(VIDEO) THE SCPR PRESENTS "A STARK CO. COMMISSIONERS "CHRISTMAS MESSAGE"

At the conclusion of Monday's meeting this week (the substituted meeting date for today's regular weekly Stark County commissioners' meeting), the Stark County Political Report prevailed upon the commissioners to greet Stark Countians on this Christmas Day, 2013.

CONFIDENCE ABOUNDS IN STARK COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AS THEY SELECT "FUNDAMENTALLLY SOUND" MANAGERS TO DO THE PUBLIC'S BUSINESS

BUT WILL THEY DELIVER IN THEIR SELECTION OF A NEW STARK COUNTY DOG WARDEN?

TOPICS DISCUSSED

A FINAL SOLUTION

FOR

STARK COUNTY DOG POUND PROBLEMS

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THE COMMISSIONERS'

TRACK RECORD

IN

MAKING

NEW MANAGEMENT HIRES

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UPDATED: 8:33 AM

Today and tomorrow the Stark County commissioners will be interviewing candidates to become Stark's next dog warden.

Yawn, no?

As it should be.

Except in Stark, going back maybe as much as ten years, it hasn't been a yawn.

Management of the Stark County Dog Pound (SCDP - Pound) has been one huge problem for a number of prior Stark County boards of commissioners.

Current commissioner Thomas Bernbei told the SCPR last Wednesday that having an effective operating Pound is important and acknowledged that Stark Countians are no different than folks across the nation; they want and expect government to get the job done.

His consternation is abundantly clear that prior commissioners had not been able to get a handle on proper management of the SCDP is amazing in terms of the small part that Pound operations occupies when compared to the overall scope and responsibilities of county government.

Commissioner Janet Creighton cited to the SCPR a number of improvements (not all) that the current board of commissioners have made at the Pound, to wit:

• A new heating, air conditioning and ventilation system,
• The creation of a veterinarian examination/treatment room,
• The introduction of pads into the cages to make walking around in them much more comfortable, 
• Working closely with the dog warden (Reagan Tetreault) from the time they (Bernabei and Creighton were elected in November, 2010) took office to institute needed management and personnel changes

Tetreault resigned (having come on board in May, 2010) effective August 9th.

Creighton credits Tetreault with having stabilized operations at the Pound and having been a driving force to institute better conditions.

SHAPING UP STARK COUNTY'S MANAGEMENT SKILLS, IN GENERAL

Moreover, Creighton sees the selection of a replacement warden as being an opportunity for she and her fellow commissioners to put their concept of leadership qualities in place.

During the time that the SCPR has covered the Stark County commissioners (since March, 2008), yours truly has seen, with the current set of commissioners, a marked upgraded change in the manner in which commissioners evaluate and select management level employees. 

When they interview, they make a point of having someone with "expertise" in the field (e.g. an experienced human resources person when they hired a county human resources lead person) in which an appointment is being contemplated.

While The Report does see that there does seem to be a political affinity factor (with Commissioner Creighton) regarding some of those selected as hires (e.g. well known Republicans Brant Luther [he actually worked for Creighton when she was county auditor, and, in fact, succeeded her as auditor as the Stark County GOP appointee] as chief county administrator and Canton Township trustee Chris Nichols as director of management and budget); both appear to be well qualified for their jobs and to be doing high quality work.

But then there is  the recent hire of Angela Cavanaugh as the county's chief building officer who does not appear to have any political connections with any of the commissioners.  And The Report is told that she does not have much, if any, history of being politically involved in her time with Canton.

An argument can be made that it took a large measure of political maturity on the part of Bernabei and Creighton to be in favor of a county Cavanaugh appointment inasmuch as she is currently working for Canton mayor William J. Healy, II. 

She will take office on September 3rd but will continue to work for the mayor for 120 days.

Political maturity?  How's that?

The Report is told that Cavanaugh is loyal to the mayor over and above that of most of his top administrators.  

Of course, it is well known that Bernabei (who he fired as Canton service director/chief-of-staff in January, 2009) and Creighton (who he defeated in her re-election bid in November, 2007 and whom he has criticized as having left the city of Canton in a financial mess) have been avowed political enemies of Healy for years.

So why would somone who is not "on the outs" with the mayor want to leave and why would a pair who are "on the outs" be willing the hire the former?

First, The Report is told that Cavanaugh is spread very thin over a large field of responsibilities with Canton and likes the idea that with Stark County her focus will be narrowed considerably.

