Transition team
Written by Tom Pounds | President / Publisher | tpounds@toledofreepress.comToledo Mayor-elect Mike Bell named a three-person Transition Advisory Group Nov. 12 to “advise him in structuring an orderly transition into the Mayor’s Office and recommend a process to select choices for leadership and staff positions in his new administration,” according to a news release.
The team is Don Harbaugh, president of Toledo Molding & Die, Inc. and member of the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce Board of Trustees; Joyce Chappel, former director of human resources for the City of Toledo and former director of the Ohio Department of Aging; and Joe Walter, director of the Lucas County Emergency Management Agency and former director of safety for the City of Toledo. The news release said, “the advisory group will work with Bell to assemble a larger transition team which will interview and assess existing City directors and commissioners and identify candidates for the Mayor’s chief of staff, business advocate, and other 22nd Floor positions.”
Jerry Jakes, the originator of the “Lake Erie West” concept for marketing our region, wrote in this week with an interesting idea regarding transition and economic development.
“There is too much to do for any one individual,” Jakes wrote. “So, why not let ‘Captain’ Mike Bell handle the day-to-day running of the ship, and appoint ‘First Mate’ Keith Wilkowski to handle economic development on a full time basis?”
The two recent rivals have a long history and certainly know enough about each other to know where the boundaries lie.
Jakes continues, “Consider the following: There has been little, if any, economic development undertaken by Toledo for many years. Meanwhile, the world has transformed into a global economic mode, based on regional economies (Asia’s “cities” represent regions). Toledo as a city has much baggage associated with its name, and in Europe, confusion with Toledo, Spain. Therefore, we need a new regional image to present to the world.
“Our region, with Toledo at its center, would do well to emulate Dubai, which sells itself as a region. We have an ‘inside man’ in former UT president Dan Johnson, who would be happy to feed Bell and Wilkowski much pertinent data.”
As Jakes points out, “Consider our sustainable competitive advantages: Geography with an abundance of fresh water, at the crossroads of the North American continent, within one day’s drive of more than 50 percent of the population of the USA and Canada. We are an ideal intermodal site, and in terms of biotechnology and medical potential, Ann Arbor, Wayne State and the University of Toledo are positioned to compete effectively with any and all similar complexes. In green energy, our advantages are too numerous to list.”
There would be a lot of detail work to such an arrangement, of course, and a lot of conversation about philosophy and cooperation. But Bell has at least twice reached out to Wilkowski in his public comments, and such an invitation would be a serious gesture to unity and quick action.
I do not know if Jakes’ idea would hold water, but it’s a great conversation starter and could lead to some productive development scenarios, and Bell’s team should be open to any and all options.
Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.
