Politics is a tough business; that’s not a new lesson for Tom Crothers, but the speed at which things can develop must stun even a veteran like him.

On Aug. 16, Toledo Mayor Mike Bell stood with Crothers, then deputy mayor, Toledo City Councilman Rob Ludeman and other officials to announce a development at the site of the former Southwyck Mall.

It was announced that MJW, Inc. was looking to transform the area into “somewhat of a sports village,” with each venue employing its own management. As reported by Toledo Free Press Staff Writer Caitlin McGlade, “The 58 acres might host indoor basketball, volleyball and hockey courts as well as outdoor stadiums and fields. The development firm is looking to fill the space with hotels and restaurants as well, to attract traveling teams not only to play, but to stay in Toledo for a few days.”

The Bell administration was planning to ask Toledo City Council to approve a $50,000 loan for MJW, Inc. to conduct marketing, engineering and architectural research to develop the concept.

But as first brought to the public’s attention by WSPD morning host Fred LeFebvre, proposed lead developer Cliff Gaston apparently has a history of financial and legal issues that would have precluded him from partnering with the city had he been properly vetted.

By Aug. 19, Bell had scuttled the deal. By Aug. 20, Crothers was relieved of his duties as deputy mayor and reassigned to the Department of Public Utilities, to, according to Bell’s office, “spearhead special projects, including the work to study a regional water system, implementation of the SAP computer system upgrade and focusing on customer service.”

Paul Syring has been named acting deputy mayor of external relations.

It is unfortunate that such a positive announcement went sour, and it is doubly unfortunate that a lack of simple vetting led to such a radical shuffling. But a lack of communication — Councilman D. Michael Collins had met with the same developers a year ago but let the matter lie because of the financial issues; he was not involved in the Aug. 16 announcement — led to an embarrassing situation for all involved.

Bell’s administration started with a flurry of activity and development, with international travels and a deal, still unrealized in terms of construction, to sell the Marina District.

Bell has shown two clear trends during his time as mayor. One is a tendency to trust the people he put in place, in terms of cooperation and development. Another is a willingness to make personnel changes when they need to be made, for the betterment of the city. Bell, to use a casino analogy, knows when to hold ’em and knows when to fold ’em.

That’s called leadership, and while Bell would be the first to say his administration has not been perfect, it is fair to say he has demonstrated a fluidity and willingness to adapt that had been missing from the mayor’s office.

Chalk this one up as a lesson learned, and godspeed to Syring in his new role in moving our city forward.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Cliff Gaston, D. Michael Collins, Fred LeFebvre, Marina District, Mike Bell, Paul Syring, Rob Ludeman, Southwyck Mall, Tom Crothers, Tom Pounds, WSPD

This entry was posted on Friday, August 24th, 2012 at 12:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized.
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A spokesperson for Mayor Mike Bell confirmed that the position of economic development commissioner has been eliminated, causing Brad Peebles to lose his job.

Peebles and Public Utilities Director David Welch are candidates for the Perrysburg city administrator position. Jen Sorgenfrei, public information officer, said the decision to eliminate the position was not based on Peebles’ application for city administrator. Peebles’ annual salary was $75,000.

She also pointed out that Welch’s position had not been eliminated.

“We’ve been looking at the overall structure of the administration,” Sorgenfrei said. “It’s an overall evaluation of that department and the overall needs of that department.”

Deputy Mayor of External Relations Tom Crothers will assume the responsibilities of economic development commissioner, she added. City acting managers Jill Pershing and Aggie Dahar will assist him, according to a memo Crothers sent Toledo City Council on behalf of Bell.

That memo also read, “The current plan for the position of Commissioner of Economic Development is to keep this position vacant until further notice. For the foreseeable future, I plan to assume prime responsibility for the projects that Peebles was undertaking on behalf of the City.”

Crothers also recorded over Peebles’ former phone line, directing all business to him.

“Peebles is no longer with the city as his position has been eliminated,” Crothers said on the recording.

At press time, Peebles was not available for comment.

Tags: Brad Peebles, David Welch, Jen Sorgenfrei, Mike Bell, Tom Crothers

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 6th, 2012 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Breaking News, City of Toledo, Community.
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The same month that Toledo Free Press launched — February 2005 — saw the closing of Lakeside Centre, a property better known as North Towne Square Mall. A great many things have changed during the past seven years, but one thing remains the same — the abandoned mall sits empty, rotting, collapsing in on itself as its California-based owners stall and shirk their business and community responsibilities.

