(VIDEOS) THE 2013 STARK CO. BUDGET. ARE THE STARK COUNTY COMMISSIONERS DEMONSTRATING PRUDENCE?

 VIDEOS

Bernabei:  Summarizing the 2013 Budget

Harold:  The Impact of State Gov't Funding Loses

Creighton:  "A New Day in County Finances" 

Tomorrow, the Stark County commissioners will likely adopt a budget for 2013 they presented to Stark County department heads and to the general public last Wednesday.

It appears that it is now financial recovery time for all Stark County departments of government.

2011 was an absolute nightmare for county offices because a 0.25 sales tax levy expired and commissioners determined prior to its expiration that because of a loss of confidence in county government (i.e. the imposed sales tax of 2008 and Zeiglergate, et cetera), it would be unavailing to put a renewal or replacement issue on the ballot.

In the interim, the commissioners have practiced what they preached in terms of leading by example in fiscal austerity.

With the passage of the November 2011 0.5% sales tax increase, it is make up time for them and the remaining county departments of government.  In the opinion of the SCPR, the commissioners' increase, for one, is justified from 2012's $523,020 (all numbers rounded off) to $819,629.

The $819,629 represents a accurate accounting of what the commissioners are actually spending to run their office.  In 2011, 242,632 to had been shifted off the commissioners' general fund allocation to three non-general fund budget categories.

To the SCPR it was pretty amazing what former Chief Administrator Mike Hanke was able to do in maintaining a high level of commissioner administrative functions (including his wearing many, many hats) by becoming creative in finding the financing to maintain a core staff in the face of cuts being made.

Hanke retired March 1st.  However, the 2013 budget is his handiwork working with his top associate Rick Flory.

As alluded to above, making up for previous cuts across county government operations is a theme of the approved appropriations for the 2013 budget.

Already in the headlines of various media have been the restoration of large amounts of general fund budgeting to the Stark County sheriff's department.

The sales tax increase was promoted to the voters that the proceeds' first priority use would be to restore the criminal justice system (the sheriff, the courts, the prosecutor and other associated offices) to its 2010 levels (the last year that the county received sales tax revenues prior to the tax expiration in 2011).

As it turns out, former Sheriff Tim Swanson had not preplanned adequately in getting up to full bore with his department's operations (i.e. hiring enough deputies/corrections officers to full staff the jail so that its 501 beds can be fully utilized) with the infusion of new funds to finance same.  In fact, he was so unprepared that the department returned unused funds in 2012.

Oh, he has his excuses.  But the SCPR thinks that is exactly what they are.  The truth of the matter is that despite his many years in office and cumulative experience, he proved (with the rehiring debacle) why he did the Stark County public a favor in retiring.

Unfortunately for Stark Countians, notwithstanding the fact that the sheriff will be hiked from the 2011 budget appropriation number of $13,884,409 (seven/eight digit numbers to be read as being in the millions) to 2013's $17,937,214, the latter number is $1,156,382 less than could be available if current sheriff George T. Maier were able to make up for Swanson's deficiency in planning.

But he can't.  And what's worse for the safety of Stark Countians is that in the opinion of the SCPR, it is unlikely that Maier will be anything other than a short term sheriff.  The Report fully expects that the Ohio Supreme Court will - ironically - find for Swanson in his Quo Warranto against Maier and turn Maier out of office within, perhaps, the next 60 days.

A parade of sheriffs is not what Stark County needs in order to shore up and stabilize Stark County's maximized safety for the citizens.

The SCPR believes that the Stark County Democratic Party leadership (i.e. Chairman Randy Gonzalez and Executive Vice President Johnnie A. Maier, Jr [brother of George Maier] a former chairman) are to blame for the deficiency in the appointing process that is likely to result in George Maier's removal by the high court.

Another key player in the criminal justice system is the Stark County prosecutor's office.

Headed up by John Ferrero (another former Stark County Democratic Party chairman), the prosecutor's office is another example of the Stark County public being poorly served.

The one public official that had to be drug along kicking and screaming during the county's hard financial times (LINK to a prior SCPR blog that details much of same) was Prosecutor Ferrero.

Ferrero will get the funding to restore to his office the 14 employees that he lost in the austerity drive.  His office goes from $2,937,064 (2011) to $3,344,136 (2013).

In the opinion of the SCPR, given the deficient way in which The Report thinks Ferrero manages his office, he could probably do with a few more employees.

At that, the commissioners show their frugality in reducing the prosecutor $288,004 from his requested to appropriated funding.

Good for them!   The Report believes they need to be especially diligent in scrutinizing any requested numbers that come from Mister Fererro.

Another office deserving special attention is the Stark County Recorder.

Rick Campbell and John Ferrero are fiscal twins in the judgment of the SCPR.

A bellyacher-extraordinaire who apparently (according to Auditor Alan Harold) has a difficult time finding his way to the office, Campbell merits close watching.

Figuring out how many new employees (given the confusing numbers game that Campbell appeared to be playing with commissioners in the budget hearings on Recorder employees compared to Microfilming employees) Campbell wanted seemed to merit the hiring of a private investigator.

Whatever the actual number turned out to be, it appears the commissioners had the good sense to cut Campbell's request in half and also to cut him substantially from his requested 2013 ($670,590) to what they actually appropriated ($618,665),

Still Campbell managed to cajole them into a huge increase from 2011 in which he received $517,010.

