PLAIN TOWNSHIP: A EXEMPLARY MODEL OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT?

Since yours truly began publishing the Stark County Political Report (March 12, 2008), it has been clear that Plain Township is the best run government in all of Stark County.

So it was no surprise recently to have received this e-mail from lead trustee Louis G. Giavasis.

Plain Township Trustees: July 23 (2013)

Martin, just a FYI, At last night's Plain Township Board of Trustees meeting we received some great news I wanted to share. 

Our Fiscal Officer presented the 2014 proposed alternative tax budget which estimates the township will have a general fund carryover of $2.6 million going into next year.  Plain Township will continue to provide cost efficient services at current levels and our 2014 budget expenditures are estimated to be approximately $1 million lower than 2013.   

I am proud that Plain Township will remain one of the most financially sound communities in Stark County. 

Lou Giavasis

Two of the three trustees (Giavasis and Leno) are Democrats.  So much for "tax and spend Democrats" at least in Plain Township.

Plain is Stark's largest township, coming in at about 52,000 population.

Particularly impressive to the SCPR has been the township's penchant for efficiency.

A place to look is at the cost of its police operations and to compare is in its policing operation to Stark's next largest township Jackson.

There has been relatively little increase in policing expenditures even has the township increases police visibility in the township.

Giavasis tells The Report that the township has one substation and has plans for another which means that many Plain residents will be "a stone's throw away" from a police station.

One station is presently located in Avondale and in August/September, Giavasis says, another will be set up in northeast Plain Township in the area of Diamond and Middlebranch.

And the substations are not only a place for the sheriff's deputies to hang out, they will be accessible to township residents who have business to conduct with the police.

Plain contracts with the Stark County sheriff's department for policing services at a projected cost of $1,536,162 annually.

Compared to Jackson township which comes in at about $7.5 million, what a deal $1.5 million is for Plain, no?

And, of course, the media has been full of accounts of personnel problems within the Jackson Police Department.

Incidentally, a majority of Jackson's trustees are Republicans (Walters and Hawke).  But apparently they are not "less government is better government" Republicans.

Plain Township has none of the Jackson Township headaches (in addition to the expense) of administering a police department.

All Plain's police administration is handled by Stark County Sheriff George T. Maier and his staff.

There has a recent (June of this year) controversy involving Plain's fiscal responsibility.

The brouhaha has to do with the construction of a new central fire station on Schneider St NE going back to August of 2012.

The problem has to do with the fact that the facility is a two-story building and that Ohio's building code requires that an elevator be installed to allow for public access (this is a public building) to the second floor even though the second floor is "off limits" for the public inasmuch as it is resting area for "firemen only."

Giavasis believes the the trustees have taken prudent steps under the counsel and advice of the township's architects and feels that the trustees have been "left hung out to dry" (The Report's interpretation of his remarks) by government bureaucrats who cannot make common sense decisions.

Canton, he says, was given an exemption from having an elevator in 2011 when it built a new fire station and that the Plain Township trustees were told that they would get the very same exemption by the township architect.

A curiosity in all this is former commission Pete Ferguson weighing-in on the issue.  Pete was at a meeting of Canton City Council on July 15th.  In a brief conversation with yours truly, he unloaded on Giavasis for not being truthful as to what he knew and when he knew it in terms of knowing that the need for an elevator would not be waived.

Giavasis' response?

Pete Ferguson needs to check Plain Township public meeting records.  The record, Giavasis says, clearly shows that originally the architect was confident that Plain Township would get an exemption from the elevator requirement.

As it turns out, Giavasis further says, the architect was wrong to the tune of at least $100,000.  Plain has paid the firm some $300,000 in fees for its services.

The project was expected to cost about $3.5 million. The bids came in at $3.1 million (without the elevator being in the specifications) and even with the the addition of the elevator, the total cost will be about $3.2 million which is some $300,000 under the budgeted $3.5 million.

Giavasis says that the township may sue (on his recommendation) the architectural firm for the extra $100,000 is costs because had the township been given accurate information on the need for access to the second floor, the township could have installed a relatively inexpensive wheel-chair lift with the adjustment of making the stairwell wider.

Giavasis speculates that Ferguson may be weighing-in because he might have some kind of affinity with the architectural firm.  However, he was quick to add that whether or not he did is beside the point.

He concludes that he thinks Ferguson needs to check the actual record of township proceedings (with the architect speaking) and then apologizes to himself, Al Leno and Scott Haws for his allegation that the trustees (personified by Giavasis) of being untruthful.

Plain Township is showing too that it is willing to put aside turfism by agreeing to abandon its fire and police dispatching service in favor of merging its operation into an evolving countywide call receiving and dispatch redundant center (the sheriff's department and the city of Canton Communications Center).

Back in January, the township sent its dispatchers to the sheriff's department for cross-training (police and fire).

Last month, trustees signed a contract with the sheriff for the department to provide fire and ambulance dispatching (by virtue of the policing contract, the sheriff already dispatches for Plain-based police calls) at the rate of $35 per call.

The saving to the township?