It’s an eyesore and a hindrance to development. But should the City of Toledo make a deal and spend money to demolish it? I rarely to never want to see taxpayer money used to reward a neglectful business, especially when money is tight and there is a long list of needed capital improvements. While most of the demolition money is proposed to come from money the Environmental Protection Agency provides for brownfield development, cost overruns would most likely come from city coffers.

And what should taxpayers make of the effort by Mayor Mike Bell’s administration to justify what it wants at North Towne by claiming that the also long-dormant Southwyck Mall property is suddenly drawing business? Having Deputy Mayor Tom Crothers publicly reference a deal that reportedly has no funding and is more of a dream than reality is, for this mayor, uncharacteristically disingenuous.

With Southwyck, the owners borrowed the money for demolition and paid it back. With North Towne, the city could wait for years before the demolition money goes back into the brownfield revolving loan fund and no matter how many years it takes, not one penny of interest would be earned by the city.

That Southwyck gambit also seems to be a low-blow political attempt to make it appear that Councilman D. Michael Collins doesn’t know what’s happening in his own district. Councilwoman Lindsay Webb does not seem to be heeding Collins’ protests that he has actually spoken to one of the principal owners of Southwyck and that there is nothing yet to celebrate. Collins has consistently opposed these types of deals with the city being the landlord or owner.

There are legal means to force responsibility on the owners of North Towne Mall/Lakeside Centre. There may be no question that the property needs to be cleared, but there are several doubts as to whether the proposed deal is beneficial to the city and the proposed changes need to be looked at carefully.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: D. Michael Collins, Lindsay Webb, Mike Bell, North Towne Mall, Publisher's Statement, Tom Crothers, Tom Pounds

This entry was posted on Friday, December 2nd, 2011 at 12:00 am and is filed under Opinion, Publisher's Statement.
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Is the use of incentives the way to attract and keep businesses in Toledo? That was a topic of discussion at the June 21 Toledo City Council agenda review.

Opinions were mixed.

Councilman Joe McNamara said what they are trying to avoid is offering an incentive for action that would have happened anyway.

“Some years ago there was a development outside of the city of Toledo and they placed infrastructure in the ground and they offered an incentive exactly like the TEI,” Deputy Mayor Tom Crothers said. “That place is called Arrowhead Park and when that opened ultimately it took 20,000 people out of Downtown Toledo. We are the ones on the front line speaking to these clients. They need incentive to stay in Toledo.”

In 2007, Toledo City Council passed an ordinance approving the creation of the Toledo Expansion Incentive (TEI) program. It designated zones within Toledo that were eligible for what basically amounts to a rebate on taxes if a company meets an agreed upon increase in payroll taxes from hiring new employees.

The percentage varies from 10 percent to 30 percent with an additional 10 percent awarded for companies that spend 15 percent of its net profits on research and development.

“If I were to take a dollar out of my pocket and say to you all, you may have this dollar but only if if I can get 30 cents back, the question is would you take that deal?” Crothers said. “Now if you don’t take the deal then I’m going to put the dollar back in my pocket and you get 100 percent of nothing. Or do you want 70 percent of something, see that’s the question.”

“Are we using a slingshot when we need a bazooka?” Councilman Adam Martinez said.

The specific legislation before them was to seek approval of a 30 percent TEI for Burkett & Sons Inc. based on a planned payroll expansion from $756,000 to about $1.5 million and the hiring of 20 new employees.

Councilman Rob Ludeman wanted to make sure that the fact that Burkett testified in the past about water rates was on the record.

“They asked us to ‘be kind to the business owners’ when it came to storm water rates,” he said.

Commissioner of Development Brad Peebles said they started negotiations with Burkett in August.

“This was why we originally came to Council requesting Council consider making the citywide 30 percent TEI policy versus having to come to council for specific approvals,” he said.

That legislation would have allowed the Economic Development Department to award TEIs without going to Council for approval as long as basic standards were met.

Discussion has taken place during the past year about the use of TEIs and how effective it is. At a hearing Sept. 30, experts testified and advised caution in the use of incentives.

“We need to continue these discussions — have a stable policy so we know what we are talking about each time one of these deals come along,” Ludeman said. “This is an important project, it stabilizes the part of Toledo it’s in.”

