POLITICS MESS UP THE FACTS, BUT THERE ARE FACTS!

Hat's off to Ed Balint of The Repository (Canton ambulance debate boils down to budget, OT [today's online edition] for trying to clear matters up on the "true" cost of keeping the Canton fire stations fully staffed, but after reading his examination, the SCPR comes away thinking that getting a grip on who is right and who is wrong between Healy, Ream and Carcione [and in the background - Healy mayoral opponent A.R. "Chip" Conde] remains a puzzle.

Healy, Ream (Healy's safety director), Carcione and/or Conde (endorsed by Carcione's Local 249, Canton Firefighters Association) are exactly the wrong persons to talk to if one wants to get to the actual facts of the matter.

To greater or lesser degrees, they are all "spin" artists on the issue in service of  their particular political interests.

There is however one person in Canton government - if given agreed upon "apples to apples" criteria who likely could settle the dispute once and for all with exact numbers.

Who might that be?

Gary Young:  who is one of the leaders of the Canton auditors department headed up by elected Auditor Richard Mallonn.

Young may be the most respected and trusted government employee in all of Stark County, if not all of Ohio.  

The SCPR talked with Young right after the Healy/Conde debate in early October.

Young could not forthrightly address the question The Report posed to him (Who is correct, Healy or Conde?) because it is obvious to Young and yours truly that they (the candidates) had used different criteria in the debate, again, in service of their respective political agendas.

As close as Young could come was to tell The Report via a "gestimate" that the truth was somewhere in the middle.

Such could not have been a comfortable thing for Young to have done.  For he is a numbers man who does not massage, he does not manipulate, and he has no political agenda.  Agree on precise criteria and he will provide the numerical truth of the matter.

Of course, neither Healy (Ream) nor Conde (Carcione) want precision.

If the truth were zeroed in on, it would be politically uncomfortable for Healy for Cantonians to learn that his exaggerated number of $1 million is just that and that the voters may conclude that he has been willing to jeopardize their safety in service of his political agenda.

If the truth were zeroed in on, it would be po0litically uncomfortable for Conde for Cantonians to learn that his "Canton can make a profit with ambulance service" is politically contrived and thereby put into question for Canton's voters as to whether or not he is all that different (as he likes to project) from known political spin artist William J. Healy.

If it is the truth you want, set the criteria and then give Canton Auditor Gary Young a call.

He can provide substance to the biblical injunction:  THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!

IS COUNTYWIDE 9-1-1 ON-THE-MEND? ONLY THE DEVIL KNOWS?

In recent weeks it has appeared that Stark County's effort to rework it countywide 9-1-1 operation was doomed with the announcements that the Stark County Sheriff and Canton was pulling out of the project.

On Tuesday past (June 7th) the Stark County Council of Governments (SCOG) general membership assembled at Canton City Hall to discuss the future of countywide 9-1-1 in light of these announcements.

It appears to the Stark County Political Report that countywide 9-1-1 rehab is far from dead.  In fact Tuesday's meeting was highlighted by a motion made by SCOG 9-1-1 Governance Committee Chair Randy Gonzalez (fiscal officer for Jackson Township) for formal approval by the general membership that SCOG be the entity that undertakes countywide 9-1-1.

Here is a video of Gonzalez setting up the motion.



The SCPR presents a summary of the discussion of various issues that the membership engaged in on the group's endeavor to make a decision on the motion (which passed unanimously).

The issues were:

1. Should SCOG be the entity to run countywide 9-1-1 in light of the fact that currently SCOG is not a PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) which it must become to qualify as a operational unit?
2. What Stark County government unit should serve as fiscal agent for SCOG (assuming it becomes the 9-1-1 operational organization)?  A corollary point was what, if any, impact Ohio Senate Bill 5 (which does not permit a COG to have unionized employees) would have on putting together countywide 9-1-1 under SCOG?
3. The financing of SCOG's 9-1-1 operations.
4. Establishing separate legal counsel for SCOG's 9-1-1 operations.

Appearance-wise all seems "peaches and cream" on the matter of countywide 9-1-1.  But don't you believe it!

As indicated in the masthead of this blog and as articulated by Stark County Commissioner Tom Bernabei and Canton Safety Director Tom Ream:  "the devil is in the details."

An issue which was a sort of "an elephant in the room" that Ream never brought up and which could keep Canton out of countywide 9-1-1 is a rumor that financially strapped Canton is holding out for some kind of commitment that Canton be compensated in some way for the equipment currently in place in its Canton Communications Center.

Another one is who - in terms of the person - will be in charge as "executive director" one SCOG's 9-1-1 countywide system gets centralized and begins formal operations.  The SCPR believes that Canton Mayor William J. Healy, II and Ream will be pitching for that person to be a Canton-friendly (if not an actual Canton city employee/official) individual.

These details, The Report believes, are the "real" stumbling blocks to Canton being part of countywide 9-1-1.

But Canton - while strongly preferred to be in the countywide system - is not essential to countywide 9-1-1 going forward.  If Canton won't budge on its "secret" agenda items, then look for SCOG's countywide 9-1-1 to be formed with the Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson's dispatch center being teamed up with the RED Center (western Stark County) to be the nucleus of Stark countywide emergency services system.

It is anybody's guess as to whether or not Canton will come around.  To The Report - township, village, city and county officials should not allow Canton to be the "tail that wags the dog."  And yours truly does not believe that they will.

In the end, the matter of Canton's inclusion is whether or not Mayor William J. Healy, II and Canton City Council want to be team players or not.

What follows is a series of video that give Stark citizens a look at what discussion went on in Tuesday's meeting:  some of "the devil's in the details," but, of course, not those "elephant in the room" devilish details that Canton officials are keeping to themselves.  It seems to The Report to be a game of brinkmanship being played by Canton's administration which does not speak well of the Healy leadership group.