DISCUSSION: CAN CITIZEN-ACTIVIST CHRIS BORELLO TRUST U.S. SENATOR SHERROD BROWN TO HELP HER CCLT ON THE UNIONTOWN DUMP?

The Repository Editorial Board (always a huge Ralph Regula supporter) went on a trip down "Nostalgia Lane" in recent days with the retirement of the congressman.

One Stark Countian who probably does not share The Rep's enthusiasm for Regula and probably their bemoaning his departure from the local political scene is former Uniontown (now Plain Township) resident Chris Borello the head of the Concerned Citizens for Lake Township (CCLT).

Regula pretty much blew her off on her quest to have the U.S. and Ohio EPAs clean up the Industrial Excess Landfill.

At one point in his career, Regula had the access to go to Bush #41 and tell him that cleaning up the Uniontown IEL was of the utmost importance to him.

Had he done so, the IEL cleanup would have made it the top of the EPA list and the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) would not be writing this piece.

So the "cocktail set" that man the editorial desks at The Rep may have enjoyed their cozy relationship with Regula. But there are a number of other Stark Countians (including Borello) who did not have the ear of Regula and most likely are glad he is no longer the 16th District's congressman.

The Report does not believe that Regula's replacement John Boccieri will be much help to Borello and her group. But perhaps U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown?

Why not Boccieri? Why Brown?

Boccieri, a reserve major in the United States Air Force, is a conservative Democrat (but not a blue-Dog Democrat - i.e. [from Wikipedia] "choked blue" by those "extreme" Democrats, from the left.) who is not likely to be a champion for the environment.

Boccieri will, (if told by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi), support the Democratic line should Borello and friends be able to get a "liberal" Democrat like Sherrod Brown to get the Democratic Party to take on the IEL cleanup as a priority.

And apparently there is hope that liberal Democrat Brown will get on board with Borello's quest.

Here is the text of an e-mail from Borello to a Brown staffer (sent 01/04/2009):

FYI - Hi Jonathan. [Brown staffer] I have been networking with ... [name of person edited out by The Report] (out in California on our Superfund Sites. I thought you might be interested in this article about his site, El Toro. Seems there are similarities in our cases, though we didn't get any kind of cleanup here at IEL. With the new administration coming in, we are of course hopeful that we finally can obtain some proactive help here at Uniontown. As you know, CCLT has waited several months for a response from your office regarding the letters sent back last July to Senator Brown via the Stark County Commissioners that sought Sherrod's help in vetting out the information possessed by several scientists and key investigators related to IEL. Hopefully things can now move forward toward that goal? Would greatly appreciate hearing back from you.

Regards, Chris Borello/CCLT/ IEL

Also included in the piece is a video The Report took when Brown was in Canal Fulton in October to support Celeste DeHoff in her race against Todd Snitchler.

The point of the video is that Brown is lambasting the Bush Administration for its reactionary policies. One thing the Bushies were not for that Obama and Brown might change is more of a concern about environmental matters.

Is there hope for Chris Borello and the CCLT?

Now the video.

DISCUSSION: A PUBLIC SERVICE FROM ALLIANCE TO THE BENEFIT OF ALL STARK COUNTIANS?

The "Alliance wrinkle" is obviously something that 9-1-1 Reform Czar (also Jackson Township fiscal officer) Randy Gonzales had not factored in when formulating the re-structuring of Stark County's 9-1-1.

One of the virtues of a less centralized approach is that when someone makes a move to change what already exists, the changer will be getting questions.

In the case of 9-1-1, those on the "hot seat" are Stark County Council on Governments (SCOG) "governing committee chair" Randy Gonzales. For purposes of cutting to the chase, the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) will refer to Gonzales as the "911 Reform Czar."

The Alliance Review published a very good report (byline Laurie Huffman) on the reaction of Alliance 9-1-1 connected officials to the imposition of the 1/4% sales/use tax increase last Tuesday by county commissioners which means that it is
full-speed ahead to redo Stark County's 9-1-1.

The Report is astonished to learn from The Review's piece what SCOG officials and county commissioners did not know and therefore did not factor into the plan to refashion 9-1-1 the relative unpreparedness (in terms of medical trainng) of Stark's dipatchers compared to those of Alliance.

The Report commends Alliance Services Director John Blaser and his public safety officials for bringing several matters to light that SCOG will - now - factor into the new countywide 9-1-1.

To repeat, it is eyeopening to learn that neither Commissioner Harmon nor Vignos knew that Alliance was significantly ahead of the county in terms of the quality of dispatcher training. How can you send a Tom Harmon to Alliance to convince them to get on the 9-1-1 Stark County Express when he doesn't know what Alliance already has?

The Report has had a conversation some time ago with Director Tim Werstler of Stark County 9-1-1 Central Dispatch in which he impliedly (in The Report's opinion) admitted that his dispatchers are not trained to the level of the Alliance group. Nimishillen chief Rich Petersen confirmed Stark's unpreparedness with The Report. Again, how could Harmon not know?

The Review's report indicates that Alliance and Minerva will not be a part of the countywide, at least until Stark County phases into a highly trained one-dispatch-center modality.

One has to wonder if Alliance can hold out several years until the one-dispatch-center becomes a reality. Alliance currently spends about $500,000 a year on dispatch services. In difficult economic times like these, Alliance clearly could use the money elsewhere when a viable alternative exists. Apparently, Alliance believes the proposed alternative would be a step-down for its citizens as it is presently constituted and would not be cured when the reduction to four centers occurs.

