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Rejuvenating county is candidates' focus
(by Sali McSherry - October 20, 2010)
Rejuvenating county is candidates' focus
By SALI McSHERRY
A Moreland Hills entrepreneur and a Pepper Pike councilman and attorney, who also is an entrepreneur, are vying for the District 6 Cuyahoga County Council seat. Citizens will vote on whether Republican Jack Schron, of Moreland Hills, or Democrat Frederick Taft, of Pepper Pike, will represent the sprawling district of 21 communities in the newly reformed county government.
The reformed government will be comprised of an elected executive and 11 council members.
District 6 encompassing the cities of Brecksville, Broadview Heights, Highland Heights, Independence, Mayfield Heights, Pepper Pike and Solon, the villages of Bentleyville, Brooklyn Heights, Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga Heights, Gates Mills, Glenwillow, Hunting Valley, Mayfield, Moreland Hills, Newburgh Heights, Oakwood, Valley View and Walton Hills and Chagrin Falls Township.
The two-year council term has an annual salary of $45,000.
Mr. Taft is serving his fourth term as a Pepper Pike Council member. Mr. Schron served on the Chagrin Falls School Board for 12 years.
Mr. Taft said he wants to bring greater coordination to the county's vast human-services system. Altogether, services to children and families, health programs and the justice system account for more than two thirds of the county budget, he said. The question for each of those county departments is, "How is it making families stronger?" he said. "As an example, we must be sure that the criminal-justice system and family services are not working at cross purposes. The pervasive goal is to help families succeed and have children grow into capable, self-sufficient adults," he said.
The first item that should be on the agenda, Mr. Schron said, is the formation of an ethics code, especially in light of former county leaders indicted for corruption. It has been a one-party rule for a long time, he said of the Democrats. And right off the bat, the County Council will be analyzing potential senior-level managers who will be recommended by the county executive, he said.
Mr. Taft said he wants to work with county officials "to design and convene an online strategic conversation to help build community insight and consensus on the best way to invest the county's economic-development resources." Through publication of his book, "Taft Strategic Atlas: U.S. Health Care Reform," and work on a software program, he said, he has developed a way of structuring and managing such a conversation.
Last spring, Mr. Taft helped lead Pepper Pike into thinking in terms of strategic planning and five-year financial forecasting following a financial crunch in which staffing and salaries had to be decreased. Last year, the city saw medical costs soar and estate taxes significantly decrease, he said.
The city's tax structure has remained unchanged for almost 40 years, and Pepper Pike's 1 percent income tax is one of the lowest in the county. The goal is to wean the city from its reliance on inheritance taxes, because it is a volatile source of revenue, which in the past 15 years ranged from $400,000 a year to $4 million a year, Mr. Taft said. And no longer is City Council budgeting just one year at a time, he said.
President and co-owner of the manufacturing company Jergens Inc., Mr. Schron said the two cornerstones of Northeast Ohio's economy are the medical community and manufacturing.
With the new medical mart, convention center and casino on the horizon, Northeast Ohio is on the threshold of becoming economically vibrant, he said. But the county needs to court new businesses to the area, Mr. Schron said. Rather than losing manufacturing jobs for items used in the medical community, "manufacturing central" would work with local hospitals to identify opportunities to keep manufacturing jobs in the county, he said.
By linking all of the resources within the county, Mr. Schron said he wants to "throw out a welcome mat" for attracting businesses to the county by linking organizations like Manufacturing Advocacy Growth Network, Team Northeast Ohio, Jumpstart, Wire-Net, schools and national trade associations.
As an example of rebuilding, a "50-acre site that once sat idle for 18 years with decaying buildings and trash is now the gateway for eastern Cuyahoga County and the home of Jergens Inc.," Mr. Schron said. That was followed by the Cleveland Foodbank consolidating on the site, the building of the laundry services for the Cleveland Clinic and recently the building of the Social Security offices. "Where there was once blight now, there are hundreds of jobs," Mr. Schron said. A wind-monitoring tower was installed last week in anticipation of the installation of wind turbine power.
Mr. Taft said, "The county role is to promote an entrepreneurial environment through measures that promise a high return on modest investment: internships, competitions, mentoring programs, seminars, online strategic conversations. We can raise our expectations and lead our region into an era of continuous job growth."
The functionality of county operations needs improvement, Mr. Schron said. There needs to commonality as far as human-resources procedures and job descriptions across all county departments. The county could save between 15 percent and 25 percent in technology purchasing costs by using universal computer software tools, equipment and supplies, he said.
As a City Council member and as a business lawyer, Mr. Taft said he has learned "how to foster open discussion, clear analysis, genuine collaboration and wise decisions. I will use these skills to help build a council that operates honestly and effectively."
Mr. Taft has shifted from being a full-time partner to being of counsel with the Spieth, Bell, McCurdy & Newell law firm. He served as president of the City Club of Cleveland and president of the club's endowment foundation and was inducted into the City Club Hall of Fame. He also has served on the boards of the Children's Aid Society and the Family Health Association, a member of the visiting committee of the Colleges of Case Western Reserve University and a member of the advisory committee of the Adolescent Health Center at the School of Medicine.
Mr. Taft is owner and president of Public Strategy Co. and Policy Intel.
Retired as a lieutenant colonel after serving 28 years in the U.S. Army, three years active duty and 25 in the Reserves, Mr. Schron was appointed by Gov. Bob Taft and Gov. Ted Strickland to serve on Clean Ohio Council, a $200 million fund for brownfields cleanup throughout the state. He and his son, Chad, who co-founded Tooling University, an online education business providing knowledge for those seeking critical skills in industry, recently sold the company. Today, Tooling University offers over 400 classes to more than 100,000 students. "The jobs stay here in Northeast Ohio," Mr. Schron said.
He serves on the business advisory board for the Federal Reserve Bank and was appointed by Mr. Strickland to the governor's workforce policy board. He also serves on the boards of MAGNET and Wire-Net.
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