In The Arena

Congratulations to Jennifer Cohen, new Orange School Board member

2012-01-31T15:09:00.000-05:00

From the Orange Schools website:

The Orange City School District Board of Education announced today that it has selected Ms. Jennifer Cohen to serve the remainder of the term vacated by Mr. Stanley Morganstern. That term expires December 31, 2013. She will be sworn in at the Board meeting on February 13, 2012.

Cohen is a 13 year resident of Orange Village where she and her husband reside with their three children, who attend Orange Schools. She has served on the board of the Orange Schools Foundation for five years, including the last three years as Co-President and grant committee chair. She is currently on Orange High School’s After-Prom committee and is a hospitality co-chair. Cohen is a volunteer with the OHS swim team and with Stagecrafters theater group through Orange Community Education and Recreation.

She has worked for 25 years in Human Resources Management and currently is the Professional Personnel Director for The Jewish Federation of Cleveland. She has a Bachelors of Science degree from The Ohio State University. She is involved in numerous community organizations.
“Jennifer is an excellent addition to the Orange Board of Education,” said Mr. Sam Steinhouse, Orange Board of Education President. “Her personal and professional experience will definitely be an asset to our schools.”

Cohen was one of 16 residents who applied for the open seat. Morganstern stepped down from the school board effective January 16, 2012. He cited the winding down of his Ohio based law practice and his plans to spend most of his time in Arizona as the reason for his resignation.

I served with Jennifer on the Orange Schools Foundation and am sure she will do a great job. Good luck to her and the board as they proceed.

MEETING CHANGE; Mayor's Letter to Residents; Appointments & Elections

2012-01-31T14:52:00.001-05:00

Just sent out:

Good afternoon and my apologies for another email this week, but it's focused!

1. There will be NO Road & Safety/Finance Planning Meeting on the second Wednesday of this month, a meeting that was scheduled for Wednesday, February 8 at 7:30pm.

Instead, there will be a Council Work Session on Thursday, February 9 at 7:30pm, at City Hall, open to the public. No agenda yet that I've seen and I'm not quite sure where on the website it will go, but it should be under "Government" and then "Meetings and Minutes" once it is available and posted. Notice is also on the City website here.

2. I've attached to this email the Mayor's first letter to residents. You can also read it here. If you have trouble opening it, I would suggest contacting the Clerk of Council or the Mayor's office (Sheila Brett-O'Connor at 216-896-6128 or Barb Hennen at 896-6125 ).

3. At last night's Special Organizational Meeting, the following appointments or elections were made:

Law Director: Stephen Byron, Ice Miller law firm
Treasurer: Tony Gentile
Clerk of Council: Sheila Brett-O'Connor
Council Member to City Planning Commission: Rick Taft
Road & Safety Committee Chair: Scott Newell
Finance Chair: Jim LeMay
Communications Chair: Jill Miller Zimon
City Beautification Chair: Gail Mayland
Elector to City Planning Commission: Bill Melsop

Election of the Vice Mayor and appointment to the Chagrin River Watershed Partners Chair have been deferred to the next meeting due to the absence of Council Member Morganstern whom the Mayor has identified as his suggested appointment.

This information will be in the minutes of the meeting, among other information related to the change in meeting schedule and other organizational topics that you may find of interest. You can always listen to the tapes or contact any of us to learn more if you would like prior to the availability of the minutes.

Thank you as always for your time and have a great week.

Jill

Editorial Cartoon re: The Brainards

2012-01-31T07:58:00.000-05:00

From last week's Chagrin Solon Sun:

[updated] 2012 Organizational Meeting to be held Monday, 1/30/12 at 8PM in City Hall

2012-01-29T20:58:00.003-05:00

Notice received by me this evening so I am just the messenger. I would expect an agenda to be made available sometime tomorrow.

Update: FYI only:

Article III Section 2 of Pepper Pike's Charter says that there "shall" be an organizational meeting each January and that at that meeting "or as soon as practicable thereafter," Council shall elect one Councilman (yes it says "man") as Vice Mayor, one as a member of the City Planning Commission and Council shall appoint a Clerk of Council.

As to the calling of the meeting, that's covered by the Pepper Pike Code, Chapter 220.01 which provides for how the Mayor or any three Councilmen (yes, "men") can call a special meeting: "At least twenty-four hours notice of a special meeting shall be given to each Councilman (yes, "man") and the Mayor, which notice may be in writing and delvered to the person notified or left at his or her residence, or verbal notice may be delivered directly or by telephone to the person notified." I received an answering machine message and an email, both before 8pm this evening.

I have not been asked for input, nor have I provided nor have I been provided any information about these positions.

Last, Pepper Pike Code, Chapter 220.05 addresses Committees: "The presiding officer of Council [in Pepper Pike, that has been the mayor - we have no Council President] shall appoint a Finance and Planning Committee, a Road and Safety Committee and such other standing or temporary committees as he or she deems proper." That is all that's said about those two committees.

Chagrin Solon Sun editorial: "Disband Woodmere Police Department"

2012-01-27T16:54:00.000-05:00

Please read it for yourself, but here's an excerpt:

As we see it, from a numbers standpoint, the decision is quite simple. Paying Orange $500,000 a year to provide police protection to the village is a much better alternative than paying the salaries and benefits of nine full-time officers as well as equipment, vehicles, uniforms and facility maintenance. This is a move that must be made, and soon.

...

We realize the police department is one of the few things Woodmere can boast as its own, and taking that away could open the door to the village eventually losing its identity altogether and being merged with Orange or Pepper Pike. Maintaining the stubborn stance of keeping the department for pride’s sake, however, will only hasten the demise of the village. As much as Woodmere residents may want the village to hold on to one of the few remaining things it can truly call its own, they also have to look at the big picture and realize that the village cannot afford to maintain the status quo.

It's an editorial that definitely acknowledges a number of problematic elements related to why this wasn't Mayor Smith's first choice even after the state audit indicated that he needed to downsize his Village's PD. But even so, just being empathetic, this cannot be easy - though I suspect once it's accomplished, many people may come to feel like they should have done it sooner.

"Woodmere battles for its mere existence"

2012-01-25T20:06:00.000-05:00

And I think this is figurative and literal, especially when you take into account the idea of merger with Moreland Hills, Orange Village and Pepper Pike.

From the Chagrin Valley Times, in pertinent part:

When it comes to the consideration of a merger with Moreland Hills, Orange and Pepper Pike, it's important to keep an open mind, [Woodmere Mayor Charles] Smith said.

[Woodmere Council President Lisa] Mrs. Brockwell said, while residents have told her they don't want to lose the sense of identity they have with their community, there must be an ongoing conversation about what is possible and best for all concerned.

Thoughts, ideas, hopes, anyone?

Pepper Pike businessman in FLOTUS box tonight for SOTU

2012-01-24T07:35:00.000-05:00

FLOTUS = First Lady of the United States
SOTU = State of the Union

For deciphering the rest, here's the Plain Dealer article reporting on our resident's upcoming evening. Safe travels and I'm sure we'll see a few flashes of him on the television.

Wherefore art thou, regionalism?

2012-01-22T15:50:00.000-05:00

Just askin' - from the Sunday Plain Dealer, "Westlake's pursuit of new water source threatens stability of Cleveland utility":

One of Cleveland's biggest customers, Westlake is working on plans to set up its own water department and buy wholesale from the Avon Lake water system in neighboring Lorain County.

The Cleveland water department, already struggling with declining consumption, is moving aggressively to stop the revolt led by longtime Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough.

It would be the first defection from the regional water system since several Lake County communities left in the early 1980s, and it could have far-reaching ramifications. Some fear that if Westlake pulls out, other dissatisfied western suburbs will follow.

Read the entire piece, as it also reveals a real battle of the consultants.

What would you do if you were Westlake? Avon? Cleveland? Another suburb using Cleveland - oh wait, we are.

Cleveland.com comment thread on Woodmere/Orange Village police arrangement

2012-01-21T06:30:00.001-05:00

This article ("Woodmere may shut police department and hire Orange for protection") appeared in the Plain Dealer on Friday, 1/20/12 but the comment section is open for far longer than that. Read through - there are several mentions of Pepper Pike and other ideas related to whether communities should merge or not, and which ones, and why, and regarding which services.

Add to the debate there or here but do make sure you let your opinion be known by people in decision-making capacities.

Woodmere police chief resigns, Orange Village may take on its police functions

2012-01-20T06:30:00.001-05:00

From the Chagrin Solon Sun:

[Woodmere Mayor Charles] Smith said the village is talking to Orange Village about contracting out Woodmere’s police services.

“We’re in a fiscal emergency and we are at a point where we can’t afford the police department,” Smith said. “The department represents 55 percent of our budget and for our small village of only five streets and 800 people, we are looking for opportunities to create sustainability.”

Last year, Smith said the village was going to do anything and everything to preserve the police department, but the current financial situation is not allowing the village to pay its bills in a timely manner. He is taking Orange Village’s $500,000 offer to conduct Woodmere policing very seriously.

So, should we have or shouldn't we have - taken on Woodmere's dispatch services?

As always, read the full article for the broader context.

Sterling Lakes, Old & New Brainard Roads, Traffic on Lander Road all subject to discussion

2012-01-19T16:20:00.001-05:00

From the Chagrin Solon Sun:

Traffic safety concerns for drivers exiting Sterling Drive onto Brainard Road have ignited discussions about the possible reopening of Old Brainard Road as a north-south thoroughfare.

More than 15 residents from the Sterling Lake development showed up at a monthly road and safety meeting of City Council Jan. 11 to press the new city administration about what they consider an accident in waiting. They said poor sight lines at the intersection make them afraid to pull out of the development for fear of being struck by fast-approaching vehicles on Brainard.

Read the whole story and check out the minutes from the 1/11/12 meeting when they're posted.

What do you think about a light at New Brainard and the Sterling Lakes entrance across from the Pointe townhouses? Should that gate be permanently closed and Old Brainard re-opened so that people can exit there? If Old Brainard is being looked at for re-opening, should it be just the end at Chagrin, or also down by City Hall?

Or should everything stay as is?

I haven't said a word about where this fits in as a priority for the City or how any changes would be paid for, but obviously those questions and others will have to be calculated into the equation.

Or no?

Brady Principal email re: 7th graders working TODAY w/police, K-9s - NO FREAKING OUT :)

2012-01-18T10:51:00.000-05:00

Just received in my inbox:

Dear Orange Schools families and staff,

On Thursday, January 19th, students in Mrs. McGeown's 7th grade enrichment science class will be participating in an all day field experience on the Orange Schools Campus. This experience has been planned since last May and relates to the topic of forensic science. Please be assured that if you see students, police, K-9 search and rescue teams in the woods, or on the school campus this Thursday it is part of a simulation and not an actual emergency.

Thank you for supporting the Orange Schools!

Sincerely,

Brian Frank
Principal
Brady Middle School

Tonight's Pepper Pike City Council meeting & other updates

2012-01-18T10:41:00.001-05:00

Sent this morning:

Good day.

A quick list of events and other information that may be of interest to you:

1. The regularly scheduled monthly City Council meeting will be this evening (Wednesday, 1/18/12) at 8pm in City Hall. The meeting is open to the public and you can find the agenda attached or here at the City website.

2. There is an opening on the Orange City Schools Board of Education should anyone be interested in applying or know someone you'd like to encourage to apply. The deadline is next Wednesday, January 25th, at noon. You can read more here.

3. At last week's Road & Safety meeting, Mayor Bain spoke about a few priorities of his. I do not want to mischaracterize anything he said and would urge residents to consult the meeting minutes on a regular basis (though be aware that they are often not posted for a couple of week, though you can listen to the tapes or request them from the Clerk of Council once completed and approved). Very generally, he addressed:

-an information technology (IT) upgrade to bring the City into the 21st Century, if not the current decade
-making the City campus "greener" (as opposed to more green in color, though that could be accomplished too!)
-putting a hold on a traffic light at Pinetree and Pinebrook
-putting a hold on removing the blinking light at South Woodland and Old Brainard
-looking at traffic issues related to Windy Hill Road
-adopting an ethics policy

Again, do double-check me with the minutes and of course, with contacting any of us (information to do that is here).

4. Another source of City-related information is my blog about elected office, Pepper Pike and citizen engagement, In The Arena. You can read it online here but you also can subscribe to it and receive the entries in an email for you to read at your discretion. Just go to the left-hand sidebar and fill in the box where it says, "Subscribe to the Arena posts via email." I do not review or otherwise access the email addresses for any purpose whatsoever when you subscribe (I'm actually not even notified about subscribers when that occurs).

5. Last but not least, in an effort to move into the 21st Century of IT, the mayor implored those of us with email lists composed of residents (he singled out Mr. LeMay and myself, for example but also thinks about those residents who may have neighborhood association lists), to please request that those residents to whom we distribute material please consider signing up for electronic communications that come directly from the City. You can do that on the very front landing page of the City website where it says in capital letters, "JOIN EMAIL LIST." If you have any problem whatsoever with doing so, please contact City Hall and ask for Katy Zippert in the Finance Department (she handles the several tasks related to the website). This effort cuts down on paper, postage and labor, as well as speeds up transmission of information to you.

Thank you as always, let me know if you'd like to be removed from this list, I hope to see you around, drive safely and thank you for letting me serve!

Best,
Jill

We're not the only ones looking to mayors

2012-01-18T08:22:00.001-05:00

So does Arianna Huffington, of all people in, "Country in Crisis: Looking to America's Mayors to Rise to the Challenge."

Unfortunately, she's idealized the opportunities for all mayors based on examples from very large city mayors - cities with populations that rival the state of Ohio. But here's a glimpse of her perceptions, based on those models:

That's why I believe the solutions the country is so desperately looking for are going to come at the local level -- from our mayors and engaged citizens working with their communities. It's our cities, not the nation's capital, that are the real idea factory of our country. It's the Mayor's Mansion not the White House from which bold decision-making is likely to originate. It's from any house on your street not the House of Representatives where projects that will make your community a better place to live in are more likely to surface.

And as our nation becomes more polarized at the national political level, it becomes all the more important to nurture the commonality we have at the local level, where people care about what they've always cared about: their children, their families, their schools, their communities. And it's our mayors who are best positioned to take advantage of these bonds -- especially given that many of our national leaders have given up even trying.

It's at the local level where we are still able to fulfill President Obama's exhortation last year "to sharpen our instincts for empathy" and "constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American Dream to future generations." It's increasingly clear that for that circle to be widened nationally it will have to be widened locally first.

I think it was the use of the word "mansion" that clued me in to her frame of reference, as you'll see in the full column: Newark (NJ), Portland (OR), Tampa (FL), Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago.

Scalability isn't just a glossary term on our kids' midterms this month. It's something all communities should seek to deploy in a variety of problem-solving settings. I think I'm just having trouble seeing Arianna as the messenger.

Opening on Orange Board of Education-Applications Being Taken thru 1/25/12 at 12noon

2012-01-17T11:37:00.002-05:00

The announcement is here on the Orange Schools' website. In pertinent part:

The Orange School City District announced today that Stanley Morganstern has resigned from the Orange Schools Board of Education effective January 16, 2012. Morganstern cited the winding down of his Ohio based law practice and plans to spend most of his time in Arizona as the reason for his resignation.

The Board of Education will begin interviewing candidates to serve out the rest of Morganstern’s second term, which is up at the end of the year 2013. By law, the open seat must be filled by the February 13, 2012 Board meeting. Applications for district residents interested in applying are available at the Board of Education office or by e-mailing Orange Schools Treasurer Greg Slemons at gslemons@orangecsd.org. The deadline for turning in completed applications is Wednesday, January 25, 2010 at 12 p.m.

Update: This article offers a bit more information for those interested.

Updatex2: And this article has a bit more.

The changing role of government supports new mayor's emphasis on IT

2012-01-16T08:45:00.000-05:00

No surprise, that headline, coming from anyone who has known me even just since I ran for Pepper Pike City Council, but Mayor Bain, at last week's Road & Safety meeting, made it clear that he aspires to bring the City into the 21st century, if not the second decade of it as well, too.

This article, "The changing role of government," backs up this prioritization. An excerpt:

In Governing’s November 2011 edition (p 20), there was an article entitled “Full-Service Government Comes to an End,” by Paul W. Taylor. The article focused on the many requests that come through for government employees to resolve. In particular, he noted that in Longmont, CO, “an internal analysis showed that up to 38% of the police departments calls for service did not need a uniformed officer – they needed a neighbor.”

This is only one example, but it raises a large question: Should government become an “information clearinghouse,” helping citizens find and act on information, as well as be a service provider? Should local government become a significant information and services hub, linking citizens to the most appropriate community resources for their needs?

If you received a robo-call from the City informing you about this week's garbage pick-up and that the City Hall is open today, then you know that the mayor is already trying to make good on the above.

What more should be done? But also - where do you draw the line?

PD Editorial: "Costs and benefits all point unmistakably to need for regionalization of municipal services"

2012-01-15T17:01:00.002-05:00

Goodness knows I spend a lot of time on this in my day job, but a few words of caution: when capital needs total in the tens of millions, overselling regionalization as a panacea may cause frustration and disappointment.

I see the effort here as one that involves re-setting the default, permanently, so that when a public entity is faced with an identified need they want to fulfill, the first response is not automatically: how do we do this ourselves (including how to get the money from their taxpayers). Rather, the default becomes to ask, think, consider: who else is doing this, how are they getting it done, can we do it together and if so, is that going to preserve our finances and fulfill the need?

Regionalism is about willpower and culture and mindset. It doesn't happen overnight, it shouldn't be overglorified, and it also shouldn't be demonized. What it should be is given a chance - that includes succeeding and failing, because it does not always turn out to be the best thing. But you never know until you try, and there's not been that much of that going on either.