Campbell used to be one (circa 2004 - 2008) of the Stark County's most impressive elected officials in terms of adopting technology and thereby becoming more efficient. 

But since then, The Report has become completely disenchanted with him.

In yours truly's estimate, Campbell and Ferrero rank right at the top of those Stark County elected officials that the voters ought to be of a mind to replace.

In sum, the SCPR thinks the commissioners (err Michael Hanke, well, on second thought - the commissioners deserve credit [especially Tom Bernabei]) has done a superlative job in managing the 2013 budget.

Totally impressive is the fact that they have set aside $5.5 million in unappropriated funds for future capital projects, wit:

• A rainy day fund,
• Repairs to the county ditch drainage system,
• Roof for Stark County jail,
• Relocation of the Stark County Board of Elections,
• Creation of a sinking fund to provide for county employee retirement payout liabilities,
• Bow building roof repairs (Bow was obtained by the county from the federal government to house some county operations), and
•  county office building repairs

Newly appointed Brant Luther has big shoes to fill for the 2014 budget.  Mike Hanke proved to be a master budgeteer.

The SCPR presents a full video presentation of the proceedings of March 13, 2013.

First let's discuss aStark County Auditor Alan Harold's presentation.  (note:  Harold's presentation begins at the 11 minute mark of the video)

Harold makes a very telling description of the scam job (the SCPR's characterization; not Harold's) that the Republican controlled Ohio General Assembly [including our local representatives Hagan, Oelslager and Schuring] did in taking away millions of local governments (from $6.2 million [2007] to $2.9 million [2013]) to be supposedly replaced by revenues from casino operations (originally projected at $5.4 million which is likely to, in fact be $1.8 billion) which in fact looks likely to be a  net loss of revenues from the State of Ohio in the amount of $4.4 billion since 2007.



Next up is Commissioner Tom Bernabei and his summary of the budget.  Also featured in this video clip:  comments by Stark County  Commissioners Creighton and Regula (at the end of the video).

And finally, Commissioner Creighton in a one-on-one interview.

DOES AN APPOINTMENT OF A PARTISAN PUBLIC FIGURE TO A JOB IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR DESERVE "SPECIAL SCRUTINY?" ARE THE REPUBLICANS, GIVEN A CHANCE, ANY DIFFERENT THAN THE DEMOCRATS?

AN ANALOGY

In American constitutional law, when a legislature legislates in certain areas of citizenship (e.g. the right to vote, racial factors and religious tests), the United States Supreme Court has said in multiple cumulative decisions that such legislation will be given "special scrutiny" by the courts of the land to determine whether or not that law can stand as a constitutional exercise of legislative action.

While, of course, the appointment of partisan public figures to public sector jobs is not at the constitutionality level of importance, the SCPR posits that any time a partisan public figure (including elected officials) are appointed to a public job that has a political person at its head, then citizens and the media acting on their behalf should apply special scrutiny to the appointment to determine whether the appointment has a predominant factor as being based on merit and not primarily because the appointed person has political connections.

The Stark County Political Report has, for the past five years of existence, more diligently than any other Stark County media outlet scrutinized such appointments within the county/political subdivision context and assessed the merit factor as contrasted to the political factor.

THE STARK COUNTY EXPERIENCE WITH POLITICAL APPOINTMENTS

THE DEMOCRATS

ZEIGLER 

The Stark County public woke up to the importance to such scrutiny in the course of what local attorney and civic activist Craig T. Conley termed as being Zeiglergate.

Back in 1999 Zeigler was appointed Stark County treasurer by the Stark County Democratic Party when then-sitting treasurer Mark Roach (who more or less was the political heir of his father [Harold Roach] who had served many years as Stark treasurer) was forced from office because he did not keep up with the continuing education mandates of Ohio law.

It appears that the Zeigler appointment in terms of having merit qualifications to be treasurer was like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

While Zeigler kept his continuing education requirements up to snuff, he showed in the opinion of many Stark Countians (including the SCPR) 2009 that he lacked the managerial skills to have put in place policy, practice and physical infrastructure safeguards to have prevented the theft of upwards of $3 million from the county treasury by a man he appointed to be his chief deputy treasurer in the early 2000s.

On April 1, 2009, Zeigler announced to the Stark County public that he suspected Vince Frustaci (the chief deputy) of having perpetuated the theft over a period of several years.  Subsequently, Frustaci pled guilty to the theft and is currently serving a 10 year prison term in federal prison.

Zeigler himself has never been implicated in the theft.

But it seems to the SCPR that the public perception that he did not merit being treasurer because of perceived management shortfalls ultimately led to Zeigler squaring up to that perception and resigning on October 19, 2011.

This time around the Democrats were forced - by the public citizen factor - to appoint Republican Alex Zumbar to replace Zeigler.

A bitter pill indeed for the Democrats to swallow.

However, they have no one to blame but themselves in that they pay too little attention to the qualifications of their prospective appointees to hold the office they aspire to and pay undue attention to their political clout and their conjectured electability.

JOHN FERRERO

Another Democratic appointment that the SCPR thinks has not worked out to the benefit of Stark citizenry is that of Prosecutor John Ferrero.

When the highly respected and esteemed prosecutor Bob Horowitz moved on to being the judge for the Stark County Probate Court on the retirement of R.R. Denny Clunck.  Sr, the-then Stark County Democratic Party chairman Ferrero became the Party's selection to take over from Horowitz.

