Government

New government collaborations seem to be sprouting anew every day, which is good news for the EfficientGovNow competition that awards the region's most promising collaborations.

I spoke today with more than a dozen elected officials in Stark County about the competition and learned of several new collaborations, including a large effort to provide shared data recovery services to local governments throughout much of Northeast Ohio. And Stark County's long-discussed 911 consolidation project took another step forward, as this story from the Canton Repository highlights. And 911 consolidation is on the table down in Wayne County too, according to this story in the Wooster Daily Record.

Please visit the EfficientGovNow web site regularly to track the submissions to the latest round of the competition and get ready to vote for the best projects in May. Most importantly, encourage your local government officials to continue to find news way to collaborate and share so that the growth of local government spending slows and the quality of government services rise.

Enhancing the quality of life in Northeast Ohio's core cities is one of the key goals of Advance Northeast Ohio, and now a state commission has joined the call to do more to strengthen our urban areas.

The Ohio Cities Task Force, a 29-member group representing Ohio leaders from a variety of sectors, announced a blueprint for redevelopment and smart growth in Ohio yesterday. Included in the task force’s recommendations were a number of policy and legislative initiatives that focus on strengthening Ohio’s urban centers. Specific recommendations were split among the following categories: land use; development; transportation; workforce and quality of life; and regionalism.

Here is a key conclusion of the report (which I haven't been able to find online):

“Future prosperity in this state hinges upon sharing municipal services, coordinating economic and transportation construction, and maximizing investments by directing them to locations in a region where they will leverage the highest payoff. These goals require difficult discussion at the local level about land use, revenue sharing, and voluntary consolidation of programs and services. . . Ohio has a strong tradition of home rule, and the state is currently limited in the amount of financial incentives it can offer to encourage a regional approach.”

That conclusion echoes the efforts of the Regional Prosperity Initiative to bring infrastructure planning and revenue sharing to Northeast Ohio and the goals of EfficientGovNow, a program that encourages greater government collaboration.

The permanent fiscal crisis plaguing local governments across Northeast Ohio is encouraging greater collaboration among governmental units. The latest example is several Portage County communities will be relying on Trumbull County to provide emergency dispatch services.

Reporter Diane Smith shares the details in this story in the Record-Courier. Some in Portage County would still like to see a county-wide dispatch system for that county, but perhaps a multi-county dispatch service makes even more sense down the road.

Spurring innovation and technology commercialization in key growth industries is one of the strategies of Advance Northeast Ohio and there's no more important element of that strategy than the state's Third Frontier program.

Third Frontier has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into research and commercialization efforts at area institutions and companies this decade. That investment has paid off by generating billions in additional investment and thousands of jobs. As this editorial in the Akron Beacon Journal points out, the program has paid off for the state and needs to be continued. Recently, Bill Harris, the President of the Senate, came out in support of placing a $1 billion bond initiative on the ballot in May. If voters approve the bond issue, then the Third Frontier will continue into the future. The Legislature will need to approve the bond issue by Feb. 3. It's worth getting familiar with this issue and sharing your perspective with your legislator.

The pace of progress in Northeast Ohio is accelerating and one of the biggest opportunities for real change is now at hand. Cuyahoga County, which is home to more than one-fourth of Northeast Ohio residents, is embarking on a new form of government in the wake of the passage last week of Issue 6. But will changing the form of government result in a more collaborative, efficient government advocated by partners in Advance Northeast Ohio? The Plain Dealer has provided thorough coverage of this and related issues, including this recent story by Laura Johnston.

As we saw earlier this year with the EfficientGovNow competition, government officials and the public are eager to embrace collaborations that improve government services and lower costs. One of the key goals of a restructured Cuyahoga County government should be to encourage more collaboration among county agencies and other local governments -- inside and outside of Cuyahoga County.

Another major opportunity for progress is embedded into the charter. Each year county officials are required to develop a five-year economic development plan. That plan should leverage the work of the region's economic development organizations, including Team NEO, BioEnterprise, NorTech, MAGNET, the Minority Business Accelerator 2.5+ and JumpStart. A stronger, more efficient, effective Cuyahoga County can be an invaluable asset in accelerating the transformation of our region's economy. This is an opportunity that must be seized.