Here's the PD's piece.

Merger's in the air

2012-01-14T14:48:00.002-05:00

If you didn't hear about it on the radio or television or see it in the papers yet:

Currently, there are six major departments and agencies that focus primarily on business and trade in the federal government. The six are: U.S. Department of Commerce’s core business and trade functions, the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.

Consolidating these agencies along with other related programs will help entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes grow, compete, and hire, leveraging one cohesive Department with one mission: to spur job creation and expand the U.S. economy.

In his last State of the Union Address, President Obama noted there was more that we must do to give American businesses all they need to succeed. The Federal Government is a maze of Federal agencies with overlapping services and missions, making it difficult for businesses – and especially small ones – to find the assistance they need to export, expand, and hire.

Many rivers to cross, though, as they say.

NB: I'm not posting this for any reason other than an example of efficient government ideas. There is more than enough to say about this if speaking through presidential & partisan political filters, but that's not why I've placed this here. If you want to have that discussion, you can visit the post here.

Bentleyville Mayor maintains disinterest in merger notions but is his position really any different from that of others?

2012-01-13T06:30:00.003-05:00

From Thursday, 1/12/12's Chagrin Valley Times:

"In my view, merger is the combining of cities or villages, creating one new city or village with its own mayor, council, police chief, fire chief, etc. Regionalism, on the other hand, is the cooperation between communities which includes, but is not limited to, the sharing of services, personnel, equipment and also sharing the cost for some of these items," Mr. Spremulli said.

"Bentleyville is not examining the pros or cons of merger, but we are and have been actively involved in various aspects of regionalism."

With the exception that Moreland Hills, Orange Village, Pepper Pike and Woodmere are examining the pros or cons of a merger, I'm not sure I see a substantive difference between the actual positions of the mayors of these communities, no matter the on-the-record statements.

What is your sense?

Searchable Greenhouse gas data now available-see what's near us

2012-01-12T08:42:00.000-05:00

It looks and sounds like a great tool but when you zero in on Cuyahoga County, I confess - I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking at in terms of the numbers - it's not something I've self-educated or otherwise learned about. Chagrin Fall's resident, EcoWatch publisher and small businesswoman Stefanie Penn Spear posted this information about the tool to help us understand and use it.

The PD article gives some thoughts as to how it can be used:

"These numbers can be used by business to monitor emissions. They can be used by the states, and they can be can be used by the finance and investment community to make more informed investment choices," she said.

"What we bank on is that better information will lead to a better informed public, which will lead to better environmental protection," McCarthy said.

The database is ghgdata.epa.gov, and includes a tutorial. It can be focused on an industry or a state or smaller geographic area.

At last night's Road & Safety meeting, Mayor Bain made a point of saying that he intends to make the Pepper Pike municipal campus more green, so accessing and considering this kind of information certainly fits in with the tenor of what's happening or going to happen in our community.

Here's a screenshot of our County but definitely visit the full site to learn more:

And we thought Pepper Pike had competition?

2012-01-11T17:09:00.000-05:00

Fifteen (15!) residents vie for one open city council seat! And, as the Press Papers describes it, the process is looking to be very open and public:

Previous council candidate appointment interviews were conducted in executive session – closed to the public.

Council will meet with the candidates at 8 a.m. on Saturday and on Jan. 21 in 20-minute sessions in the council conference room in City Hall. The council members will rank the candidates in the first meeting, asking their top four or five to return for the second round of interviews. After finishing up the interviews, council will meet in executive session to go over each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses before choosing someone to appoint Jan. 23.

“It’s a new process,” he said. “I think, in the long run, this is the route to go with (council appointments) … In the past, most of these interviews were done in executive sessions, but these days, we feel they should be done in the open.”

Good for them, and the public.

County Executive Fitzgerald's statement on county-wide dispatch consolidation study

2012-01-11T11:32:00.001-05:00

From the inbox (bolding & underlining not in original)

STUDY SUGGESTS CONSOLIDATING 9-1-1 SYSTEMS TO CUT COSTS
TO TAXPAYERS

CLEVELAND – Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald and the Cuyahoga County Department of Public Safety and Justice Services released this week their Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) Assessment which assessed the current status of the forty-seven Public Safety Answering Points, or Dispatch Centers, in Cuyahoga County. The assessment looked at all jurisdictions within Cuyahoga County to get the best understanding of the current PSAP system and recommends reducing the number of PSAPs and upgrading 9-1-1 hardware.

“The notion that there are 47 dispatch centers in Cuyahoga County alone is outdated and inefficient,” said FitzGerald. “This county has the most number of PSAPs within one county in the entire State of Ohio, and this study has recommended ways for us to move forward in reducing the number of dispatch centers in an effort to provide more efficient services at a lower cost to our residents.”

The PSAP assessment made recommendations for technology improvements to the 9-1-1 infrastructure, organizational changes to the Cuyahoga Emergency Communications System and suggests methods for regional consolidation as a way to increase dispatching efficiency. Throughout the 134 workstations in the County, there are 475 dispatchers and call takers. The average cost to operate a PSAP is $509,498, excluding the city of Cleveland, where it costs $4,438,593 to operate their PSAP.

“This assessment is essential to moving forward in upgrading and enhancing Cuyahoga County’s 9-1-1 system,” said Deputy Chief of Staff Norberto Colón. “It puts us in a position to upgrade existing technology and become a statewide model for dispatching. We are looking forward to working with all of the jurisdictions within the County to make the biggest impact on the safety of our citizens.”

The assessment can be found at: http://ja.cuyahogacounty.us/en-us/publications.aspx

On the City website: "Remarks of Mayor Bain Upon Being Sworn into Office, Monday, January 2, 2012"

2012-01-11T06:27:00.000-05:00

Nice. So those who could not attend can read - here.

How awesome is this list re: "What is a Leader?"

2012-01-10T15:30:00.000-05:00

Many thanks to Lyne Robichaud for permission to print this list she compiled that describes who leaders are. Read her entire post to get the full flavor but this list is just excellent:

-CHAOS EMBRACERS. Most humans are conditioned for order, control and predictability. This blinds many from the truth: chaos is healthy, creativity, opportunity. Chaos is life reordering itself. "New" leaders are creators of chaos, just as much as originators of order. They engage the optimists as well as the pessimists. By stirring the pot, leaders stimulate possible breakthroughs in creativity and innovation.

- WOW! INJECTORS. Leaders create or champion projects that add value and make a difference. When people are involved in these types of projects, they feel rejuvenated, personally challenged. They feel they can accomplish something useful, and they believe that their input matters.

- FACILITATORS. Leaders ask the obvious and even the un-askable questions. They clarify roles of each teammate, responsibilities, and expectations. They provide closure around decisions. Facilitator are skilled at helping everyone in a group express their leadership qualities. They help things go smoothly without imposing their own ideas upon everyone else. Negotiators are skilled facilitators. These are leaders committed to serve others as servant-leaders and stewards. They adhere to a number of basic qualities, like democracy, responsibility, cooperation, honesty. Facilitators challenge thinking. They help a group create lists of important points. They summarize the issues from time to time. They share ideas when they can help meeting progress. They raise quesions to bring out different viewpoints. They guide discussions, but do not lead them.

- PARTNERS AND COLLABORATORS. Effective partnership and collaboration requires a set of skills that differ from those traditionnally sought for leadership positions. Partners and collaborators are strong listeners, communication conduits, boundary breakers, possibly thinkers, and honest negociators.

- TALENT SCOUT AND DEVELOPER. These leaders expect a return on talent. These are alpha scouts who lead the pack. It is the woman or man who people want to work for, and they see an association with this person as pre-path to better opportunities. Over time, as the scout methods evolve from turning over rocks looking for talent, talented resources begin to gravitate with him/her.

- FUTURISTS. They regularly scan the environment for trends on the immediate and long-term horizons. Leaders are aware that trends might have strong implications for the organization and its members. They understand that the future is something they can contribute to shape as active participants. They utilize the idea that beings help to create their own realities (based on quantum physics theories).

- CLARITY CREATORS. They are vigilant communicators. They send messages that help bring clarity and order.

- VALUE CHAMPIONS. Values help build a common focus and set of norms. Leaders help anchor individual and community efforts in the organization's core values and function. They focus to ensure the organization knows itself as well as possible.

- PASSIONATE PLAYERS. The Persian poet Rumi wrote, “the longing is the answer”. Leaders that are passionate about their roles and contributions are as interested as learning about the passions that others possess as their own. They effectively match others passions for projects and put them in appropriate leadership positions. "When anything comes from the heart - any energy, any action - it comes with a passion that is unstoppable." (Anita Roddick, Body Shop founder)

- STORYTELLERS. Stories and metaphors enhance individual retention and learning. Storytelling is an important element for leaders hoping to create new realities, when they relate their experience to current challenges. A storyteller might reflect on an experience during an earlier stage of his/her career. Effective stories include drama: an incident that challenged ethics for instance, something that explains a need to make tough choices (usually without perfect information, or the complete alignement), etc.

BREAKING: Plain Dealer publishes info from, link to county-wide dispatch study

2012-01-10T07:39:00.000-05:00

Here's the article and here's the study. I have not read the study yet (and don't actually recall knowing about it but maybe?), so I can't say much yet re: how its finding compare and contrast with anything we already know or think we know about the City's dispatch situation. But here are two interesting charts from the article and I'm sure the study's information will be looked at.

Upcoming Pepper Pike City Council meetings & news items

2012-01-09T20:44:00.001-05:00

Mailed out tonight:

Greetings.

A quick rundown:

1. This week's Road & Safety/Finance & Planning meeting is scheduled for its usual day (1/11/12, second Wednesday of every month) but will be starting at 8pm. You can see the agenda here or via the attached document (a pdf).

Please note: For those who may be interested in this topic, the agenda lists "Sterling Lakes/Brainard Traffic Issue" as an item under the heading, "Discussion."

2. There is a regular City Council meeting next week on 1/18/12. No agenda yet.

3. The podcast of five new mayors on the WCPN Sound of Ideas show, including Mayor Bain, can be heard here.

4. The Chagrin Solon Sun's article on Mayor Bain can be read here.

5. Detailed property tax information for Pepper Pike property owners can be found here.

6. Vote-by-mail applications (vote by mail voting begins January 31 - hard to believe!) can be found here.

7. As noted here on the City website, there will be CEI helicopter fly-overs this month.

7 [sic]. Results of a Plain Dealer survey about NE Ohioans, which you can break out by community (a total of 46 from Pepper Pike responded; our population is just under 6000) can be found here.

Have a great week and as always, if you'd like to be dropped from this distribution list, please let me know. If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please write, call or email (here's the contact information for all the City electeds, department heads and so on). And, also as always, thank you for being interested in our community.

Warm regards,
Jill

Vote-by-mail for 3/6/12 primary opens JANUARY 31

2012-01-09T11:35:00.000-05:00

And remember, please: you will NOT be receiving, in the mail, an application to vote-by-mail for the March primary. You have to get the application yourself - either by picking it up (some senior centers have them, libraries and other public places, or you can get it at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections - I will also check to see if we are allowed to have them at City Hall) or going online, printing it out and sending it to our County's BOE.

Again, the "opening" date for voting by mail for the March 6 elections is January 31.

If you are not registered to vote or need to modify your registration in any other way prior to voting in March, the last day upon which you can do that is February 6.

Here's the Cuyahoga County Board of Election site for vote by mail info.

View detailed property tax information

2012-01-08T16:03:00.018-05:00

Today (Sunday, 1/8/12), the Plain Dealer published online an excellent tool for helping see - precisely and precise - property tax information. You can view just your total tax bill only, or you can have the result include summaries for schools, cities, parks, etc., or you can get results that show the full details of each levy (year after year, then with a subtotal of the levy category with a final total of all the levies at the end).

I selected that last option but here's what it looks like when you select Pepper Pike (Orange Schools) (click on the chart to enlarge it or see it in a separate tab/screen):

If you want to see each of the levies that make up the subtotals, you can search on the last option offered in the search tool.

You can see I've left a comment at the post asking if the per $100,000 of home value is assessed value or market value. I'm pretty sure it's assessed but still think it should be clarified for folks who go right to the chart and have not read the accompanying articles.

MEETING TIME CHANGED: Road & Safety Meeting this Weds. at 8:00PM not 7:30PM

2012-01-07T16:27:00.000-05:00

We received notice yesterday and it's on the City's website (thank you!) here.

BONUS for reading this blog: You can now listen online here to the five new NE Ohio mayors talk about the tasks they face and how they'll face them (a lot of time spent on the topic of regionalism and collaboration and how exactly they plan on moving forward on those issues). The conversation took place Thursday morning on WCPN's Sound of Ideas show and included Pepper Pike Mayor Richard Bain.

Enter now: Hope and Stanley Adelstein Free Speech Essay Competition

2012-01-05T16:28:00.000-05:00

Lovely photo and coverage of this contest was published in the Chagrin Valley Times here. Deadline for submission is February 15. High school juniors and seniors are eligible. Please read the article for full details but here are some highlights:

"Why do you think the freedom of speech is considered our most important right?" That is the question, but it's just the beginning in the Hope and Stanley Adelstein Free Speech Essay Competition for high school juniors and seniors.

Presented by the City Club of Cleveland, students are asked to answer what freedom of speech in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution means to them in a maximum of 300 words.

The criteria for awards are clarity, content, originality and significance. The deadline for entries is Feb. 15.

Twenty essays will be selected by judges, who will rank the top three winners to be notified by March 30. First prize is $1,000, second prize is $750, and third prize is $500. The three top winners will read their essays at a City Club forum to be broadcast on radio, television, Youtube and the City Club website. The next 17 winners will receive $100 each, and teachers of the top three winners will win $250.

High school juniors and seniors in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Portage, Lake, Lorain, Medina and Summit counties are eligible.

...

Essay entries must include entrant's name, age, grade, school, home address, home telephone number, email address and name, home address and email address of entrant's teacher. Entries should be sent to the City Club, attention of Free Speech Competition, 850 Euclid Ave., Cleveland 44114. A cover letter that states, "This is my original document and does not include any previous composition by another," must be singed by each entrant. For more information, call 216-621-0082.

Mr. Adelstein served for multiple years as a Pepper Pike City Councilman. Much appreciation to them both for this outreach and all they do in the community, Pepper Pike and beyond.

New NE Ohio mayors - including ours! - on Sound of Ideas tomorrow morning

2012-01-04T16:13:00.000-05:00

From the WCPN website:

Long hours, squeezed budgets and thousands of demanding bosses: Being mayor of any town isn't easy. Join us as we talk with new mayors from Northeast Ohio communities. What motivated them to run and, now that they're in office, how will they keep residents happy? We'll ask about their plan for filling potholes and filling the city's coffers. Local mayors, Thursday morning at 9:00 on The Sound of Ideas.

Holly Brinda, Elyria
Brad Sellers, Warrensville Heights
Richard Bain, Pepper Pike
Tim DeGeeter, Parma
Chase Ritenauer, Lorain

Call or write in with kudos, comments or questions.

Inuaguration Day and the start of 2012 in Pepper Pike

2012-01-03T17:52:00.000-05:00

No matter the weather yesterday, a lovely crowd of residents attended the swearing-in of Mayor Richard Bain, two new Councilmen - Tony Gentile, Jim LeMay and the incumbent, Gail Mayland. Here's what it looked like outside:

And here's Mayor Bain giving brief comments afterwards:

One note about this coming year that I've yet to see mentioned in the media: the merger study timeline has been extended by one year. According to at least two people who were present at the meeting where this decision was made, the quantity of information demanded by the study and the possibility that the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission will apply for Local Government Innovation Fund money to help pay for the study factored into the decision.

What this means practically for residents of the four communities (Moreland Hills, Orange Village, Pepper Pike and Woodmere), is that there will be no vote in relation to the merger concept in November 2012.

Being an information-hound such as I am, I completely appreciate the desire to be sure that there is adequate time and effort put into the study. However, given the focus placed on the June 2011 announcement of the merger study, I hope we all see some equally remarkable demonstrations of government transformation before August 2013, the time into which the merger study process has now been extended.

Quick Reminder: Swearing-in 1/2, Special Council Session 1/3

2011-12-31T20:29:00.000-05:00

Happy (almost) New Year! Two quick reminders:

1. On Monday, January 2, 2012, Mayor-elect Ricard Bain, Council Member Gail Mayland and Councilmen-elect Jim Lemay and Tony Gentile will take oaths of office at 11:00 a.m. in City Council Chambers. All are welcome to attend.

2. On Tuesday, January 3, 2012, there will be a Special Council Meeting at 7:30 PM in the Pepper Pike City Hall Chambers. This meeting is open to the public. The agenda as it currently stands and is posted on the City website is here, HOWEVER, I understand that it will be updated to reflect a shorter list of legislative items due to additional review of the agenda by the incoming mayor. That revised agenda will no doubt be posted at its earliest convenience.

Ohio Local Government Innovation Fund Policy, Timeline now available

2011-11-16T18:06:00.002-05:00

Many residents in our community (including electeds and newly electeds) have expressed a desire to see Pepper Pike engage in more government collaborations.

To that end, it gives me great pleasure to direct people here. That's a site that's part of a project I'm doing for The Civic Commons and it's all about efficient government. In the materials, please note: public comment on the policy closes this Friday and applications for the first round are set for February 20, 2012 through March 1, 2012 - not a lot of time before, and not a long window of time to submit something.

Please - if you want our local government or public entities to consider collaborations and service sharing or even merging, speak up, support them in developing relationships and getting going on planning. The EfficientGovNetwork is precisely the place for doing such things and it can be seen here. There are podcasts, videos and materials from successful complete collaborations as well as ones that have gone through feasibility studies and are in the decision-making and implementing phase.

