Fact Sheet for Roundtables

8/3/2019 Fact Sheet for Roundtables

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Local Government CollaborationThe Regional Chambers Government Affairs office is actively engaged in promotinglocal government collaboration and cooperation in the Mahoning Valley. During the

past three years, the Regional Chamber initiated efforts to form collaborative groups in

both Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

Mahoning County Metro Leaders Roundtable Why was the Roundtable formed: To foster discussion on how local

government leaders can develop relationships, form trust and work together in

various ways and share information and services to save money and improve

the economic vitality of the area.

When was it formed: March 2008 and consists of government leaders from

Mahoning County Commissioners Office, Mahoning County Sheriffs

Department, cities of Youngstown, Canfield and Struthers, villages of Poland

and New Middletown and townships of Poland, Coitsville, Boardman,Austintown and Canfield.

Who leads the group: Boardman Trustee Brad Calhoun is chair of the

group. Boardman Township Administrator Jason Loree is vice chair. Tony

Paglia, Regional Chamber vice president of Government Affairs, facilitates the

groups activities with the assistance of Shari Budge, Executive and

Government Affairs Coordinator.

Goals of the group:1. Developtrust, openness, and a commitment to work jointly to

solve common problems.

2. Commit to meet on a regular basis.

3. Be willing to embark on a long-term effort to improve cooperation

across jurisdictional boundaries and explore common problems.

4. Be creative and innovative in identifying solutions to these

problems, and to take the political risks associated with doing

things differently.

5. Work towards regional collaboration, which is defined as efforts to

look beyond community boundaries to partner with other

communities in sharing resources and talent.

Items that the Roundtable have worked on since March 2008:1. Joint purchasing/Purchasing consortiums (several presentations)

2. Storm water management districts

3. Health insurance consortiums

4. IT service sharing

5. Utility aggregation

6. 911 consolidation


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7. Efficientgovnow collaborative grant program

8. Energy conservation initiatives

9. Land use planning

10. Grant writing

11.Joint fire districts

Examples of successes:1. Mahoning/Youngstown Regional Information Network. Involves

a collaboration of Mahoning County, the cities of Youngstown and

Canfield and Boardman, Austintown and Canfield townships. The

network of six local and regional governments is connecting to

available multicounty broadband networks for the purpose of

providing three primary services: Access to critical information

assisting law enforcement agencies; General IT Services/Shared

Services; Disaster Recovery Services. Substantial gains in cost

savings and service provision can be achieved through sharing

common services among governments.2. Boardman-Austintown-Canfield Regional Storm Water and

Water District. The three communities have formed a regional

storm water and water district that will deal, first with storm water

flooding problems and eventually deal with drinking water supply

and cost.

3. Gas and Electric aggregation: Through information sharing, many

of our roundtable members put utility aggregation issues on the

ballot. The ability for a local government, representing all of its

residents and businesses, to negotiate a price with utilities has

resulted in significant savings for customers. The impetus for theactions came from Roundtable information sessions. Before we had

our sessions, Trumbull and Mahoning counties had the least

number of communities doing utility aggregation in NE Ohio and

probably the whole state. Now, just about every community is

involved.

4. Joint Fuel Purchasing: After several informational meetings

regarding ways to reduce gasoline and diesel costs through the

bidding process, some Mahoning County governments have

actually signed MOUs with Trumbull County, which approved a

joint purchasing contract for gasoline and diesel fuel in Aug. 2010.Those governments, including the city of Youngstown, are

piggybacking off of Trumbull Countys price.

5. Joint communications equipment purchasing: The large

townships of Boardman and Austintown jointly purchasing

communications equipment for their police and fire departments.


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They plan to create a joint dispatching district to operate their 911

centers and hopefully bring in other county PSAPS into the district.

Trumbull County Roundtable Why was the Roundtable formed: This was renewed effort to gain

commitments from local elected officials to work together on meaningful ways to

collaborative, cooperate, share services and find ways to reduce the costs of

government in Trumbull County.

When was it formed: September 2009 and consists of government leaders

from Trumbull County Commissioners Office, Trumbull County Sheriffs

Department, Trumbull County Engineers Office, Trumbull County Planning

Commission, the cities of Warren, Cortland, Niles and Girard and the townships

of Howland, Champion, Warren, Liberty, Vienna and Brookfield

Who leads the group: Tony Paglia is the group facilitator with assistance

from Shari Budge.

Goals of the group:

1. Developtrust, openness, and a commitment to work jointly to

solve common problems.

2. Commit to meet on a regular basis.

3. Be willing to embark on a long-term effort to improve

cooperation across jurisdictional boundaries and explore

common problems.

4. Be creative and innovative in identifying solutions to these

problems, and to take the political risks associated with doing

things differently.5. Work towards regional collaboration, which is defined as efforts

to look beyond community boundaries to partner with other

communities in sharing resources and talent.

Items that the Roundtable has worked since September 2009:1. Joint purchasing of fuel, road equipment and materials.

2. Health insurance consortiums

3. Efficientgovnow collaborative grant program

4. Energy conservation initiatives including replace streetlights with

LED lighting.

5. Streamlined site plan review process

6. E-government.

Examples of successes:


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1. Gas and Electric aggregation: Through information sharing, many

of our roundtable members put utility aggregation issues on the

ballot. The ability for a local government, representing all of its

residents and businesses, to negotiate a price with utilities has

resulted in significant savings for customers. The impetus for the

actions came from Roundtable information sessions. Before we hadour sessions, Trumbull and Mahoning counties had the least

number of communities doing utility aggregation in NE Ohio and

probably the whole state. Now, just about every community is

involved.

2. Joint Fuel Purchasing: After several informational meetings

regarding ways to reduce gasoline and diesel costs through the

bidding process, Trumbull County Commissioners sought bids and

approved a new gasoline and diesel purchasing contract. The

accepted bid is expected to save county departments between 10

and 30 cents a gallon. In addition, local governments and schooldistricts are piggybacking off of the countys price. Expected

savings annually would be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

3. Joint Road Materials and Equipment: The Trumbull County

Engineer has instituted road materials and equipment purchasing

programs that will permit local governments to bypass their own

bidding and utilize the countys price for materials and equipment,

thus providing savings.

4. Unified Site Plant Review Commission: County officials have

worked to streamline the process for developers to work through

the site plan review process in the county. All county officials anddepartments involved in issuing permits and reviewing plans will

work through the commission to streamline and expedite site plan

reviews to make the process business friendly.

Documents

Fact Sheet for Roundtables