The SCPR believes Ferrero's performance in office proves that he was the wrong person for the job.

The Report cites his handling of the Devies case (see prior blog LINK for background), Zeiglergate, budgeting for the office, and most recently the Forchione/Sandy Hook (see prior blog LINK for background) demonstrates amply that there had to be someone other than Ferrero that merited appointment.

It appears to the SCPR that Ferrero's appeal was not primarily on his skills as an attorney but rather on his electability and re-electability.

For political parties such criteria make sense.  But for the public, experience, skill and temperament must be primary.

GEORGE T. MAIER

When Mike McDonald had to step aside on January 3, 2013 from being sheriff-elect because of illness, it fell to the Stark County Democrats to appoint his replacement.

Three applied:

• Stark County sheriff lieutentant Lou Darrow,
• Massillon safety director and former state highway patrolman George T. Maier, and
• Hartville police chief (former Alliance police chief) Larry Dordea (a Republican).  Dordea ran against McDonald last November.

The selectee we all know now was Maier.

While in a de facto sense (except, perhaps in opinion of the SCPR, on the issue of temperament), Maier appears qualified if not well-qualified.  However, he seems to lack de jure (as a matter of law - ORC 311.01 criteria) qualification which is now being determined by the Ohio Supreme Court.

In addition to the questions the SCPR has about Maier's temperament (see prior SCPR blog), it appears to The Report that on February 5, 2013, the Stark Dems' Central Committee on the insistence of Chairman Randy Gonzalez (in concert with Maier's brother Johnnie, Jr [a former Stark County Democratic Party chairman]) Maier was appointed sheriff as a consequence of the political heft that brother Johnnie still wields among Stark's organized Democrats.

To The Report, the appointment of a county sheriff should not be a matter of political power exercised, but as to the merits of qualifications in every aspect of the word qualification to be sheriff.

The Report believes that the Democrats have fallen short on the issue of merit and that the exercise of political power has been the main reason they appointed Maier sheriff.

RICK PEREZ

Most recently Mayor William J. Healy, II tried - in the opinion of The Report - to make a politics-based appointment of former Stark County chief deputy sheriff Rick Perez to be director of the Canton-Stark County Crime Lab.

As part of the appointment, the job description was watered down to take out the requirement that the director have a science background so that Perez could qualify.

It could be that Canton public safety director Thomas Ream was equally instrumental in the appointment, if not, the prime mover, for his personal and political friend.

Healy has denied having a role in the matter, but the SCPR is not buying.

The appointment was reversed with the reaction of the Stark County Council of Governments (SCOG)

No one should say:  aha! - its the Democrats who dwell on the political factors.

Not at all.

THE REPUBLICANS

Given the opportunity, Republicans, The Report believes - if not monitored by citizens and the media - will replicate the Stark County Democratic Party model.

It just so happens that the Republicans have held so few politically significant Stark County based offices over the last ten years or so that they have not had the opportunity to demonstrate that they too often look at political factors rather than merit factors in appointing to office.

But the political landscape is changing.

And ironically enough, the change is taking place because of opportunities that fell to Republicans as a consequence of Zeiglergate.

The Report has already discussed above how Alex Zumbar became treasurer.  Absent a major goof up like Roach and Zeigler, he is likely to be Stark County treasurer for the next couple or three decades.

The same for Alan Harold who is Stark County auditor.

Because of Kim Perez's close political and personal ties to Gary Zeigler and his public perceived failure to effectively identify and insist on remedial reaction to obvious problems emanating from the treasurer's office in the auditor office interaction with then-Chief Deputy Treasurer Frustaci, the SCPR believes he lost office to the-then untested and political neophyte Harold in November, 2010.

One of the hallmarks and chief values of the SCPR to the public discussion of Stark County government and politics is that The Report has demonstrated over the past five years of existence that this publication can be relied upon to harpoon both Democrats and Republicans for their failures to protect the public interest in defference to political party interests.

All of the foregoing brings us to the real topics of this blog.

Can the recent hire of A.R. "Chip" Conde (a prominent Stark County Republican - who last ran against Democrat William J. Healy, II to replace Healy as mayor of Canton) to the auditor's staff pass the "smell test" of having been primarily politically motivated?

Moreover, can the recent hire of Brant Luther (a prominent Stark County Republican - who once served as the Stark County Republican Party's appointee as Stark County auditor) to be Stark County chief administrator by the commissioners (controlled 2 to 1 by the Republicans) pass the "smell test" of having been primarily politically motivated?

BRANT LUTHER

First, the Luther appointment.

To the SCPR the most suspicious part in terms of political dynamics of the Luther resume is his former employment with current Stark County commissioner Janet Creighton.

The Report did look over the resumes of the applicants for the position and does think that there was plenty of justification on the comparative analysis for Luther to have been among the top five.

However, in listing the five finalists, The Report in a blog (LINK) at the time listed Luther 4 on the list of 5 in terms of yours truly's evaluation of factors of merit.

The Report's top candidate was the currently Geauga County chief administrator.  But in talking the matter over with Commissioner Tom Bernabei, the Geauga Countian more or less took himself out of the running for the post on his failure to commit to relocating his residence to Stark County.

It is convincing to the SCPR that one would not want to hire an out of area person for the key position of county administrator only for that person to tire of making the long daily trip from Geauga county to Stark county and quite understandably rethink his having taken the job in the first place.

