Akron's mayoral cabinet members and the rest of his staff have a new assignment: read his Blue Ribbon Task Force's report.
Mayor Dan Horrigan said moments after task force chair Tim Ochsenhirt handed it to him that he had not seen it yet. Ochsenhirt gave a preview, saying that some of the main themes include suggestions to lessen subsidies to things like Akron Fulton Airport and two city-owned golf courses, monetizing some assets and how to move forward on the combine sewer project.
"We found Akron to be very positive," said Ochsenhirt. "I think it's positive in what it's done over the years, positive in its citizens and we had a lot of citizen input."
Lessening subsidies and monetizing assets - does that mean getting rid of the airport or the golf courses? Not exactly.
"The city needs to look, general speaking, how to utilize those assets and how it might be able to turn those assets into liquidity for the city, not necessarily for operating costs but for future investment for the city," said task force member Brian Nelsen.
He refers to the city as being "asset rich" and does not rule out selling or leasing as one part of a strategy.
Ochsenhirt says the city should partner with Summit Metro Parks regarding the golf courses. He says the airport is a valuable asset but one that needs nurturing in an area that also needs nurturing to make it more successful and reduce the amount of money the city needs to spend on it each years.
Another suggestion is for the city to seek conservation easements around reservoirs it owns, part of about 19,000 acres in Portage and Geauga counties.
"It would also provide dollars for the city and potentially be of value in the CSO issue because we would be permanently improving upstream the quality of the water," said Tom Chema, a task force member.
Horrigan says the report likely contains information that prompts him how to approach some problems, rather than offering specific solutions.
"A lot of these are suggestions," said Horrigan. "What we need to do is get in there as a staff, an administration and a city is start to pick some of these things apart and figure out how to implement something like that."
Horrigan says some of the ideas may already be in discussion or implementation. He also says it's possible that additional groups will be put together to come up with action plans on some of the suggestions.
Some of the other items in the report include moving Akron Municipal Court, taking better advantage of existing economic development resources, creating better leadership & planning in each of the city's neighborhoods.