Councilman George Sarantou said the credit does not happen until additional people are put on the payroll.

“I appreciate the comments about Arrowhead, we need to be reminded of that. If you go around the entire county, if you go out Central Avenue — you’ll see a lot of businesses and services that were originally in Toledo — Sylvania Township doesn’t have an income tax,” Sarantou said.

He said if we don’t continue to offer incentives, jobs will continue to move out of Toledo.

“We’ve got to quit offering them our great Toledo water at a discounted rate without a JEDD or a JEDZ. We did that for Rossford and Northern Wood County,” Councilman Mike Craig said. “That’s a 20-year agreement, a lot of jobs can leave here in 20 years.”

The legislation for Burkett’s TEI was given emergency status, which means it will be before members of Council for a vote June 28.

Crothers said the proposed changes to the TEI program were almost ready to present and suggested a hearing so Council and the public would be informed. Are incentives the best way to create jobs? That will be debated another day.

Toledo Free Press Web Editor Lisa Renee Ward operates the political blog GlassCityJungle.com.

Tags: Brad Peebles, City of Toledo, George Sarantou, Glass City Jungle, Joe McNamara, Lisa Renee Ward, Mike Criag, Rob Ludeman, Shredding the Curtain, Toledo City Council, Tom Crothers

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 26th, 2011 at 6:39 am and is filed under Glass City Jungle, Opinion, Shredding the Curtain.
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Two pieces of legislation before Toledo City Council’s May 10 agenda review have a recorded history.

Brad Peebles, commissioner of development, presented legislation to Council that would allow Toledo to purchase 48 acres of land off Angola Road from Capital Commons Investors for $1.05 million (split into three yearly payments of $350,000 taken from the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget). He said the partnership between Toledo and Capital Commons began around 1987.

“The city’s commitment to this project was to first and foremost pay for or facilitate the payment of infrastructure improvements, i.e. roads, sewer, water, into the site,” Peebles said. “It has not been completed and to date if the city were to complete those infrastructure improvements we estimate those costs to be in excess of $1.2 million.”

Councilman Rob Ludeman said at one point Toledo and Capital Commons were going to do a land swap; this 48 acres for land in the Triad Business Park in Monclova.

“Promises made by the city years ago for the infrastructure have not come to fruition, which has stalled potential development of that Phase Two of Capital Commons,” he said.

In 2002, developers Tom Schlachter and Paul Avery sought a zoning change from industrial to residential for manufactured housing on Angola Road.

It was reported that in 1997 Toledo promised to seek $1 million in funding for the infrastructure improvements through state grants or city funds, but they did not guarantee this and that specific projects had to be presented by the developers before any funding was provided by Toledo. The concern about this land being used for manufactured housing still remains.

Ludeman said there was a glut of it in that area.

“I think this would be a good idea if we can keep this from being a mobile home park and use it for industrial,” Council President Wilma Brown said.

“I thought we were getting out of the real estate business,” Councilman Adam Martinez said.

“It’s my opinion and belief, by us acquiring and retaining ownership, if we sell and or give away or whatever, to entice a development — It’s cheaper than us having to install the infrastructure improvements,” Peebles said.

Why Toledo believes it can market the property as a greenfield site better than the current developers was not discussed. Peebles did not respond to requests for comment.

The CIP budget is not expected before the middle of June.

“It’s a problem … doing expenditures out of the capital improvement fund without seeing the whole budget,” Councilman Joe McNamara said. “Especially since we took such a massive chunk out of the capital improvement program to fund the general fund.”

Peebles said having a blank site increased the ability to sell it. McNamara did not feel this justified an additional drain on CIP.  Martinez and McNamara said they’d prefer to have the CIP budget numbers first. While the legislation asked for emergency passage, Peebles said first reading was acceptable, this means there will be at least one more agenda review before it is before council for a vote.

Toledo leasing office space outside of One Government Center is not a new topic.

Legislation for a five-year lease with Eyde Construction Company for 25,711 square feet of office and storage space in One Lake Erie Center for the Division of Engineering Services at an average cost of $354,573 a year was also discussed at agenda review.

In 1999, the city’s engineering operations in the transportation department and the utilities department were merged.

Former Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner advocated for engineering services to be the anchor tenant at One Lake Erie Center. While Gov. Voinovich let Toledo out of its lease for space on the 15th floor so the Department of Utilities could move in 1997, Gov. Taft’s administration in 1999 said Toledo would still be responsible for the 17th floor lease costs. The city later moved other departments into the space.