The Report believes that Gonzales in a tad on the "disingenuous" side as evidenced in the following language attributed to him in The Review's piece:

We are not asking Alliance to close their (dispatch) facility. We are asking them to move it, essentially. The move would be paid for, and it would free up square footage at City Hall for them, which I understand they need. They would have a new facility with new equipment and their same dispatchers could take the Alliance calls at a new location."

Undoubtedly, before biting, the Alliance folks would have to have satisfied themselves that Alliance residents would not be getting lesser service before they throw-in with the countywide operation.

Another concern raised before by Alliance officials, Louisville Councilman Guy Guidone and others is a telling one.

What if Michael Mouse (former councilman from Canal Fulton) is successful in getting the 1/4% sales/use tax repealed?

Where does that leave the 9-1-1 merger process in financial terms?

Will the commissioners need to re-impose the tax sixty days after a successful repeal (assuming that it gets on the November, 2009 ballot)?

While The Report is fully for reconfiguring Stark County's 9-1-1 and has been laudatory of Commissioner Todd Bosley's bold initiative, Alliance officials and other Stark Counltians in raising questions on the details are, indeed, doing a public service!

DISCUSSION: A NEW FACE LINING UP AGAINST BOSLEY FOR COUNTY COMMISSIONER 2010?

A STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) commenter wants to know whether or not the potentials to run against Todd Bosley for county commissioner in 2010 is limited to Republican John P. Hagan (defeated in November by Democrat Pete Ferguson) or Richard Regula (whom Bosley defeated on 2060).

The answer? Probably.

The Report had received a tip that Louisville Republican Councilman Guy Guidone was thinking about making a run against Bosley.

The Report has talked with Guidone about his possibly running against Bosley in 2010.

Guidone tells The Report that his running is unlikely if either Regula or Hagan take out petitions to run in the 2010 Republican primary.

The Louisville councilman first got involved in public life several years ago working on a committee which was deal with city of Louisville finances.

He ran for city council in 2005 and was defeated. But in an encore race in 2007 Guidone won.

He describes himself as a social conservative who has a "pro-life" political agenda.

As of now, it appears that the only chance that Guidone will be running against Bosley would be a scenario in which both Regula and Hagan opt out. Then, in the interest of not defaulting the office to an unopposed Democrat, perhaps Guy Guidone will be tossing his political hat in to the ring of county politics.

DISCUSSION: STARK COUNTY NEEDS TO CREATE, FUND & ADMINISTRATE A BOTTOM UP INCENTIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EFFORT?

Some really good things are beginning to happen in Stark County!

What follows is a discussion of some of the economic assets that Stark County currently possesses that need to be put to wider and collaborative use.

Todd Bosley's election as county commissioner has put in place a person who is proactively working to return Stark to her former greatness plus. He demonstrates political courage (e.g. the sales tax initiative); he is a proponent of efficiencies (e.g. the coming merger of the Stark County Sanitary Engineer and Stark County Engineer's office); he understands and is aggressive for business, commerce and industry (e.g. his own business, trying to get Volkswagen and Fiat to Stark, et cetera). Finally, he is showing that he has talent to bring disparate elements of the Stark community together to achieve common purposes (e.g. mediation of the Veterans Commission call for more county money, the Lawrence Township conflict between residents and a developer/builder et cetera).

William J. Healy, II as mayor of Canton has the academic wherewithal and real world business experience to fashion structures like the Stark Mayors Association and to push for collaborative efforts among and between this nascent groups intracounty and extracounty and the larger Northeast Ohio corridor community.

Newly elected Representative Todd Snitchler has worked enough with chambers of commerce to know their strengths and weaknesses. He needs to push chambers to get in touch with the 21st century as effective entities who are committed to embracing cutting edge techniques and strategies and to be accountable for achieve results being realized by Stark business, industry and commerce.

North Canton has an accomplished economic development person as city council president. Daryl Revodlt undoubtedly has many, many contacts in business, industry and government. What a magnificent "contacts person" he is for our county.

North Canton has a mayor (David Held) who is a first-rate administrator. Held's work as Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District CEO is praised from every quarter. No one in Stark knows how to manage better than David Held.

And there are others who have enormous potential as economic revival leaders the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report) could describe.

But there is still something missing in Stark County and, indeed, many communities throughout the country.

What could it be?

The answer, The Report believes, is that there is too much "top-down" thinking in Stark County.

Stark County needs to form, incubate and flourish an economic development powerhouse by using its citizenry. In Stark County this is about 380,000 people.

What is proving to be an effective way to tap into this potentially huge resource?

The answer? Creating a fund, let's say a "Stark County Economic Development Incentive Fund" (contributed to my government, business, industry and ordinary citizens) which awards prizes to everyday citizens who come forward with economically viable solutions to previously insoluble problems.

The proposed fund in an example of a Wikinomics mechanism designed to bring the hoi polloi into a community's economic development efforts.

Wikinomics (Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams - December, 2006) is based on tapping into the masses premised on four concepts (Open, Peering, Sharing and Acting Globally) to reinvigorate economic production.

The Report posits that Stark County's economic gurus ought to be looking into the Wikinomics approach and determining whether or not this is a concept that can be applied for Stark economic benefit.

The video below shows how the incentive aspect of Wikinomics has been applied in the Chicago area.

2009 - STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT SUGGESTED NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS FOR AREA ELECTED OFFICIALS - PANEL 1

2009 - STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT SUGGESTED NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS FOR AREA ELECTED OFFICIALS - PANEL 2

2009 - STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT SUGGESTED NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS FOR AREA ELECTED OFFICIALS - PANEL 3