The Report's most realistic choice was Vince Marion of the Alliance city administration.  It appears to yours truly that he has done a superlative job in Alliance as an economic development administrator.  Also, though a Republican, The Report perceives him to be a low profile partisan and therefore not a major political player.

It could be that the commissioners' choice (Luther) will work out fine.

Only time will tell as to whether or not he has the tools to be an effective administrator.

One thing he will have to do from time-to-time is to face down (in the context of a major part of the job:  the county budget) independently elected Stark County officials (all of whom, except for Zumbar, are Democrats).

Because of his extensive historical involvement as an active and partisan Republican (e.g. serving under Creighton in the auditor's office; being an elected Republican councilman in Alliance; having run for retention as Stark County auditor as a Republican appointee to that office; and having run for state representative as a Republican), will Zumbar experience unique difficulties with these folks on the basis of unstated and unarticulated political undertones?

That, of course, remains to be seen.

The Report is satisfied that the commissioners have made it crystal clear to Luther that political considerations have no place whatsoever with his work as chief county administrator.

And The Report believes that Luther will toe the line on this factor.

All that remains to be seen is whether or not Luther has the needed skills to discharge his responsibilities as chief administrator.

For if he falls short, you can bet your bottom dollar that the critics will come out of the woodwork claiming that Luther's political notoriety and associations were the "real" reason he got the job and not because he was clearly more qualified and merited for the office than his competitors.

A.R. "CHIP" CONDE

One would think it would have been reported in Canton's daily newspaper, but, if it was, The Report did not catch it.

On March 8th the SCPR received this e-mail from Conde:

Hmm?  Yours truly thought, when did Conde become an Alan Harold employee?

Beyond that, The Report had a whole host of questions for Harold in a quest to determine what, if any, political factors played in Republican Harold's act in hiring Republican and Canton mayoralty candidate (November, 2011) A.R. "Chip" Conde into the auditor's office.

Off went an e-mail to Harold with the list of questions.  Also, The Report met face-to-face with Harold on the matter.

Alan Harold is an enthusiastic Republican.

The Report remembers him (in his pre-being-a-public-official days) as a part of a group of partisan protestors (i.e. calling the Democratic candidate to task for high gasoline price with the chant "Drill Baby Drill) camped out across the street and on the sidewalk adjoining the Sunoco gasoline station of West Tuscarawas where the candidate (Democrat John Boccieri) was doing a photo-op campaign appearance.

And there is nothing wrong with being into one's politics passionately as long as it does not cause such a person as a public official to put party interests above the public interest.

So the point of Harold's passion is not to condemn it, but to note it as a background item for future reference.

Well, Harold has become a public officeholder in November, 2010 and the SCPR thinks a damn good one.

But no matter The Report's high regard for Harold, his appointment of Conde requries "special scrutiny."

Here is the Q&A between the SCPR (light gray) & Harold (light blue).

Apparently, you have hired Chip Conde to your staff?

My questions:

The date of hire? 2/4/2013

The position?  Property Tax Manager

His job responsibilities?

Oversee Board of Revision process, serve as my alternate to the Board of Revision, manage website conversion process, back-up budget/settlement functions.

His annual income including benefits?  $37,000 salary + $13,122
insurance

Was the position put up for public bid?

yes - advertised in The Rep and online (monster.com)

What political connections past and present do you have to Mr. Conde?

He worked for Strategy One, who did some consulting on the sales tax
campaign and my campaign.

What political factors played into the hire decision, if any?

None - I think my record since I've been in office speaks to hiring of people who are, above all, qualified and committed to serving the public.

Whom approached whom regarding the job?  He applied.

Was any third person involved in connecting Conde to you for hire?  No

The SCPR also reviewed Conde's resume together with 21 others which were submitted in response to the Repository and Monster.com solicitations.

The two that stood out to yours truly was Conde's and one from a Stark County local government finance department employee of some 20 years.

Conde's main merit qualification for getting the Stark County auditor job was his service in the Creighton Canton mayoralty administration as chief-of-staff and budget director, 2005 through 2008.  Moreover, he ran for mayor of Canton himself in 2011 against incumbent mayor William J. Healy, II.

The Report thinks that the finance department employee probably has better credentials than Conde on paper for getting the auditor department job.

Accordingly, notwithstanding Harold's denial, it appears to the SCPR that Conde's political connections (i.e. working on the Stark County sales tax effort, the Harold campaign, being in the Creighton administration and being the the Republican standard bearer in the Canton mayoralty race of 2011) did play a significant role in his landing the job.

In the SCPR's face-to-face with Harold he talked about how although he has veto power over the actual hire he basically turns over the hiring to his employees.

CONCLUSION

As the regular readers of The Report know and as pointed out earlier in this blog, yours truly thinks that Alan Harold is likely one of Stark County's very best elected officeholders.  So yours turly would like to believe his protestation that politics had nothing to do with the Conde hiring.

But in all candor, The Report cannot do so.

Going through the two recent hires in which Republicans have control (i.e. Creighton/Regula, the commissioners office and Harold the auditor's office), it is the SCPR's opinion that political connections, at the very minimum, did not hurt Luther and Conde.

What's more likely in the mind of yours truly is that the connections were  a difference maker.

In the final analysis, the SCPR believes that the Luther and Conde hirings are evidence that Republicans are in fact no different in this regard than what Stark Countians have been getting from Democrats over recent decades.

Isn't it amazing what "special scrutiny" will reveal?

