EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a two-part series. Part II will be published Friday at 11 a.m.
MANSFIELD — Richland County GOP commissioner candidates were each asked the same series of questions. The format of these questions is “What have or would you do?”
Below are the responses in Part I from Tim Wert and Darrell Banks. GOP candidate David Morgenstern did not respond to repeated requests to participate in this project.
1. QUESTION: What is the job of a commissioner other than showing up at commissioner meetings?
BANKS: “County commissioners make up the general administrative body of county government and are the taxing, budgeting, appropriating, and purchasing authority for the county. An individual commissioner has no power to act alone, and as a body hold title to property on behalf of the county.
“Commissioners must work with all other county elected officials to assure they are properly funded in order to perform their statutory obligations. In order to ensure the county is a better place to live and work, some commissioners take a broad approach to their work by promoting public/private partnerships in human services, economic development, health and infrastructure needs. Collaboration and teamwork among elected officials and the private sector is key to the successful growth of any county.” Per CCAO County Commissioners Handbook.
My experience as a businessman, vocational teacher and especially as mayor, has taught me that one cannot sit in a few meetings and find the best solutions to our many problems. I have demonstrated my ability to collaborate and work as a team member to find and implement solutions to problems.
As mayor I worked with the private sector, staff, village council and the citizens to find the best solutions. Examples include:
a. The lack of storm water drains, leads to a streetscape grant which was the best solution for Bellville. It took research, working as a team with the staff, village council and the private sector. Collaboration with others was key. The streetscape project also was a catalyst for economic development.
b. The widening of state Route 97 involved bringing the business interest of establishments, both local and corporate at the intersection of Interstate 71 and state Route 97 together, with the village and the Ohio Department of Transportation to accomplish this decades old safety problem. A side effect will be job creation.
c. The Clear Fork Subdistrict of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District is another example of bringing people and other governments together to solve a decades- old problem.
Floods are getting more frequent and damage is spread over more area. This is a project that I led and accomplished with the help of many in the public and private sectors.
I have demonstrated my ability to collaborate, work with others as a team, and find solutions that benefit the citizens of Richland County.
WERT: As a commissioner, to be engaged with the community as a whole, attending meetings is necessarily a part of the job. Showing up is the easy part.
Gathering information from affected parties, seeking knowledge from experts in the topic at hand, visiting the affected areas, discussing with the prosecutor the legal completion of the issue and being a focused participant in the meeting including all preceding and following the meeting.
A board of commissioners’ meeting is not the work itself but often the act of decision-making after a long process of information gathering.
Sometimes the meeting itself is part of the process of information gathering. It involves being a part of discussions with one or more individuals on a wide range of different topics to better understand how our governing body affects or enhances situations in the county.
2. QUESTION: What have you done in the way of economic growth?
BANKS: a. Tax abatements for property owners to repair, remodel and refurbish their properties on Main Street.
b. The Streetscape Project on Main Street has been a catalyst for economic growth. Bellville has all the storefronts occupied on Main Street at this time.
c. The widening of state Route 97 was done for safety concerns, but the economic ramifications are certain, there will be jobs created at this intersection. After we collaborated with others to start the widening project, I worked with the Bellville Planning Commission and Bellville Council to improve and expand our Zoning Code in Highway Business District (B3) (which allowed only motels, restaurants and gas stations) to allow for retail and light industry, both with measurable restrictions.
d. I have corresponded with several businesses interested in our area with leads from Richland Community Development Group and contacts from those businesses themselves. I believe this effort will pay off before too long.
I have served the last several years on the Leadership Board of the Richland County Development Group. Before that the Mayors met monthly with REDEC.
WERT: Helped fund or funded the following projects:
-Partially funded an addition to the Kehoe Center.
-Funded the purchase of a CNC machine, which was leveraged to buy two machines.
-Funded Shelby sewer to retain MTD Parts Distribution Center.
-Funded large part of the Save the 179th project.
-Paid for a roof on the Renaissance Theatre.
-Funded Alternative Jail facility (Pay to Stay) so participants could continue to work.
-Extended payments to businesses for sewer connections.
-Moved “enterprise zone” for large plastic film business.
-Co-funded effort of Richland Community Development Group and Richland County Foundation to pay for new economic development positions.
-Signed a bond agreement for Avita and for OhioHealth.
-Tax incentive agreement with Major Metals.
-Funded One Stop (OhioMeansJobs) to link the unemployed with local employers.
3. QUESTION: How have you brought the county and other local governments together to work on common problems?
BANKS: Once a month the mayors of Richland County meet to discuss problems, solutions, best practices and sometimes just to give each other support. I have learned much from them and I believe that I have contributed to the other mayors also.
Please see the economic question (#2) and flooding question (#4) below for two examples..
WERT: Participated in the study and process of the 911 consolidation; city input was sought and acted upon.
-Instrumental in creating a Land Bank entity that fits our county to decrease blight in our cities; involved the mayors and townships in the county (Napoli’s building in Shelby).
-Took an active role in the floodplain discussions; recognized the Muskingum Watershed Conservation District as a vehicle to address flooding.
-Participated in the discussion regarding the implementation of the Affordable Care Act passed by the U.S. Congress and the implications of the state of Ohio’s Medicaid expansion upon Job and Family Services.
-Forged a city-county agreement on jail-use, which kept the city of Mansfield from having to duplicate the county effort of building a jail; it also kept criminal records in one repository.
-Prior to becoming a commissioner, as a township trustee, I forged a revenue sharing agreement “in perpetuity” between the Village of Bellville and Washington Township. That agreement was later challenged in court by the mayor of Bellville. The court allowed the agreement to stand in perpetuity.