Second, there appears to have been for some time now a recognition by the commissioners and by Healy that it is advantageous to both the county and Canton to work out a collaboration between the two entities for the sake of efficiencies and concomitant cost savings.  

However, the kicker has been that Healy would be unwilling to entrust Canton's building department work to the county (by contract or otherwise) unless someone like Cavanaugh was managing the county building department.

The Report does not think that Bernabei and Creighton have all of a sudden become enamored with the mayor.

But yours truly does believe that they care more about providing quality local government to Stark Countians than engaging in political warfare with Healy.

FIXING, ONCE AND FOR ALL, ANY LINGERING PROBLEMS AT THE STARK COUNTY DOG POUND

Brant Luther, in particular, is a key advisor to helping the commissioners select exactly the right person to succeed Tetreault as Stark County's dog warden.

If the commissioners make the correct choice, then the SCDP operation will hum along without the high drama and controversy that has plagued the facility even bleeding into the early days of Tetrault's management.

Believe or not, Commissioner Bernabei thinks that the commissioners have the right person in the job now as interim dog warden but that he is not interested in taking on the job permanently.

That would be former Alliance mayor Toni Middleton.

At 12:01 a.m. on August 10th Middleton became the appointed warden until they select Tetreault's replacement.

Middleton is Alliance's former fire chief (1989 - 1999) and mayor former mayor (2000 - 2008).

Commissioner Bernabei is thoroughly impressed with Middleton and would be in favor of hiring him "in a heartbeat," if the former Alliance chief executive (a Republican) was open to it.

Here is what Luther had to say about Middleton's appointment in a press release.

Not to detract from Middleton's appointment at all, but he does appear to have close political ties to Commissioner Janet Creighton which some might think has something to do with his selection.

For those SCPR readers who want a refresher on the trials and tribulations of the commissioners (present and of yore), here are a few links to past blogs:

• November 28, 2010
• December 13, 2010
• August 21, 2011
• February 7, 2013

The folks being interviewed as potentials for being the new warden are a curious mix.

There are some with prior experience in specifically dealing with canines.  However, there are some who have no such experience whatsoever.

These commissioners are not set on hiring someone with prior dog pound or dog handling experience. The focus is to find a warden who can apply solid and fundamental management skills to the operation of the facility.

Interim director Middleton has no direct experience with running dog pounds.

Nonetheless, the commissioners are confident that given his demonstrated management skills in Alliance over some 20 years, he will do just fine if not exemplary as the interim warden.

The seven to be interviewed include:

(Note:  all resume information is "extracted" from the full resume)

• Sean Toohey who seems to have highly attractive qualifications inasmuch as he is deputy dog warden in Mahoning County.

A key to his becoming warden might hinge on his willingness to relocate to Stark County.

When a Geauga County official with impressive credentials as a potential county administrator replacement for Mike Hanke hedged on committing to relocate to Stark, The Report believes that was the end of any consideration he might have otherwise received for the job.

• Sarah Hansford like Toohey has direct experience in Portage County's dog pound.

• Timothy Harland shares with Hansford and Toohey a direct connection with involvement of care of dogs. If he can convince the commissioners he has the management skills to go along, he could be a prime candidate to be warden.  He is featured on this ZoomInfo.com page.

• John Koval evidently interests at least one of the commissioners because of his past work history in Human Resources.  Over the years of troubles at the Pound, managing the employees and volunteers and their historic antagonism with one another has proved to be a challenge for the succession of wardens.

• John McCutcheon is an especially tough one for the SCPR to figure out as being of interest.  He has impressive credentials as a law enforcement type, but it is interesting that he was a past president of the union representing Summit County's deputy sheriffs.  One has to wonder how it would work out for him as the top manager of the Pound to have to be on the other side of the fence from the unionized Pound employees.  If memory serves yours truly well, it seems that union inspired employee testiness has been a problem.

• Jeff Wright interestingly enough is a former Stark County dog warden.  He also served in animal control in Summit County.  In doing a Google search on Wright, yours truly did hit on this piece which purportedly was put on the Internet ZoomInfo.com.

• Jon Barber is yet another former dog warden.   Like Hansford, Portage County.  How do like that for a co-incidence.   But Hanford is the current warden whereas he goes quite a ways back (nearly 15 years) as to when he was warden in Portage County.  And, as the following extract from his resume shows, Portage County's operation at the time was small.  A LinkedIn page on Barber does not list his warden background but interestingly enough focuses on his work in homeland security and law enforcement.