THE STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT PRESENTS "THE FULL REAM RESIGNATION LETTER"

When Stark County's political cognoscenti (i.e. the astutely aware) want "the full story" on "inside the beltway of Stark County politics, they turn to the Stark County Political Report.

Yesterday, another Stark County media (no names please) published selected parts of Canton public safety director Thomas Ream's letter announcing his intention to retire as of April 19th of this year.

At the end of this blog readers are provided with "a full copy of Ream's letter" which has a few morsels of interesting information that the editors of that other media outlet did not pass onto Cantonians and Stark Countians at large.

One interesting omitted tidbit of Ream's letter (this past Monday, March 11, 2013) is that it came 99.99% to the day that Mayor William J. Healy, II threw Ream under the bus before the Stark County Council of Governments (SCOG) Executive Committee on February 12, 2013.  (LINK to prior blog which has a video showing Healy's act)

It was the clear implication of Healy's presentation that Ream single-handedly decided to redefine the Canton-Stark County Crime Lab directorship job description (taking out the science background requirement) so that former Stark County chief deputy sheriff Rick Perez could qualify to be hired and was, in fact, hired by Ream.

Of course, it was the SCPR which broke the story yesterday that the Ream's letter was in the hands of Mayor Healy.

That it broke out into the public only yesterday (Friday) after having been written on Monday speaks volumes, no?

A point of yesterday's blog (LINK) is obviousness that Tom Ream - to put it nicely - was less than happy with Hizzhonor that on the 11th of February came Healy's press release announcement that he had obtained Ream's good friend and law enforcement colleague (Perez) resignation from the directorship which he had held all of one week.

The Report has been told that the ribbing of Ream of being thrown under the bus started almost immediately.

Undoubtedly, Ream, who has been with the Canton Police Department for 36 years, has a lot of personal pride in his professionalism and, in partcular, his work as safety director since August, 2009.

Who could abide the treatment he got from Healy?

And it is a credit to him that he did not lash out at the mayor in his resignation letter.

However, one can only guess what he is saying in private and to the mayor directly.  The Report's guess is it ain't Sunday School language.

What "a turn of events" for Ream.  From being Canton's top cop to being publicly embarrassed by his boss.

Of course, nobody believes that Healy himself was not up to his eyeballs in the Perez appointment.

If there is something political going on in Stark County and if William J. Healy, II thinks there is some  benefit to him in it, he makes sure he is in the thick of things.

As he was as Stark's Dems met to select McDonald's successor.

A powerful Stark County Democrat told the SCPR this past Thursday at Healy's State of the City address that the political stars were lined up to make Lou Darrow McDonald's successor and guess who lost his political nerve?

You've got it:  William J. Healy, II.

He ended up aligned with the Maiers because as he told "powerful Democrat," he didn't want to upset Randy Gonzalez (Stark County Democratic Party chairman).

Back in January Healy was making phone calls promoting Ream's selection by the Stark County Democratic Party Central Committee (held February 5, 2011) as Mike McDonald's (who resigned - due to health reasons - as Stark County sheriff elect on January 3rd) successor as county sheriff.

Hmm?

One day you're a man's candidate for sheriff and a week later you are being thrown under the bus?

Hardly surprising when "the man" is William J. Healy, II, no?  The man has to do what he has to do for the sake of his own political hide, no?

And he seemingly escapes without consequences time-after-time-after-time and thereby turning himself into an object of envy for 9-lived cats.

The SCPR would like to be empathetic with Director Ream but yours truly cannot come to being such.

Director Ream, one would think, had to have his "Eyes Wide Open" when he accepted his appointment three and one-half years ago.

But did he?

Or, were his "Eyes Wide Shut?"

Blinded by the sheer ambition to be Canton's top cop?

Now he has to live with the consequences of having ignored what he had to have seen in Healy in August of 2009.

For the decision to accept the directorship in August of 2009 has turned into the all too real and bitter result of Ream writing his letter of March 11, 2013!

A - stark - turn of events, no?

Here's Ream's letter of resignation:

BREAKING NEWS! CANTON SAFETY DIRECTOR THOMAS REAM RESIGNS ACCORDING TO A WELL-PLACED SCPR SOURCE.

 UPDATE:  3:50 PM

 

(NOTE:  The SCPR's scoop has been confirmed by staff report filed minutes ago by the Canton local newspaper)

The SCPR has learned that Canton Safety Director Thomas Ream and Mayor William J. Healy, II have been searching for a "face saving way" (for benefit of Healy, of course) to announce the safety director's resignation for about a week.

The beginning of the end had to be case for Canton Safety Director Tom Ream when in the latter part of February he collaborated with Mayor William J. Healy, II to change the job description for the director of the Canton-Stark County Crime Lab (CSCCL) so that Ream personal and political friend and former Stark County chief deputy Rick Perez could be appointed as director.

Healy is politically close to Perez's brother Kim who is running for Canton auditor in the May Democratic primary.  The mayor has told the SCPR that he endorses Perez in his candidacy which suggests to The Report that Healy was likely in full accord with Ream's desire to appoint Rick Perez as the Canton-Stark County Crime Lab director.

About a week after the appointment and a public hue and cry and a confrontation between Stark County Council of Governments (SCOG) Executive Committee chairman Thomas Bernabei (also president of the Stark County Board of Commissioners) in early March, Mayor Healy obtained Perez's resignation and in the process - in the opinion of the SCPR - threw Director Ream under the bus.