Probably about $120,000 but maybe as much as $140,000 annually.  Plus, perhaps, another one-time $500,000 for updated dispatching technology.

The Plain trustees had considered having Nimishillen Township's CenCom Dispatch Center do fire dispatching (at the same cost of $35 per call), however, Giavasis says that for the same cost it made much more sense to go with the sheriff because in the sheriff configuration, all of the Plain dispatching will be in one room which has to be more effective in getting emergency forces to Plain residents.

Plain like all of Ohio's local governments has been hurt by the elimination of the estate tax, the public utility tax, and cuts in local government funding.

For example, take a look at the evaporation of the estate tax which was eliminated as of January 1, 2013.

It is not as if the SCPR has not been critical of Plain Township officials and Louis Giavasis.

And Giavasis like so many subjects of the SCPR has complained about the critiques.

But he is different than many of the complainers in that he accepts the "check and balance" function of the media vis-a-vis government.

Most of the criticism has had to do with the township's hiring of its administrator.

On the strict criterion of running a ship-shape government, it is clear to the SCPR that Plain Township is top-notch in Stark County.

For anyone who gets elected as a new trustee on other Stark County townships this fall, he or she would do well to get on the Plain Township website and view each and every township meeting.

In doing so, the new trustee will become much better prepared to making an immediate impact on his/her township.

The SCPR analysis is that Plain Township government is the best in all of Stark County and, indeed, a model for all other Stark County-based local government to follow.

(VIDEO: STATE REP. SCHURING 2/15/2011) "LET'S WAIT AND SEE" ON STATE DEFUNDING OF LOCAL GOV'T? JACKSON TWP PARKS/ROADS A CASULTY OF SCHURING SUPPORTED CUTS?

 

Back in February, 2011 the SCPR did a blog on the speculated cuts to local government funding at the hand of the State of Ohio.

Here is a video (02/15/2012) of state Representative and Republican J. Kirk Schuring and Jackson Township fiscal officer Randy Gonzalez addressing the prospect of those cuts:



Well, it is time for someone to tell Representative Schuring that the "reality" of the cuts are now being felt big time in the base (Jackson Township) of his constituency, the 48th Ohio House District.

In a Jackson Community Connection piece (Donna Smith, November 19, 2012), Jackson trustee and president James N. Walters is quoted thusly:  " We need to figure out what we are going to do now that we are in a $3 million hole and we need to move forward.”

On November 6th, Jackson voters rejected a "current expenses" levy which was designed to finance Jackson's parks and roads in an effort to offset some of the $3 million is less revenue with a local tax increase:

What does the defeat of the levy mean?

• All Jackson parks' operating houRS are curtailed to dawn to dusk and there will be no lighting,
• Yard waste drop off shortened hours have been implemented,
• Personnel reductions in the roads and parks department may be in the offing.

What are the political consequences to Representative Schuring for having supported local government funding cuts?

Despite working very hard, Democrat Amanda Trump made very little headway in sending Schuring a message that his safe district was becoming less safe.

But now that reality will be setting in with Jackson residents with diminished services by virtue of Schuring's support of draconian state funding cuts, one has to wonder whether or not a similar effort by Trump going forward (i.e. continuing her campaign unabated) might not yield dramatically different results.

It is always been a premise of the SCPR, that it will take something like a stunning electoral defeat of a Kirk Schuring for the Legislature to get the message that Ohioans are "damn mad and aren't going to take it anymore!"

Recently, Ohio Policy Matters (a progressive think tank - LINK), published a comprehensive analysis of the huge impact that the "reality" of the effect cuts will have on the villages, cities, townships and special taxing districts of Ohio.

Here is table that shows the overall picture of how large the cuts are statewide:

And here is Policy Matters' take on how the cuts will specifically impact Stark County:

While the focus of this blog has not included schools, it is interesting to note (according to Policy Matters) that Jackson schools face a 22% cut state revenues in the upcoming fiscal year.

Over the next two years, it will be interesting to see whether or not Jacksonians might increasingly be thinking (as the reality of the cuts sink in) that it might not be that great of a thing to having the budget-cut-supporting Kirk Schuring continue to represent them in the Ohio General Assembly.

SCPR "ELECTION 2009 SERIES (VOL 10): IS JACKSON TWP A CASE OF "IF YOU KEEP DOING THE SAME OLD THING, YOU WILL KEEP GETTING WHAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS GOTTEN?"

Wherever you find Randy Gonzalez you will find "power politics."  Randy is an old school guy who learned politics at the feet of former Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. who learned from Ohio's last big bad politico:  Verne Riffe.

Many Stark political people seem to be in thrall to Gonzalez who is Stark County Democratic Party chairman and holds a whole host of the political patronage tainted positions at various levels of Stark County government.
Not long ago, yours truly talked to Trustee James Walters.  Republican Walters went on and on about how well he thought of Gonzalez.

Why all this talk about Gonzalez?

Isn't this blog about the upcoming Jackson trustee contest?

It is, but you can't talk Jackson politics without bringing Gonzalez in.