No one will suggest that $1.4 billion taken away from local entities can be made up by any amount of collaboration for the incentive price of $45 million. But it is nothing to sneeze at either.

Don't say I didn't tell you so.

An Open Government To Be Excited About

2011-11-15T17:38:00.002-05:00

From one of my favorite resources, GovLoop, "Tampa Mayor Buckhorn one of first politicians to engage with citizens on Quora":

What politician wouldn't want their answer voted the best by the community? But in order to do have that top voted answer, the answers must be substantive and must actually satisfy the community. How many times have you been sitting at home, watching a televised debate and been extremely frustrated at that one politician who just can't seem to answer the questions the way you want to hear them answered? Quora is a way to incentivize getting the answers we want from our elected officials and politicians like [Tampa, Florida Mayor Bob] Buckhorn, Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and a handful of others are taking the lead in using the platform for government openness.

Indeed! And Jordan Raynor concludes:

Imagine if we were able to gin up genuine competition amongst our elected officials to provide the most substantive, policy-based answers to the toughest questions facing government! That's an open government that I would be excited to see and I'm sure you would too.

As I said last week, you have to start somewhere, and you have to get started.

For more about Quora, go here. And here's how the mayor's Quora went - and you can see that Cleveland's own Marc Canter is in on the action.

22 year old becomes Mayor of Holyoke, MA ($120 million budget)

2011-11-14T07:50:00.000-05:00

I love these stories. From CBS:

And here in Pepper Pike, we just brought down the average of our electeds from about 69 in the year I ran, to about 66 after Scott Newell and I came onto Council and next year, around 59. Ten year drop in two 2-year election cycles.

FWIW (aka "for what it's worth"): The 2010 Census says that Pepper Pike's median age (the middle value, not the average) is 49.2 (which happens to be almost exactly how old I am).

First-ever observation of live Road & Safety/Finance & Planning meeting via Skype

2011-11-13T13:14:00.000-05:00

For those who didn't know, in the spirit of political leadership in the digital age, while I was at the CampaignTech conference last week, I was able to observe the monthly Road & Safety/Finance & Planning meeting in Pepper Pike via Skype. Thanks to my colleague Scott Newell who provided the laptop so that this could proceed and give us another first for our city & for our city government.

I wasn't counted for the quorum and could not participate in any votes. But it was a great use of simple, low to no-cost technology, on behalf of being efficient, so that at this coming week's City Council meeting, I can participate fully and well-informed. Those of you in the private sector are, no doubt, extremely aware of how regularly technology is used to allow folks who are not in the same location to be able to do everything from passively watching events of all kinds to actively engaging. This was a nice application of something familiar to many and bound to become even more familiar throughout our culture as time goes on.

TODAY: Community Forum on the high school & recent threat; other reminders

2011-11-13T12:53:00.000-05:00

Just sent out this email.

Good afternoon,

My apologies for sending you email on a Sunday afternoon, but I wanted to pass on this information and a few other reminders:

1. The Orange Schools administration is hosting a community forum to provide updated information on the high school and the recent threat today, Sunday, November 13th from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Pepper Pike Learning Center (PPLC). You will have the opportunity to hear information and share questions. I will be there and hope as many village and city officials as possible, from all the school district communities, will be present as well. The PPLC is located off of Chagrin Boulevard, on Gail Allison drive, across the street from the main schools administration building. It is opposite the high school football field. You can see a map here but be sure to "zoom in" on it if you are hoping to see its details.

2. Huge congratulations to all those who voted this past Tuesday. The unofficial voter turnout appears to be around 58% which is fantastic for an off-year election. You can read more about the results here. I've already sent my personal congratulations to the winners and I also personally thank everyone who ran. Many of you who have been reading what I've been writing know that one of my mantras is, "Don't get mad, get elected." It's enormously gratifying to see residents dig in and put themselves out there for us to have choices.

3. This week there are two meetings:

TUESDAY EVENING, 11/15/11, 7:00pm: Finance Oversight Subcommittee meeting, public, open, council chambers. The agenda is here. There has been some debate as to what the scope of this committee should be so if you are interested in that, I would strongly recommend attending. Last year, the committee stuck to reviewing month to month and year over year revenues and expenditures with discussion of red flags and other items. This year, this is discussion about the committee more broadly discussing cost-cutting and revenue raising needs as well as possibly being or converting to an audit committee.

WEDNESDAY EVENING, 11/16/11, 8:00pm: City Council Meeting, public, open, Council chambers. The agenda is here and also attached to this email.

4. PLEASE NOTE TRASH COLLECTION DATES on the City website's calendar (see here) for Thanksgiving week. Call (216-896-6149) the Service Department if you have any questions.

5. Finally, for those who have any interest in the DC event at which I spoke last week and received an Innovator Award for political leadership in the digital age, here's a photo and article about it. There's more of both lurking out there in the interwebz but I'm notoriously unphotogenic so you'll have to use "teh Google" as we say and find them yourselves if you so desire!

Have a good rest of your weekend and again, thank you for being great constituents. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Best,
Jill

Unofficial 2011 Election Results for Pepper Pike Races

2011-11-13T08:54:00.007-05:00

You can find anything you want to here. The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections slices & dices the numbers in multiple ways. I'm just including a couple of items. Hover over and then click on the first and second set of numbers to see a larger image, or you can visit the BOE website.

Mayor by category (leaving off the "0" totals for three categories which won't be final until November 29 - provisional, post-election & post-absentee):

Total/ % /Election Day/Absentee

Council by category (ditto the "0" totals)

Voter turnout was outstanding for a municipal year, during which even people who eventually run for local office often have never even voted in. From the BOE:

Total Reg. Voters/Ballots Cast for Pg. 1, 2, 3/Turnout

0890 PEPPER PIKE -00-A                953 . 529 . 529 . 528 . . . 55.51
0891 PEPPER PIKE -00-B                888 . 534 . 534 . 534 . . . 60.14
0892 PEPPER PIKE -00-C                873 . 480 . 480 . 480 . . . 54.98
0893 PEPPER PIKE -00-D               1032 . 642 . 642 . 642 . . . 62.21
0894 PEPPER PIKE -00-E                925 . 548 . 548 . 548 . . . 59.24

That's an average of about 58% (it was about 54% in 2009)!! Major kudos to the voters and of course the candidates. Even with three statewide ballot items to vote on including SB5/Issue 2, this is an impressive off-year level of participation.

FYI: Pepper Pike has about 2092 folks who pull Democratic ballots, 948 who pull Republican and then 1323 who don't vote in primaries and therefore are designated as "nonpartisan", and about 297 who are "no party"- those are folks who've registered to vote but have never voted in anything yet for a total number of voters of 4671 according to the BOE (there are a handful of minor party folks too).

For those who like to compare election results

2011-11-08T19:31:00.000-05:00

Final, official results of the last municipal election in Pepper Pike:

From the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections:

Pepper Pike Council CITY OF PEPPER PIKE
Vote For Not More Than 4
(WITH 5 OF 5 PRECINCTS COUNTED)

JORDAN LEVENTHAL . . . . . . . .            637 8.61
PAULETTE MORGANSTERN. . . . . . .      1,463     19.77
SCOTT NEWELL . . . . . . . . .     1,506    20.35
DAVID J. PORTMANN. . . . . . . .            1,043     14.09
FREDERICK I. TAFT. . . . . . . .                1,373     18.55
JILL MILLER ZIMON. . . . . . . .            1,379      18.63
Over Votes . . . . . . . . . 4
Under Votes . . . . . . . . . 3,123

IT'S 5:37PM ON TUESDAY: HAVE YOU VOTED YET!?! (And info on several City meetings)

2011-11-08T17:38:00.000-05:00

Good afternoon on this gorgeous election day! (I love love love election day - always have - remember the machines with the big black and red levers that had to be pulled!?)

Very quick hits:

1. THANK YOU for voting if you've already done so, and if you haven't yet, you can STILL VOTE until 7:30pm (hint hint hint). It's not just local candidates on the ballot but statewide issues and the Orange schools levy. You can find your polling location here and then head on over to either Garfield Church or Church of the Western Reserve (where I poll sat for 2.5 hours first thing this morning for the school levy!)

2. TOMORROW NIGHT: Road & Safety/Finance & Planning meeting at 7:30pm in the Council chambers, open to the public as always. You can read the agenda here or see the attached document. One highlight is sure to be the department heads making budget presentations in preparation for the 2012 budget and the five-year forecast.

3. ALSO TOMORROW NIGHT: After the regular meeting, there is a Special Session of Council being held to discuss a specific proposed appropriation. It is described in the agenda for those who are interested.

4. NEXT TUESDAY EVENING: Finance Oversight Subcommittee meeting: 7pm in the Council chambers. Open to the public. The agenda is here. There has been some debate as to what the scope of this committee should be so if you are interested in that, I would strongly recommend attending. Last year, the committee stuck to reviewing month to month and year over year revenues and expenditures with discussion of red flags and other items. This year, this is discussion about the committee more broadly discussing cost-cutting and revenue raising needs as well as possibly being or converting to an audit committee.

5. NEXT WEDNESDAY EVENING: City Council Meeting, 8pm. Public, open, no agenda yet. Council chambers.

Thank you as always for letting me serve the City and have a great week.

TONIGHT (10/26): Composting Seminar at City Hall

2011-10-26T16:18:00.001-04:00

On City Council, I've seen how recycling efforts how keep our land fill dumping costs down. So, when I read, several weeks ago, that Lakewood had hosted the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District's free seminar on composting, I thought we should bring it to Pepper Pike.

As you may already know from a recent mayor's letter and the City website's calendar, this seminar, which emphasizes the importance of rear-yard composting, and how easy it is to do so, will be given this evening (Wednesday, October 26) in the Council Chambers from 6:30-7:30pm. At this gathering, the Solid Waste District officials will provide helpful how-to-compost instructions and other information on rear-yard composting. They will also provide for sale two types of affordable composting bins as well as a kitchen collection container.

Why is this important?

The more residents we have composting, the more it helps lower the City’s land fill dumping costs, as well as help the environment. The seminar will last only one hour, during which you may also ask any questions you have on composting.

I will be there and I hope you will join me.

BONUS: Please - don't forget to vote. Election day is less than two weeks away. You can still request and vote by absentee ballot by going here, and of course you can vote on election day at your polling place in Pepper Pike (learn more here). In addition to voting on Pepper Pike Mayor, Pepper Pike Council (3 seats) and the Orange Schools levy, there are three statewide ballot issues on which you need to vote:

State Issue 1 - Judicial Retirement Age Constitutional Amendment
State Issue 2 - Referendum on Senate Bill 5
State Issue 3 - Health Care Freedom Amendment

The 2011 State Issues Report includes the official ballot language, explanations, arguments for and against and the full text of the proposed constitutional amendments and referendum. You can read it at the Secretary of State's website, www.OhioSecretaryofState.gov when you click on the "Statewide Issues Information" button.

BONUS #2: Pepper Pike resident, Dr. Roxanne Sukol, wrote this wonderful item about composting and wanted to share it with other residents interested in doing the same.

News Feed on EfficientGov & Regionalism Efforts in NE Ohio

2011-10-25T23:39:00.000-04:00

I've written very little, by design, about my work for The Civic Commons EfficientGovNetwork project I'm directing, but if electeds and candidates across NE Ohio are going to bandy about the suggestion that political subdivisions should be engaging in more sharing, collaborating, consolidating and other service provision designs often associated with regionalism, then they should be following one of the single best sources, right now, of that information - here.

At that site, you will find podcasts with mayors, past and present, who describe what it takes to accomplish major acts of government collaboration and/or are contemplating such efforts. You will find, from today alone, five news items about government collaboration and efficiency throughout the northern Ohio counties. You will find a powerful, short promo video with clips from individuals as diverse as Ohio Governor John Kasich and East Cleveland Mayor Gary Norton, both promoting a need to look more at how government delivers services.

The Civic Commons is issue and outcome agnostic - but those who engage there absolutely are not.

If you're dedicating yourself to the idea that going regional, sharing services and consolidation is the way of the future for municipalities, you owe it to yourself to dig into the literally hundreds and hundreds of pages of resources and other materials at The Civic Commons EfficientGovNetwork site.

Draft 2012 Budget and Five-Year Forecast Now Online

2011-10-16T22:40:00.000-04:00

Many thanks to the City's Finance Director, Loren Sengstock, for having the draft 2012 budget and five-year forecast posted before I asked! AND - it's OCTOBER. See? Things can change.

Enjoy.

Storified Coverage of Merging the Suburbs Luncheon today

2011-10-06T14:45:00.002-04:00

Enjoy.

Ohio featured in "As States Cut Aid, Localities Learn to do Less with Less"

2011-10-04T17:45:00.000-04:00

I strongly recommend you read the entire article but here are two particularly pertinent parts (but seriously, read the whole thing):

About the Ohio state budget's provision for a Local Government Innovation Program intended to encourage collaboration, sharing and merging:

This is not to say that the states where the most notable cuts have taken place this year are entirely dismissing localities’ needs. Legislators in Ohio, for instance, created a $45 million “Local Government Innovation Program” aimed at encouraging local governments to pursue cost-saving efficiencies. It came with scanty operating instructions, however, and doesn’t take effect until next year. “We’re in limbo,” says Jon Honeck, director of public policy and advocacy at the Center for Community Solutions, a Cleveland-based research and planning organization for surrounding Cuyahoga County. “There’s a lot of rhetoric about reaching greater efficiencies and collaboration, but that in itself is not going to keep cities from service cuts.”

And a reality check:

Perhaps the best indication of what lies in store comes from Michigan, where towns and cities have had years to get accustomed to state budget cuts. “There’s lots of bad parts of being in a recession seven or eight years ahead of everyone else,” says Dan Gilmartin, executive director of the Michigan Municipal League, “but you do get ahead and start reinventing.”

So, for instance, the city of Troy, an upscale suburb of Detroit, has taken $16 million in cuts from the state over the past decade, which amounts to two-thirds of its police budget and more than its entire road maintenance budget. After much public discussion, the town’s community center raised its fees to become self-supporting; other services were handed off to volunteer organizations; and its library just won a ballot measure to raise taxes to fund its activities. Robin Beltramini, Troy’s mayor, expects this sort of public debate over which services ought to remain part of the city’s portfolio — and which can be picked up by nonprofits, businesses, and others — to continue.

“Our citizens expect us to have a police department that catches purse snatchers at the mall and catches speeders through our subdivisions. Our fire department still has to have trucks and training. We have hundreds of miles of roads that must be repaired and maintained,” she says. “When you try to keep those services as whole as possible but you’ve lost millions in state shared revenue and your property values have dropped, you simply can’t keep doing everything you did.”

The Pension Pick-up Picture for Pepper Pike

2011-10-03T11:57:00.002-04:00

I wasn't around when Pepper Pike agreed to a 2% pension pick-up arrangement with its employees rather than a 2% wage increase, but it's an item in the Finance Review Committee Report (which you can read here, see pg. 7) and was cited by a candidate for Council in a Chagrin Valley Times article last week as something that the City could have eliminated already as a benefit (the FRC report says that instead, "...the amount should be used for base wages").

At least twice in public session (4/20/11, 6/9/11), I've advocated for moving forward on this FRC recommendation regarding the penion pick-up, but I also specifically emphasized the necessity of examining the switch's financial impact on base wages, if any, as Council considered what to do and how to do it.

Now, this article from last week's Chillocothe Gazette does an excellent job exploring the good, the bad and the ugly of the pension pick-up idea. I recommend reading the entire article.

What do you think?

UPDATE: Please note, an early version of the state budget actually had the 2% pension pick up for state employees being eliminated and shifted to the state public employees. Both the Ohio House and the Ohio Senate stripped that elimination from the bill. Why, you may ask? Well - I don't know, but I will tell you that the electeds who voted on the state's budget? They are state employees who would have been affected by that shift.

So, one might ask, if one were an asking kind of person, if it's good enough for the local governments to eliminate the pick up, why isn't it good enough for the state?

Thoughts on 9/29/11 CVT Article, "Council balked at putting road levy on ballot"

2011-10-01T22:39:00.000-04:00

I emailed the following to CVT editor David Lange and to our intrepid Pepper Pike reporter, Sali McSherry. I'm appreciative of their coverage of the City and its concerns and I wanted to send them my thoughts rather than just have them on this blog.

For those of you who have not read the article, you can read it here:

Chagrin Valley Times, "Council balked at putting road levy on ballot"

Dear Mr. Lange and Sali,

I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to share a few comments with you about the 9/29/11 article about the recommendations in the Pepper Pike Finance Review Committee (“FRC”) report. I provide these comments with all due respect and consider this communication to be public, should you have any interest in publishing it in some way (as an LTE perhaps). I am not suggesting that you do that, it's entirely up to you of course. I will, however, be sharing these thoughts on my city council blog. I am fully aware of the frustration many residents have expressed with the state of the City and Council's role in that - I often share or even initiate that frustration. So I wanted to highlight a few other pieces of contextual information that I believe further explain how situations have unfolded.

My thoughts:

1. I think it's important to re-state that Council didn’t receive the FRC recommendations until April 13, 2011, just over five months ago (which is less time than the Committee itself met and deliberated). The deadline for a road levy to be placed on the August ballot was May 4, 2011. In my opinion, it’s unreasonable to expect that in the three weeks between when Council got the recommendations and the levy deadline, Council would have reviewed the 20-plus expense-related cuts, implemented them, seen what they did to our bottom line and then have been able to approve putting a levy on the ballot – no matter how many special sessions we might have held. Likewise, it's extremely unclear as to whether the four month timespan between receipt of the report and the November ballot deadline of August 10 would have provided sufficient time to assess the impact of what would have had to have been hastily implemented expense cuts.

