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Four mayors put on good show
(by Dave Lange - August 03, 2011)
COUNTY LINE, BY DAVE LANGE
Four mayors put on good show
Whether they call it Chagrin Hills, as one news source suggested, Morechagrin, Chagrin Pike, Chagrinmere or Chagorange, it's not going to happen. Neither is it "A tale of four cities," as suggested in a news graphic.
Reportedly, the mayors of Pepper Pike, Orange, Moreland Hills and Woodmere have been discussing the merger of their four municipalities for a couple years.
Among them, only Pepper Pike exceeds the mere 5,000 population mark set by the state of Ohio for city status. Nearly 6,000 people make their homes in Pepper Pike. Orange and Moreland Hills each have about 3,320 residents, which makes them villages, not cities -- and thus, according to the dictionary, less important. Woodmere has a mere 884 residents, which makes it a little village based on population, but the dictionary should not belittle its importance.
The fact that Pepper Pike Mayor Bruce H. Akers, Orange Mayor Kathy U. Mulcahy, Moreland Hills Mayor Susan C. Renda and Woodmere Mayor Charles E. Smith have been discussing the possibility of turning their one little city and three littler villages into one somewhat larger but still small suburban city is a credit to their wisdom. But it lends very little credit to reality, because what's wise and what's real are two different things.
Duplication of services by many small political subdivisions, which means using tax dollars to pay for many more elected officials than necessary, as well as for multiple police, fire and service departments, each with its own chief or director, is wasteful and expensive. Operating larger municipal governments is more efficient and less expensive on a per-capita basis.
However, even though taxpayers generally insist that they don't like paying higher taxes, they just as generally insist on higher taxes to support individualized smaller governments.
Moreland Hills recently opened a new $2.09 million, 15,000-square-foot service center. About 1.25 miles away, Orange is paying an architecture firm $150,000 to design a new service center to be built on property for which the village paid $1.25 million. Pepper Pike is looking at a $2.2 million budget shortfall and wondering whether to ask residents to pay $25 a month, or $600,000 a year, to continue backyard rubbish collection. Woodmere employs a full-time police force of 13 or 15 officers, depending on whom you ask, to watch over its 0.33 square mile of territory.
There are good arguments why Pepper Pike, Orange, Moreland Hills and Woodmere should merge into one happy little city of about 13,500 residents, which would rank Chagrinmore or Pepperless or Orangemere as the 28th largest among Cuyahoga County's 58 political subdivision. But there are no good arguments why they actually will.
Sure, many years ago, when President-to-be James A. Garfield was born in what then was a nonexistent Moreland Hills, all four communities were part of what now is a nonexistent Orange Township. But try telling people in South Russell they should go back to Russell Township or that Chagrin Falls Township doesn't need a separate government from Chagrin Falls village.
And yes, except for part of Moreland Hills, they all are in the Orange School District, which apparently is a moot point for Hunting Valley, which also is in the same school district and has no intention of merging.
But thanks, Mr. Akers, Ms. Mulcahy, Mrs. Renda and Mr. Smith, for putting on a good show.
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