(VIDEOS) CANTON MAYOR WILLIAM J. HEALY II'S "DAY OF RECKONING" WITH SCOG?

It was on Friday, February 8, 2013 when Canton mayor William J. Healy, II "pulled a fast one" with the Stark Council of Governments (SCOG).

He moved, the SCPR thinks, through his-then safety director Thomas Ream to change the bylaws of SCOG with respect to the structure and operation of the Canton-Stark County Crime Lab (CSCCL - Crime Lab - Lab) so that non-scientist Rick Perez (a former Stark County chief deputy), an apparent political pal of both Healy and Ream, could be appointed as director of the Lab.

But as soon as the word got out,  Perez (acting on Healy's request) on  February 11, 2013 resigned his mere 72 hour stint as CSCCL director.

SCOG reaction to the Healy administration was swift to and to the point. 

On February 12th, SCOG met with Healy in the context of an "open-to-the-public" meeting.

Mayor Healy was brought front and center to answer the questions of SCOG members about the Perez move.

At the meeting, Hizzhonor "backtracked - faster than light travels."  According to him, it was Safety Director Ream's doing.

In this SCPR LINKED blog, yours truly shared a number of videos which serves as a movie kaleidoscope of the fast moving events at that meeting.

Healy appeared to be contrite. 

But knowing the mayor as yours truly does, The Report's position is that it wasn't a matter of contriteness. 

For one of the few times in his tenure as mayor, Healy was backpedaling lickety-split in a completely "defensive" mode while leaving his safety director (Tom Ream) - foursquare - under the bus.

For those SCPR readers who want a refresher on the February 12 SCOG meeting, they should go back to the SCPR blog of the 13th and take in all of the videos as listed above.

For those who just want to see Healy's part in the proceedings, here is a republication of the video on his time before the SCOG committee.



It took a while (nearly seven months) for SCOG to react with more than transitory fixes; but, today is Mayor Healy's true date of reckoning, so thinks The Report. 

In high irony, former Canton service director and chief-of-staff (one of Healy's first hires as mayor back in 2008), Thomas Bernabei (now a Stark County commissioner and chairman of SCOG's executive committee as well as SCOG's general membership) is more or less in charge of bringing-Healy-to-heel.

High irony?

Indeed!

For Healy fired Bernabei in January, 2009 when it became apparent to the  mayor that Bernabei proved to be what a top appointed official of any elected official ought to be:  loyal but not a "yes man."

Many stories emanated from city hall during the Bernabei/Healy days of the former dressing down the latter for his bizarre actions.

As Healy has shown with a number of his appointees (e.g. Tom Nesbitt [a former safety director] and most recent Warren Price [a former service director, chief-of-staff and safety director]); he cannot abide appointees who stand up to him (even "for his own good," and,) more importantly for the good of Canton's residents.

To his credit, Bernabei, as chairman, in the interest of resolving the Healy triggered crisis at the Lab, has allowed  Healy to look like it is his initiative and idea to restructure and reform operations  of the CSCCL. 

But the reality is, the The Report believes, that the rework of the Crime Lab is being dictated by the powers that be within SCOG, including Bernabei himself.

Here is the document which likely will be accepted by the SCOG executive committee and general membership in the meeting which is to be held later today in the chamber of Canton City Council.

Presumably, the mayor will show up.

But do not be surprised if he does not.

A Stark County Political Report "Hats Off" to Chairman Bernabei and the SCOG membership in the most productive manner in which the organization has dealt with Healy.

For it is not about "rubbing it in" with Healy that he precipitated the crisis over the Crime Lab.

It is about what is good for Canton's/Stark County's citizens being effectively served in the context of law enforcement being capably served by the Lab in Stark's various police agencies being able to present "beyond a reasonable doubt" evidence and thereby get Stark's bad guys and bad girls off our streets.

In a weird sort of way Healy's power move revealed very serious problems in the functioning of the CSCCL.

Processing of DNA evidence was generally in the neighborhood of 400 days, more or less.

As a consequence of the revelation of this specific Lab problem, Stark's police agencies are now sending DNA work to Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Richfield.

Of course, it is exactly revelations like the DNA backlog thing that Healy latches onto as cover to extricate himself from his difficulties.

We should all focus on the reality that the CSCCL problems developed under the "unwatchful" eye of the Healy administration.

