WOW! NIMISHILLEN'S FIRE CHIEF RICH PETERSON LOSES OUT TO CONCATTO FOR 9-1-1 PROJECT MGR - THEN TAKES BALL AND GOES HOME?

UPDATE: CHIEF PETERSON RESPONDS - MAY 18, 2009 AT 2:00 PM

Martin: ...You know through our conversations that no one wants to see the delivery of 911 emergency dispatching services improved more than me.

I have worked very hard at great personal sacrifice to see that happen.

But the plan to do that has shifted once again. Not by me, but by those placed in positions to make it happen. I base my beliefs on facts and my personal experiences having constructed, designed, equipped, and staffed the current emergency communications center which provides services to 20 fire, law, and emergency agencies in Stark and Portage County.

It is my job to advise my Board and make recommendations based on real information ...

And as far as not getting the director's job, Ive made it clear that Mr. Mark Busto (the current RED Center Director) was the most qualified for the county 911/dispatch position and he didn't even get a second interview before the hiring committee. I have a job. I run a communications center today. I was asked to apply to add legitimacy to the process.
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ORIGINAL STORY BELOW

Not too long ago Nimishillen fire chief Rich Peterson was a top level candidate to be Stark County Central Dispatch re-work project manager.

However, the person who the SCPR thinks 9-1-1 committee chair (Stark County Council of Governments - SCOG) had promised the job to was Canton safety director Tom Nesbitt.

Nesbitt is on his way out (being pushed out by Mayor Healy - in the opinion of the SCPR) as safety director. Yours truly believes Gonzalez cut a deal with Healy to take a problem (in terms of not being a "yes man" for the Mayor) off his hands. But Gonzalez had not counted on Stark County commissioner Todd Bosley being so strong for his man.

Bosley's man?

Yes, Commissioner Todd Bosley has long had strong ties to Peterson from the days that Bosley was a Nimishillen Township trustee.

Bosley pushed hard, hard, hard for Peterson but was forced to compromise with Gonzalez on for Safety Director Joseph Concatto who served in the Janet Creighton administration.

Now we learn that Peterson has convinced Nimishillen Township trustees to pull out of the SCOG 9-1-1 effort at last week's trustee meeting.

No wonder Stark County cannot make much consolidation progress. Folks like Peterson are fine with merging operations as long as he is in charge. Peterson is the personification of turfism in Stark County.

Nimishillen's pullout is a blow to SCOG and Bosley. The exit makes it much more difficult for Bosley et al defeat the 1/2% sales/use tax repeal effort if it makes it to the ballot.

Why?

Because it is beginning to look like it is a real possibility that the SCOG 9-1-1 project will not fly.

Other local governments are taking a long, hard look at whether or not they are going to participate in the effort. If others go official, then the project is likely dead.

The SCPR believes it would be a political blow to Bosley if the 9-1-1 reconfiguration fails. His main campaign theme in the 2006 election campaign was: guess what?

Yes, fixing Stark's broken 9-1-1 system.

Stay tuned.

There are interesting days ahead on the SCOG 9-1-1 project.

DISCUSSION: WILL THE REAL RANDY GONZALEZ STAND UP?

It is really difficult for the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) to tell who Jackson Township fiscal officer Randy Gonzalez "is" in the - political sense - of "is." Remember Bill Clinton and his "It depends on what is, is" beauty? Well, in a totally different context, it is time to learn what "is" really "is."

On the one hand, he has demonstrated breath of vision in being a leading force to centralize Stark County's currently fragmented 9-1-1 emergency system. In The Report's judgment, only Stark County commissioner Todd Bosley stands on a par with Gonzalez.

The Report salutes Gonzalez for his superb work on moving 9-1-1 along to where it needs to be in order to service the emergency needs of Stark Countians with a first-rate system. Moreover, this is a model of how countywide consolidation can be achieved to provide for efficient and effective government services to Stark County's citizens.