-As township trustee, I worked with the commissioners to fulfill EPA regulations concerning storm water runoff quality using the county engineer as a design resource and Soil and Water as the public education arm.
4. QUESTION: What have you done to solve the county’s flooding problems?
BANKS: I led individuals, government entities (county, municipalities and a portion of our townships) to petition the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District to form the Clear Fork Subdistrict of the MWCD. We did not start from scratch–the Black Fork Subdistrict had been formed and in operation. There was no need for us to invent another wheel, so we used their concept after checking with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, who did not have a better solution. The
MWCD has employed the United States Geological Survey to study the flooding problems of the Clear Fork. The Clear Fork Subdistrict begins on Fourth Street in Ontario, runs south to the Clear Fork Reservoir and then east to Pleasant Hill Lake, and the Cedar Fork from Morrow County confluences with the Clear Fork just west of Bellville.
Flooding is more frequent, more severe and covers a wider area, not just in Bellville, but it affects our infrastructure up and down the streams of Richland County.
In Bellville, the removal of the B&O Railroad in 1987 lowered the south bank of the Clear Fork by a few feet and the third lane of I-71 has increased the amount of water draining into the Clear Fork. The impervious surface is the same as having 1,600 homes built between Lexington and Bellville. Two projects I certainly favor, but these two projects have changed the flooding situation up and down the Clear Fork. This is a county problem not a Bellville problem. The safety of our bridges and roads are being affected.
Flooding cannot be prevented, but it can be better managed. ODOT has cleaned under the Main Street Bridge in Bellville, this removal of sand bar and logs has allowed water to push through Bellville faster. Since this improvement was made, at least four times the water has reached over 10 feet. At 12 feet the water goes over the road, so one can calculate if ODOT had not removed the obstructions under the bridge, Richland County would have had four more floods.
WERT: Wedgewood Storm Water Project:
I, along with the commissioners, worked with Mifflin Township trustees to fix a drainage problem that affected 80 homes in the Wedgewood area. The result of the project kept water from flooding houses and backyards.
Recently, I contacted the country engineer and Lexington about plugged bridge on Orchard Park Road, which was threatening several businesses. I worked with both groups to form and execute a plan quickly to clean out the obstruction and kept four businesses from flooding.
5. QUESTION: What have you done to make Richland County more business friendly in terms of regulations and inspections?
BANKS: I have been serving on a committee of the RCDG which has been working with the private sector and government agencies charged with inspecting and the enforcing of regulations, along with others to seek solutions to make Richland County a more business friendly community.
Thus far, the regulator community is in the process of making it more convenient to reduce the time, effort and duplication for businesses to receive their permits to proceed to. Steps have also been made in the area of the inspections from different departments working closer together, to reduce the inspection and approval process.
WERT: I have talked to Codes and Permits many times about giving more timely service and about being proactive to problems that may arise from enforcing the state of Ohio’s building code laws.
I intend to bring the Health Department together with us to develop an online “one stop” process. Also in the works is a job performance evaluation process so we (the commissioners) know of any problems with the process and how we can better serve the public.
6. QUESTION: How do you communicate with the taxpayers?
BANKS: First, I try to get out to meet the people at meetings, events and functions of all kinds. I certainly will attend meetings, events and functions which are assigned to me as one-third of the governing body of Richland County.
As mayor I have received the barking dog phone calls in the night. I respond to them. If the call does not wake me and goes to voice mail, I call the individual back. At the office, I answer my own phone, I check voice mail and respond to it often, and I check and respond to emails often. Often is defined as several times a day.
If I am out of the office for more than a day or two, I use my lap top to check emails and I can reach my voice mail from wherever I am anytime.
I have had people leave me messages on Facebook, I have a Facebook page, but do not use it consistently–it is not an efficient way to contact me.
WERT: My home phone is listed in the phone book for anyone to call at any time. I also have a cell phone with me all waking hours and for emergency calls at all other times.
I use email even though I am a slow and a terrible typist. I get regular USPS mail.
Correspondence that is hand-delivered to the clerk is put in my office mailbox. I am accessible at all public meetings and I see a lot of people while doing everyday errands.
I prefer to answer phone calls, emails and all other mail with personal phone calls where at all possible. I have found I can get more information and answer the questions or indentify problems more quickly with a personal conversation.
Before the unfortunate incident at the courthouse, the residents and taxpayers felt comfortable attending meetings of the board and discussing their concerns immediately and directly.
I’d like to stress that may still be done and we want the public to be involved but from necessity, it must be done in a more formal manner.
7. QUESTION: Technology continues to change–how do you use it in your job? How do you keep up with it?
BANKS: I have been using computers since the 1980s. I do use computers to communicate, to research information, seek out solutions and best practices. I like using spreadsheets to keep data, compare data, and calculate all kinds of measurable information.
I have a smart phone as of last spring. I am still learning its many uses, and I regret not getting one sooner. It helps me in many ways to be more productive and informed.
I have three of the most beautiful, talented and smart redheads in my IT Department, age 15, 13 and 11–all my grandkids. Very occasionally, they cannot solve my problem. I have no problem taking my problem to a professional computer problem-solver.
WERT: Technology impacts more the departments we oversee and the businesses we support.
But we do use computers and large color copiers for tax maps; computers in the Recorder’s office for the number and accessibility of records; computers in the Clerk of Courts for court processes and recording; GIS maps in the Auditor’s office for location of land; MARCS radios in the Sheriff’s Office; and new equipment in the 911 Dispatch Center.
Technology is not a magic ingredient; it is more of an infrastructure like affordable electricity.
