Trending
The fundamental problem we have is the antiquated statutory structure of our three-member board of county commissioners. Having served on a three-member board as a Weathersfield Township trustee during the 1980s, I experienced how volatile and dysfunctional a three-member board can be.
We can remedy this situation by adopting a county charter as Summit County has done very effectively. Our Regional Chamber of Commerce recommended restructuring Trumbull and Mahoning counties with county charters about 15 years ago. As a part of this effort, I volunteered my expertise to crunch the census data to provide them with a county council district structure that would provide constitutionally mandated proportional representation for the citizens of our communities.
With a charter, we can abolish this chronically dysfunctional three-member board of county commissioners, replacing it with a larger, more diverse and representative county council. This could draw upon representation from each of the communities of Trumbull County and allow for county council members to develop their own areas of expertise by serving as members of council committees focused on specific county functions.
We should create a more corporate-like structure, like a business or nonprofit board. This county council would then hire a county executive to serve as the CEO. This CEO would then be responsible for all of the many departments that now report directly to the Board of County Commissioners. The many autonomous boards that are appointed by the county commissioners would be appointed by the county council, with the advice of the CEO.
Having worked with and structured numerous boards, I have found a nine-member board to be most effective. It would be large enough to bring individual concerns to the county council, without allowing any one council member to obstruct or disrupt the important work of the county. Also it would not create an open meeting law violation if two members of the county council would meet informally.
Instead of electing these positions "at large," I would divide Trumbull County into 9 districts, each with a council member. This way, every part of our county will have an equal representation, and no one community could dominate the county.
The complaint that I constantly heard as a township trustee was that they were constantly neglected by Trumbull County. Townships depended more on the county for basic services that are traditionally provided by cities.
With a population of approximately 200,000, each district would have a population of about 22,000 people. That would provide better governance than the dysfunctional, laughingstock mess we experience almost every decade with our obsolete commissioner board.
Since the commissioners' salary is approximately $90,000 each, by combining the three commissioners' salaries, and dividing by nine, each county council member could be paid approximately $30,000 each. By trimming $12,000 from each county council member, we would have nine council members paid $18,000 each. This would make $108,000 available to pay a professional county CEO, with no increase in costs over what we are already paying. PERS pension contributions are based upon the total salaries, so there would be no increased cost. Medical insurance premiums could be paid by individual council members, on an opt-in basis, at no extra cost to the county.
Adopting a county charter would require the services of a lawyer with expertise in government law, to draft the proposed charter document. Then it would require a massive petition campaign to put it on the ballot. Then it would require a massive public information campaign to explain the benefits of abolishing our dysfunctional board of county commissioners, by adopting a county charter. Then the voters would decide whether or not to fix our chronically dysfunctional Board of Trumbull County Commissioners
We the people of Trumbull County can repair this mess, with wisdom, courage and commitment of time with other resources.