In 2000, the first 11-year lease for One Lake Erie Center was said to average $362,000 a year, the last yearly lease price was $369,750.

Engineering is now the only tenant in the building.

“Our landlord was anxious to keep us so we were able to get a lower rate,” said Commissioner of Engineering Services Robin Whitney.

“There is increasingly more space in One Government Center, have you done a feasibility study?” Councilwoman Lindsay Webb asked.

Whitney said the city had but when it factored in the relocation costs and the secured parking that is offered there, since they lock down the garage at night, which protects the engineering vehicles and equipment, it felt remaining there was the best option.

“What would happen if you signed a lease for less than five years?” Webb asked.

“I’m not sure if our landlord would be willing to do that,” Whitney said.

Deputy Mayor Tom Crothers said he undertook the majority of the negotiations and there were concerns about locating at One Government.

“We have questions about the floor loading, we have a lot of plan cabinets that are very heavy, these plans cabinets are tremendously heavy,” he said.

Transportation was previously located on the 17th floor of One Government Center. The Lucas County Engineer is also located at One Government Center. The weight of plan cabinets does not appear to have been a concern raised in the past.

“The Eyde folks were just absolutely adamant” they would not consider less than a five-year lease, Crothers said.

Councilman D. Michael Collins asked Crothers what the city pays per square footage at One Government.  Crothers said he didn’t know, that he had been quoted at $13.01 for the space the state will be vacating.

Collins questioned the accuracy of the quote and there will be at least one additional agenda review where this can be discussed.

When it comes to Capital Commons, what’s said to have been a promise does not appear to be one that previous administrations recognized. The original goal of moving engineering services to One Lake Erie Center was to stabilize a Downtown building, which continues since Toledo is the only tenant. This should place Toledo in a stronger negotiating position. It was also supposed to create additional tenants, which has not been so successful.

Council should look at the documentation from the past, but determine what’s best for Toledo today.

Toledo Free Press Web Editor Lisa Renee Ward operates the political blog GlassCityJungle.com.

Tags: Brad Peebles, Carty Finkbeiner, City of Toledo, Glass City Jungle, Joe McNamara, Lisa Renee Ward, Rob Ludeman, Shredding the Curtain, Tom Crothers, Tom Schlachter

This entry was posted on Friday, May 13th, 2011 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Glass City Jungle, Opinion, Shredding the Curtain.
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On July 6, 2010, Toledo City Council passed legislation to address a past due bill and promised to create revenue for the City of Toledo. At the April 19 Toledo City Council meeting, questions were raised when the legislation was brought back before Council.

Ordinance 295-10 authorized Toledo to enter into a three-year Agreement with FCR Recycling for the processing of recycling materials and to address the balance owed to FCR at that time of $288,000.

During the July 6 meeting, then-Councilman Michael Ashford urged support of the ordinance as a temporary measure until Toledo and Lucas County were able to establish a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).

“We still have almost a $300,000 debt hanging over our head and because it’s a fluctuating market, with this, finally we got to the point where this could be a payout; it could pay for itself within a year,” Ashford said.

Dave Welch, who was at that time director of public services, talked about the MRF but also provided details on the ordinance then before Council.

“The current piece of legislation in front of you will buy us some time,” Welch said. “It will also pay down our debt and also bring in some money into our coffers. It’s a good opportunity.”

The ordinance passed July 6, 2010, as an emergency measure, with Mayor Mike Bell signing it on July 8. According to a May 27, 2010 memo from Welch, “The City would realize a rebate of $20.50 per ton or approximately $30,000 based on 1,500 tons of recyclables in today’s market,” with the FCR contract.

At a Feb. 14 Public Utilities committee meeting, Councilman Mike Craig asked how close we were to making a profit on recyclables. He was told it was profitable at that time, that Toledo generates 20,000 tons a year in recycling. Using the cited rebate amount, that should generate $410,000 in recycling revenue.

On April 19, the ordinance came back to be amended, with it being stated that not only was the original ordinance flawed because it failed to authorize the expenditure of funds, but now the amount owed to FCR was more than $400,000. Additionally, FCR was sold and is now Resource Recovery Systems (RRS).

Councilman D. Michael Collins raised questions concerning Toledo’s decision to end trash collection.

