Displaying items by tag: Blue Ribbon Panel

The city of Akron's Blue Ribbon panel report has gotten a lot of reaction since it landed on the desk of Akron mayor Dan Horrigan.

Most of the feedback has been positive, but one group has concerns about one recommendation, about possible privatization of the city's utilities.

Greg Coleridge, director of the Northeast Ohio Friends Service Committee, says Akron voters earlier rejected selling the city's sewer system, which was part of former mayor Don Plusquellic's "Sewers for Scholarships" plan.

He says the city would lose control and input with private utility companies based in other states or even countries...particularly water companies headquartered in other countries.

Overall, Coleridge agrees with other recommendations by the Blue Ribbon panel.

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(Northeast Ohio Friends Servce Committee) Open Letter to Mayor Dan Horrigan and Akron City Council Regarding Blue Ribbon Task Force Report

February 8, 2016

Greetings!

We write in response to the February 1, 2016 Blue Ribbon Task Force report.

We understand and commend the desire and need to have an outside ad hoc group assess
the current conditions of the city and the present structure and policies of the city
government, as well as offer recommendations for improvement.

There is much in the report with which we agree. Many of the challenges Akron faces
are, as the report states, due to external political and economic conditions that are shared
by other cities — namely deindustrialization, federal and state budget cuts, and the recent
economic Recession.

We would point out that each of these realities has been caused in no small degree by the
growing power and rights of business corporations and the super wealthy few. They've
exerted political and economic influence over public policies and the economy in support
of tax cuts, subsidies, perks, contracts and reductions of regulations which have further
consolidated their power and rights and increased their fortunes. The losers, of course,
have been programs, policies and people in urban, rural and suburban areas, including
Akron — specifically the poor, elderly, persons of color, working class and differently
abled.

Not all of Akron's current problems are due, however, to external factors. Some have
been self-inflicted. The past decision by the Administration to fight the EPA over the
city's combined sewer overflow resulted in substantial federal dollars left on the table
that now must come out of the pockets of Akron water and sewer customers.

The Task Force report asserts that, "[t]he single largest challenge facing the City is its
financial condition." We agree. It's appropriate, therefore, that many of its
recommendations address ways to reduce costs or increase income.

Prior to listing any specific recommendations, the report wisely declares, "some of them
will require further study; others will require additional resources (human and capital);
and still others just may not work at this time."

We respectfully offer that one of the recommendations in the later category, that "just
may not work at this time," that we believe should not work out ANY time, is selling,
leasing or transferring the city's water and sewer system – a suggestion referenced on
page 17.

Public utilities should remain public by the mere fact that to be more effective and
efficient there should be one provider. Akron voters overwhelmingly approved in 2008 to
keep the city's public sewer system public – under the control of We the People. Voters
understood that to privatize/corporatize public utilities more often than not increases
costs, reduces services, and results in the lay off of public employees. And in every single
case, turning over a public asset to a for-profit corporation, especially if headquartered
outside the community, state, if not country, significantly reduces public control – i.e.
democracy.

We believe former Mayor Tom Johnson, promoter of the public Cleveland electric power
system, said it best more than a century ago:
"I believe in the municipal ownership of all public service monopolies...for if you do not
own them they will, in time, own you. They will rule your politics, corrupt your
institutions, and finally destroy your liberties."

First Energy Corporation is a classic example of the perils of a private corporation
controlling what should be public provision of our electrical energy --ruling our state
politics via their lobbying and campaign contributions/investments and adversely
influencing (if not corrupting) the institution of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio
(PUCO) – with the result of high rates to pay for antiquated and environmentally
destructive fossil fuel plants while opposing the movement toward renewable energy.

While ostensibly a public official, the Emergency Manager appointed by the Michigan
Governor to run the public water system in Flint, MI was unaccountable and unelected.
Running the public water system like a business is what led to the tragic poisoning of the
residents of that city.

Our concluding message is simple, as reinforced by over 60% of Akron voters in 2008:
Keep Public Utilities Public.

Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully,

John Fuller
Clerk, Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee

Greg Coleridge
Director, Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee

The City of Akron Blue Ribbon panel report is now being studied by Mayor Dan Horrigan.

The panel spent the last three months studying the city's government to make suggestions for where Horrigan should start as mayor.

Tim Ochsenhirt was chairman of the Blue Ribbon Panel. He says it all starts with the city's financial picture when trying to determine what can be done next.

"To recognize the position we're in now, and to try to determine how they can best, absent a tax increase, that's always an easy way," Ochsenhirt tells WAKR's Jasen Sokol, "how we might accomplish better financial management of our funds and assets and resources right now."

Ochsenhirt says to fund suggested improvements, it takes money. But a tax increase is not on the table.

"There are) ways to try to increase revenue by closing a few doors that are open, and taking some new ideas, maybe having less subsidies on behalf of the city of Akron," Ochsenhirt says.

Council member at large Linda Omobien was the only city council member on the panel. She talks about the city's financial challenges.

"The financial staff have done a pretty good job of managing our financial situation," Omobien tells WAKR's Jasen Sokol, "but we really need to look at ways to start saving revenue, using our assets to try to find more revenue to come into the city."

Omobien also says a tax increase is not the answer.