2. To further emphasize the first point, the FRC recommended, as "imperative," that expense cuts be “substantially" implemented "in conjunction with any initiative to increase revenue.” It is reasonable to interpret this imperative as requiring far more than the three weeks - which was all that existed between when Council got the report on April 13, and the August ballot deadline of May 4.

3. The FRC report clearly indicates that the Committee viewed itself as consisting “solely of private citizens” and that the Committee was making its recommendations “as such.” Given the lack of transparency and knowledge perceived by some residents (and myself, honestly) to have been allowed over years of City decision-making, it is unreasonable to expect that all members of Council would rubber stamp the Committee’s report.

However, once we did receive the report, nearly seven months after the FRC itself started to convene, I asked for a bullet point list of all the recommendations and what the budget impact would be of them individually and combined. This was because, by its own language, the report’s recommendations varied from very specific to vague to purposefully remaining silent on matters that Council would still have to consider. They needed to be sorted out, identified, listed and quantified in terms of potential savings before Council could even deliberate, let alone reject or approve. That night, I also asked for the law director to let us know what action was required to be taken to implement the items, something that also was missing from the report.

In other words, already deeply dissatisfied that Council was getting the report after the 2011 budget had to be turned into the state, I made it a priority to get the recommendations lined up so that we could expeditiously examine and approve, alter or reject them.

4. The article’s sentence, “With two candidates for mayor and three open seats on council, some members said it’s better to wait,” makes it sound as though Council had just recently discussed the road levy. However, we have not, except as a mention by Paulette in her report to Council on the Oversight subcommittee’s work. As noted above, the FRC recommendation of a road levy received consideration from the Council on April 13, 2011. As for suggesting that council members wanted to wait for the elections rather than consider it for 2011, no individuals had filed to run for office yet. The now-upcoming election was simply not a factor in the 4/13/11 discussion at all.

5. Finally, as the minutes from that April 13, 2011 meeting reflect, rather than balk at the notion of a road levy, I reiterated my previous support for a road levy. This was 100% consistent with my position on a road levy in 2010, when I was the first one who stepped up to promote such a revenue-raising tool. In addition, on 4/13/11, I made comments that anticipated when the Orange schools might go for a levy. Specifically, I spoke again (having mentioned it in 2010 as well) of examples of cities and schools working together to get levies passed. This has been done to underscore the investment taxpayers make in an overall community. This was and is something I would think Council could have considered if Council had come to believe that a road levy in November was what we needed to recommend.

In sum, as the council member most closely associated with believing in the idea of a road levy and who was most openly seeking to move the FRC process along for weeks before Council received any information at all about the recommendations they were developing, I sincerely hope you do not mind me passing on these thoughts based on my reading of the article from this past week. I submit them to you believing that both of you are genuinely interested in the goings-on in Pepper Pike.

Local newspaper coverage in this day and age is still greatly appreciated, at least by me and I thank you for your time. Please feel free to contact me if you have any follow up questions.

Very truly yours,

How to Get Cuyahoga County Absentee Ballot APPLICATIONS

2011-10-01T08:57:00.001-04:00

NOT BALLOTS, people. Not the ballot itself. This link takes you only to instructions for how you can APPLY to get a ballot. The Plain Dealer, according to this editorial, Mail-in ballot application opportunities abound, will also be printing, in its newspaper, a ballot application (not an actual ballot) for people to send in as well.

I've placed a link to the application in the header of this blog that will stay there through the end of the month. Starting on Tuesday, October 4, the Board of Elections will start sending absentee ballots themselves to those voters who have applied and are eligible to vote.

Please do vote - whether by mail or in-person (Tuesday, November 8).

This Coming Thursday, October 6: Four Mayors Involved in Merger Study

2011-09-29T19:34:00.000-04:00

You can read the information here (or here). The details:

Merging the Suburbs

Date: Thursday, October 6, 2011
Location: Landerhaven (6111 Landerhaven Drive, Mayfield Heights, Ohio, 44124; you can contact them directly at 440.449.0700)

Time: 11:30am Registration | 12 noon Luncheon and Program Featuring:

Mayor Bruce Akers, City of Pepper Pike
Mayor Charles Smith, Woodmere Village
Mayor Kathy Mulcahy, Orange Village
Mayor Susan Renda, City of Moreland Hills

Moderator: Tom Beres
$35 per person / $270 per table of (8) eight

TONIGHT! FORUM ON SCHOOLS OPERATING LEVY, and other City Updates

2011-09-27T16:29:00.000-04:00

From an email I sent out this afternoon:

Good afternoon! Right to them:

1. TONIGHT - Residents are invited to attend a Community Forum at 7 p.m. at the Pepper Pike Learning Center on the upcoming Operating Levy that will be on the November 8th ballot to support the Orange City Schools District. Orange Schools administrators and Orange Schools Levy 2011 Committee Co-Chairs will be on hand to share information and answer questions.

2. October Meetings:

Planning & Zoning, Monday, October 3, 7:30pm

Road & Safety, Wednesday, October 12, 7:30pm

City Council, Wednesday, October 19, 7:30pm

3. On the City website now: another Dispatch report commissioned by Mayor Akers. Click here to read.

4. Attached for your reference is a mailing dated 9/23/11 which was from the Mayor and is an update to residents regarding the Finance Review Committee Report recommendations. Please contact City Hall (831-8500) if you have any trouble viewing it and have not already received it in either electronic or hard copy format.

5. The draft 2012 budget and draft five year forecasts were distributed at the Finance Oversight Comm. meeting where they began to review the documents and agreed that Council should receive them as soon as possible (I made a particular plea to be sure that Council gets them ASAP). If you are interested in this process, I would suggest you plan on attending the October meetings when Council is expected to start reviewing these documents and numbers. I will be requesting that these documents be placed online as soon as Council begins public deliberations. Until that time, you should feel free to call the finance director to view the documents.

6. Absentee ballot applications can be requested here. The "opening date" for voting by absentee (mail-in) ballot appears to still be October 4, 2011, according to the 9/13/11 document on the county BOE's website. I make no promises though - there seems to still be confusion over this until after September 30. Regardless, if you want a mail-in ballot, it would not hurt to just send in your application.

As always, if you have any comments, questions or concerns, please contact me at your convenience.

All the best and thank you for letting me serve,

Jill

Released Today: National League of Cities City Fiscal Conditions Report

2011-09-27T13:43:00.001-04:00

You can read the report here. You can read many reports about the report just by searching on "National League of Cities survey." I'll spare you all the links I could give you. From the NLC (but read the whole thing):

The report reveals that general city revenues are continuing to fall, with a projected -2.3% decrease by the end of 2011. This is the fifth straight year of declines in revenue with probable further declines in 2012.

The revenue decline is mainly due to the suppressed property market that is negatively impacting property tax revenue. Property tax collections are expected to decline by -3.7% with further declines likely in 2012 and 2013.

Income tax receipts are also experiencing a decrease of -1.6%. Sales tax receipts remained largely flat, but this is at last year's level which saw the worst decrease in sales tax revenue in 15 years.

Cities are responding by cutting personnel (72%), delaying infrastructure projects (60%) and increasing service fees (41%). One in three (36%) cities report modifications to employee health care benefits.

There is a wealth of information on this page, also from the NLC, especially if you want to get the sense of just how not alone we are, no matter who is mayor.

What choices do you want your elected officials to make? Which ones don't you want your elected officials to make? Don't be shy.

Celebrate Landerwood Plaza's 50th Anniversary

2011-09-13T16:11:00.001-04:00

Fifty years - wow. It will come as no surprise to people who've been around even a little while to know that resident Karen Erlenbach is the primo cheerleader (and organizer etc.) of this occassion. Many thanks as always to Karen for her amazing community spirit - and stamina!

Here is a sketch of the details but check for more after the jump, including a history of the Plaza!

Landerwood Plaza is celebrating their 50th Anniversary Thursday, September 22 to Saturday, September 24. We hope you will stop by the Plaza and help celebrate! Mark your calendars for these activities.

Thursday, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. - Heinen's is grilling on the Plaza and will have a 1961 Plate Special at 1961 prices!
Thursday, 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. - The Disciples, a 60's Band will be playing.
Saturday, 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. - Free community electronic recycling, paper shredding and ink recycling.
Saturday, 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. - Kids activities.
Saturday, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. - Rocket car rides.

Landerwood Plaza is 50 years old this year. For 3 days, September 22 – 24, the shopping center, which serves as theshopping & dining hub for the Orange Communities, invites the public to join in the celebration lasting all weekend long.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011
5:30—7:30pm Food: Outdoor Grilling at the PLAZA
Heinen‟s will be doing the “outdoor” grilling—you do the eating! 1961 PRICE SPECIAL: Hot dog,
chips & drink for $1.25! Don‟t worry—other items will be on the grill, but at today‟s prices.

6:00—7:00pm Special appearances by Orange Stagecrafters‟ Students

7:00—8:00pm The Disciples, a 60‟s band!
The Disciples, featuring Orange alumni, played at Orange High and throughout the Cleveland area.
This was “the band of the sixties!” The band played at the Plaza back in 1964...come hear an
encore performance! Enjoy original Disciples Chip Fitzgerald „65, Al Parker, „66 and Bob Sandham „70.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2011
Retail merchants are putting together special sales & promotions all weekend.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2011
Noon—4pm Free Community Paper Shredding: South Plaza

Free Community Electronic Recycling: South Plaza
Desktop & Laptop computers, Printers, Copiers, Fax machines, keyboards, mice, speakers,
batteries, LCD monitors, hard drives, cordless phones, cell phones, stereos, CD players, VCR
players, DVD players (no household appliances)
Visit www.ktco.net for entire list of free and fee-based recyclables
Ink cartridge recycling to be donated to Orange High School PTA: South Plaza

Noon—4pm Kids Activities & Fun!
Face-painting & stickers; Meet Clifford & other characters,
Crafts & Games & Outdoor Activities & Demonstrations by Playmatters & The Tutoring Center

1—3 pm Rocket Car Rides: The famous & favorite Euclid Beach ride, compliments of Lander Circle Co.

2 & 2:30pm Forest City Singers strolling and singing some favorite tunes from yesterday & today.

HISTORY

LANDERWOOD PLAZA SHOPPING CENTER TURNS 50

Landerwood Plaza is 50 years old this year. For 3 days, September 22-24, the shopping center, which serves as the shopping & dining hub for Pepper Pike and surrounding communities, invites the public to join in the celebration lasting all weekend long.

Heinen’s was the first store to open at the Plaza in the fall of 1961, Today, operating out of its second generation store at the Plaza, both it and Knuths, remain as the only 2 businesses still under the same ownership at the Plaza. Since 1961, many retail businesses have had successful lives at the Plaza.

The KEYES-TREUHAFT Co., began building neighborhoods and homes in Pepper Pike, known as Landerwood Estates, as early as 1950. Today, this unique community of over 350 homes inter-connected to a private park and community swim club, is actually located adjacent to the Plaza. “When the company began its home building program in Pepper Pike, there were fewer than 200 homes,” said Art Treuhaft, President of LANDER CIRCLE Co., which has owned and managed the Plaza since 1961. “Convenience shopping wasn’t an issue in the beginning. Early residents were moving from inner suburbs to the country and were willing to put up with a lack of services. By 1961 however, new residents found it very inconvenient to travel as far as Shaker Heights or Chagrin Falls for the nearest daily shopping necessities.” Both of these companies are family owned businesses that were founded by Art’s late father, Alex Treuhaft. The demand for neighborhood shopping to serve the growing population was very apparent to both companies, as well as, to the growing number of new residents, and to the City. “The Plaza has expanded 4 times during its 50 year life,” reflects Michelle Feher, General Manager for the shopping center. “Today, we remain committed to presenting a group of independent retail businesses that closely reflect the specialty retail preferences of our local shopping and dining population with current, unique collections, products, and services.” Ms. Feher believes the Plaza’s location has much to do with its success attracting and retaining businesses. “The realization of how important this location continues to be, to reach and serve a very special population, continues to keep the Plaza vibrant.”

The celebration kicks off Thursday evening, September 22, 2011 with an outdoor community BBQ from 5:30 – 7:30pm. Heinen’s will do the grilling. There will be a retro meal at 1961 prices; as well as a variety of your current favorite grill foods at today’s prices. Several Orange Stagecrafter students will be providing light entertainment. From 7 – 8pm, the Plaza will be grooving to the sounds of The Disciples, a local 60’s band made up of former Orange High School graduates.

Friday, September 23, 2011, will feature Plaza merchants hosting special sales and promotions.
On Saturday, September 24, 2011 from noon to 4pm, the Plaza is hosting a free Community Paper Shredding and Electronic Recycling Day, as part of Landerwood Plaza’s new environmental initiative known as CRSP, Community Recycling Sustainability Partnership program. According to Ms. Feher, “Saturday’s recycling and shredding day is one of the first steps in the partnership we are forming with our tenants, vendors and community to reduce our collective carbon footprint. In addition, we are working with Cuyahoga County Solid Waste Management District to become a pilot sustainability program for shopping centers.” Recycled ink cartridges will also be collected and donated to the Orange High School PTA.

Kids of all ages will find lots to do and see on Saturday from noon to 4pm. Playmatters will be interactively demonstrating some new outdoor activities and will have a craft table where children will be able to make their own sticky mosaic tiaras and crowns. There will be game tables, courtesy of both Tutoring Center and Playmatters. Meet Clifford the Red Dog and other characters. Enjoy Euclid Beach’s famous Rocket Car, courtesy of Lander Circle Co. from 1 – 3pm. Facepainting and sticker tattoos will be the accessories for the day for the young.

Local singers and groups will stroll the Plaza, including The Forest City Singers, who will be featured between 2 and 3pm.

For more information on the 50th Anniversary Celebration, please call 216-831-1455 x 88. Come and celebrate with us!

Karen Erlenbach, Landerwood Plaza 50th Coordinator
216-831-1455 x 88

ABJ: "Voters to decide if Akron City Council should permit citizens to speak during meetings"

2011-09-12T07:14:00.000-04:00

Just sayin' - from the Akron Beacon Journal last week:

The proposed charter change headed to the ballot would require council to “enact legislation to permit members of the public to address council at council and committee meetings.”

The comments would have to be “in accordance with the rules of council” and the majority of council could vote to extend the speaking period.

The amendment also says council can “impose reasonable limits on speaking and may restrict speakers to matters within council’s authority.”

To be clear: this charter amendment comes from sitting Akron City Council members seeking a way past the current situation which is, according to the ABJ piece, that, "Citizens currently are not allowed to speak at Akron council meetings unless a public hearing is held on a specific topic or they receive permission from the council president."

If the amendment is approved,

...a special committee would be formed to look at how other cities handle speaking periods.

[Council President Marco] Sommerville said council also would hold a hearing to get public input before voting on the ordinance. Sommerville thought Tarle’s language would be disruptive because one council member would have had the opportunity to extend the speaking period as long as he or she wanted.

Good luck, Akron.

In PD: Kasich Administration Seeks to Move Local Income Tax Collection to Columbus

2011-08-30T22:26:00.001-04:00

From Wednesday's print version but online now. Would you like to see RITA disappear and have the state centralize the $4 billion collected by local municipalities in local income taxes?

The article includes this quote from a state taxation department spokesman, Gary Gudmundson:

"The concern with the municipal income tax is it's so widespread and so varied from city to town to village that it's a burden on business taxpayers who are functioning in many different locales," said Gudmundson.

And it also included this information regarding Lt. Governor Mary Taylor's interest in the change:

Earlier this month, Taylor told a panel beginning talks on cutting red tape for small businesses that a state governmental program she heads called the Common Sense Initiative is looking at the centralization idea.

Taylor reportedly told the panelists that centralizing collections would be "a great step forward in helping ease the burden" on businesses that cross jurisdictional lines or have multiple returns in different municipalities.

The Ohio Municipal League, to which the City of Pepper Pike does belong, has this statement in the article:

"This indicates to us that central collection is at the top of the list for the next round of wholesale changes in store for Ohio municipalities," said the newsletter, referring to Testa's public comments about the plan at the tax seminar. "We believe this radical proposal would be a tremendous financial blow to Ohio's municipalities, would be impractical in a wide range of areas from enforcement to fair application."

The concerns include an additional decrease in revenue flowing to municipalities, a less responsive tax administration and the creation of a new and unneeded level of bureaucracy that would require additional fees. The article says, "...regional tax authorities take about 1.5 percent in administrative fees to handle local tax collections, while other municipalities let their own departments handle it."

Well - what do you think?

Orange City Schools Excellent With Distinction for 2011 Report Card

2011-08-24T10:36:00.000-04:00

Way to go! Go here and put in "Orange" and select "Cuyahoga" for the County. Below is a screenshot of the overall information. When you go to the search tool and get the result, you will be able to see grade by grade information and more.

Here's Orange District Data from the same search results:

Thank you to our teachers, administrators, students, parents - community. Please - as the levy vote approaches, consider all that is done with our schools in these very challenging times. I support the school levy and feel free to ask me more about that if you want to know why.

TOMORROW: Public Hearings on Proposed County Council District Changes; Pepper Pike Would Move From D6 to D9

2011-08-23T23:28:00.000-04:00

The announcement below about public County Council redistricting hearings includes links to nearly all the information you would want in order to understand what's being considered for the line redrawing of the County Council districts. Pepper Pike will move from District 6 (with Jack Schron being the county council representative) to District 9 (which has C. Ellen Connally as its county council representative). The communities that make up the Orange City Schools District will continue to be divided between 6 and 9 even with this redrawing (Moreland and Hunting Valley will remain in 6). You can read it here online.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contacts:
John Kohlstrand: (216) 698-2099 or jkohlstrand@cuyahogacounty.us
Nicole Dailey Jones: (216) 263-4602, (216)338-0863 or ndjones@cuyahogacounty.us

CLEVELAND — The Cuyahoga County Council Districting Commission will hold two public hearings on Wednesday, Aug. 24 to discuss a proposal to change the shape of County Council’s districts and the need for change.