“Do we really want to commit to a company for three more years, for a service that we’re not even going to be providing?” Collins asked.

Director of Public Services Ed Moore said, “We think it would be a good idea to enter into the contract and lock ourselves into the rates that we have right now.”

Deputy Mayor Tom Crothers asked Moore to provide details on the timing issue.

“If we pass this … we’ll be able to pay the lesser amount,” Moore said.

Councilman George Sarantou asked what the current bill was. Moore said it was more than $400,000. He said they negotiated that amount down to about $316,000 then negotiated it lower using recycling rebates since they are now experiencing a positive cash flow from recycling; $30,000 this month, which took the amount owed down to $288,000.

“This deal is on the table today, we’d like to move it forward,” Public Utilities Director Welch said.  “We’ve been holding these folks out negotiating back and forth.”

Welch said RRS was honoring the July contract, but could raise prices if Council did not act that night.

The ordinance was held at first reading at Collins’ request

It’s not clear how much Toledo has earned from recyclables given the variations in information. If Toledo was collecting 20,000 tons a year and was making a profit in February, why wasn’t enough revenue generated to pay RRS from the proceeds as intended in July?

Welch did not respond to an April 20 request for information.

Toledo will be out of the trash collection busiuness, but will still manage recycled material collected by Allied Waste. Allied, as the trash collector for Toledo through Lucas County Solid Waste Management District, would not benefit from the sale of recycling or be responsible for the cost should the recycling market drop.  Toledo would profit or pay.

Something doesn’t smell right.

Toledo Free Press Web Editor Lisa Renee Ward operates the political blog GlassCityJungle.com.

Tags: D. Michael Collins, George Sarantou, Glass City Jungle, Lisa Renee Ward, Mike Bell, Shredding the Curtain, Toledo City Council, Tom Crothers

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 23rd, 2011 at 1:13 pm and is filed under Glass City Jungle, Opinion, Shredding the Curtain.
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Two of the more lengthy discussions before Toledo City Council at its March 15 agenda review concerned the construction of a bulletproof enclosure at the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) office and the hiring of a lobbyist for the City of Toledo.

The extra security measure is being sought at the Ohio Building; the city of Toledo leases space there. The lease for this space ends in May of 2012. Deputy Mayor Tom Crothers said there have been several incidents that made him concerned. The $26,738 cost would be taken from the Water Replacement Fund. Bulletproof glass, a bulletproof door and the drywall would be reenforced so that it was also bulletproof. There would also be a new window system for payments with a microphone system.

“Over the course of the last year, 2010, it became abundantly clear to me that we were at serious risk for one of our people getting hurt,” Crothers said.

He added that people at times get upset over the amount of the utility bills they owe and it has led to confrontations. He felt the microphone system would allow more private communication. It was said that the police have had to be called and employees have registered written concerns about their safety because of encounters with customers.

“Sounds like you are in a BP station in the middle of Detroit or something,” Councilman Rob Ludeman said. He said he goes there to pay his bills and had never witnessed any confrontations, that the staff handles everyone in a professional manner. He asked for a referral on the cost to protect council staff at the same level of those at DPU.

Councilman D. Michael Collins has advocated in the past for Toledo to end its leasing of this space and move the services and employees to One Government Center. He’s asked for a space audit in the past, he asked for one again during agenda review and restated his opinion that it would be more price effective to move this department into One Government Center and would provide more security.

Crothers wanted this to be done even if they were going to move out of the Ohio Building.

Collins wanted this to go to committee and wanted information on how many arrests had been made there. Crothers said he would get that information to Collins.

Councilwoman Paula Hicks-Hudson did not want it in committee.  It will be listed at first reading at the March 22 Council meeting, at which time Collins can attempt to have it voted into committee.

Governor John Kasich announced as a part of his budget proposal closing the taxpayer service centers in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Akron, Toledo, Youngstown, Dayton and Zanesville.  If this proposal is adopted by the Ohio General Assembly, the space currently held by the Toledo service center in One Government Center would be vacant. This could supplement the space the City of Toledo already has under its control.

The ordinance authorizing the Mayor to enter into an agreement with a vendor to provide the City with government affairs services in Columbus, a lobbyist, appeared to have the support of a majority of Council.

The bulk of the more than half-an-hour discussion was related to which committee it should go into, should it be a joint meeting or should a hearing be held before or after it went before Council for a vote.