A CURIOUS OMISSION?

It is interesting to the SCPR that the commissioners did not choose to interview Cynthia Harris as a potential Stark County dog warden.

In 2010, when Todd Bosley, Steve Meeks and Pete Ferguson were Stark County commissioners, it was quite a stir among Stark County Dog Pound Advisory Board (SCDPAB) members (since assigned to oblivion by Commissioners Bernabei, Creighton and Ferguson [in 2012] without formally disbanding the group) when Ms. Harris surfaced as a candidate to possibly be named warden.

One has to wonder whether or not that flap made her a non-starter in terms of making the list for an interview this time around.

To The Report, she appears to have solid credentials (though dated in terms of specific employment) in meeting the dual optimum qualifications (documented management skills and "hands on experience) for the job.  A prime goal of the county's operation of a dog pound is for it to be self-supporting for it is an "enterprise funded" operation.

Note that Harris says that she had Countryside Animal Hospital double its profit within five years which is obviously is more than "breaking even."

No interview.

Hmm?

WILL THE INTERVIEWS PRODUCE A DOG WARDEN?

Perhaps not this go around.

The commissioners are quite pleased to have Middleton in place.

And they are serious indeed in proceeding cautiously in naming a Tetreaut replacement.

They recall all too well what a royal pain it has been for them to get the Pound to the more or less stable state it is currently in.

At the last commissioners meeting, Commissioner Creighton emphatically said that if none of the seven being interview satisfy them, they will not hesitate in the slightest to redo the process.

A point also emphasized by Stark County Chief Administrator Brant Luther.

Stark Countians should be well taken with this current set of commissioners and the manner in which they are building a leadership team for their area of responsibility of Stark County government.

They are "head and shoulders" above any board board that has served within the member of yours truly!

(VIDEOS) CRANK THE STARK COMMISSIONERS "JACK-IN-THE-BOX;" OUT POPS CANTON TWP TRUSTEE CHRIS NICHOLS AS NEW COUNTY BUDGET MANAGER

UPDATED:  AT 10:50 AM

VIDEOS

REVISIT THE PHIL DAVISON VIDEO

COMMISSIONERS HIRE OF

CANTON TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE

CHRIS NICHOLS

AS

DIRECTOR OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET

COMMISSIONER EXPLAIN CIRCUMSTANCES

OF

NICHOLS

HIRE

Of late, Stark County commissioner meetings have been like "watching paint dry."

But that all changed yesterday when County Administrator Brant Luther read a resolution to hire Canton Township trustee and current First Communications employee Chris Nichols into a position entitled Director of Management and Budget at $70,000 per annum after a 120 day probation period with a start date of June 26th.

The SCPR's ears perked up immediately.

This announcement had shades of the Phil Davison over-the-top political rant of September, 2010 in terms of being a surprise to everybody in attendance.

One of the persons present at that Stark County Republican Party executive committee event was current Stark County commissioner Janet Creighton.

The meeting had been called to select a person to run for Stark County treasurer (which turned out to be Alex Zumbar) to replace Gary Zeigler who had been, as it turns out, unconstitutionally removed from office by the-then county commissioners Todd Bosley, Steve Meeks and Pete Ferguson.

Then this.



The Davison caper took everybody by surprise including Creighton who told yours truly that the rendition was out-of-character for the Phil Davison she knew.

Well, yesterday's move by Stark County commissioners was not a surprise of Davison dimensions, but it did seem to come "out-of-the-blue."

And, it was a tad disconcerting insofar as the SCPR is concerned in that the hire was made without any public discussion of the need to do so and in terms of not putting the position out there in a public-at-large advertisement to prospective applications.

The Report is told that the commissioners did mull over whether or not to advertise for the position but decided not to.

"Disconcerting" as in "so much so" that the SCPR thinks that the commissioners have taken another step back from the days that Republican Creighton and Democrat Tom Bernabei were elected in November, 2010 to replace Democrats Meeks and Bosley (who chose not to run for re-election).

At the time, Bernbei's and Creighton's election presaged a new day dawning in terms of a new emphasis on county government openness, accountability, transparency, communication and access.

