PART 2, SCPR TWO PART SERIES ON ISSUE 13: LEVY SUCCESS FACTOR IN BERNABEI RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION!

SCPR:  THE MOST COMPLETE "MEDIA" COVERAGE OF CANTON ISSUE 13

CANTON CITY INCOME TAX INCREASE ISSUE!

Updated FRIDAY 8:30 a.m. with new video segment.

VIDEO Q&A SEGMENT BREAKDOWN COMPLETE

FOR THOSE READERS WHO WANT TO SEE THE "ENTIRE" BERNABEI/GATIEN INTERVIEWS, THEY ARE ALREADY POSTED IN THE "APPENDIX" AT THE END OF THE BLOG

NOTE:  RICK GATIEN'S ENTIRE EMAIL IS IN THE APPENDIX

Do "probing" questions need to be asked of Canton city officials about the May 8th ballot initiative to have Canton's income tax raised .5% to 2.5%?

Indeed!

And The Stark County Political Report (SCPR, The Report) did just that yesterday of the "campaigner in chief" and mayor of Canton Thomas M. Bernabei yesterday over the noon hour on the 8th floor of Canton City Hall.

First, what the SCPR thinks is a little bit of "breaking news."

This blogger interprets Bernabei's response to The Report's questions of whether or not he will run for a second term in November, 2019 to be a "yes" IF ISSUE 13 PASSES.

Previously, Bernabei would only say that he would announce his intentions on the question at the end of 2018.

But judge for yourself.

Here is a video clip (2 min) of that part of the total 52 minute interview.



As mentioned in the header to this blog, this blog is not the only treatment of Issue 13.  Here is a LINK to Part 1 of this two part series.

In the remainder of this blog, the SCPR will present the interview in a Question by Question format so as to put the interview into succinct segments in order to entice readers of this blog to take in Mayor Bernabei's responses to what The Report thinks was incisive questioning.

However, for those committed/dedicated citizens who want to get an overall flavor of what the mayor had to say and to ensure that the SCPR's published segments constitute a fair representation of Mayor Bernabei's answers, the entire 52 minute interview is placed in the appendix to this blog which, of course, is at the end point.

Also see the campaign finance report (CFR) for Yes on Issue 13 in the appendix.  The CFR shows rather graphically the widespread support among Stark leadership circles in support of Issue 13.

Here are a couple of excerpts.

Lastly, for those readers who have not read the campaign published in "Commonly Asked Questions on Issue 13," see the appendix for a pdf.file copy of that piece of campaign literature.

The Report also interviewed Rick Gatien a former Watkins administration official yesterday at the Stark County District Library some three hours after interviewing Mayor Bernabei.

Here is a video segment of a little over two minutes  of the interview which summarizes why Citizen Gatien is raising questions about issue 13.



 The Q&A with Gatien also appears in its entirety in the appendix of this blog.

Gatien would not specifically say one way or the other how he will end up voting on the issue.  Here is the video segment on that part of the SCPR/Gatien interview.



This blogger applauds Gatien for having the political courage to write the SCPR prompting The Report to arrange for a probing Q&A of the mayor.  Undoubtedly there will be in effect anti-democratic-republican Issue 13 enthusiasts who will criticize Gatien's questioning.

But the mayor of Canton is not and will not be one of the critics.  Thomas Bernabei is a classy government leader that serves as a model of how an elected public official should conduct him/herself in interacting with citizens and the media.

Mayor Bernabei is lauded by the SCPR for agreeing, in the spirit of transparency and accountability, to answer The Report's questions which were not provided to him in advance of the interview.

What follows are short segments on particular questions asked by the SCPR of Mayor Bernabei.

QUESTION 1 (Note:  all titled questions are in paraphrase form)

GIVEN THE OVERWHELMING CANTON/STARK COUNTY LEADERS' SUPPORT, HOW COULD ISSUE 13 POSSIBLY FAIL? (1 min, 53 sec)



QUESTION 2

IF ISSUE 13 FAILS, IS THERE A "PLAN B?" (47 sec)



No "Plan B?"  Hmm?  Obviously means that there really isn't any thought that Issue 13 will fail.  If it does, Canton's financial picture only worsens?