Councilman George Sarantou felt since the legislation was submitted from Finance Department it should be heard before Human Resources, Information Technology and Finance. He wanted the hearing scheduled for March 21.

Councilman Steve Steel and others felt it was more appropriate to be before Intergovernmental Relations and Environment, Councilman Tom Waniewski offered to chair a hearing March 28. Concern was expressed by Collins and others that finance committee had enough pressing issues.

“You sound like kids in a sandbox — should we raise our hands and take a vote?” Council President Wilma Brown said. “I agree we should wait until the 28th and have it under Intergovernmental Relations because it is something we are going to be discussing that’s not directly finance, it’s going to include finance, but we have a budget that we have to pass by the 31st.”

Sarantou deferred, and the verbal bullets ended.

Toledo Free Press Web editor Lisa Renee Ward operates the political blog GlassCityJungle.com.

Tags: City of Toledo, D. Michael Collins, Edna Brown, George Sarantou, Glass City Jungle, John Kasich, Lisa Renee Ward, Mike Bell, Rob Ludeman, Shredding the Curtain, Tom Crothers, Tom Waniewski

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 19th, 2011 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Glass City Jungle, Opinion, Shredding the Curtain.
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Mayor Mike Bell has rearranged his administration following the departure of Deputy Mayor of External Relations Dean Monske.

Monske is leaving the city after he accepted the position of president/CEO of the Regional Growth Partnership (RGP). Tom Crothers, the city’s current director of public utilities, will replace Monske as the new deputy mayor of external relations.

“We looked at [Crothers'] ability not only to have a good understanding of the City of Toledo itself and how it functions, but he also has a very good understanding for what needs to be done from the standpoint of Downtown development,” Bell said during a Feb. 25 news conference.

Monske

Bell said Crothers has a “great relationship with business people inside Toledo.” With Crothers’ previous experience and with help from the current economic development staff the city should be able to continue moving forward, Bell said.

Crothers said with Monske at the RGP, economic development will be where it needs to be; in the private sector. Crothers also noted, however, that the city does have a role in economic development.

“The city has a role to play and that’s to be a facilitator. How do we remove impediments to progress on the part of particularly small business to make them successful, to help them be a success? We can’t make them successful, but what we can do is remove some of those impediments to be successful,” he said.

Crothers said he plans on working with the RGP, LCIC, the Toledo Lucas County Port Authority, NORED as well as Wood County and Fulton County.

Crothers is also comfortable working with individuals internationally and domestically, he said. Monske, however, will go with Bell on his next trip to China, Crothers said.

“The private sector with the government working together in concert will bring new dollars into our community,” he said.

In addition to economic development, Crothers will oversee the department of neighborhoods as well as the city inspection bureau.

David Welch, current director of public service, will replace Crothers as the new director of public utilities. Welch had previously worked in public utilities before working in the department of public service.

Welch will be replaced by his second in command Ed Moore, current commissioner of streets, bridges and harbor. Moore will serve as the director of public service and he’ll be supported by David Pratt in his old position as commissioner. Pratt previously with Moore as manager of streets, bridges and harbor.

“We feel that we have stabilized each vacancy that we had with people who have experience and we believe that is a good thing,” Bell said.

Bell also announced that Shirley Green, current director of public safety, will expand her duties. Green will become the new deputy mayor of public safety and personnel and oversee not only the police and fire services, but human resources and affirmative action for the city.

“Although I hate losing Dean… I believe that we have ramped this up and by the time this is over with possibly we’ll be stronger than we were before,” Bell said.

The city will transition its employees to their new positions during the next few weeks. Everyone is expected to officially start their roles March 14, Crothers said.

The city said it has not established salaries for its employees changing departments or positions.

Monske named RGP president

Dean Monske was introduced as the new president/CEO of the Regional Growth Partnership at a news conference Feb. 25 in Downtown Toledo.

After a four-month search that produced 36 candidates, seven from the local area, RGP’s board of directors chosen one of the locals, Monske, to lead the economic development organization.

Monske will leave his post as deputy mayor for external affairs with the City of Toledo to assume his new position with RGP on March 14, according to David Waterman, chairman of the RGP board who introduced him to the media.

“I’m honored and excited to accept this position and I promise to continue the collaborative effort in this region that makes it a great place to live,” said Monske, a Toledo native and graduate of DeVilbiss High School.

