8/3/2019 New $45M State Fund to Reward Local Government Collaboration

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Monday January 23, 2012

New $45M state fund to reward local

government collaborationAnd early interest hints that many municipalities may finally be readyBy JAY MILLER

4:30 am, January 23, 2012

This may be the year local governments truly embrace regional collaboration. Budget forecasts are sogloomy that most communities no longer can ignore the potential savings they might achieve by sharingservices with their neighbors.

An added incentive to embrace such change comes from the Kasich administration, which helped create the

cash crunch communities face by reducing their state support in Ohio's current biennial budget. It hascreated the $45 million Local Government Initiative Fund to offer communities modest financial help tomake the transition.

The lure of that money attracted 300 government officials to Corporate College East in WarrensvilleHeights last Tuesday, Jan. 17, to learn how to tap into the state's fund, which is a mix of loans and grants. Asimilar presentation in Columbus earlier this month attracted 800 people either in person or on a webcast,said Randy Cole, president of the Ohio Controlling Board and a member of the council that will evaluateapplications for the fund's money.

Mr. Cole told the police and fire chiefs, mayors, economic development directors and other local officialsgathered last week that they face a once-in-a-lifetime chance to change the way services are delivered.

Cutting the cost of government is a fundamental principal of Gov. John Kasich and officials in hisadministration. They understood that the cuts in state support to local government would force communitiesto rethink the wisdom of each municipality hiring its own trash collectors and of school districts operatingtheir own bus systems.

The money in the fund is designed to finance some of the upfront costs that have been barriers to efforts toshare services or consolidate operations. Communities will be able to use grants to see if an idea is feasibleand use loans to finance the hardware or other capital costs it might take to implement an idea.

Over the last year, Mr. Cole said, he has been studying the way communities are cutting costs and sharing

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services. He said he has found 91 different kinds of collaboration in the state.

Mr. Cole cited Hamilton County, where county government has turned over administration of its emailsystem to the Hamilton County Educational Services Center, a county school district.

They could provide it better and cheaper, so (the county) is getting out it, he said.

But, Mr. Cole said, more must be done.

Yes, you're doing shared services, he said he told one government official recently. You're doing A,we're doing B and they're doing C. We're just not doing A, B, C and D together.

Now, Mr. Cole said, It's time to connect the dots.

Ahead of the curveNortheast Ohio communities have gotten off to a faster start than other areas of the state when it comes tocollaborative efforts.

The foundation-financed EfficientGovNetwork has used modest financial awards to get communitiesthinking about collaborative efforts. From that program, communities shared information technology,formed joint economic development districts and, in the case of school districts in Orrville and Rittman in

Wayne County, shared top administrators. In the latter example, the program gave the district $70,000 fornew equipment, including a networked file server they could share.

The new state fund has similar goals, as do some of the communities that had attendees at the CorporateCollege session.

Kenneth Perry, economic development director of Brooklyn Heights, said his mayor, Mike Procuk, will beparticipating in a meeting in Seven Hills next month with Mayor Richard Dell'Aquila and mayors fromother nearby cities to plot a collaboration strategy. Mr. Perry said he expects centralized police and firedispatching will be high on the list of subjects discussed.

Likewise, Richmond Heights councilwoman Meisha Headen said she hopes her community will team up

with a neighboring city to look at the idea of sharing police and fire chiefs. A charter amendment on last

November's ballot unsuccessfully sought to allow the city to enter into joint service agreements.

Ms. Headen said she hopes a state grant will help the city succeed the next time.Making the gradeThe state fund is open to all government entities in Ohio. Part of the money $9 million will beavailable for grants that can be used to examine the feasibility of an idea. No-interest loans will be availablefor expenditures to implement the ideas.

Applications for the first round of money are due March 1, but the cash will not be available until July 1,

the start of the state's fiscal 2013. A second application round is scheduled for fall.

In a memo to his mayor, Brooklyn Heights' Mr. Perry summed up the requirements for a successfulapplication: We were also told that they will not be just issuing money for grants and loans but only where

there is a "demonstrable return on investment' for the "partnering communities and the state of Ohio.'

They are going to be grading all of the funding submissions and the ones receiving the highest scores willbe given priority, Mr. Perry wrote in the memo. We wouldn't want it any other way, correct?