As the SCPR has written numerous times, Healy in his Houdini-esque escape from seemingly impossible situations, is the envy of cats and their proverbial nine lives.

While he may be chortling about his apparent escape, once again, from another seeming brazen and outrage political act (i.e. the Perez matter), the proposed agreement is not about "catching" Healy or "punishing" him; it is doing the right thing for the citizens of Stark County.

The SCPR is convinced that one of these days, the mayor will do something that will put him beyond redemption. 

While the events of today are likely to amount to something like a penultimate "day of reckoning."

Ultimately, The Report believes, the mayor will do himself in.

The shame of it is that in the meantime, the citizens of Canton bear the brunt of his political mischievousness and chicanery.

(VIDEO) ALL SYSTEMS GO FOR A "CONSOLIDATED" 9-1-1 STARK SYSTEM?

UPDATE:  11:45 AM

ENTIRE VIDEO  OF 07/11/2013 SCOG 9-1-1 GOVERNANCE BOARD MEETING

VIDEOS

FORMER STARK COUNTY COMMISSIONER

JANE VIGNOS

MAKES MOTION 

TO RECOMMEND TO 

STARK COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

THE PURCHASE OF A 

CAD SYSTEM & 800 MHZ RADIOS

RANDY GONZALEZ

UPDATES

STARK'S EMERGENCY FORCES

ON

9-1-1 REHAB

JOE CONCATTO

UPDATES

STARK'S EMERGENCY FORCES

ON

9-1-1 REHAB

ENTIRE 07/11/2013
SCOG 9-1-1 GOVERNANCE BOARD MEETING

It was a touch ironic yesterday that former Stark County Commissioner Jane Vignos made the motion requested by Stark County Council of Governments (SCOG) 9-1-1 Governance Board Chairman Randy Gonzalez that SCOG recommend to the Stark County commissioners:

• that they spend some $2.35 million (according to County Administrator Brant Luther) being held by them to purchase a Computer Assisted Dispatch (CAD) system, for
• a "consolidated," not yet a "regionalized" (see Burgasser correction in Vignos motion video posted below),
• and to apply the rest of the money towards buying state-of-the-art 800 mhz radios for Stark emergency forces who do not presently have them.

Vignos motion - "somewhat ironic?"

Yes.

Republican Vignos was one of three Stark Commissioners (Democrats Todd Bosley and Tom Harmon being the other two) who "imposed" as 0.5% county sales tax which was highlighted as being to fix what was term then (December, 2008) as being a broken Stark County emergency call receiving and dispatching operation.

But the tax did not last long.

Local attorney and civic activist Craig T. Conley soon figured out that the imposed tax was not entirely for a 9-1-1 fix.  Half of the revenues were for the county general fund.  However, that fact was glossed over by the-then commissioners and other county officials who wanted to see the tax remain on the books.

Because of the tax being "imposed" and due to the secretive treatment of the general fund aspect of the collections, voters responded to a Conley put together effort to repeal the tax in November, 2009 with an overwhelming vote to squash the tax.

Nevertheless, subsequent boards of county commissioners including the current one of Commissioners Tom Bernabei (Democrat), Janet Creighton (Republican) and Richard Regula (Republican) have set aside and protected the 9-1-1 fix share of the revenue generated by the imposed tax for 9-1-1 purposes.

The set aside and protection has been necessary because  county government went through a crisis of confidence from December, 2008 through November, 2011 generated by the imposed tax and the revelation that former Stark County chief deputy treasurer Vince Frustaci had stolen upwards of $3 million in Stark County taxpayer funds over several years but undetected by county officials until April 1, 2009.

During the crisis, pressure was put on commissioners to appropriate the $2.3 million to overall Stark County government operations.

It seems to the SCPR that the multiple boards of commissioners have understood that it would not set well with county taxpayers to give in to the pressure.

Back in 2011 it appeared that a countywide, centralized "regional" dispatch system was a "go" for Stark County when out-of-the-blue Canton mayor William J. Healy, II and his then-safety director Thomas Ream became a problem.

Along with the Stark County sheriff's office, the Canton Communications Center are to be the bulwarks (as backups to one another) of any countywide, centralized emergency call receiving and dispatch operation.

The SCPR's analysis is that Healy realized his Canton Communications Center was a key component of whether or not centralized 9-1-1 was going to be a reality and further realizing that Canton would not be in charge of a "regionalized," centralized system, all of a sudden became uncooperative.