Monske returns to RGP after serving as its vice president from 2006 until 2010 when he joined Mayor Mike Bell’s staff. He previously served as executive director of the Oregon Economic Development Foundation from 2000 to 2006.

Monske’s local background and experience was a “very big factor” in the board’s decision to choose him to lead RGP, according to Waterman.

“He can hit the ground running. He did a great job for the City of Toledo. He has all the local knowledge that we value, understands the leadership in the community, and has the ability to interact with that group,” Waterman said.

He thanked Mayor Bell for his cooperation and understanding during the process with Monske as an obvious candidate to replace Steve Weathers who left the position last October to accept a similar post in Savannah, Ga.

“I lost a deputy mayor but I’m gaining another ally. It’s a great thing for Dean. I believe he will be a great asset to RGP and regional development. It takes a team to make it work and we’re working to make our region stronger,” Bell said.

Monske, who is married to Sharon Speyer, Northwest Ohio Region President for Huntington Bank, said he told Mayor Bell, “I’m not leaving. I’m just moving a couple of blocks over and we’re still going to be partners.”

“Mayor Bell has been absolutely phenomenal to work with. My expectations of that job were exceeded ten-fold,” he said.

“I’m very happy for Dean. We became friends and I will miss him. I think the process worked to pick Dean for the job,” Bell said.

“Regional development is vital in economic development efforts. There’s a greater spirit of regionalism in this area now and we look forward to doing great things here,” Waterman said.

— Duane Ramsey

Tags: David Welch, Dean Monske, Mike Bell, Regional Growth Partnership, Sharon Speyer, Shirley Green, Tom Crothers

This entry was posted on Friday, February 25th, 2011 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Community, Development.
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Stormwater is at the heart of the Toledo City Council debate on utility rate increases.

As has been covered in past columns, Toledo has a consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) because our combined sewer and storm system, when overwhelmed, releases excess sewage, called a combined sewer overflow (CSO), into the waterways.

Many other areas that have consent decrees have opted to have a set fee on utility bills directly related to projects needed to satisfy the EPA.  It gives residents of an area a better chance of seeing the additional fee end when the projects have been completed.  That can not be said for an across-the-board increase.

That is one of the reasons Councilwoman Lindsay Webb suggested not only a lower percentage increase in water, sanitary sewer and stormwater rates, but included a set fee directly related to the consent decree.

While her plan was changed and the percentage rates increased so the overall plan generated the same as the administration’s plan, it appears to be the only other plan that Mayor Mike Bell supports.

Councilman Rob Ludeman has presented a utility rate plan, a 5 percent increase in water and sewer and no increase in stormwater.

A problem with Ludeman’s plan is it would severely impact funding of projects that deal with stormwater, like cleaning ditches of debris to prevent/reduce flooding.

While things could change before the Jan. 25 Council meeting, none of the plans have enough support to predict passage. Should Ludeman’s plan pass as written and the Mayor vetos it, there is no increase in utility rates.

That news may make many happy; after all, who wants to pay higher utility rates?

The risk is if there is a catastrophic failure of an element of our water treatment or sewer system, the money has to come from somewhere, most likely the General Fund, which would mean cuts or increased fees.

Part of the problem is some on Council do not have faith in the Bell administration’s numbers. This is compounded by the lack of transparency when it came to requests that were made by more than one member of Council.  Councilman D. Michael Collins repeated his request Jan. 18 at Council’s Public Utilities committee meeting for, “budget statements that reflect to Jan. 1, 2010, on all three accounts as to starting balances and ending balances on Dec. 31, 2010.”

Director of Public Utilities Tom Crothers in response said, “Indeed, I would have loved to have answered those more quickly as well, but because of the implementation of  the SAP system, and the parallel, if you will, operation of the Ross system, I have not yet to date, been able to answer that with the certainty that I feel comfortable with the numbers. and until I am, you will not see that referral.”

If he is not comfortable with the numbers as to expenses and revenues, it could be asked, how can anyone know how much of a rate increase is really needed? Crothers promised Collins’ request would be met before the Jan. 25 meeting.

One thing everyone does appear to agree on is that the consent decree is financially burdensome. The EPA announced plans to make regulatory improvements to strengthen its stormwater program this past summer.

