meeks say appears to be the failure point) in the face of Canton having a first-rate (according to Fox) answering service located at 12th Street and Cherry in Canton.
The message that the SCPR is driving home with this blog and the accompanying video is that prior boards of commissioners have made a number of questionable decisions in relative anonymity that have resulted in bad local government services to Stark Countians.
A further point. With the work of the SCPR, the anonymity is gone and by following The Report Stark Countians can keep abreast of the decisions of the board and what they mean in terms of quality and effectiveness as being the focus of the board in discharging its singular local government function of serving the citizens of Stark County in such a fashion that Stark Countians are getting the most bang for the taxpayer buck.
Here is the video.
1 comment:
I wasn't there, but just off the video why do I get the feeling this whole thing was staged to justify the firing of the dog warden?
And why are they blaming previous administrations for using a phone service in PA? Bosley is in his fourth year, and he just now figured that out?!
Are these guys (the commissioners) sleeping at the wheel?
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