One had to wonder how a professional law enforcement man like Ream could stay on under Healy having been abandoned on a decision that Healy had to be in on up to his ears.

In resigning, Ream has done what a person of professional pride would do under similar circumstances.

This Ream resignation should be a "wake up call" to Healy.

He could be faced with a nearly impossible task of finding a replacement for Ream.

Who among Stark County's law enforcement professionals would want to work for Mayor Healy given his treatment of former safety director Tom Nesbitt and now Ream?

Healy needs to politically mature in a hurry.

The SCPR believes he lost his opportunity to be an effective mayor of Canton in his firing of Tom Bernabei as service director and chief of staff in the first year of his first administration.

Obviously, he did not learn his lesson then.

Not much longer after the Bernabei firing, he made life so uncomfortable for Tom Nesbitt as safety director (whom he brought in from a high law enforcement position in Nebraska) that Nesbitt elected to move on.

Apparently, Healy thinks he can be an effective mayor primarily through public relations initiatives.

But he wrong on that count.

The folks who are suffering under his unenlightened leadership methods are the people of Canton. 

How long are they going to put up with his shenanigans?

BREAKING NEWS! ON THE CHALLENGE TO MAIER REMAINING AS STARK COUNTY SHERIFF?

It appears to the SCPR that Sheriff George T. Maier's days as Stark County Democratic Party appointee may well be numbered.

On February 14th (pleading LINK), Maier's legal counsel filed a Motion to Dismiss former Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson Quo Warranto action (filed on February 12th - pleading LINK).

In the opinion of the SCPR, the dismissed Maier motion contained his strongest argument that he should be permitted to remain as sheriff of Stark County as the Dems appointee, to wit:  the standing argument). 

Now it appears to the SCPR that the Ohio Supreme Court is going to make a determination on evidence on the issue of whether or not Maier is properly qualified under the strictures of Ohio Revised Code Section 311.01 as to mandatory qualifications that a sheriff must have in order to serve as sheriff.

As readers of the SCPR know, yours truly believes that Maier does not meet the required qualifications and that the Supreme Court is very likely to so find.

If The Report's take is on target, then it appears that Maier's days as sheriff are numbered.

 

(VIDEOS) CREIGHTON & HEALY WARFARE CONTINUES! BOILS OVER INTO STATE OF CITY ADDRESS ON SAFETY ISSUE.

The SCPR was at Canton's Babe Stern Center located in the heart of Councilman Kevin Fisher's (a Democrat) 5th Ward last night.

The purpose?

To cover Democratic mayor Willam J. Healy's (the second) State of the City message.

And The Report did videotape the entire presentation as yours truly is wont to do of Stark County's major governmental/political events.

Over ensuing days and weeks, The Report will cover the mayor's presentation in depth with incisive political analysis.

However, for today's blog yours truly cannot resist sharing with Cantonians and Stark Countians the "war of words" this week exchanged between the current mayor and former Canton mayor (2008 - 2011) and now Stark County commissioner Janet Creighton (Republican) over the matter of safety of Cantonians.

In this blog, The Report does bring in a small part of Healy's presentation and his answers to SCPR questions asked following the State of the City report. 

First up is Commissioner Creighton.

For the first two weekly meetings of the commissioners in March (the 6th and the 13th), Commissioner Creighton has listened intently to residents of Canton's Vassar Park neighborhood as they presented their case that if only the Stark County commissioners would press the Stark County sheriff to fill the county jail beds to capacity (501 beds), the Vassar neighborhood would be safer.

Only on Wednesday did it dawn on yours truly that Creighton couldn't disagree more that the problem with safety of neighborhoods in Canton had to do with filling the jail's beds (though she totally supports same).

Rather she thinks that the real cause of Canton's crime problem is the gutting of the Canton Police Department by Mayor Healy.

And she got in the face (in a nice way) of a Vassar Park resident with a message to carry back to Healy.

Watch and listen Commissioner Creighton's charge at Healy.



Wow!

Next up is Mayor Healy.

Creighton's passion compelled The Report to carry the message to Healy direct inasmuch as yours truly had the opportunity post-State of City.

The topic was not forced at all in that one of the mayor's four pillars for the building up of the future of Canton presented in the State of the City address is guess what?  You've got it:  Safety!

A major announcement by the mayor last night was that Canton is hiring fourteen new policemen which will raise the number of policemen to 156 officers.

Watch and listen as Mayor Healy responds to the Creighton charge.



Wow!

While the mayor has recognized that Canton has needed more policeman, he has previously said that  it has not been economically feasible for him to hire more policemen because he thinks that doing so would not be sustainable over the longer term.

Now he says that Canton has the finances to sustain 14 new hires.

Commissioner Creighton's take on Healy's defending himself on a recent increase in crime in Canton is to spread among the likes of the Vassar Park residents the canard (not Creighton's exact word but the SCPR's interpretation) that if only the Stark County jail had been filled to capacity during the uptick in Canton crime during his administration, the uptick would not have happened.

It boils Creighton's blood to no end that Healy has been able to convince the Vassar Park residents that his theory of the cause of the rise Canton's crime rate is plausible.

So the saga goes on between the two.  And the SCPR looks for it to continue for as long as they remain on the Stark County political scene.

Of course, lurking in the background is Commissioner Tom Bernabei who served as Healy's first service director and chief of staff (2008) until the mayor could no longer abide being repetitively taken to the woodshed by the former service director who function more like being the de facto mayor.