The EPA acknowledged in “Green Infrastructure Case Studies: Municipal Policies for Managing Stormwater with Green Infrastructure” in August 2010: “City and county governments have limited financial resources to allocate to the many competing demands under local control. Municipalities are responsible for implementing and enforcing expensive CleanWater Act requirements, while also trying to pay for a large number of other programs, both environmental and non-environmental.”

It said, “Green infrastructure approaches have a range of benefits for the social, environmental and economic conditions of a community.”

Toledo has not made any serious attempts to renegotiate the consent decree with the EPA. As has been pointed out in the past and was restated by Katie Swartz, associate director for American Rivers, during the committee meeting, discussions with the EPA to increase green infrastructure instead of gray should take place and is taking place in other cities.

The sooner we find out what is possible when it comes to the consent decree, the better, from an environmental and a financial standpoint.

Lisa Renee Ward operates the political blog GlassCityJungle.com.

Tags: City of Toledo, Glass City Jungle, Lisa Renee Ward, Mike Bell, Shredding the Curtain, Tom Crothers

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 22nd, 2011 at 6:03 am and is filed under Glass City Jungle, Opinion, Shredding the Curtain.
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Despite the “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” reaction to the proposed utility rate increases by some Toledo residents, the window is about to be shut for several years.

Tom Crothers, the director of the Department of Public Utilities (DPU), and his staff did an excellent job in selling the reasons for the increase to our local media. They reported the city’s reasons why the utility rate increase for water, sanitary sewer and storm water by Toledo was felt to be needed.

Only a few dozen residents showed up at the hearings to protest the rate increases; more commented on news websites, Facebook and local blogs. While it’s clear members of the Bell administration follow what’s being discussed on the Internet, all that was offered was a reduction in the amount of the increase sought by .9 percent per year for water and sewer costs.

Citizens have demonstrated that for the most part, they will rant and complain but the manner in which they do so doesn’t often net results. This also creates a scenario where our elected members of Council give acquiescent acceptance rather than risk the possibility of standing alone.

Is this a situation where those who are elected are making an unpopular decision because they know it’s in our best interest? Utility rates are usually sought every four years. Few could disagree with the need for an increase — it is the amount of the increase that gives some pause.

Councilman D. Michael Collins’ phrase, “is it a want or a need?” has been repeated by other members of Council, with most appearing to agree this is a “need.” The deeper question of “where will it go?” remains publicly unanswered.

Left unanswered is the financial management of the DPU funds, especially when it comes to non-DPU positions being funded from DPU revenue. Left unanswered is the planned purchases of equipment that the city has a long history of leasing or using contractors for.

Also left unanswered is what impact did the differences in water rates charged to other areas contribute to the lack of revenue for Toledo. We are told the blame for creating the need for such a high rate increase lies with the previous administration, even though a number of staff worked for both recent mayors and selected discounted water rates have happened under this administration.

At the Dec. 14 Toledo City Council agenda review meeting, Mayor Mike Bell requested that Council remove the utility rate increase legislation from committee.

“One of the reasons that I think it is important to do, sooner than later, is that it does not get any cheaper and I know that everybody’s looking for a cheaper way to do this, but there is not a cheaper way to do this,” he said. “I’ve listened, and I’ve listened pretty intently for the last 30 days or so of people talking about this and not wanting it. I think that it’s pretty succinct that it takes four things to actually live; one of them is air, you stop that, you stop breathing in five minutes, water most likely about a week, food about two weeks and shelter you need that, so we’re talking about a key component of what we  need to be able to survive, just to live here in this city and I don’t think we want to jeopardize that portion of it so, we need you to move forward with this.”

There was no discussion beyond a point of order raised by Councilman Mike Craig.  This means the utility rate increase will be marked “Item likely to be relieved from committee” on the agenda for the Dec. 21 Toledo City Council meeting.

If you don’t support the utility rate increase being sought or if you still have questions, your time to act may be ending soon. If relieved from committee, this could be voted on and approved as early as Dec. 21.

Just talking about how mad we are or waiting for someone else to do something is not going to give us a better government.

Toledo Free Press contributor Lisa Renee Ward operates the political blog GlassCityJungle.com.

Tags: City of Toledo, D. Michael Collins, Glass City Jungle, Lisa Renee Ward, Shredding the Curtain, Tom Crothers

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 18th, 2010 at 7:20 am and is filed under Glass City Jungle, Opinion, Shredding the Curtain.
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