Merger, Mayor Akers & More on Feagler & Friends This Evening

From the teaser:
Newsmaker: Bruce Akers, Mayor of Pepper Pike
After two decades as a civic leader, Bruce Akers is stepping down as mayor of Pepper Pike. During his tenure, Akers has been a prominent advocate of regional cooperation between local governments, arguing that cities should share services, such as trash pick-up and police dispatching. Most recently, he’s been backing the idea of possibly merging his city with three other suburbs.
Then, the roundtable panel (this week's: Ed Esposito, Akron News Now; M.L. Schultze, WKSU; Patrick Shepherd, Stonewall Democrats) ruminates on it, per its teaser:
Merging Interests
A sluggish Northeast Ohio economy has prompted a number of suburbs to find ways to save money by sharing city services, but the actual merging of municipalities has always been an elusive goal. Even the four cities currently talking about the idea have made no commitments to drop their boundaries. With over 60 local governments in Cuyahoga County alone, what’s it going to take to move beyond the “talk” stage?
Conversations are happening all over town and beyond regarding this topic.  Yesterday's Chagrin Valley Times ran this Commentary:

Chagrin Valley Times Commentary 7/7/11: Merger talk is first step

And I've even gotten email on the topic from a supposed former resident stationed overseas! Talk about far and wide.

I'm still hoping for a county government-hosted public forum sooner rather than later.

What are you hearing, hoping and wanting from all this attention?

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