Glenn School to help the Ohio Commission on Local Governmnet Reform and Collaboration
Ohio lawmakers and local government leaders have chosen the John Glenn School of Public Affairs to lead $140,000 in research efforts to understand the potential for greater collaboration among the state’s municipal governments.
The research will support the Ohio Commission on Local Government Reform and Collaboration, a 15-member panel created by the General Assembly in 2008 to explore opportunities to increase efficiency and cost savings among Ohio’s local governments through streamlining or possibly consolidating public services.
“People downtown are paying a lot of attention to this, and business institutions downtown are paying attention to this,” said Glenn School visiting scholar Dave Wirick, who coordinated the school’s research proposal for the commission.
The proposal, accepted by the commission in January, includes creating a consortium of Ohio universities and research organizations to gather data and generate reports for the commission until July 2010, when the commission’s term expires by statute.
Jennifer Evans-Cowley, a professor at The Ohio State University’s Knowlton School of Architecture, will supervise all research conducted through the Glenn School’s contract with the commission.
Wirick said much of the research will be “farmed out” to organizations across the state. He mentioned Cleveland State University’s urban affairs department as a possible collaborator. Glenn School faculty may have opportunities to be involved in the research, he said, and students will be needed for graduate research positions.
The Glenn School’s proposal for research activities for the commission includes:
“Part of the logic of the commission is there are opportunities for substantial cost savings,” Wirick said. He identified the existence of numerous fire departments in Ohio cities as an example of services that could possibly be consolidated in some areas.
Part of the commission’s work will be to identify Ohio state laws that can encourage redundant or inefficient services. Wirick pointed to a requirement that each county have its own elected coroner as an example of such a law.
“The service delivery mechanism has developed historically over 200 years and may not logically conform to any pattern that makes sense,” he said.
But even if cost-saving actions can be identified, consolidation of government services is far from easy.
“Local government is a pretty contentious issue,” Wirick said. “There are people who are concerned that there will be winners and losers in this.”
The 15-member commission includes nine individuals appointed by the president of the Senate, the speaker of the House and the governor, as well as one representative each from the Ohio Municipal League, the Ohio Township Association, the Ohio School Boards Association, the County Commissioners’ Association of Ohio, the Ohio Library Council, and the Ohio Association of Regional Councils. Wirick said so far commission members seem to be acting in good faith and representing their constituents’ interests.
“It’s a pretty all-star commission,” he said.
All research undertaken by the Glenn School’s consortium must be completed within a short time frame, but Wirick said additional funding sources already are being sought to continue the commission’s research beyond next summer.
“There is the possibility of additional work,” he said. “There’s an acknowledgment that more research needs to be done than $140,000 is going to fund.”
People downtown are paying a lot of attention to this and business institutions downtown are paying attention to this. — Dave Wirick
