Fitzgerald sounded a theme that has caught on elsewhere in the country: a region's communities can succeed together or fail alone.
He asked county municipalities to prioritize services they already provide which `might' work better as part of a consortium.
He used the county Health Department as an example of consolidation that's proven so effective; only two cities now maintain their own departments.
ED FITZGERALD:
"If the county takes a leadership role, there are many, many, many other opportunities of combinations of services. Some may be county wide, some may be combinations of suburbs with the county, some may be contiguous, some may not be contiguous, but the county can end up playing a role in that."
FitzGerald called the matter 'urgent', and requested the lists within the first 100 days of his administration.
He also called for cooperation on development focused on attracting jobs NOT to specific cities, but to Cuyahoga County.
ED FITZGERALD:
"We are not going to be able to succeed if we have 59 different economic development strategies, and 59 different service platforms. It isn't going to work. We are handcuffing ourselves compared to our competition across the state and across the country and across the world."
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson was among those endorsing the effort.
MAYOR FRANK JACKSON:
"He's doing the right thing by asking mayors where they believe that he could be helpful to them, knowing that they're going to face budgetary problems where he can be of assistance to help them to reduce their costs, and how he could work with them to help spur economic development in the county. All that is the right approach."
Fitzgerald takes office January First.
