$100K grant fires up COG study
By Danielle Toth
Westshore
Published Aug. 12, 2009

Officials from the Westshore Council of Governments learned Thursday they came in second place in a “get-out-the-vote” campaign through EfficientGovNow, a program that aims to create more efficient governments by providing as much as $300,000 in funding to as many as three collaborative government projects from throughout Northeast Ohio.

COG will receive $100,000 toward a study of a regional fire district for seven area cities – Bay Village, Fairview Park, Lakewood, North Olmsted, North Ridgeville, Rocky River and Westlake.

The money comes from the Fund for Our Economic Future, a collaboration of philanthropic organizations and individuals with the mission of strengthening the economic competitiveness of Northeast Ohio. The Fund for Our Economic Future launched EfficientGovNow in March.

“We’re extremely happy and excited about getting the money,” Bay Village mayor and COG chairwoman Debbie Sutherland said. “It’s an excellent opportunity for us to collaborate in the Westshore and build on what we already do when we work together already. The study will give us a clearer picture of what we can do in terms of forming potential fire districts.

“All the Westshore mayors did a great job in getting the word out to people to vote on this, and we clearly showed there is support for this type of concept in the area. I also want to thank (Bay Village fire) Chief Jim Sammon for working with the other departments and  (Bay Village fire) Lt. Chris Lyons for writing a great grant proposal which clearly paid off.”

Rocky River Mayor Pam Bobst was similarly enthusiastic about the grant.

“We’re very excited,” Bobst said. “We’re viewing this as the beginning of a Westshore fire district. It may not necessarily happen from this project, but we’re going to look at what makes sense to collaborate on. We’re looking at an opportunity for cost savings and effectiveness.”

Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough said the news of receiving the grant money was fantastic.

“Obviously, it helps push the study forward more expeditiously where we don’t have to try to come up with all the money for it,” Clough said.

The top three winning projects will receive a grant for up to the amount requested in their EfficientGovNow application. The grants will be distributed in stages as each of the three projects achieve specific milestones.

“There were clear criteria for submitting proposals, and we really chose the finalists by how collaborative they were between governments and how easily they could be replicated across the region,” said Chris Thompson, of the Fund for Our Economic Future.

Voters from Northeast Ohio were asked to vote on the nine finalists in the campaign, casting 13,483 votes from July 1 to July 31, according to EfficientGovNow. The Westshore proposal was the only entry from Cuyahoga County and received 2,978 votes for first place, 433 votes for second place and 397 votes for third place. Point values were assigned for each first-, second- or third-place vote, and the Westshore proposal received a total of 10,197 points. 

“To beat out some of the other projects, Westshore really had to rally for their cause,” Thompson said. “I’m very excited for them. We look forward to seeing how their project progresses.”

COG has already selected a consulting firm for the study, Emergency Services Consulting International Inc., of Wilsonville, Ore. The firm bid $137,492 for the project, which the grant will mostly cover. The seven participating cities will split the remainder of the cost, Sutherland has said.

Fairview Park Mayor Eileen Patton said the cities would have gone forward with the study even without the grant because they believed it was the right thing to do, but the $100,000 is certainly welcome.

“Receiving this grant will benefit all of us because our costs will all go down,” Patton said.

Patton said it’s important to note the various fire chiefs are in favor of exploring the possibility of creating a regional fire district.

“We are doing this in a collaborative effort among mayors and fire departments,” Patton told West Life.

Patton noted that in addition to her city’s fire chief, David Simon, department Capt. Paul Arundal participated in the interviews of potential study consultants. The mayor said Arundal was included to have the department more involved in the process.

Patton said the Westshore mayors believe in moving forward on the project in a way that saves money and protects residents. At the same time, she said, the mayors want the consultant to be frank about how effective regional partnerships will be.

“We want to know what will work for the Westshore communities,” Patton said.

The combined district would hopefully improve EMS response time and fire service while reducting the cost to taxpayers, North Olmsted Mayor Thomas O’Grady said in a letter to residents.

“We already have a central dispatch system so we’re well on our way,” Bobst said. “We’ve been told we did the most difficult part first. Now our interest is in strengthening the service – expanding and enhancing it.”

Right now, the Westshore Central Dispatch System, which became active in spring 2006, provides coverage for Fairview Park, North Ridgeville, Rocky River and Westlake and mutual aid to adjacent communities.

Clough said the creation of a regional fire district is the next natural step following the establishment of the central dispatch center. He said he hopes that if the study is favorable, the communities can begin implementing the regional fire district within a year.

“Maybe if it works out here, it will encourage other cities to move forward with regionalization of fire departments,” Clough said.

The two other government projects that received funding are The Rollin’ on the River Mahoning River Corridor Redevelopment Project, which took first place with 11,760 points and will receive $57,451, and The Mahoning-Youngstown Regional Information System (MYRIS) project, which took third place with 9,143 points and will receive $120,000.

This is the first time the Fund for Our Economic Future has awarded grant money in this way, and the fund will examine whether or not to do it in the future.

“We’ll examine whether we should do it again and possibly modify some parts of it,” Thompson said. “The public really took this seriously and got to have a part of this and say where this grant money was going. We want to keep the public involved and continue supporting efficient government.”

(West Life Assistant Editor Jeff Gallatin and reporter Kevin Kelley contributed to this story.)

On the Web:

• EfficientGovNow.org
• Fund for Our Economic Future
• Advance Northeast Ohio

Previous West Life articles:

• Regional fire district considered by Westshore cities (Sept. 24, 2008)
• Regional fire study to begin (July 15, 2009)