Friday, February 12
I’ve been involved with Issue 6 and the County reform efforts since the beginning of the campaign and have been proud of the grassroots efforts used by a broad swath of leaders in our community that felt, like the people of Cuyahoga County, that we needed to make a change to the way the County was governed.
I know for sure that the confusion over transparency and the intent of the process (see full article on county transition) was borne out of bad communication and early disorganization more so than any intent to maintain secrecy or exclusivity.
We haven’t done this transition thing before. There really isn’t a blueprint and the number of issues to be discussed and coordinated is staggering. From the passage of Issue 6, the county commissioners were quick to appoint the transition leadership. These folks have been open and earnest in their attempts to create a strong collaboration among the private and public sector and the community at large.
Those that have been actively involved to date have repeatedly stressed the need to engage as many folks as possible. But think about it…over 1,000 people have signed up to be involved. There are about a dozen transition committees that cover a lot of ground and more than half of the committee leaders are volunteers balancing their real jobs and their commitment to the county.
As a part of the workgroup on public outreach and engagement our very first discussions have been about how to reach everyone who has volunteered and how to engage the public as broadly as possible. The logistics and mechanics are a challenge. We’ve already started with Facebook and the forum at CSU next week is designed to have as much input as possible about how to move this forward in a way that garners the input and trust necessary to be successful.
The county on behalf of the transition effort, has put the RFQ’s for services out into the hands of all the volunteers and through other venues like the transition web site to ensure everyone has an opportunity to support the process.
The comments made on WCPN and the idea that there would not be inclusion are unfortunate and have not been the mantra of the committee charged to see that the process is as open as possible. Unfortunately those comments and their interpretation have gotten out ahead of our ability to work through the details.
It's important to remember that we are just in the early stages of getting organized and making sure we meet the public’s expectations. Hopefully more of that can be discussed at next week's forum.
There are a lot of tough decisions ahead and the new executive and council will have to weigh the recommendations of the transition team and decide for themselves how to go forward. By conducting the conversations in public, we’ll increase transparency-- we will likely also increase anxiety. There will likely be large changes recommended and people’s jobs and roles will be openly discussed. It’s my hope that the media and others that follow these discussions stay engaged and objective and commit to the integrity required to report these issues and allow the conversation to be focused on the best outcomes for the County.
Posted by:Steve Millard