On the other hand, Gonzalez is the "moving force" in Jackson Township to keep the township exactly the way it is. How so? He is insisting that in annexation and economic development talks (currently with Canton and formerly with North Canton) that the Jackson (whoever it turns out to be) agree not to annex in Jackson for a 99 year period of time without the prior approval of the trustees).

Although The Report understands the 99 year provision from Gonzalez' township official perspective, this is not a good move for Canton, North Canton and the rest of the county - and in the long run - even for Jackson Township itself.

The 99 year provision reeks of a desperation provincialism move that will not effectively fix the Jackson identity crisis that is now dawning on township officials. If the Canton/Jackson plan wins the day, it will tempt other Stark County townships to try the same maneuver. If enough of these agreements get in place, Stark County remains the fragmented, turf-protecting county that it has always been.

Jackson's problem is that its township government structure is not adequate to meet the needs of its citizens. Nor does it permit creation of the infrastructure that a 35,000 plus population base area needs to attract new jobs.

So what should Gonzalez do?

Let the 9-1-1 Gonzalez be a mentor to the Jackson Township Gonzalez.

Gonzalez and the Jackson trustees need to creatively think their way to a solution to Jackson's future without giving in to provincialism. The Report sees protectionist provincialism as a kind of knee-jerk reaction.

Stark County government (meaning all the political subdivisions) has too much reactionary thinking going on now. We don't need the county's largest township (indeed, one of the largest in Ohio) to be small-minded in solving its problems.

So which Gonzalez is going to win out?

The "9-1-1 Gonzalez" or the "protect my township's border for 99 years" Gonzalez?

AWARD: 2008 POLITICAL CHUTZPAH AWARD

The STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT wasn't present but undoubtedly Stark County Democratic Chairman Johnnie A. Maier, Jr. was the man in charge of handing out Democratic Party awards on May 1st.

Especially deserving of an award was Party stalwart Billy Sherer (a long time member of Ironworkers Local 550). Billy (as his friends call him) deserved to be recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Billy Sherer is a class act and it is more than ironic that the man behind the award (Maier) finessed Sherer out of his Stark County Board of Elections post after 13 years of service by concocting a scheme to make it appear that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner had demanded that an attorney (Feruccio, Johnnie's ally) be selected. A less mature person than Sherer might have balked at taking an award initiated by Maier but it needs to be said again: Billy Sherer is a class act who more than deserves any award the Stark County Democratic Party issues.

Not to take anything whatsoever from Sherer's honor, the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) muses on Maier's ulterior motive (in light of Maier's insult on Sherer in the Board of Election caper), but in the judgment of The Report, Maier does nothing without having some perceived advantage flow to him as a consequence of acting.

Many folks in Stark County's organized labor movement do not see the chairman as being labor friendly. They see him and some of the Democratic candidates/officeholders as taking them for granted and a good source for fundraising.

The Report believes there are two factors in the Maier turnabout. First, he desperately wants Celeste DeHoff elected as 50th House District represented. She brings her own baggage vis-a-vis organized labor. As a Tuscarawas Township trustee, she participated in the firings of several union workers. Moreover, she is viewed with suspicion by some in the party as not being a real Democrat. Up to as recently as four years ago, she was a registered Republican.

Second, it could be that the Strickland people in Columbus have told Maier to mend fences with Stark County organized labor. Stark County unions really like Governor Strickland and it is thought they have complained to Strickland's confidants about Maier's seeming anti-union attitude. Local unions have found Maier hard to stomach. They demonstrated this by running their own candidate for Sherer's Board of Elections seat when his immediate successor Randy Gonzalez had to resign because of a conflict with his government job.

Make no mistake about it, Maier is a political manipulator, extraordinaire. As a state representative, Maier grew up politically under old style political boss Vern Riffe and to this day reveres the man. His applies the lessons learned with precision.

There you have it folks; "hats off" to the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT'S 2008 POLITICAL CHUTZPAH AWARD winner - Stark County Democratic Party Chairman - Johnnie A. Maier, Jr.