The hearings will be at 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. in the Dively Community Seminar Room of Cleveland State University’s Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, 1717 Euclid Ave., in Cleveland.

The Cuyahoga County charter required the creation of the Council Districting Commission.

Its task is to ensure a uniform population in all 11 Council Districts using 2010 U.S. Census data. The lines now in use were drawn using 2000 population data.

The Commission has established a Web site with more information about the process, including a map of the proposed lines and demographic data.

URGENT: Check to make sure your voter registration will not be cancelled

2011-08-12T16:40:00.000-04:00

Please check out this page at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. I received a notice from the BOE today by snailmail asking me to please encourage my "...constituents to check the list and call the Board of Elections to verify their voter registration status."

Please - do this. Check here on their site and then call if you need to. Voting - it does a body good.

NOACA Gives Cuyahoga County $34,100 for Merger Study

2011-08-12T16:04:00.001-04:00

From today's Crain's Cleveland Business:

NOACA's [Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency] governing board today announced it has awarded the county a $34,100 “regional benefit account grant” to support a study examining the merits of merging the city of Pepper Pike, Orange Village, the Village of Moreland Hills and the Village of Woodmere.

This study “will analyze how safety forces, financial systems and services could be successfully merged, and the cost and regional benefits resulting from the merger,” NOACA said. The Cuyahoga Planning Commission will conduct the study; NOACA said its financial assistance will be used primarily for supplemental consultant work.

While the emphasis appears to be on merging services, not one city and three villages into a single entity, that total merger idea is not ruled out:

Regardless of whether the study leads to a merger of the communities, [NOACA Executive Director, Howard R. Maier] said, the study “will identify potential areas of cost savings, collaboration, and shared services” and will “serve as a model for other communities across the region that might also contemplate a merger.”

If I could ask one thing of NOACA, it would be that, in their position as a funder of this study, could they please be sure to ask and have answered how the study that they are funding will differ from and hopefully be more actionable than the Baldwin-Wallace study turned out to be.

Why would I love for NOACA to be sure they ask and have answered that question? Because the BW study cost $30,000-$40,000 and, to the best of my knowledge, none of it has led to any cost savings, collaboration or shared services between the four communities that paid for it. (If that is incorrect, please leave the corrections in the comments or email me. From the Pepper Pike end, to the best of my knowledge, I'm pretty sure nothing from the BW study has been implemented.)

Finally, as a member of Pepper Pike City Council, I want to express appreciation to the NOACA governing board for making this investment. You can read who is on the governing board here and the staff here. Although transportation and environment clearly is an important part of NOACA's mission, sustainable communities is another one and from that, I suspect, derives their interest in the merger study.

NB: Approval of conducting the BW study, then conduct of the study, and conclusion of the study pre-dates when I was sworn in, January 2010. However, from January through late March 2010, when the mayor sent us an electronic copy of the report, we were told a few times that a draft existed and that those who had been involved were reviewing it and tweaking it - and criticizing it, to be frank. I just browsed last year's minutes refreshing and confirming these recollections. You can do the same too if you like.

Tonight's Band Concert, Rubbish Survey & More Updates & Information

2011-08-01T15:47:00.000-04:00

From the email I sent out this morning:

Greetings!

Knowing that it's summer and it's August (how did that happen!?), I will again work to be succinct. First, a reminder about making sure you give the City your input on rubbish fees, then a list of upcoming dates/events.

RUBBISH FEE SURVEY

By now, every Pepper Pike household should have received, by regular U.S. mail or by email, a letter from Mayor Akers accompanied by a survey that seeks input regarding rubbish collection. Please, please, please - email back your input, send it back by regular U.S. mail or drop it off at the City Hall. We know residents care about this topic and want to achieve as high a return rate on input as possible. If you have any questions at all, please let me know or contact the Mayor directly. Agenda minutes now posted on the City website for May and June will give you some background on the topic (see here) but again, please let us know if you have any questions and send in your input! THANK YOU.

Dates/Events:

1. TONIGHT, Pepper Pike Community Band Concert, rain or shine, 7:30pm, Pepper Pike Park or the Fire Station. You can read more here.

2. TONIGHT, Planning & Zoning meeting, 7:30pm, you can read the agenda here or see the attachment.

3. Wednesday, August 10, Road & Safety/Finance & Planning Meeting, 7:30pm, open to the public, at City Hall, no agenda yet available

4. Wednesday, August 17, City Council Meeting, 8:00pm, open to the public, at City Hall, no agenda yet available

5. Sunday, August 21, the Ice Cream Social returns! I will be sure to pass on more details as they become available but I did ask the Mayor at our last City Council meeting if the event would in fact return, and he said yes. In the past, the hours were roughly 1 or 2pm through 4pm, at which time the band held a concert in the Pepper Pike Park. Mayor Akers has okayed asking several residents to serve on the Communications Committee I chair and I am extremely eager to communicate far and wide about the return of the event ASAP! Thank you to everyone who has stepped up to volunteer, donate or otherwise support this event.

6. Thursday, September 15, 7-9:30pm, Brady Middle School, Pepper Pike Civic League's Candidates & Issues Night. Read more here and come equipped with questions for those who want to represent you!

Merger Talk in the News

1. Ohio News Network covered it in print and video. You can read the article here and see the video here.

2. Civic Commons Radio did a 30 minute program on it. You can listen to the audio here.

3. Lorain County towns say merger wasn't for them

4. Bentleyville mayor and others comment on merger

5. Nord Foundation gives $30,000 grant to the Community Foundation of Lorain County in Elyria for study of 911 emergency service consolidation

The Mayor said at the July 20th City Council Meeting that a meeting was being scheduled for this month with the four mayors and the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, but that was the only update provided.

Phew! If you have other topics you're interested in knowing about, don't hesitate to comment, question or express your concern by email, phone or face to face.

Have a great week and I hope to see you at one or more of the events listed above. In the meantime, please provide your input on the rubbish fee and feel free to spread that request around!

Thank you as always,

Jill

Domino Effect (or Even Need) of Potential Burb Merger Must be Included in Current Study Phase

2011-07-27T22:08:00.001-04:00

So argues the content of this article from tomorrow's Sun papers, "Area merger proposal worries Bentleyville officials." In particular, the comment section includes some interesting ideas of potential mergers.

An axiom I learned a long time ago occured to me as I read that article: when you say yes to one thing, you are saying no to something else. If Moreland Hills and Orange Village and Woodmere say yes to either sharing services with Pepper Pike which they share or have shared with other communities with which they are not merging (if they say "yes" to Pepper Pike re: sharing services and/or merging), what happens to the communities to whom Moreland, Orange and Woodmere are then saying "no"?

Then we have to ask, what is the answer to that consequence - is there a good one, consistent with the idea of regionalism or consolidation?

At a minimum, an absolute bare minimum, this supports a need for the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission's work to include an examination of the consequences on the entire Chagrin Valley region of changing the alliances and potentially the boundaries, beyond the four communities involved in the current, nascent merger study. Because we should not be studying the merger in isolation from a potential, regional domino effect - or need for such an effect in order to not harm other already existing collaborations.

BONUS thought for the day: Consider what someone told me about why we have 88 counties in Ohio: because no community in any one county could be further than a day's ride from the county seat. Now, a quick Google search didn't bring that up so I am not 100% sure though I definitely trust my source. So, the point is, now that we don't "ride" and in fact have electronic means to conduct county-level business, does it actually mean that we should erase ALL county lines, have no counties and just let the state administer us?

This is an easy one for me - no. I believe in local government. But we're going through a redefining of what we will get to consider to be "local."

What is the right definition of local for you? Have you ever really thought about it that way? Maybe you should, certainly before we change it from how it is embodied in Ohio's political subdivisions right now.

While We're At It, New Report Says Congress Uses Social Media "Extensively"

2011-07-26T09:51:00.000-04:00

Now, it's clear that that does not necessarily make for better communications from them to the constituents, but they can have us at their fingertips if they wanted to (or were otherwise compelled to listen to us - read some of the article about how calls to Congress last night regarding the debt ceiling crashed their servers).

You can read the report, #SocialCongress: Perceptions and Use of Social Media on Capitol Hill, and more about it here.

It's just a matter of political will and mindset.

Cuyahoga County Council Streams Live, Tweets & Facebooks

2011-07-26T09:06:00.002-04:00

The efforts described in today's Plain Dealer (read here) by the Cuyahoga County Council to be transparent and open were announced last week on WCPN's The Sound of Ideas. You can hear the entire podcast here. I listened to it live (and actually called in and spoke for a couple of minutes) and tweeted about the new social media efforts as C. Ellen Connally, the Council President, mentioned them.

From the PD article:

Live meetings of the council and its committees are available online. Click on "streaming video." The full council meets today at 6 p.m.

Legislators adopted the tools to improve transparency, which had been a pledge of members when they campaigned last year.

The council several months ago heard from a company whose technology allows citizens to watch meetings online, search video archives and link to related legislation and other public information. The system in place was done in house, and does not include features such as searchable video.

Residents can also watch archives of council meetings, but not committee meetings. Eventually, audio archives of committee meetings will be posted, said chief of staff Joe Nanni.

Internet users can also find Council on Twitter, twitter.com/cuyahogacouncil, and on Facebook at facebook.com/cuyahogacouncil.

"These new social media tools will help us to more easily interact with citizens," Council President C. Ellen Connally said in a news release.

Pepper Pike as a city does not have a Facebook page, a Twitter account nor does it stream its meetings. However, just last week, the mayor told me that he would be sending out letters to residents whom we've identified as individuals we'd love to have be part of the City's Communications/Tech/Web Committee which I chair. I've not yet seen that go out but hopefully it either has or will shortly.

WEDNESDAY, 9am, Sound of Ideas: Transparent Government

2011-07-19T23:00:00.002-04:00

Call in or be square (90.3FM, WCPN). You can see all the contact info here (you can listen live or listen later - there will be a link up later on Weds. to the audio). You also can email (news@wcpn.org), tweet (@soundofideas), Facebook update here or leave a comment at the Sound of Ideas webpage for this show (here).

Phone numbers:

During the show: 216-578-0903 or 866-578-0903
Last Word line: 216-916-6397 or email
Show ideas & comments? Contact Executive Editor, David Molpus.

Listen for sure and voice your thoughts if you feel so moved. The deets:

If government -- from your local school board to the U.S. Capitol -- operated in secret, how much would you trust it? On the next Sound of Ideas, we'll talk to open government advocates about the public's right to know. We'll offer expert advice on how to access public records and keep tabs on your government. Plus, we'll explore how technology is helping to make government more transparent. Join us Wednesday at 9 on 90.3.

Guests:

Ellen Miller, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Sunlight Foundation
David Marburger, Partner, Baker & Hostetler and author of Access with Attitude: An Advocate’s Guide to Freedom of Information in Ohio
C. Ellen Connally, President, Cuyahoga County Council
Michael Froomkin, Professor of Law, University of Miami and served on Florida Supreme Court Committee on Privacy and Court Records from 2003-2005

Full disclosure: This is, as many readers know, a topic of huge interest to me and for many years. I am spending time trying to contribute in anyway I can to help the TAPSummit succeed. Especially if you are an elected or maybe even more importantly, if you are a candidate for office this year, you should attend this event. You can read more about it and register for it here.

Demystifying School Board Meetings and Public Audience Commenting

2011-07-19T17:23:00.001-04:00

The Civic Commons Radio Project is featuring two podcasts residents should hear.

First, a description of the show:

The Civic Commons podcast is a dynamic half-hour public affairs program airing Saturday mornings on 88.7 FM, WJCU and Tuesday evenings on WYSU. It features citizen voices more than talking heads, citizen commentaries instead of expert drones, and hosts who are always looking for different ways to set the stage for discussion. Hosted by award-winning public radio host Dan Moulthrop, produced by Luke Frazier of NOW Productions with assistance from WJCU and edited by Daniel Steinberg of Dim Sum Thinking. The podcast is part of The Civic Commons, a regional effort to bring more citizens into the conversations that matter (find out more at theciviccommons.com). You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. (Download iTunes.)

Now, the two shows.

The first one aired on Tuesday, July 5 (you can listen here) and is about school board meeting participation:

Have you ever been to a school board meeting? Isn’t something about them kind of bizarre…almost like Kabuki Theater? A stylized dance where citizens stand and speak, board members listen (or not), papers get shuffled and then folks are thanked for their input and no real conversation takes place?

In part one of a two-part special on citizen engagement with public bodies like school boards and city councils, Dan and Luke try to understand and de-mystify school board meetings with the help of parents and school board members. It turns out that there are some things that can increase both citizen access and the amount of conversation. We just have to be willing to drop the makeup and masks. [emphasis added]

The second one aired this past Thursday, July 14 (you can listen here) and is about public comment periods at places like city council meetings:

If you've ever testified before some kind of elected body, you may know that sometimes all you get back is a perfunctory thanks for being there. And then nothing. In part two of a two-part special on citizen engagement with public bodies like school boards and city councils, Dan and Luke solicit help from elected officials and a renowned policy guy to try to figure out what's going on in the public comment period of these meetings. Ultimately there are ways to improve engagement with boards and councils, and to make them more like satisfying conversations. [emphasis added]

The renowned policy guy is John Green, a fantastic authority who has been involved in many forums and, full disclosure, has included me in a couple over the years (once long before I was in elected office, and again last fall). As Civic Commons writes:

Guest John Green (Director, Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at Akron U) points out that traditional meeting structures are the product of 19th Century rural life, when rotating citizens rather than professionals debated simple choices with constituents. So what now?

I look forward to listening to these and if you listen, I hope you'll comment below about what you thought.

Tomorrow Night: Finance Oversight Committee Quarterly Meeting

2011-07-18T17:42:00.000-04:00

Last year, Mayor Akers agreed to create a Finance Oversight Subcommittee. Though we often refer to it as a committee, it's a subcommittee of the Finance Committee, which is chaired this year by Council Member Rick Taft. Council member Gail Mayland chaired it and Scott Newell and I were the other two council members on the committee.

As noted within the last few months, since Council received recommendations from the Finance Review Committee, it was the Oversight Committee that first discussed the need to examine and possibly modify policies related to sick days and sick pay, vacation, longevity, part-time versus full-time employment and pension pick-up.

Mayor Akers had envisioned that the council members on this committee would rotate and so now it's comprised of Paulette Morganstern (Chair), Cleve Svetlik and Rick Taft. The resident members are Don Jacobson, Kevin McGinty, Dave Shinebart and Michael Shore. The frequency of the committee's meetings has been changed to quarterly (from monthly) and the second quarter's meeting is tomorrow evening, July 19, at 7:00pm in City Hall. It is open to the public, as always.

If you want to understand the City's budget - and its budget's strengths and weaknesses, this committee is an excellent place to start.

Mark Your Calendars: Candidates + Issues Night, September 15th

2011-07-17T23:28:00.000-04:00

The Pepper Pike Civic League's candidates and issues events are THE best way for you to see the people who are running to take care of our City and, more important, ask them any question you like, and consider their responses and reactions as you consider how to vote. With an open mayor's seat and three Council seats up this year, this is one event you will not want to miss (and will want to be sure your neighbors know about).

From the Pepper Pike Civic League:

CANDIDATES & ISSUES FORUM

Thursday, September 15

7:00 to 9:30 p.m. ‒ Brady Middle School

(Located on Gail Allison Drive off Chagrin Boulevard at the rear of the Orange School Campus)

Sponsored by the Pepper Pike Civic League • Open to all residents

“Promoting Good Citizenship Since 1957”

The Forum is an excellent opportunity for voters to meet, hear, and question candidates for elected office. Encourage your family and friends to attend!!!

AGENDA

1. Pepper Pike Civic League ‒ Brief business meeting for the presentation of new Trustees; presentation of Officers; and an update on the League’s finances and activities.

2. Candidates ‒ Candidates for the following elected offices have been invited to make brief presentations concerning their candidacy:

Pepper Pike City Mayor
City Council
Orange School Board

VOTE

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Check the website at www.boe.cuyahogacounty.us or call 216-443-3100.

"Pepper Pike Real Estate Market...HOT!"

2011-07-16T16:00:00.000-04:00

So says the Young Team Realtors two weeks ago (reflecting June conditions):

Pepper Pike’s market is on fire, with 20 properties under contract right now! 5 of them are contingent and 15 are pending. Is this the final push for families trying to purchase a house before the start of the 2011-12 school year? Whatever it is, it is great to see houses for sale in Pepper Pike flying off the shelf. The best part about it is, that a majority of them have just came on the market. 6 of these houses have gone under contract in under 45 days.

I've been following the Young Team's writings about the Pepper Pike real estate market for a while now. Here's another very informative blog post by them, from June 13, 2011, just over a month ago, and it concerns the City's market during the month of May. An excerpt:

In May, a total of 10 properties went under contract. The biggest problem with the homes that went under contract were that they are well below the $575,000 average. The average home price in Pepper Pike for homes that went under contract was $380,000. The luxury home market in Pepper Pike has been extremely slow with only 2 homes going under contract. In real estate we define the luxury market as homes over $500,000. Both of these homes were two of the lower priced homes in Pepper Pike’s luxury market averaging a listing price of $550,000.

...

The summary of Pepper Pike’s real estate market for the month of May is that properties are selling, just not much of the luxury inventory. Hopefully in June we will continue to see several homes put under contract in Pepper Pike, as well as some of the luxury homes in Pepper Pike.

If you are interested in following this kind of information, set a Google alert to "Pepper Pike" or check the sidebar on this blog where headlines for Pepper Pike alerts come up.