The SCPR believes that the trustees that Jackson now has are pretty much superfluous.  Only Gonzalez wields "real" political power in Jackson.  It could be that he controls all of Stark County's politics.

Only a change of trustees with the cojones to move in the opposite direction of Gonzalez will bring much needed "new life" to Jackson and begin the process of breaking the Gonzalez hold on Jackson.

Jackson cannot adequately serve its citizens as a township as is evidenced by the desperation move to link up with the dying city of Canton.  Jackson's goal:  avoid annexation for 50 years.  Wow!

THE CANDIDATES

William Burger, who is running for re-election  (now a Democrat), was a Republican. One source tells yours truly that Burger is a day-in, day-out type trustee who more resembles a trustee that has held office in Lexington Township for eons rather than someone who is up to the challenge of bustling Jackson.

Jackson is Ohio's 16th largest township (2000 census) which is desperately in need of invigorated leadership attributes which do not inhabit the marrow of Burger.


John Pizzino has, as far as the SCPR knows, always been a Democrat.  However, he pals around with Canton's Republican annexation director Sam "I'm Darth Vader to the Townships" Sliman.  Moreover, Pizzino lives in the posh Glenmoor area of Stark County.

So is Pizzino a man of the people?  Hardly.

He appears to be a prime mover, along with Gonzalez and Sliman, to make CanJackson a Stark County behemoth that is going nowhere.  But Pizzino and Gonzalez like to brag about CanJackson encompassing one-third of all the people who live in Stark County.

So what?

To the SCPR, such talk is a lot of flap about nothing.  A dead city joining up with a board of paranoid trustees (set on protecting its borders for 50 years) is not a dynamic, living, "growing into an Stark economic powerhouse" collaboration in the making.

Fred Wallace

A Republican who bills himself as a person to take the politics out of Jackson government?

It could be, but as a candidate he is short on specifics as to what the current trustees are doing wrong.  He makes heavy use of "glittering generalities" in dealing with all the SCPR's questions.

When pressed to get more specific.  Guess what?  More generalities.

In a specific sort of way, Wallace does say that CanJackson (The Report's phrase) is a mistake.

Here is a sampling of some of Wallace's responses to SCPR questions:

FINAL WORD

Jackson is in need of "new life," but Wallace does not seem to be the answer.  He is taking the "good citizen" approach (naively, in the view of the SCPR) and will likely get eaten alive by Burger and Pizzino.

One would think Wallace has a long list of specifics that the Gonzalez allies are doing wrong or missing in terms of the future of Jackson.  But he is unwilling to share the list with voters.

DISCUSSION: NORTH CANTON ON THE REBOUND?

Jackson Township is losing 270 jobs to North Canton. Not long ago Massillon lost jobs (Myers Industries) to North Canton. As the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report/SCPR) has already documented, Massillon Mayor Francis H. Cicchinelli, Jr., was none to happy about the Myers Industries loss.

And the word is, he's still smarting over the loss.

Over the past two weeks North Canton officials were sweating it out whether or not a North Canton/Maple Street Commerce (Stu Lichter's majority interest company) Altercare deal was going to fly. Apparently, area realtor Robert DeHoff has been fighting tooth and nail to keep Altercare at his facility on Whipple for the remaining four months of its lease.

Obviously, a political tug-a-war has been going on.

The North Canton "sweating it out" came to be because North Canton officials were stunned some two weeks ago when they received a modified Jobs Ready Site agreement which had new language (as compared to the original) which would have prohibited North Canton from using its $5 million grant to facilitate the relocation of Altercare to North Canton unless officials could get a waiver.

The Report has learned that an Altercare official was jawing with the Ohio Department of Development over the new requirement. Presummably Stuart Lichter and his adversary in this deal (DeHoff does own about a 10% interest in Maple Street Commerce) both weighed in.

One area official described the Lichter/DeHoff standoff as being like an 800 pound gorilla versus a rhesus monkey; hence the graphic above.

No doubt that Lichter has a lot more political clout in Ohio and, indeed, in Stark County than Bob DeHoff. After all, Lichter stepped in and perhaps saved Governor Ted Strickland's chance for a second term by coming up with a re-development plan to keep the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company international headquarters in Akron.

Can you imagine the political fallout in northeast Ohio for Strickland, if Goodyear left the area.

So the official word from the Ohio Department of Development (ODD) is that the "new" language does not apply the "in process" applications - only new applications.

The Report will believe the ODD stance on new applications when the happen. The "waiver" is a huge political loophole that the ODD will find a way to grant when the governor or some other powerful politician wants it waived.

The Report understands that Jackson Township officials are very angry over the loss of the 270 jobs from thw township. It could be because of the "blood feud" that is going on between North Canton and a Jackson Twp/city of Canton annexation combo over a plan that Stark County commissioners recently approved and which is being litigated.

It can't be an income tax thing, since Jackson has no income tax.

Notwithstanding the effort of the ODD to stop internecine economic warfare among the counties, townships, villages and cities of Ohio, don't look for these politico/economic fistfights to abate (pardon the pun) anytime soon.