All of that is all changed because now it is obvious even to the mayor of Canton that Canton's CAD system is out-of-date and the city can ill-afford to spend the million or so to update its system.

Beyond CAD, there is the issue of having a universal countywide radio system in which all county emergency forces have 800 mhz radios and that a capital fund be built up to upgrade the current radios (which will not be supported by vendor Motorola past 2017) and be part of the wave of the future in which nearly all if not all emergency force radio communications will be done through a state of Ohio system called MARCS (Multi-Agency Radio Communications System).

So he is all too happy now to join in with the county (though headed up by arch-political-enemies Creighton and Bernabei) and in a sense dip into the county's $2.35 million and thereby solving the need for Canton to find that much money plus to keep Canton's communication's center up-to-date.

SCOG's Gonzalez being the politico he is, to wit:

• Stark County Democratic Party chairman, 
• Jackson Township fiscal officer, and 
• an employee of fellow Democrat Phil Giavasis in the Canton Municipal Court clerk of courts office [CJIS], 

though humiliated by Healy on 9-1-1 (in the opinion of the SCPR), is willing to let bygones be bygones and is apparently overjoyed at the prospect of getting a "scaled down" system which he and others at yesterday's  session  were distinguishing as being a "consolidation" (Massillon Fire Chief Tom Burgasser was most emphatic on this point) and not a regionalization of a rehabbed county system.

Here is Gonzalez (who has worked for over 20 years for a "fixed" Stark County 9-1-1) yesterday updating a number of Stark's police, fire and emergency workers at the Stark County sheriff's training room on the status of Stark 9-1-1 dispatch upgrade.

During the session, Gonzalez said that he believes "it is now or never" for Stark County to get on the track towards regionalization of 9-1-1 dispatch.

Also weighing in yesterday was 9-1-1 Project Manager Joe Concatto who outlined:

• the CAD bids and emphasized that the county would only proceeding IF that the effort at rehabbing 9-1-1 ultimately results in a "regionalized," 
• the transition from a "consolidated" - at the start - to a "regionalized,"
• in a vague sense the costs of consolidation (e.g. historical average of 236,000 divided among 44 dispatchers [from Canton Communications Center, the sheriff's center and the RED center],

So it appears that the Stark County commissioners are willing to spend the $2.3 million for something less than ideal.

Eight dispatch centers will not be a part of a Stark County CAD at least at the start of operations.

Gonzalez, 9-1-1 Project Manager Joe Concatto and others expressed the "hope" that one day - down the road - the eight non-participants will see the light and join in with the "consolidated" system and thereby make the Stark County consolidated operation a true "regionalized" system.

The stark reality that the Stark commissioners now face is whether or not to take the tax dollars paid by "all" Stark County taxpayers and apply it for the benefit of about 75% of Stark's local government units.

The SCPR believes that they will.

It appears that they will buy into Gonzalez's "it is now or never" rationale.

For those SCPR readers who want to see the entire video (53 minutes long) of yesterday's SCOG 9-1-1 Governance Board meeting, here goes.

LACK OF FINANCING, COMMUNICATION & TURF WARS KILLING COUNTYWIDE 9-1-1? SHOULD THE EFFORT BE SCRAPPED AND THE REMAINING $2.51 MILLION FOR 9-1-1 PUT INTO THE COUNTY GENERAL FUND?

It is becoming clearer and clearer to the SCPR that Stark County's attempt to rebuild 9-1-1 from being on life support according to a 2008 GenCom report, is now in jeopardy.

The Report attended a meeting of the Stark County Council of Governments [Governing Board] (SCOG) meeting of March 15th and comes away with the impression that rebuild effort is falling apart.

Until the 15th, the board had not met for some months.

Rehabbing Stark's emergency call receiving and dispatching system started out being troubled.

The Report believes it continues in that mode and it is appearing more and more that a fully state-of-the-art system that encompasses all of Stark County as originally envisioned will never be realized.

So what are the problems with getting 9-1-1 to where the shakers and movers of Stark County government leadership say they want to take it?

The funding problem.

At great political cost to himself, former Stark County Commissioner Todd Bosley persuaded his fellow commissioners to impose a 0.5% sales tax in December, 2008 which collected the necessary money to get the project underway.  However, Stark voters reacted to having the tax "imposed" by repealing it in November, 2009 which had the effect of limiting the original goal of the 9-1-1 portion of the tax (the remainder being for the county general fund) of providing the service "free" to Stark County's political subdivision.