Saturday, July 23: Special School Board Meeting For Discussion of Budget Cuts, Tax Levy Millage

2011-07-15T11:19:00.000-04:00

The Chagrin Solon Sun ran two lengthy articles yesterday about how the approved Ohio state budget will affect the communities in our area. One article deals with the municipalities (you can read that one here) and the other, which you can read here, discussed input from school districts.

Regarding the Orange schools:

The Orange School District has not discussed its final budget cuts publicly yet, but has scheduled a special Board of Education meeting at 8 a.m. July 23 to discuss them in advance of its regular meeting July 25.

...

Voters last approved a new levy in 2004, when the board promised to come back to them at four-year intervals only. The district stretched that three more years with budget-cutting and the use of some cash reserves, Slemons said.

He had said he expects the size of the new levy to be 5 or 6 mills, but that statement was prior to passage of the final state budget.

I plan on attending.

Gov. Kasich Should Visit Burbmerger Communities, Spend $2 mil "off-the-cuff" Toward Their Collaboration Efforts

2011-07-15T10:56:00.001-04:00

I am not being sarcastic.

From the Plain Dealer:

While touring a research laboratory at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus the governor asked the hospital's CEO Dr. Steve Allen what it would take for all six Ohio children's hospitals to work more collaboratively on medical research projects.

"Does $1 million get your attention?" the straight-faced Republican governor asked Allen. "If I commit $1 million, can that get you all to work together?"

His offer then went up to $2 million and he got one of his staffers, there with him at the tour, to call his budget director, Tom Keen, while they stood there.

The mayors of Moreland Hills, Orange Village, Pepper Pike and Woodmere, plus the County Executive Ed Fitzgerald absolutely should get Ohio Governor John Kasich to tour the four communities - ASAP. (And don't forget to include State Rep. Marlene Anielski and State Senator Tom Patton.) With estate tax revenue and local government funds being eliminated, while the governor's approved budget has $45 million going toward a Local Government Innovation Fund which doesn't actually get funded until 2013, who wouldn't love to read a Plain Dealer headline about some advance seed money toward collaboration-oriented goals that reads:

"Gov. John Kasich spends $2 million off-the-cuff; unexpected cash is for Moreland Hills, Orange Village, Pepper Pike and Woodmere to collaborate"

Read more about the Local Government Innovation Fund here.

Meeting & Event Information of Interest to Pepper Pike Residents

2011-07-13T18:54:00.000-04:00

I sent this information out via email just a bit ago. If you'd like to be added to the distribution list, let me know. Also, I forgot to include Monday, August 1 which is the monthly Planning & Zoning meeting. It starts at 7:30pm and like all the other meetings, takes place in City Hall and is open to the public.

Good evening and I will be succint (!):

1. TONIGHT: The monthly Road & Safety/Finance & Planning meeting is this evening at 7:30pm in the City Hall. Always open to the public, it is also always on the second Wednesday of the month, same time, same place. You can read the agenda here or see the attachment. You can see that the Woodmere dispatch agreement and the rubbish fee will be discussed, in addition to several other items.

2. NEXT WEDNESDAY NIGHT (7/20): The monthly Council meeting will be the evening of Wednesday, July 20 at 8pm in the City Hall. Always open to the public, it is also always on the third Wednesday of the month, same time, same place. The agenda should be up by the beginning of next week.

3. Monday, August 1, evening: The Pepper Pike Community Band will play its second free concert, rain (in the Fire Station) or shine (in the Pepper Pike Park). I've attended the two concerts already held this year and they were lovely. They begin at 7:30pm.

4. September 15th (a Thursday): The Pepper Pike Civic League will hold its annual Candidates + Issues Meeting at the Brady Middle School. These events usually start at 7pm and will feature the candidates running for Pepper Pike Mayor and Pepper Pike City Council, among other possible elected positions.

5. If you've not had a chance to view the Feagler & Friends edition from last week regarding the merger study and regionalism, you can view it here.

6. I keep a blog about City Council, the City and other topics of interest to those who follow government, politics and citizen engagement. It's called In The Arena, you can see it here, and you can subscribe to it via an RSS feed or you can visit it as you please.

Thank you as always for your time and for choosing to be in Pepper Pike. I look forward to hearing your questions, concerns and comments as always.

ONN in the 'hood

2011-07-12T09:59:00.000-04:00

Ohio News Network's Jim Heath is coming to the area today:

Heading to Pepper Pike (that's just fun to say). Interviewing mayors today on consolidation efforts.

Ironic given that consolidation might mean we won't have it to say forever.

Strike Up the Pepper Pike Community Band

2011-07-10T23:04:00.001-04:00

The Band's first performance of the season is tomorrow evening at 7:30pm in the Pepper Pike Park at 28000 Shaker Boulevard. From the City website's pages:

The Pepper Pike Community Band begins its fifth summer season of outdoor musical concerts on Monday, July 11, 2011. A true community band, the 50+ members represent all ages and professions. Some members of the band reside in Pepper Pike, and many come from neighboring areas.

Rehearsals take place on Monday evenings at Orange High School. New members are welcome.

Roy J. Hawthorne, an experienced music educator and band director, has written an original piece called The Pepper Pike March which the band performed last summer.
In the event of rain, the concert will be held in the Fire Department. Bring your folding chairs and blankets, family and friends, your refreshments, sit on the lawn, come and have an enjoyable summer evening.

The remainder of the season:

Pepper Pike Park - Monday, August 1 at 7:30pm
Pepper Pike Park - Sunday, August 21 at 4:00pm

In case of inclement weather, the performances take place in the fire station.

Trash Talkin' in Pepper Pike

2011-07-09T17:35:00.002-04:00

It's nothing new - from learning in the fall of 2009 that the refuse collection system would be reshaped and involve scooters, to the question now regarding a fee for service structure in order to protect the continuation of rear-yard pick up.

In fact, the issue of fee for services has been raised multiple times in the 18 months I've been on Council, starting well over a year ago when City Council Member, Gail Mayland, introduced the idea of exploring this in regard to garbage pick-up. Then, last summer, resident, former City Council member and potential mayoral candidate Rick Bain, listed fees for service as an alternative revenue stream (alternative to an increase in the City's income tax rate) in this letter to the editor. (For those who've been following City doings closely, the April 2011 Financial Review Committee Report is silent on fees for service related to rubbish removal - that document was signed off on by seven residents, including potential City Council candidate Jim LeMay.)

During the June 2011 City Council Meeting, the mayor raised the issue again. His remarks in support of the need to implement a $25 per month fee for all Pepper Pike residents will of course be in that meeting's minutes. But the discussion resulted in a desire by some Council members to survey the residents to determine the preference: if you had to pay an additional $25 per month to preserve rear-yard garbage pick-up, would you pay the fee to keep that service?

I'm in support of a survey to know the preferences of all the City's taxpayers because I've wanted a real, broad-based resident and community survey almost since I was sworn in. Why? As I've written before:

As you can see from the surveys done by Shaker Heights (here you will find three - 2002, 2007 and 2009) and Orange Village (here), these tools provide an enormous amount of information that comes directly from the residents. The former three were done by a private company and the latter was done by the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission.

It is, after all, your money.

Yes, elected officials must make the decisions. But as we learned from the two town halls last year and numerous council meetings, long-range strategic planning committee meetings of last winter and spring and numerous other instances, there absolutely is not consensus among Pepper Pike's taxpayers as to how they define or prioritize city services. Even when we thought we could say nearly everyone prioritized safety services, the answers to the questions about what that means, what it should cost and how we should pay for it were all over the place (some residents saying they'll literally pay anything to have as many police as we've had for 10 years, some residents saying they don't even need most of the police and fire services so why pay for them at all, some residents insisting that our dispatch center cannot possibly be done outside the city, other residents insisting we must let the dispatch center go).

For me, gathering and possessing the data - data which is in fact your input - as to whether you want your money spent, how you want it spent and within what cost ranges you want it spent - is critical to City decision-making when it comes to spending the City's revenues - which are, again, your tax dollars. While I'm thrilled to think people supported my election to Council for any number of reasons - including knowing that ultimately I make decisions via my analytical abilities, in a City with just under 6000 residents, there is no excuse for not at least seeking out the taxpayers' preferences during a time of extreme scrutiny around our City's fiscal situation.

I know how I feel about the rubbish fee. And I've never hidden that when asked. But I am just one vote, one taxpayer. And I can promise you that I've literally stood between residents, as recently as this past week, who disagree 100%. Residents from the same demographics, who've lived here as long as one another (and it's several years). Who feel completely differently: one said that they absolutely positively would pay the fee to keep the service. The other resident has no interest under any circumstances in paying a fee to keep rear-yard pick up. Offering up all the "but what if..."s didn't make a difference for either of these residents - and this is not unique.

Come on - go ahead. Talk trash with me.

Bonus reflections

So, during 2009, I attended every single Road & Safety and City Council meeting starting in March. Every single one. But through nearly 50 hours or so of public meetings, this very expansive change involving the move to scooters and how garbage would be picked up (which has now been in operation for a year and a half) was not spoken of in public session until the Council meeting of September 16, 2009, a week before a letter went out announcing the changes to all residents.

Why is this and was this remarkable to me? Because I thought surely changing something as central to the services performed by and expected of a city as garbage pick up would be something that would get some airing and some input in relation to the taxpayers. Not crazy, I thought.

So I called the law director and, it was explained to me, that garbage pick-up - how it's done - is an administrative function. And the mayor has control over all administrative functions, while Council is limited to legislative and appropriation matters. So for example, the appropriations related to the changes? Those would have to come before Council and those discussions would be public. But the change of how garbage is to be picked up, in and of itself - an administrative function.

As I've been on Council since January 2010, I've repeatedly talked about a charter review because this ability for core changes to be made outside of any public discussion, so long as they fall under administrative functions, has continued to niggle at me: How can Council act as a check and balance if it doesn't even have to know certain things? Granted, the idea of a strong mayor-weak council form of government, such as we have in our charter, allows for this - is in fact the default. And it relies on the idea that a mayor is elected with full knowledge of the voters that his or her authority extends this far.

But, I've kept wondering, is that really consistent with 21st century expectations of openness and transparency? Depending on how the work is carried out, maybe - maybe not.

What's this got to do with trash talking? Well - for all the potential unpleasantness of a hot topic being out in the open and about learning, knowing and being asked to express an opinion that may differ from your neighbors, I believe in the value of gathering and having those opinions. Because if learning about, knowing and understanding the taxpayers' preferences in regard to their money which becomes the City's revenues isn't directly germane to how those of us elected to make decisions actually make decisions, tell me what else is there?

So again, I must entreat: talk trash to us.

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

2011-07-08T15:13:00.001-04:00

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?

Merger Study Funding On The Horizon? Local Government Innovation Council & Innovation Fund

2011-07-07T08:18:00.000-04:00

Hattip to the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission for news about the governor's $45 million budget for the Innovation Fund. This appears to be from Greater Ohio, but its website seems a bit stale - I'm guessing there are some organizational/transitional/technical/PR/marketing issues yet to be smoothed out but here's the relevant text:

The Innovation Fund marks an important step in the right direction toward strategic and thoughtful government restructuring in Ohio, and will ultimately incentivize a move toward regionalism and intelligent land use.

The Innovation Fund will provide loans and grants to political subdivisions for the purpose of rethinking current governmental structures and facilitating consolidations, mergers, and other approaches to providing services in a more efficient manner. At current funding levels, this initiative will fund at least 90 different initiatives during the one-year program period. All political subdivisions of the state are eligible to apply for awards, so libraries, Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health (ADMH) boards, cities, and schools are all eligible.

The Innovation Fund will be managed by a fifteen member Local Government Innovation Council (LGIC) that will establish competitive criteria and award funding to be used for the purchase of equipment, facilities, or for implementation costs involved in changing local government functions. The LGIC will establish guidelines for scoring applications that will impact the types of proposals applicants make. Loans will be repaid by recipients using savings achieved from the proposed projects. The LGIC can also award a limited number of grants. Funding awards will not exceed more than $100,000 to an individual political subdivision or more than $500,000 per project that includes multiple partners. The LGIC will accept its first round of proposals on March 1, 2012 and announce awards by July 1, 2012. Funding will continue quarterly, thereafter until July 1, 2013.

Greater Ohio will continue to follow this program and provide suggestions for refining the statutory language and programmatic structure to improve outcomes. If your local government decides to compete for this award, please let us know how the process goes and what refinements would make the program easier to use and more likely to achieve the goal of thoughtful, pragmatic government structuring. We are grateful to the Governor and General Assembly for approving this program.

I look forward to putting forth a resolution that places this opportunity on the Pepper Pike radar now. As it is, I've inquired about whether we will be asked to put money toward the current merger study activities, but have yet to receive a definitive answer (or see one in the media).

Get Off The Sidelines

2011-07-06T22:54:00.002-04:00

Not my slogan (I chose, "don't get mad, get elected") but I absolutely support it. Listen below:

For the record, Pepper Pike's City Council has had at least one or two women for many years, and, since I was sworn in (January 2010), there have been three serving at once. Diversity - it does a body (politic) good.

TONIGHT's Citizen Transparency Fishbowl Roundtable & Local Weekly Paper Burbmerger Roundup &

2011-06-30T10:44:00.002-04:00

Some outstanding transparency efforts are here in Cuyahoga County and I hope Pepper Pike residents will take an active interest in all of them. First up, tonight:

Community Dialogue: Openness in the Making (read this supportive Plain Dealer editorial)

Thursday, June 30, 7:00 pm
Trinity Cathedral, Room C/D
2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland

This coming Thursday will be an opportunity to participate in an enlightening and refreshing conversation with senior staff in the new Cuyahoga County administration and Council about their work to make our county government more open and accessible to the people it serves and represents. We will also be joined by statewide Open Government advocate Catherine Turcer who can speak to how our county fits into the statewide context.

Here are our featured guests:
Joe Nanni, Chief of Staff, Council
Nicole Dailey Jones, Communications Director
Majeed Makhlouf, Law Director
Jeff Mowry, Chief Info. Officer
David Merriman, Special Assistant
Catherine Turcer, Ohio Citizen Action

Using a innovative community dialogue format called a “Fishbowl,” members from the audience will have a chance to actually join the featured guests at our roundtable to ask questions about work within the county and share their perspectives on the future of our county. It’s rare to have the chance for such an intimate conversation with our county’s leaders. Please come and add your insight to the dialogue.

Parking: Lot on Prospect between E 22nd and E 24th.

I cannot attend - not one but two competing commitments on my agenda (with this one above, three). But I trust all the folks involved and look forward to hopefully some real-time twittering of the event in addition to mainstream media follow-up.

Then, tomorrow at 12noon at the City Club, I will be attending:

Ellen S. Miller
Co-Founder & Executive Director, Sunlight Foundation
Shedding Light on Government

Friday, July 1st, 2011 - noon
Ellen Miller is co-founder and Executive Director of the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington-based, non-partisan non-profit dedicated to using the power of the Internet to catalyze greater government openness and transparency. She is the founder of two other prominent Washington-based organizations in the field of money and politics - the Center for Responsive Politics and Public Campaign - and a nationally recognized expert on transparency and the influence of money in politics.

Ellen is outstanding in her work and I've heard her speak a few times at various forums. She is also a regular user of Facebook and Twitter and evangelizes excellent information about good government and transparency and openness.

Finally, put this on your calendar as well:

The Transparency Action Plan Summit (TAP Summit) on July 29-30

The Transparency Action Plan (TAP) Summit will be informed by the principle that meaningful public involvement requires access to information. This principle applies at every level from neighborhood block groups all the way to national and international politics.

The Cleveland Coalition and our partners are committed to facilitating a well-informed, outcome-oriented planning session on the topic of county-level transparency. Advancing this issue requires effective leadership both inside and outside governmental institutions. Our coalition intends to provide meaningful leadership to augment work already being advanced by the Cuyahoga County Executive and Council.

The Transparency Action Plan (TAP) Summit will convene representatives from every major sector whose collaboration and productive exchange of ideas and information is essential to the health of our community. These groups include governmental officials, business leaders, legal professionals, IT professionals, nonprofit practitioners, and community activists.

Over the course of two days, participants will be educated about best practices across the country and the world in the area of transparency, the exciting work already underway at the county level, and current opportunities at the county level for innovation. The bulk of the summit will include planning and design phases during which participants will be tasked with developing a plan for advancing transparent practices and policies in our community.

As the name suggests, the Transparency Action Plan (TAP) Summit is a planning event, and as such will serve as the beginning for a path of dynamic, innovative public participation in the months and years ahead. Please join us July 29-30, 2011 to help articulate a strategy for moving our community forward, and establishing Cuyahoga County as a national leader in the area of government transparency and public engagement.

Very excited about all of those events. Transparency - it does a (government & civic) body good.

Now for the local weekly paper burbmerger roundup:

From today's Chagrin Valley Times, "Merger talks welcomed with some reservations"

From today's Chagrin Solon Sun, "Pepper Pike, Orange, Moreland and Woodmere react to merger study talks"

Additionally, the conversation continues at The Civic Commons (Dan Moulthrop hints there at an upcoming Civic Commons podcast about the burbmeger) and there's also an editorial cartoon in today's Chagrin Solon Sun that shows the communities walking hand in hand in the persona of a man (with the words "Pepper Pike, Moreland Hills" on the clothing) and a woman (Orange Village, Woodmere on her clothing) and an observer of the couple suggests there's a rumer going around that they may be getting married. You'll be able to see it here once it's posted online.

