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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Reinventing Ohio's Lucas County Government

It's about time the citizens of Ohio's Lucas County seriously consider the possibility of changing the composition, structure, and form of local government for Lucas County. As a matter of fact, I think it is way, way overdue. Quite frankly, I have discussed this topic from time to time with many people over the past twenty-five years or so.

Almost one year ago, August 8, 2007 to be exact, I wrote the Roland Hansen Commentary Change Lucas County, Ohio Government! If you did not read it previously, I suggest you do so now. If you did read it previously it might be a good idea to read it again as a refresher.

Article X of the Ohio Constitution allows for a charter form of Ohio County Government. However, of the 88 counties in Ohio, only one, Summit County, has made the transition. A reading of the history of Summit County indicates the change came about due to a combination of factors such as an uneasy economy with the loss of local jobs totalling in the thousands, wrongdoings in some segments of county government, county residents loosing faith in their local government, and a county government mired in controversy. That is a description of Summit County in the 1970s. It sure sounds like Lucas County today to me!

When speaking with the citizens of Lucas County, whether it be in person or by proxy nowadays via the internet, there appears to be many people who express an interest in changing or reinventing Ohio's Lucas County government. However, it appears folks will talk the talk, but not walk the walk. It is unfortunate, but it seems to me that, in reality, there are insufficient numbers of people who are willing to actually take an active role and become personally involved in effectuating change. They just do not seem to want to put forth the effort and volunteer their time to bring about the result of a different county government that they express in conversation.

By golly, if there were Lucas County residents who really and truly cared to do whatever is necessary to bring about a change in the form of government for Lucas County, including an initiative referendum, I would be right there doing whatever I could to help bring about the desired result. As a matter of fact, I am willing to take a very active role if a sufficient number of people let it be known they would also be willing to spend the time and effort needed. Hey, if we started working now on bringing about a change in county government here in Lucas County, we actually might be able to vote on such a change in the election of 2009!!!

5 comments:

Ben said...

I dont think Lucas County wants to mimic Summit Co. I am not really all that caught up on how things are going in Lucas, but Summit, lets just say it could be better here.

Hooda Thunkit (Dave Zawodny) said...

I too have echoed the same sentiments, mostly in favor of a very weak mayor, city manager all district form of government, but as one friend pointed out, and quite correctly so, it's not so much the form of government as it is the quality of those running for the office.

Unfortunately for us, we suffer a lack of balance, with one party dominating local politics for decades and decades.

I would love to see a more balanced government with a mixture of regular folks (not the "Dynasty" candidates we have now) and a fair mix of candidates of candidates including those with experience in both big and small business AND, of course, just regular folks.

Logic, reason and consensus over Party politics, can go a very long way towards curing our "government" ills. . .

Roland Hansen said...

Ben,
I understand where you are coming from; however, Article X of the Ohio Constitution allows for great flexibility.
Lucas County under home rule may have its own form of county government that could be entirely different than the form that Summit County chose to adapt.
I mentioned Summit County in my entry as an example to provide verification that Ohio's county governments may indeed choose to adapt a different form of government than the traditional one followed by the other 87 counties in Ohio.

Hooda Thunkit,
I think we need more people willing to step up to the plate and be counted by running for elective office rather than just running at the mouth. I also believe we need a media that would provide equal and fair coverage for all candidates rather than just the major party endorsed candidates.
My own attempts in 2006 as a candidate in seeking election to the State Board of Education of Ohio District 2 and in 1999 as a candidate seeking election to Toledo City Council District 6 is pretty good evidence that the traditional news media fails to provide fair, equal, and objective coverage thereby enabling the traditional press to formulate public opinion affecting the electorate's ability to make a better informed judgment and consequently the election outcomes.

Kadim said...

I'm a fan of Summit County's chartered government (perhaps that's because I was raised there and only later did I learn that not everyone had a county councilman. :-)

Having said that, if you are going to try switching a county today, I say go for it all and combine the townships and cities with the county into a chartered uni-gov.

While the conservative in me naturally shivvers at the idea of centralized government, I have come to the realize that this system of townships/cities/counties which we inherited from the New Englanders (mixed in with home rule)...sucks. It perpetuates bad government and it's inefficiencies are terrible.

Echoing hooda thunkit's thoughts...according to a recent article I read, Ohio has about 19,000 elected offices. Almost the entirety of the officeholders are known more for their mediocrity than anything else. Cutting that down significantly may go some way to increasing the quality.

Roland Hansen said...

Come to think of it:
It is Lucas County and not the City of Toledo that put the Conference Center, the ballpark, and now the arena into downtown Toledo.
On top of that almost all, if not all, Lucas County main offices are in downtown Toledo. And, Lucas County, is a major tenant of One Government Center, the Michael V. DiSalle high-rise State of Ohio, City of Toledo, County of Lucas government office complex.
Maybe, we should eliminate the city government of Toledo and the governments of other cities, villages, and townships within Lucas County and place them all under the jurisdiction of a revised system of county government in which members of the Board of Lucas County Commissioners would be elected from 7 or 9 or 11 districts rather than the present 3-member at-large system of county government. We could also then choose to have either an appointed or elected professional County Administrator.