As of Wednesday, the self-appointed group drawing up the proposal still hadn’t agreed amongst themselves on some key details. But a draft does call for replacing the three-member board of commissioners and just about every other elected office in Cuyahoga County with a county council that would have 11 members, plus an elected county executive.
County Recorder Lillian Greene is one of two African Americans who currently hold county-wide elected office. In a lively exchange on 90.3’s The Sound of Ideas®, Greene said under this plan, African Americans could find themselves shut out of the county’s top office.
Greene: “Under the reform plan, the county executive has, what I believe, based on what I read, powers tantamount to absolute power. I don’t believe this county will elect a black person to have all that power.”
A Sound of Ideas listener emailed host Dan Moulthrop to challenge Greene.
Moulthrop: “This from Marianne. Judge Greene: ‘Recorder Greene says this county would never elect a black person as a County Executive. That's absurd. We elected a black President. Why does she sell our county so short?’”
Greene: “Dan, this is not the United States. This is Cuyahoga County, alright? The nation is a different political animal than a single county - than Cuyahoga County.”
The issue of minority representation is the latest stumbling block in a long history of stalled attempts to reform county government. Former Cleveland News staffer Doris Vargo says county reform has been batted around since she was a reporter in the 1950s. Restructuring, she says, is long overdue.
Vargo: “Our county government is exactly as it was established in the state constitution when Ohio became a state in 1803. I think we all agree that a lot has changed since 1803.”
Cleveland State professor Kevin O’Brien said the proposal on the table now is hardly new to Ohio or the country at least in the sense that it calls for combining a number of functions into a single position, the county executive. The tentative plan, in fact, would eliminate the position of treasurer, auditor and recorder —Lillian Greene’s post. O’Brien says that consolidation would help the county operate more efficiently.
O’Brien: “The history kind of points toward the issues of the need for streamlining, the need for accountability, the need for transparency. And each of those issues are somewhat intertwined.”
The lack of transparency in Cuyahoga County government and the reliance on closed door meetings to hammer out a reform proposal drew the ire of some listeners to the call-in program yesterday.
Caller: "There's no transparency in this process. We're reading about it in the paper. So we're supposed to learn about this in a couple hundred word article without any public input? It's really sort of outrageous!"
Transparency and accountability are all the more sensitive against the current backdrop of a county government that has been targeted by federal investigators for possible corruption. Although there have been no indictments, GOP County Chair Rob Frost said the speculation is adding urgency to the reform effort.
Frost: “We’re a long ways from voting on a proposal. What we do have is though, a broad consensus for the need for reform. Yes, the county corruption allegations are separate, but that seems to have been a crystallizing factor in other communities for finally getting reforms passed.”
As arguments continue, the deadline for getting the plan on the ballot looms. Forty-six thousand registered voters must sign a petition by July 13. Strongsville State Senator Tom Patton has proposed what he calls a “backup plan” in the state legislature. It would allow county commissioners to put a reform measure on the ballot should the petition fail.
Local leaders met will meet again Thursday in an attempt to finalize the proposal. They’ll hope to hold a press conference Friday to announce the results. For some residents like Doris Vargo it couldn’t come soon enough.
Vargo: “I am ready! I am willing to sign a petition, any petition that will bring this out to the public. Where can I get a petition to sign to get this before the public?”
Caitlin Johnson, 90.3