QUESTION 3 (By Implication)

IS ISSUE 13 BEING RUN AS A 'STEALTH' CAMPAIGN?  (FACEBOOK PAGE LINK)  (4 min, 36 sec)



QUESTION 4

WHY IS ISSUE 13 A CONTINUING (PERMANENT) INCREASE? (5 min, 53 sec)



QUESTION 5

MAYOR BERNABEI ACCEPTS SCPR QUESTION/SUGGESTION OF AN "ANNUAL ACCOUNTING" OF HOW INCREASED INCOME TAX REVENUES ARE SPENT. (1 min, 52 sec)



QUESTION 6

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FUNDING OVER SAFETY FORCES, REALLY? (6 min, 20 sec)



QUESTION 7

OF THE PERCENTAGE ALLOCATED TO SAFETY FORCES/GENERAL FUND, WHAT ARE THE TARGETS WITHIN THE SAFETY FORCES FACTOR THAT THE NEW MONEY WILL GO TO? (2 min, 26 sec)



QUESTION 8

ARE THE ITEMS IN THE FOLLOWING CHART, "LOCK BOX" ITEMS?

QUESTION 9

ANY "PRIVATE SECTOR" $$$ COMMITMENTS TO IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPREHENSIVE PLAN?  (3 min, 45 sec)



QUESTION 10

HOW FAR BEHIND IS CANTON BEHIND GETTING STREETS/ROADS TO ACCEPTABLE LEVEL & HOW LONG TO GET THERE?  (2 min, 48 sec)



QUESTION 11

IS OVERALL COMPREHENSIVE PLAN IMPLEMENTATION THE "KEY" REVITALIZING  CANTON?  (39 sec)



QUESTION 12

THE CONDITION OF CANTON'S NEIGHBORHOODS? (4 min, 5 sec)



QUESTION 13

HOW DOES CANTON DEFINE "INFRASTRUCTURE?" (2 min, 5 sec)



QUESTION 14

WILL "BLIGHTED" PROPERTIES BE A THING OF THE PAST IN CANTON ANYTIME SOON? (3 min, 17 sec)




QUESTION 15

PAST CANTON GOV'T MISMANAGEMENT AS A FACTOR IN CANTON'S FINANCIAL PROBLEMS?



APPENDIX

The entire SCPR interview of Mayor Thomas M. Bernabei of Canton on Issue 13.  (52 minutes)



The entire Rick Gatien SCPR interview (15 minutes)



The Commonly Asked Q&A published by the Issue 13 campaign committee.



The campaign finance report (pre-primary) for Yes on Issue 13.



Here is the "entire" text of Gatien's e-mail to the SCPR

From: Richard Gatien ... 
To: Martin Olson <tramols@att.net> 
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2018 8:46 PM
Subject: Canton Issue 13

Hello Mr. Olson,

As I’m sure you know, the City of Canton is asking Canton voters to increase the City Income Tax rate by 25%; from 2.0 to 2.5 %.  It is Issue 13 on the May 8 Primary Ballot; only two weeks away.  Unless I’ve missed it, I don’t believe you have investigated and reported on the Issue.  The “Lords of South Market” have (no surprise) endorsed it as has the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce.
For your information I am attaching Q & A campaign literature dated March 27th.

Let me say up front that I do believe the need for additional resources is genuine.  I am troubled by two items; (1) the size of the increase, and, (2) the fact that it is permanent.  Also troubling is the planned distribution of new money.  The ballot language requires that, “One-tenth of one percent (.1%) shall be allocated to the General Fund for public safety (police and fire) and other general operating expenses;” The next questions describes how the money will be spent.  The first line, under “Use” states, “General Fund: 2/3 Safety, 1/3 General Operation” The intention of City Administrators (Mayor & Council) may be to allocate it in that fashion, but the ballot language clearly does not require it.

And then there’s the “Comprehensive Plan”.  Back to the ballot language: “… shall be allocated to a specifically designated fund…which shall be used exclusively for purposes prioritized in the most current Comprehensive Plan, and subsequent amendments approved by Council…”  Considering the tax is permanent, that’s a pretty amorphous.  On page 3 the second question notes, “a $250 million investment in Canton over 15 years - one half from public funds (income tax) and one half from private funds (business and foundations) …”  Any private money pledges yet? And, if private money falls short, well, the income tax increase stays in place starting July 1, 2018.

I would have felt much better about the issue if it had been structured, say for 10 years.  Like the county sales tax some years ago – “give us the money and we will demonstrate how well we use it”.   

Well, I’ve gone on long enough.  It seems like this is almost a stealth campaign with very little critical dialog and analysis.  Hopefully you will ask the public officials who designed and support the issue some of the questions and concerns raised above.

Thank you.
Rick Gatien

Here is a list of those organizations/persons support passage of Issue 13