It is hard to believe that anybody reading this blog would not know the political history of Creighton and Healy.

But for the animosity between the two to make sense, a SCPR provided refresher is in order.

Healy swept onto the Canton political scene in the early 2000s.  In 2003 he and then-long term Democratic councilman Bill Smuckler faced off against one another for the Democratic nomination to run for mayor of Canton.

Smuckler won but subsequently lost to Creighton in the November general election.

Healy bided his time until 2007.  Of course, Janet Creighton was incumbent mayor then.  And who would have thunk it?  Healy defeats her.

One of the major components of his campaign was that he would be "Zero Tolerant" of crime in Canton which seemed to resonate with Cantonians which, by the way, has about a 9 to 1 Democratic voter registration majority.

To this day, if one wants to set Creighton off, all that needs to be done is to talk up the mayor's 2007 Zero Tolerance theme. She says it was and remains pure political rhetoric and as such demonstrates in spades that Healy is nothing but an empty suit who is bamboozling Cantonians into thinking he has real solutions for what ails the Hall of Fame City.

The SCPR believes that the Healy's victory was not so much that Cantonians thought the Creighton's policing policies and programs were politically devastating in terms of effectiveness, but rather that  the 9 to 1 Democrat to Republican factor was telling.

Bill Smuckler, though a very able councilman, is not blessed - to say it nicely - with a Dale Carnegie personality.

Neither is Healy.  While he is urbane and smooth, to some he lacks sincerity.

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the equivalent of approximating Carnegie; Healy is probably at a 7 whereas Smuckler's (at least from voters' standpoint) appears to somewhere around 2.

So to the SCPR, the Carnegie scale mostly explains why Republican Creighton could defeat Democrat Smuckler while losing as an incumbent (imbued with the power of incumbency) to Healy in lopsided Democratic Canton.

Whatever the cause of the Creighton defeat, there is no doubt that bitterness reigns supreme between the two.

Healy did not have it in him to be gracious in victory.

As he stumbled and bumbled his way through learning to be mayor by on-the-job training, he, of course, scapegoated Creighton for everything that was not going well for his neophyte administration.

He is now in second term as mayor (miracles never cease, no?) but he still impliedly blames Creighton for some of Canton's ills which remain.  There was even a sprinkling of such references in last night's State of the City address.

And so the Battle Royale continues and will continue for years to come!

INTERESTING? SHERIFF MAIER SHARES PLAN TO EXPAND JAIL BED UTILIZATION TO 450 BEDS WITH REP REPORTER BEFORE TELLING COUNTY COMMISSIONERS?

 

VIDEOS

Sheriff Maier "Unhappy?"About Suggestion that Sometimes Police Pass on Arresting 

Full Footage on Commissioners/Maier/Citizens Interaction on the "Unfilled Jail Beds" Problem

Nobody knew at the time (except for the Repository reporter sitting in the back of the room), but Bruce Nordman and his friends from the Vassar Park Neighborhood Association walked away from Wednesday's regular meeting of the Stark County commissioners with a seeming stunning victory.

Sheriff George T. Maier had made a determination earlier in the day that he is going to immediately expand the Stark County jail by 50 beds from its current 400 or thereabout to 450.  So it seems.

But neither the Nordman followers nor the commissioners (except maybe for Bernabei, and only "sort of") had information at the meeting itself of "the earlier in the day made decision."

Hmm?

A week ago, Nordman et al surprised the commissioners in showing up at the meeting of March 6 (LINK to the SCPR blog on that meeting) and demanding that they do what they could to keep their November, 2011 sales tax passage promise.  

What promise?  

To see to it that the criminal justice system would get restored in full including the full utilization of the county jail at 501 beds.

Commissioner Thomas Bernabei says he did have an inkling that Maier was to the point of going public with a full blown plan.

Over lunch (which occurred over the 1:00 to 1:30 time frame) with Maier on Wednesday, Bernabei tells the SCPR that Maier made a vague reference to working out a plan whereby in tinkering with the numbers he could perhaps come up with additional beds in the more immediate future.

In Wednesday's meeting itself,  Maier claimed that he did not have the personnel to properly oversee additional bed occupancy - as of yesterday.

Mind you, not a word during the meeting of what he had already passed on to The Rep.

Interesting, no?

Moreover, at yesterday's meeting he would not be pinned down by Cantonian Pete DeGiacomo's direct question as to when he projected that all 501 Stark County jail beds would be filled.

Apparently, the massaging of the numbers that came up in the Bernbei/Maier luncheon conversation had to do with making the additional beds available to "trustie" prisoners.

When the SCPR informed Commissioners Bernabei and Creighton last night in a telephone conversation that Maier has provided The Repository with a scoop not only over the Akron Beacon Journal and the Alliance Review but also over the commissioners themselves, it was obvious that both were surprised.

And, of course, the citizens from Vassar Park had to be surprised too when they read the news late yesterday afternoon or last night (of course, well after yesterday's meeting had ended) in an online "Canton.com staff report" which was posted at 1:59 p.m. on Wednesday, some 29 minutes into the commissioners meeting.

The posting has to mean that the Rep correspondent had to have done so immediately prior to the beginning of the meeting.