A lingering problem continues to be?  Yes, you have it funding.

Although some $2.51 million remains set aside by county commissioners to be spent on the capital side putting together countywide 9-1-1, there is not enough of it.

Not enough of it because not all of the political subdivisons which would make up a countywide system have state-of-the-art radios (800 mhz).  So officials are scrambling to get federal grants to supplement some money available from the $2.51 million in order to get everyone equipped with appropriate communications gear.

North Canton has broken ranks with a Stark County's 800 mhz radio plan by signing up with the state of Ohio MARCS system.

Another aspect of funding revolves around the question of maintaining the system.

Since a continuing dedicated sales tax for maintaining 9-1-1 is gone, how will - assuming that a true countywide system is put in place - it be maintained from a continuing financial operations standpoint?

The apparent answer is user fees.

However, it seems that Canton Mayor William J. Healy, II does not believe such is a proper and, perhaps, realistic financial structure for maintaining Stark's 9-1-1 system. And, apparently, he worries that the entity itself (Stark County Council of Governments - SCOG) which would own and operate the system, with 2012-13 severe cuts in state of Ohio local government funding, will have it own financial problems in terms of its own survival.

As things stand now, SCOG is struggling to fund, going into 2013 and beyond, the Stark County crime lab.

The word is that the state of Ohio may totally eliminate local government funding going forward.

The Report uses the terms "seems" and "apparently" in discussing Healy's position because it is unclear to yours truly that financial viability concerns are his "real" concern.

Yours truly is more apt to believe that it is more an issue of ultimate Canton control of countywide 9-1-1 (i.e. a turf problem) for Healy than his suggestions of financial integrity concerns.

Beyond funding concerns, then there is a communications problem between Healy and his safety director Tom Ream (who is president of SCOG) and SCOG governing board Chairman Randy Gonzalez and Project Manager Joe Concatto.

It is really weird that Healy, Ream, Gonzalez and Concatto, who undoubtedly cross one another's paths in multiple forums on a regular basis, just shake their heads in a "I don't know" fashion when asked why they cannot get together and resolve the differences they have and moving forward with rehabbing countywide 9-1-1 with Canton being a key player.

Communications on this topic are so nonexistent that  Gonzalez and Concatto with the apparent acquiescence of the Stark County commissioners (Commissioner Tom Bernabei is the lead commissioner on the 9-1-1 project) no longer talk optimistically that Canton will be part of a countywide system.  Rather that it will be narrowed to include the RED Center (mainly Jackson Township and Massillon) and the Stark County sheriff and a few other political subdivisions.

Even the sheriff's participation is problematical (Sheriff Swanson has been back and forth on the issue) and a "real" answer awaits the outcome of November's election to determine who - among Republican candidate Larry Dordea and Democratic candidate Mike McDonald (currently a chief deputy in charge of the jail division) - will succeed Sheriff Tim Swanson.

Anyone who knows anything about the 9-1-1 consolidation project knows already that Nimishillen Township's CenCom will not be part of a countywide system.

The SCPR has written frequently that The Report believes that Nimishillen opted out for two reasons.

First, Nimishillen Fire Chief Rich Peterson was not chosen to be the project manager for the rehab and his pride and joy CenCom will not be the hub of a countywide system.  Another manifestation of a turf problem?

Second, Nimishillen is so saddled with debt for the fire station that houses CenCom that in order to generate revenue to pay the mortgage, its only choice is to compete with a countywide system.

Today, there is a media report that North Canton is considering joining up with CenCom.  Recently, Lake Township signed on.

Canton, North Canton, Lake et cetera not in a countywide system.   Does it make any sense to proceed with spending the remaining $2.51 million being held by county commissioners on a fragmented (countywide?) 9-1-1 system?

During 2012 county budget considerations, the Stark County Common Pleas Court judges proposed "lending" the $2.51 to 2012 appropriations.

Perhaps the time has come for the commissioners to square up with the realities of:

• financial problems,
• communication problems,
• and turf wars,

that plague the effort to get to a true "state of the art" countywide 9-1-1 system and defund it entirely?

Stark County general fund operations sure could use that $2.51 million, no?

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.