Well-being and happiness as appropriate matters of government concern

2011-06-29T18:12:00.000-04:00

Since we're talking burbmerger, which in my mind could be compared to a Sim City exercise (I actually am begging for the County CIO, the Planning Commission or some other enterprising entity to come up with such a platform for residents to toy with and build a city with the profile of revenues, assets and service needs that mirror Moreland, Orange, Pepper Pike and Woodmere and then play with how you'd put those together for the utopian new East Side municipality), let's really talk about what we want, even within the confines of what we can (and can only) afford.

Let's think about happiness: how do communities make us happy? Do not cop out with, "I don't pay much in taxes; I get a lot of services for what I pay" and so on, okay? In a new municipality, you better damn well believe that that's a given - or else why the heck are we even bothering with this informal study, formal commission, two general election vote thing, right?

From the article to which I've linked re: how do communities make us happy:

Community characteristics do matter to us. A three-year survey by Gallup of some 43,000 Americans living in 26 U.S. cities reported last year that people identify most strongly with their communities when they perceive them favorably with respect to social offerings, openness, and the aesthetic environment. The "Soul of the Community" survey, conducted for the Knight Foundation, found these factors to be more determinative of "resident attachment" to a place than others such as civic involvement, social capital, education, perception of the local economy, leadership, safety, emotional well-being, and basic services.

This is what I've been saying all along: it's a psychological thing, not just a numbers thing. Although some folks may see the mission of a municipality as limited to cost-efficient delivery of necessary services, I do not view that as the sole basis upon which humans choose their habitats. It is only one piece of the puzzle that determines where any of us live.

If we're talking a brand new burb, then why shouldn't we want it to be all that it could be that we can afford and sustain, rather than simply the lowest common denominators across the board? I want us to create a desirable place to live and invest in. Not just a place.

Today's Burbmerger Roundup, leading off with Tevye's "On the Other Hand"

2011-06-29T13:58:00.000-04:00

Several items in the news - two from today and others from the last week - all offering different narratives:

First, from Business Journal Daily, "Collaborations Expand Beyond Trumbull" an article that highlights action as well as talk about municipal collaborative efforts, a positive spin on merging dispatch centers:

For Tom Pascarella, director of administration for the city of Tallmadge, collaboration wasn't only a best practice; it was a way to protect the city from dire financial straits. The city is saving $500,000 annually by combining police and fire dispatch services with the city of Stow.

Two notes on this article:

1. You can google up a bunch of articles about the dispatch arrangement, but here's how it's described on Stow's website and here's how it was described in March 2008 when it was first approved by Stow. I've contacted someone I know on the Stow council to learn more about his impressions of the arrangement and will share them if that's okay with him once we communicate. I also have a friend who is running for Stow's council and will be sure to ask her if she has an opinion about it too.

2. You can read the June 28 release from which the article was written here, and all the info about this Kent State project at what I believe is the website for the project itself (I'm not 100% clear on the naming), The Center for Public Administration and Public Policy, The Innovator's Collaborative Series.

Now, on the other hand: "Regional dispatch center still adjusting to increased emergency calls":

Since moving to the Montgomery County Regional Dispatch Center last year, Dayton police, firefighters and medics complain they are sometimes sent to the wrong address, the wrong equipment is dispatched and updates on the dispatches are confusing.

...

Dayton’s move to regional dispatch — which almost doubled the center’s call load — was billed as means for the city to save millions at the same time provide the same or better service as the previous local dispatch.

Prior to Dayton fire dispatch moving over in September and police in December, the center handled calls from 19 police departments and 10 fire departments throughout the county. Dayton fire and medic calls boosted the fire call load by more than double from 28,000 annually to an expected 60,000. Police calls went from 250,000 annually to an expected 450,000.

TWO CAVEATS: 1) READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE, please. 2) Here in Pepper Pike and the evolving Chagrin Valley Dispatch Council configuration, we are talking about tens of thousands of calls, NOT hundreds of thousands of calls.

Also: Here's the Montgomery County Regional Dispatch Center's website complete with a list of all the communities using it and here's an FAQ page they have.

So please, read these articles and store the knowledge, but be reasonable in what you takeaway from them, yes? Good.

For the record, as many know, I have been pressing for Pepper Pike to get to the nitty gritty with the CVDC now - okay, yesterday. But it is still very wise and planful to be aware of what can happen as changes are implemented elsewhere.

Next, the Portage County Tea Party posted this commentary, "All Politics is Local," on the merger idea. Its conclusion:

Following the money requires knowing where to look to see who is spending it. If a study of a merger were announced in your township/village/city tomorrow, would you know where to obtain the information and what to look at to determine if merging entities would be fiscally sound and responsible for current and future taxpayers? Do you know the fiscal condition of your neighboring townships/villages/cities?

We the People need to watch our local governments and be prepared to participate in the debates, studies or attempts to change government forms as well as day to day operations.

I don't think anyone will be mistaking me for a member of the tea party any time soon, but I agree 100% with those conclusions.

And on the Bratenahl Community Foundation Blog, a great piece to help people wrap themselves around merger concepts, "Exploring Merger and Collaboration Options for Bratenahl."

What are Bratenahl’s options if it considered a merger? The most obvious one is a merger with the City of Cleveland, which I believe would be resisted in a significant way by Village residents. Merger choices are much easier for the four eastern suburbs mentioned above.

Choices are much easier for the four eastern suburbs because...why? ;) Don Ianonne, I suspect you will see this post - I would love to hear how you see that (I'm awesome it's because we're not bounded by the lake and have other adjacent communities - but is that what you meant?).

Memoirs of an Amnesiac (aka Hank Drake) asks about and examines several merger possibilities for South Euclid in, "Should South Euclid merge (and with whom)?"

I also appreciate his comment about what the Moreland, Orange, Pepper Pike and Woodmere name might be:

There has been speculation about what the new suburb would be called, from Chagrin Hills to Pepperwood. The latter sounds too much like peckerwood, and is best left alone.

I still say the name should be crowdsourced via something like the IBM Collaboration Solutions Community IdeaJam which you can see here.

Come on, 2.0! We can do this.

CJN: "Merger talks heat up for four East Side suburbs" & other #burbmerger news

2011-06-28T21:55:00.001-04:00

You can read the full piece published by the Cleveland Jewish News here.

Other coverage not linked to before:

From WKYC, "Four communities study merger"

Crain's Cleveland Business editorial, "It's a start"

If you use Twitter, the hashtag (thank you, @ClevelandMagazine!) most often used for this topic is #burbmerger. Others to follow on Twitter, besides me (@zimon4council), include

@countyplanning which is the handle for the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission
@cuyahogacounty for Cuyahoga County government
@edfitzgeraldce for County Executive Ed Fitzgerald

And as for the three villages and one city and Twitter? Well, cleveland.com, which is the Plain Dealer's online alter ego, has twitter handles that link back to cleveland.com for @orangevillageoh, @morelandhills and @pepperpikeohio but those feeds come through an automated service called Twitterfeed that cleveland.com is using and the tweets on each community's feed currently are all the same and haven't been updated since June 3. I suspect something is planned for the somewhat new push into the hyperlocal, so I've started to follow those handles. There is no feed for Woodmere as of this evening.

Podcast for WCPN/Sound of Ideas "Merging Communities" show this morning

2011-06-27T17:22:00.000-04:00

You can now listen online or download the podcast here. I'd also recommend reading the comment thread developing there, adding your own if you like or contacting the show should you feel so moved. Similarly, the cleveland.com articles online (some from the Plain Dealer, at least a couple from the Chagrin Solon Sun), also have comment threads, some very lengthy, detailed and interesting (as in good, not just snide or snarky).

For example, at the PD's poll (would you merge with your neighbor), there are 93 comments and also more than 1700 votes in the poll were logged (the results as of 5:17pm today were 54% say okay if the money savings are big, 27% say no, my city won't give up it's identity, and then the rest split between the other two options - yes, if no services change; no, it would mean a loss of services).

Voice. It says a lot.

THIS MORNING: WCPN/Sound of Ideas covers Burbmerger with the Four Mayors

2011-06-27T09:29:00.000-04:00

You can listen here right now through 10am or listen by podcast or through your computer later. I will post a link to the audio on the blog, In The Arena, when it's available. Here's the blurb:

There's been a lot of talk in Northeast Ohio about regional collaboration. Will there finally be some action? Four local communities -- Moreland Hills, Orange, Pepper Pike and Woodmere -- are considering a merger. On the next Sound of Ideas, we'll discuss the benefits and the barriers and look at other communities ripe for merger. Would you be happy if your city joined with its neighbors in the name of government efficiency? Let's talk about it Monday at 9 on 90.3.

Have a great day - and feel free to call into the show or email them if you want to comment:

During the show: 216-578-0903 or 866-578-0903
Last Word line (for after the show comments): 216-916-6397 or email
Show ideas & comments? Contact Executive Editor, David Molpus.

So What ARE Best Practices for Merging a City with Three Villages?

2011-06-23T15:38:00.000-04:00

We're going to hope that the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission knows - and I have every reason to believe that they do. I've spoken with them in the past about doing a resident survey for Pepper Pike (which, much to my chagrin, as many know, has in fact never been done - but that's another blog) and the folks I spoke with a couple of times were, truly, excellent. Also, I would imagine that since Orange Village's mayor, Kathy Mulcahy, is on the board of the CCPC, well - that couldn't hurt, I hope.

However, and no surprise to anyone, not content to wait for others to get started, I've sent out a APB to my gov20 friends and also have started to browse around myself. Anyone can do this and it's fascinating to see what's out there - I'm not going to post every single thing I look through though I am saving most in an electronic file just to refer back to. But for example, here's a 2003 document from the University of Wisconsin's Local Government Center called, "Merger of City-Village Services: Best Practices."

In other words, while this may be somewhat rare and new around here, it's been studied and been done before, elsewhere. Reinventing the wheel isn't necessary, but re-tooling and modifying it to fit our circumstances? I'm sure.

Plain Dealer Poll: Would You Vote to Merge Your City With a Neighboring One?

2011-06-23T14:22:00.001-04:00

Click on the screenshot below of the Plain Dealer's poll to go answer it on their website or click here to go there.

Mayors' Merger Statement, June 22, 2011

2011-06-22T18:28:00.001-04:00

Text of the Mayors' Merger Statement:

Mayor Bruce Akers of Pepper Pike; Mayor Kathy Mulcahy of Orange Village, Mayor Susan Renda of Moreland Hills, and Mayor Charles Smith of Woodmere announced today that they feel the time is now appropriate for the four municipalities to seriously consider and to take the necessary steps to determine if merging the four into one community is in the best interests of their collective residents, economically and otherwise.

Historically, these four were all part of one governmental entity, then known as Orange Township. In fact, if you look up the biography of President James A. Garfield, you will note that he was born in Orange Township, but the log cabin was located in what is today Moreland Hills.

The Mayors said a merger between these specific communities could make sense since they already share the same school system, the same recreation department, the same senior citizens programs, and the same library.

At a time when there is increasing need for more governmental efficiencies and reductions in the costs of government, this step towards evaluating a merger of the four communities is long overdue. The mayors believe it is possible that, by reducing redundancies and integrating their services collaboratively, taxpayer dollars could be saved, thus easing the burden on each of our constituents now and in the future. It is increasingly evident that local governments just can’t keep doing business as usual.

The four mayors asked Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald if the County can assist in a study, perhaps with their resources in the County Planning Commission.

The mayors approached County Executive FitzGerald because they have been impressed with, and are encouraged by, Mr. FitzGerald’s comments on, and commitment to greater collaboration among local governments. In his meeting with the Cuyahoga County Mayors and Managers Association after his election, his inauguration address and his State of the County address, Mr. FitzGerald has called for more such collaborations. Through his commitment and far-sighted leadership, a thorough analysis of the benefits of merger could serve as a guide for other communities asking the same sort of questions on behalf of their constituents. These four mayors asked to serve as the County’s pilot case study.

Clearly, any sort of merger will take time, careful thought and patient deliberations. Under Ohio law, any such merger would ultimately have to be approved by the voters in all of the involved communities at a General Election. Whether it gets put before the voters in a year, two or three down the road, only time and results will tell. An initial step would be for a citizens committee to be formed to begin the discussion and participate in the process. The County should lead those deliberations.

While the study of a full merger is underway, the four mayors will continue to explore opportunities to share services and take advantage of other efficiencies that can be achieved through working collaboratively to serve all of their constituents. Ultimately, these efforts, in combination with the information learned from the study, will ensure that the residents of the four communities have the most effective governance structure with the highest quality of services in the most economical manner possible.

Today’s realities dictate bold initiatives, and while there will understandably be resistance, and even outright opposition to the mere thought of a possible merger, the four mayors feel strongly that the time is right for all the options to be considered. Only time and facts will tell.

N:\MS\2011\merg 6-21-11.docx

Today's Briefing Handout from Ed Jerse, Director of Regional Collaboration

2011-06-22T18:25:00.001-04:00

Text of the handout from Ed Jerse, Director of Regional Collaboration for Cuyahoga County:

BRIEFING ON MERGER STUDY

TO BE UNDERTAKEN BY PEPPER PIKE, ORANGE VILLAGE, MORELAND HILLS, AND WOODMERE

June 22, 2011

Overview

· Four Cuyahoga County communities – the City of Pepper Pike, Orange Village, the Village of Moreland Hills, and the Village of Woodmere – have agreed to study the possibility of a merger of their communities. This is not an agreement to merge, but an agreement to study the merits of a possible merger.

· Mergers of communities are governed by Sections 709.43 through 709.48 of the Ohio Revised Code. The formal process, which is outlined below, is lengthy and involved and must be undertaken over the course of two general elections. As a practical matter, if the communities choose to move forward, the first formal step would not be undertaken until August 2012.

· That timeline, however, gives the communities an important opportunity to informally study, with the support of Cuyahoga County and the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, the merits and mechanics of a possible merger. Over the coming year, interviews can be conducted, data needs can be identified, information can be gathered, and cost-benefit analyses can be conducted. These efforts will allow the communities to assess the wisdom of moving forward with a formal merger effort and, if they choose to move forward, will provide critical information for the next step in the process. Even if the communities choose not to pursue that course, the process will help identify opportunities for shared services and other efficiencies.

· Staff from the County Planning Commission will assist the communities in gathering the information needed and undertaking the cost-benefits analyses necessary to evaluate the merits of a merger.

· County Executive Ed FitzGerald commends Mayors Bruce Akers of Pepper Pike, Kathy Mulcahy of Orange Village, Susan Renda of Moreland Hills, and Charles Smith of Woodmere for stepping forward to explore this opportunity and to serve as a model for collaboration. The Executive and the Mayors recognize that mergers are very difficult to achieve. Still, this process will: assess the merits of a merger of these communities; identify opportunities for shared services between these communities; serve as a model for other communities considering merger; and build capacity in the County Planning Commission to support such efforts. With 59 communities in Cuyahoga County, and with the fiscal challenges facing each, the possibility of merger is an idea worthy of exploration.

The Merger Process

· Again, the process to merge communities is governed by Section 709.43 through 709.48 of the Ohio Revised Code. To briefly summarize the process, using an effort undertaken in 2012 as an example, the steps would be as follows. Step 1: In August 2012, communities seeking to merge would file petitions to place on the November general election ballot an initiative to establish a commission to conduct a merger study and prepare a “Report of Merger Conditions” and to nominate five commission members from each community. Step 2 (assuming approval of the initiative): Over the next year, the Commission meets, studies the merits and mechanics of a merger, and votes on a Report of Merger Conditions, which spells out the name and governing form of the proposed merged community. Step 3 (assuming approval of the Report by the Commission): In August 2013, the Commission certifies to the Board of Elections its agreement and the proposed merger conditions; Step 4: At the November 2013 general election, a ballot issue is placed before the voters of the affected communities asking whether they approve the Report of Merger Conditions and agree to merge; Step 5 (assuming approval by the voters): On January 1, 2014, the new merged community comes into existence.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Through this announcement, are the Mayors agreeing to merge their communities?

No. This is an agreement to study the merits of a merger. Any decision to merge would be made by the voters of the communities and only after lengthy and detailed analysis of the merits of a merger.

2. What will the study the mayors have requested entail?

Staff from the County Planning Commission will interview the mayors, identify information and data to be gathered, and begin a cost-benefit analysis of the merits of combined operations.

3. What is the next step after the study is completed?

The study is an informal process that will allow the mayors to assess the merits of a merger and decide if they wish to put the first formal question, i.e. whether a merger study commission should be formed, before the voters.

4. Is there any value in the study if the communities choose not to go forward with a formal merger effort?

Yes. Even if the communities choose not to move forward on a merger effort, the study may identify opportunities for shared services and efficiencies that the communities can undertake through agreement. The study effort will also serve as a model for other communities that may be considering merger.

5. If the informal study suggests that a merger makes sense, what would be the formal process to undertake a merger and what would be the timeline?

The formal merger process is a multi-step effort (outlined above). Briefly, the voters would need to approve a formal merger study commission; the commission would need to assess the merits of a merger (it could make use of the informal study) and produce a “Conditions of Merger Report” describing how the merged community would function; and the voters of each community would need to approve the Report and agree to merge. The two votes – to approve a study commission and to approve an actual merger – must take place at general elections, so those votes would be at least a year apart. (A single one-year extension of the second vote is an option.) If an initiative to create a study commission was filed in August 2012 and approved by voters in November 2012, the commission would undertake its work in the ensuing year and the formal report and question of ultimate merger could be placed before the voters in November 2013. If majorities in each community agreed to the merger, the new community would come into existence in January 2014.

6. If my community chooses not to merge, can it be forced into a merger by the other communities?

No. There are many “exit ramps” in this process. If a community concludes that the informal study does not warrant further exploration of merger, it can decline to advance the first formal initiative (to establish a study commission) or vote down that initiative if it is placed on the ballot. If the process gets to the next stage, a majority of the community’s five representatives on the merger commission can vote against the “Conditions of Merger Report” and that will end the process. If the ultimate question of merger, i.e. the second ballot issue, is placed before the voters, the community can vote against it. The defeat of the initiative by any one community defeats the entire measure, even if the other communities agree to merge. In short, each community controls its destiny and has numerous opportunities to bow out of the process.