What the SCPR thinks Maier may have achieved by this apparent bypassing of the commissioners was:

1. hurt his own credibility in being forthright with the citizens who engaged him at the commissioners meeting, and
2. damage (as in collateral damage) the splendid reputation that the commissioners have built up since they (Bernabei and Creighton) took office in November, 2010 and January of 2011, respectively,
3. endeared himself to the bigs at The Rep so as to get favorable press going forward

The Report is convinced, based on a telephone conversation with her last night, that Commissioner Creighton knew nothing of the plan Maier had unfolded before yesterday's meeting to the newspaper.  And, it is likely that Commissioner Regula was also unaware.

The SCPR has enormous respect for Commissioner Bernabei. However it is hard to understand how he could sit through the meeting without breathing a word of his luncheon conversation with Maier to the Vassar Park folks and, indeed, all assembled at the meeting.

His justification to The Report was that he thought that the plan was merely in the thinking stage.

Here is how the essential language read in The Repository:

Sheriff George T. Maier said he and jail administrator Maj. Brian Arnold made the decision Tuesday to open a 50-bed cell block to house the jail’s trusties, which are inmates with privileges who help clean and maintain the jail.

Maier said he intends to notify the courts of the additional jail space today. Since July, the jail, which has a capacity to hold 501 inmates, has remained at 400 beds.

In the thinking stage?

Hmm?  Where is that swamp land located?

For someone who says that he is committed to transparency, withholding even what he thought was "in the planning stages material" is incomprehensible.

Even something being in the works is matter that the Vassar Park people and likely the many Stark County taxpayers would have wanted to hear during the meeting.

Rightly or wrongly, many Vassar Parks residents equate the unused beds at the county jail as contributing to not getting the criminals off of neighborhood streets.

For George T. Maier to have seemingly worked the commissioners over on this one was very unwise.

The man Maier is currently on a honeymoon of sorts with Stark County officials.

Bernabei, a man who does pass out accolades lightly, is clearly enamored with the new sheriff.

Commissioner Creighton has told The Report that she has been impressed with his plans for improving sheriff department operations if he remains as Stark County sheriff.

Like Commissioner Bernabei, yours truly has very high standards as to who gets high marks and who gets low marks in terms of public office holding but The Report thinks that there are too many unanswered questions about Maier.

In terms of formal credentials (except, of course, those thought by some to be lacking as seemingly required by Ohio law), Maier's are about as impressive as they get for a county sheriff.

But as yours truly told Bernabei last night, being an effective and credible public official is more than achieving certifications, degrees, training, experience and the like.

The Report thinks that temperament for the job is critically important for anyone who wears a law enforcement uniform and carries gun.

For anyone who will look at some of the things that have been said in the past about Maier, to wit:

• LINK to Columbus Dispatch article, and
• LINK to prior SCPR blog

the so called "honeymoon period" should be just that and let's just wait and see if:

1. he remains Stark County sheriff (he is under challenge in the Ohio Supreme Court for lacking strict statutory requirements - LINK), and 
2. whether or not he can keep his composure under job pressure

Bernabei says he thinks that Maier has done admirably well given the pressure of learning a new job, the court challenge to his qualifications and struggling to hire enough deputies to be able to utilize all 501 beds available at the county jail.

To The Report, the apparent embarrassment he has subjected the commissioners to (assuming that the local reporter got her story accurately from Maier) with his statement published in the local newspaper is not a good sign.

As said earlier, such was not exactly an Einstein moment.

Perhaps another sign that he has difficulty handling seemingly outrageous statements by citizens an underlying anger (understandable, though it may be) appears to be present in the following video (note the finger pointing) in which he engages Nordman on a statement made during the meeting that police sometimes give a pass on making arrests when they know that there isn't enough jail bed space to house them, to wit:



Another troublesome sign occurred when he and his sidekick Major Brian Arnold protested that the sheriff's department has "never" since 1986 (and a federal lawsuit) turned away an arrested person because of lack of bed space.

Never?

Maybe just a little bit of an overstatement?

Moreover, The Report has had a few rough outings with him likely due to the fact that he hasn't much liked the blogs that yours truly has written about him and his brother and former Stark County Democratic Party chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr among others of his Massillon based political friends.

In fact, after he first appeared before the commissioners on Feburary 11th of this year, he collared yours truly and wanted to have a little confrontation about those blogs.

As he soon found out during the encounter, the SCPR does not think a person who wears a uniform, even a sheriff's uniform, is God Almighty.

And The Report can do without the "high privilege" of having press access to him. 

Unless a public official is willing to take the tough questions, they are not worth questioning/interviewing except perhaps for mere information.  Certainly not for investigative/accountability reporting.

However, all too many in the media are too often willing to play "patty cakes" with these supersensitive officials so that they can get copy material for articles.

The SCPR is not one of them.

Isn't just wonderful for Maier to willingly take taxpayer dollars and think he can pick and choose who he will bless with an audience on the implicit condition that they not ire him with embarrassing questions?

In the end, the victor seems to be Stark Countians.

But for the action of Citizen Bruce Nordman and his fellows out of Vassar Park, the SCPR is convinced that Sheriff George Maier would not have found the ability to come up with 50 more occupied beds at the Stark County jail.

For the sake of Stark County which has been through some very tough times with its public officials of late, if Maier remains Stark County sheriff, the SCPR trusts that he proves to be an effective and credible Stark County public official.

The full video of the Stark County commissioners meeting as it pertains to the staffing issue at the Stark County Jail.

See for yourself that nobody utters a word about the 50 beds for "trustie" inmates.

Talk about an elephant being in the room?