AS PREDICTED BY THE SCPR IN NOVEMBER, 2010 - REVOLDT "BOLTS" FOR COLUMBUS! IS MAYOR HELD NEXT?

Revised at 8:15 AM

North Canton Council President Daryl Revoldt left a message (1:08 p.m.) on the SCPR phone yesterday confirming what The Report has been reporting since November, 2010 that he is heading to Columbus in one capacity or another.  He is to be the director of legislative affairs and outreach for the Ohio Department of Development at a salary of $92,000 per year.

He and fellow North Cantonian have steadfastly denied to The Report that information to the effect they were seeking employment with the newly elected Republican administration of John Kasich was accurate.  However, The Report was not buying the denials and Revoldt's landing of a job appears to be confirmation that his finger has been in the Kasich political waters all along.

Though he has not yet gotten a job, The Report believes that Held would accept a Kasich administration job in a heartbeat if offered and, moreover, the SCPR believes that Held is not sitting idly by and waiting for spontaneity to generate an offer for him.

While The Report had things somewhat reversed in November, look for Mayor David Held to eventually join Revoldt in Columbus.  Not in the economic development department.  More likely he will land in some sort of environmental connected job.  He is the executive director of the Stark-Wayne-Tuscarawas Solid Waste District.

With the selection of Revoldt for the Kasich administration economic development post, North Canton's remaining city councilperson and the Held administration can breathe a sigh of relief.

Why does The Report say that?

Well, there has been some concern on the part of city officials that North Canton may be on the hook - out of its own budget - for some $5 million in Jobs Ready Site (JRS) monies that it received from the Ohio Department of Economic Development to rehab the former Hoover factory in conjunction with Maple Street Commerce in partnership with Industrial Realty Group, LLC (IRG) headed up by Californian Stuart Lichter.

Revoldt and Held are the two main players from North Canton's perspective in working with Lichter to salvage something of the departure of The Hoover Company from central city North Canton.

While the project has not been everything that Revoldt and Held ballyhoo about it (i.e. claiming the production of some 600 jobs whereas the reality is, perhaps, 400 to 500 net jobs to replace the 2400 or so Hoover jobs); the North Canton effort probably outshines any other economic development activity in Stark County.

A Strickland administration official recently demanded of North Canton certain records documenting full compliance with JRS requirements.

With Revoldt's appointment, city officials should be able to relax. 

While the JRS concern may be solved, North Canton along with every other Stark County and Ohio local government has new financial concerns.

Revoldt's new employer - the Kasich administration - is cutting local government funding 50% over the next two years.  Moreover, Kasich is reneging on Ohio's promise to hold localities harmless on losses from the Republican dominated Ohio General Assembly's rework of corporate taxation with the phase out of Ohio's tangible personal property tax with a commercial activities tax (CAT).  And, in 2013, the Republicans will be eliminating Ohio's estate tax 80% of which goes to local governments.

Revoldt, as councilperson, recently lectured former state Representative Todd Snitchler on the damage the Legislature would do in making sudden and draconian cuts in funding to local government.

If Revoldt is anything he is a team player.  He has a storied Republican Party connection and history, to wit:

• a city councilman for 17 years
• mayor of North Canton for three years
• chief of staff and district director for former Republican congressman Ralph Regula
• Region 9 (based in Akron) economic development director
• a member of the Stark County Republican Party executive committee

While he may have private misgivings about the direction the Kasich administration is heading in with regard to Ohio's local government funding, Stark Countians can be sure he will not be opening his mouth from his inside position to protest the move.

Revoldt gets upset when city officials go off the reservation on the official line that has been generally agreed upon by city leaders.  He firmly believes that local government leaks that indicate internal discord and disagreement are a deterrent to new business starting up in or relocating to North Canton.

The SCPR believes that Revoldt took his proactive economic development view into realm of the ridiculous a year so ago when he had city officials contact Acme Fresh Market and advise them that they had failed to take advantage of a property tax abatement their $2 million remodel of the North Canton store.

But all-in-all North Canton will miss Revoldt.  He, in the opinion of the SCPR, has been the most knowledgeable and accomplished North Canton official. 

The Report does not see anyone in the current mix who can replace him. 

With the anti-local-government (in terms of funding) coming from Kasich combining with a void of creative, energetic and bold day-to-day leadership in the city, The Report looks for North Canton to struggle as the city has never before. 

As Hoover is permanently removed from the North Canton landscape, so it seems that Revoldt's Columbus employment means that there will not be yet another return of Daryl Revoldt to the North Canton political/government scene.

The SCPR wishes Daryl Revoldt the very best in Columbus; not only for his own sake, but for the well-being of all Ohioans!