Bernabei and Creighton were so committed to restoring trust in county government that they allowed a .025 sales tax to expire because they thought the county had not yet restored itself to a sufficient trust level growing out of situation in the county treasurer's office (LINK for background) that it would be unavailing to as Stark Countians to renew or replace the levy.

Consequently, in 2011 and going forward through 2012, Stark County experienced a financial crisis that resulted in dramatic cutbacks in county services.

By the November, 2011 election, the commissioners had instituted austerity moves and democratizing moves and had gotten out into the outlying regions of Stark County so that the were able to convince voters by a rather healthy margin to pass a 0.50 sales tax increase by a comfortable margin.

Since then, the SCPR has sensed a gradual deterioration of the commissioners' commitment to the reforms they made both in structure (e.g. instituting public accessible work sessions so that the public could witness first hand the inner workings of county government) and in commissioner attitude towards their constituents; namely, the Stark County taxpaying public.

There have been a series of events which has raised the eyebrows of yours truly in the sense of signaling a diminishment of commissioner due diligence in maintaining  the heyday (November, 2010 - November, 2011) of the "restore trust to Stark County government."

And yesterday's hiring of Nichols out-of-the-blue without any work session or equivalent being held (in the SCPR's knowledge) to discuss the need for an additional budget person and their inclination not to make the job publicly available should be disturbing to Stark Countians.

The Report thinks that the lead up to the Nichols hire was a ripe topic for discussion as to whether or not the commissioners would hire a top level employee at $70,000 per year as contrasted to hiring perhaps two employees at substantially lesser compensation level and thereby help the commissioners office better in serving the Stark County public.

What is going on with the commissioners appears to the SCPR to be akin a person who ends up getting boiled to death one degree at a time.

While the SCPR's sense of commissioner internal operations is that they do need an employee or two as they under Bernabei and Creighton have seemed to be operating on a shoe string and in a "lead by example" austerity/efficiency modeling paradigm, the way they did the Nichols hiring should be wholly unacceptable to the Stark County public.

Nothing against Chris Nichols.

He seems to have the qualifications for the job for which he has been hired.

Nichols was a candidate for the job to replace Mike Hanke as county administrator.

It was apparent at the time that the commissioners were having a difficult time choosing between the eventual selectee (Brant Luther) and Nichols.

By The Report's calculation, advantage Luther by virtue of having worked for Creighton when she was Stark County auditor and having succeeded her in office.

And the SCPR's take is that Creighton is every bit the equal of Bernabei if not moreso in factoring into the ultimate decisions made by the commissioners as a body.

If there was an irreconcilable difference between her and Bernabei, one has to believe that fellow Republican Commissioner Richard Regula is going to side with Creighton both in the politics of things and as a matter of personal affinity.  On the latter factor, these two have known each other for years and years and have, undoubtedly, worked with one another on various matters over those years.

Getting back to the Nichols hire, it appears to yours truly that finding a way to bring him on board has been under consideration since he interviewed for the Hanke-vacated position.

There are a number of curiosities surrounding the Nichols hire.

Luther says that he is hiring in at 12% less than what he makes as Revenue Assurance Director (LINK for general definition) since May, 2002 at First Communications which by the SCPR calculation would be about $78,000.

Hmm?

Why would anybody take a 12% cut for a county job?

Did the commissioners explore this line of questioning and the potential bearing those reasons might have is doing the job for which he was hired?

Another thing.

The political aspect of the hiring.

Because he had a long, long history of intense political involvement with the Stark County Republican Party (as an office holder [Alliance councilman and Stark County auditor] and as Republican Auditor Janet Creighton's employee and Republican Probate Judge Dixie Park's employee), the commissioners in hiring Luther got a commitment from Luther that he would cut all activist ties with Stark Republicans.

Chris Nichols, too, has political aspirations as a Republican.

In a story appearing in The Repository in 2010, Nichols talks about his lifelong ambition to one day be United States Senator Chris Nichols.

Luther tells The Report that Nichols agrees to be constrained in his political party activism on the same standards as Luther himself while a commissioner employee.

The SCPR's thinking is that for his employer to have implemented his hiring as the three commissioners did is not exactly the best circumstances under which for Nichols to be hired and that so doing they have undermined their own credibility on the ongoing issue of public trust in how they conduct the county's business.

Another moral of this story is that one never knows on cranking the Stark County commissioners' Jack-In-The-Box what is liable to pop out!

After the meeting, the SCPR brought the matter up to the commissioners.

Here is the video.