Contact: Ed Jerse

Director of Regional Collaboration

216.698.2061

ejerse@cuyahogacounty.us

Video & Articles to Read Re: Today's #Burbmerger Announcement

2011-06-22T16:38:00.001-04:00

The Plain Dealer: Four East Side suburbs in Cuyahoga County to study merger

Crain's Cleveland Business: Mayors of four eastern suburbs in Cuyahoga County to explore merger

Cleveland Magazine: Pepper Pike, Orange, Moreland Hills & Woodmere may merge in 2014

County Press Release Re: Merger Study for Moreland Hills, Orange Village, Pepper Pike & Woodmere

2011-06-22T11:38:00.001-04:00

Just received:

FITZGERALD, FOUR MAYORS ANNOUNCE MERGER DISCUSSIONS
Mayors of Pepper Pike, Orange Village, Moreland Hills and Woodmere Willing to Begin a Process

CLEVELAND — Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald – accompanied by the mayors of four east side communities - announced today that the four communities will begin a process to study the possibility of merging their communities.

Mayors Bruce Akers of Pepper Pike, Kathy Mulcahy of Orange Village, Susan Renda of Moreland Hills, and Charles Smith of Woodmere agreed that – while today’s announcement is a first step to begin formal discussions – a potential merger could be a logical outcome for the communities, as they currently share the same school system, recreation department, library and senior citizens programs.

The Mayors also recognize that a merger could result in the elimination of redundant services which would save tax dollars for their citizens. In a statement issued by the four Mayors, they noted that it was “increasingly evident that local governments just can’t keep doing business as usual.”

County Executive Ed FitzGerald, in line with his initiative to encourage regional collaboration and sharing of government services, praised the decision to begin the discussion as “a bold collaboration by four leaders who are willing to do the smart and right thing for their communities. These Mayors have stepped forward to be the pilot program for other Cuyahoga County communities and will surely serve as a guide to other elected officials who are considering this option.”

The process of merging local governments involves approval by voters in the affected communities as outlined by state law. The Mayors pledged a full and open discussion within their communities as the merger option is considered. The Mayors also recommended that the County should take a leadership role in beginning these discussions and providing support for the merger study.

The County Executive and the four mayors also agreed to continue their efforts – through merger discussions and otherwise – to explore any and all opportunities to share services and identify efficiencies that can be achieved through collaboration.

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Live Tweets of PD's Laura Johnston & County Press Sec'y re: Moreland, Orange, Pepper Pike & Woodmere Merger Exploration

2011-06-22T10:59:00.010-04:00

I couldn't be there and I can't seem to get storify.com online, so here's what's out so far (check out @johnkohlstrand and @lauraejjohnston to see their streams on twitter.com). I'll update as there are more:

All four communities share schools, senior services, recreation. #burbmerger

Residents would have to vote in 2012 for formal study. Then, vote on whether to merge in 2013.

Communities have tossed around new names. One idea: Chagrin Hills

Orange mayor says her residents don't care where the truck comes from; they just need to know where to call.

County to help communities study cost savings. Residents could vote in 2013.

Woodmere mayor: "Our community will not be gobbled up."

Moreland Hills, Orange, Pepper Pike and Woodmere are studying merger

And we have a hashtag now - #burbmerger

From Cleveland Magazine, which ranked Pepper Pike #3 in this years suburb ratings:

@ClevelandMag: Woodmere Mayor Smith: "Time for leaders in smaller communities to try to come together." #burbmerger (best hashtag ever)

I have to agree - burbmerger is a good one!

Previous Cleveland Mag tweets on the announcement:

One possible name for towns considering merger: Chagrin Hills. #burbmerger

Suburbs shocker: The four merged suburbs will be Orange, Pepper Pike, Moreland Hills and Woodmere. #burbmerger

If voters approve a merger, they should be allowed to crowdsource the name of the new municipality.

Media Advisory: FITZGERALD AND MAYORS ANNOUNCE PLANS TO STUDY MERGER OF COMMUNITIES

2011-06-21T21:50:00.001-04:00

Received in my inbox this evening just after 9:45pm:

MEDIA ADVISORY
Media Contacts: Nicole Dailey Jones: (216) 263-4602, (216) 338-0863 or ndjones@cuyahogacounty.us
John Kohlstrand: (216) 698-2099 or jkohlstrand@cuyahogacounty.us

FITZGERALD and mayors announce plans to study merger of communities

CLEVELAND – Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald and four area mayors will announce on Wednesday, June 22 their intention to study the benefits of a merger of four communities.

WHAT:	Important announcement about regionalism in Cuyahoga County
WHO:	Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, four area Mayors
WHEN:	10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 22, 2011
WHERE:	Fourth floor, Cuyahoga County Administration Building, 1219 Ontario St., Cleveland

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THIS SUNDAY, JUNE 26: Tour Eight Fabulous Pepper Pike & Moreland Hills Gardens

2011-06-20T14:43:00.000-04:00

Please consider participating on Sunday, June 26th, in the garden tour of eight beautiful gardens in Pepper Pike and Moreland Hills. The event will benefit New Directions, a non-profit facility in Pepper Pike that has been serving chemically dependent adolescents and their families in NE Ohio for more than 30 years.

You can read great write-ups about the tour here and here. You also can view the announcement flyer with more information here. The essentials:

Date: Sunday, June 26, 2011
Time: 12pm-5pm
Cost: $20 in advance, $25 day-of

For more information, please call Kelly Welsh at New Directions, 216-591-0324 x164

PD's Frolik: Only One Question Voters Need to Ask Mayor, City Council Candidates: What Collaboration, Consolidation, Mergers Will You Pursue If Elected

2011-06-20T11:14:00.003-04:00

Plain Dealer editorial writer, Joe Frolik, is one of my most favorite PD people. I got to know him a bit in 2007 when I regularly participated in WCPN's weekly regional roundtable.

I loved his Sunday editorial, "Consolidation question should be uppermost of voters' minds." It was front and center on the Forum page. His gist: In recognition of this year being a municipal election year, when mayors and city council members run for election, retention or re-election, Joe suggests the following litmus test (and I do not mean that in a negative way but rather as the one question that he suggests voters should ask):

...let me suggest a question -- one that my colleagues on the editorial board and I will certainly pose when we interview candidates seeking The Plain Dealer's endorsement this fall:

"What collaborations, consolidations or mergers of city services will you pursue if elected?"

If the answer is something along the lines of "None that I can think of," or "No, we're good," end the conversation right there.

Anyone who can't see the need for local government to get dramatically more efficient isn't worth your time -- or your vote.

While I think voters can make that decision for themselves re: is the candidate worth your time, there's no question that collaboration, consolidation and mergers fevers are in the air.

Dave Lange, the editor of the Chagrin Valley Times, minced no words about this topic in his most recent commentary, "Regionalism vs Duplication" which you can read below:

Regionalism vs. Duplication (Chagrin Valley Times 6/16/11)

And Governor Kasich this week made statements that push in the same direction but even more so, almost sending the message, if you don't do it, we'll do it for you.

I've made my position clear over the last two regular Council meetings: Pepper Pike should aggressively engage in the process that directly involves the evolution of the Chagrin Valley District Council. Now is the time when we get our questions answered and can learn what we can and cannot get from the arrangement. Now is the time when we can raise points not only about what we need from the arrangement, but also regarding what we can contribute.

And now is the time to plan for how we would preserve the services which may not be compatible with the CVDC but which we decide we can afford to preserve, believe residents want to have preserved and actually support preserving on behalf of the City.

Here are links to three dispatch services studies I've received since sworn in in January 2010 regarding dispatch:

1. Baldwin Wallace study (received in the first quarter of 2010)
2. Tom Lekan study (received in late Spring 2010)
3. Study headed by Councilman Svetlik, Fall 2010 (note in particular pages 33-40, 41-45, 51-52, 63-70)

I'd also suggest people read this article from last week's Chagrin Valley Times which indicates that Bainbridge Township, a community that is 25 square miles with over 11,000 residents, spends $300,000 to run its dispatch center. (For comparison, Pepper Pike's Dispatch center is budgeted at $411,000 for 2011, the city is 7 square miles and we have just under 6,000 residents). While they have no plans to join any regional efforts, they also don't have the financial pressure to seek such alliances.

Please, regardless of your preference - and perhaps you feel you don't know enough to have a preference (I certainly felt that way for many months), call us up and contribute your comments, concerns and questions.

City Council Presentation Tips From The Top of Tech

2011-06-11T21:35:00.000-04:00

From Luke Fretwell, at one of my most favorite sites/projects, GovFresh, in "How to present to your City Council like Steve Jobs":

Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently presented to the Cupertino, CA, city council on the company’s plans for building a new campus. Jobs is deferential and tells a great story about Apple’s history and its relationship with Cupertino.

Next time you present to your council, wear a black mock turtleneck and consider this an instructional video. You may never be your city’s largest taxpayer, but you could win their vote.

Be sure to click over to the post to see not one but two instructional videos, complete with Jobs making his presentations, five years apart, but in the exact same shirt.

“There’s just no excuse for our government to remain in the last century”

2011-06-06T21:44:00.001-04:00

I know exactly how New York's junior US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand feels when she makes that statement. Earlier today, I watched her talk (via the livestream taken during the first day of PdF 2011 aka Personal Democracy Forum 2011) about how to change politics from the inside out - and you can watch her too:

Watch live streaming video from pdf2011 at livestream.com

It's not long and she gives numerous examples, big and small, of how government can and why it should open up.

If you prefer, you can read about her presentation here, "A story about data: Kirsten Gillibrand on the right way for government officials to expose themselves online."

Orange House Tour (of homes in Pepper Pike)

2011-06-02T12:09:00.000-04:00

Don't let the name fool you! The Orange Art Center will host the Orange House Tour tomorrow, June 3 and it features five Pepper Pike homes, with the sixth home hosting a patron party in the evening.

There is still time for you to get tickets. The weather is going to be beautiful - not sure if I can say more beautiful than the homes, but you won't know unless you go. Due to a child-related commitment, I'm unable to attend the tour and the patron party that follows but, over the years, I have envied people who have both provided the homes and toured them.

More info from the Tour's website after the jump.

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!

The Orange Art Center is proud to bring back it's HOME TOUR! Gone may be it's much beloved name, "Barefoot In The Parlor", but the quality of the tour, the ingredients of education and art, and the attention to detail, graciousness and hospitality remains.

Many thanks to our six homeowners for their kindness and community spirit. Many thanks to our MAJOR SPONSORS: FIBERSEAL for underwriting our postcard, ADAM KAUFMAN of Howard Hanna Real Estate for sponsoring the AfterTour ENCORE PATRON PARTY, and KEY BANK.

All proceeds from the new 2011 House and Outdoor Living Tour benefits the Orange Art Center.


BASIC TOUR:
This year's tour will feature 5 homes in Pepper Pike and Moreland Hills. Every home will be open from noon to 6pm and can be viewed in any order.

    Each home has been REDESIGNED, REMODELED and
    REPURPOSED for today's lifestyle...highlighting "outdoor spaces &
    living".

Your ticket price includes a TourBooklet full of useful information including home addresses, map and describing the features in and history of each home.


PATRON TICKET:
In addition to the featured 5 homes on tour, your Patron Ticket gives you entrance to our AfterTour ENCORE! EVENING PATRON PARTY at the DAZZLING 6th HOME...that of Wendy & Jeff Berry.

    Wendy, owner of W DESIGN in Chagrin Falls, is one of the
    hottest designers in town and is a 2011 Sand Dollar Award winner.
   Her home is a WOW! She has TRANSFORMED
    her home and grounds into a showhouse that is still a care-free
    family and entertaining delight.

Please see the menu at right to PURCHASE BASIC AND PATRON TICKETS, become an ADVERTISER / SPONSOR in the TourBooklet, and, learn more about the AfterTour ENCORE! EVENING PATRON PARTY.

             Please review the TOUR INFORMATION Section which
                         gives specific information & answer your questions.

For additional information and to obtain your tickets, stop at the Orange Art Center, 31500 Chagrin Boulevard, Pepper Pike, OH 44124 or call 216-831.5130.

Visit the website for more information.

CANCELED: This evening's Planning & Zoning Meeting

2011-05-02T09:50:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to be sure people were aware the the meeting was canceled for May. See here for the official cancellation notice.

Read, Offer Feedback on Financial Review Committee Report

2011-04-19T16:51:00.000-04:00

I sent out the following email this morning. Please share the Financial Review Committee's report with other Pepper Pike residents The Committee's report includes many recommendations, including one for a road levy of 2.6 mills. One ordinance, among the many that will be introduced at tomorrow evening's Council meeting in response to the Committee's report, would move the City toward placing a property tax levy on the August ballot. Please consider providing feedback to the Mayor and Council through phone calls, emails, regular mail or face to face visits in regard to this recommendation as well as any other questions, comments or concerns you may have.

Good morning,

Three quick notes:

1. As you may recall, the mayor convened a committee of seven citizens last fall, the Financial Review Committee. Their final report was given to Council last Wednesday. It is now available online. You can read it here or open the corresponding attachment in this email [no attachment to this post though]. If you have trouble opening the document, please contact the Clerk of Council, Sheila O'Connor, at 216-896-6128.

2. The monthly City Council meeting will occur tomorrow, Wednesday, April 20 at 8pm in City Hall. It is, as always, open to the public. You can see the agenda here, but I've also attached it [again, not attached to this post]. It is in a pdf format. If you are unable to open it, please contact Sheila for that as well.

3. The Pepper Pike Civic League's Town Hall Meeting is Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at Brady Middle School, 7:00-8:30 PM. The focus is on getting to know our new Cuyahoga County Council. The featured speaker will be Jack Schron, our 6th District Representative. You can see the flyer for more information here.

Thank you as always for letting me serve and for living in Pepper Pike.

Best,
Jill

Chagrin Solon Sun Letters to the Editor Information

2011-03-30T21:25:00.000-04:00

In tomorrow's paper, from Linda Kinsey, Executive Editor of Sun News:

A recent letter to the editor published in one of our print editions raised the hackles of a group of readers, prompting our editors to take a closer look at our letters policy.

The letter, the offended parties cried, contained a number of factual errors that distorted the truth. In this case, teachers’ salaries and benefits was the hot-button issue.

The phones rang, and rebuttal letters poured in. It was clear that lots of folks – mostly teachers — were upset with us and they wanted us to know that in no uncertain terms. One angry, anonymous caller left a voicemail berating us for publishing the letter, finishing the rant by calling us “Nazis.” Wow.

With so many school levies on the ballot this year, both pro- and anti-levy letters are jamming our mailboxes, including our e-mails. We decided it was time to revisit Sun’s letters policy, which was formally adopted about 10 years ago, to make sure both editors and readers understand the rules of the game.

A meeting of editors was called, and we challenged ourselves on every point of our old policy. At the heart of our sometimes heated discussion was the notion that if we err, it will be on the side of including letters — rather than rejecting them. Except for just a few specific reasons listed later in this piece, your letter is very likely to be published.

Another point on which we all agreed whole-heartedly was that letters are a vital part of a good paper and we need to encourage readers to voice their opinions. Most newspapers want readers to view the Opinion page as a town forum, where all voices and opinions can be aired. We are no exception. When we say we welcome your letters, we mean it. Even the ones that are critical of our paper.

In order to ensure that your voice is heard, we do ask that you follow a few guidelines:

1. Include your name, address and phone numbers on both mailed letters and those sent via e-mail. We need to reach you during regular business hours to verify that you are the writer, but only your name and community will be published.

2. Keep it friendly, folks. Name-calling and personal attacks will cause your letter to be edited or rejected.

3. Keep it factual. Sun will not knowingly publish letters with factual errors.

4. Keep it original. Form letters pulled from advocacy websites will not be used. If you are fired up about an issue, your own words will express it best.

5. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but it also will go a long way toward getting your letter published. We ask that you keep your letters to 300 words or less. This is more of a guideline than a rule. Because space is limited, letters that are short and to the point have a better chance of making it into print.

6. Get it to us on time. Letters should reach us by noon on Monday.

Will we ever reject a letter? Yes, especially if it is libelous. We strive to adhere to good journalism. Besides, no one really wants to wind up in court. In addition, anonymous letters are never published.

We also reject letters from political candidates and their families during election season. We consider a candidate to be anyone who has declared an intent to run for office, whether or not that person has filed with the elections board. Supporters not related to the candidate are free to submit letters.

We will edit letters for clarity, civility and brevity, and writers generally are limited to one letter a month.

If we get more letters than space to run them, we may publish some of them online, but we’ll give you the link so you can get to them quickly. Editors will make every attempt to publish representative viewpoints, and in some cases excerpts of letters may be published if there are more letters than space.

With a local-elections year, enormous cuts in state funding to schools, local municipalities and libraries, along with school levies, sewer and water rate increases, there is more than enough to weigh in on.

So whether you are amused, angered or enlightened by letters, we encourage you to have your say.

Kinsey is executive editor at Sun News.

Learning from other's mistakes

2011-03-06T17:26:00.000-05:00

The salient statements are so often found in the last words of even the longest pieces. From today's New York Times Magazine article, "Broke Town, USA":

Until voters can agree on what government services they want and will pay for, it is possible that bondholders will bank the profits while taxpayers, employees and citizens share the losses.

It is this issue of voters agreeing on what government services they want and will pay for that most resonates for me, and why, for more than a year, I've wanted a resident survey to assist us in aligning our revenues with our expenditures.