EXPENSIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANTS: WORTH THE COST?

Several years ago, during a Sun Messenger candidates’ interview, Councilman Frank Legan said that he thought Highland Heights was “going 35 miles per hour” and that it should be going faster---much faster.

Unfortunately, Legan (who is a member of the city’s Economic Development Committee) didn't elaborate on what he meant---what his vision of “going faster” entailed.

Based on what he’s said since, it’s clear that he believes that the city could and should be throbbing with commerce and commercial activity to a much greater degree than it is now.  

For several years Legan doggedly fought against tearing down the substandard, decrepit church building that used to stand in the middle of what is now the new Municipal Center greenspace.
He even pitched using the building (which needed close to a $1 million worth of work, just to bring it up to code) as a taxpayer-subsidized “business incubator”.

Last year Legan successfully convinced Council to spend $5000 to hire Mohr  Partners, a consulting firm, to conduct a preliminary economic development audit for the city. 
While I didn’t see the final report, it didn’t sound like Mohr Partners amassed particularly unique information or provided an unusually sophisticated analysis of the city’s resources and opportunities for its pricey four-figure fee.

At last week’s pre-Council Committee of the Whole meeting, Legan pitched paying Mohr Partners to do a more expensive, second round of consulting work:

“From a revenue standpoint, revenue is the life blood of what we do. ..Increased revenue means more and better of everything...Mohr Partners, in phase 2, would be developing a specific plan for economic development in our city….Hudson has spent several hundred thousand dollars marketing itself. This is a modest investment.”

Well ….maybe not so modest.

According to the managing partner in attendance, the first thing Mohr Partners intended to work on was updating and improving the city’s website.

That had heads bobbing up-and-down in agreement throughout the room.

 The cost for that work? 
According to Mohr Partners, between $50,000  and $100,000---- and that doesn’t include Mohr Partner’s consulting fee OR the cost of maintaining the website, once it’s redesigned.

 “We (Mohr Partners) would do an assessment, help design the RFP (the bid specs), and assist in finding a website developer….We’d start from scratch.…We’d get you started. ..Someone else needs to maintain it year in and out.”

Mayor Scott Coleman and Council seemed stunned by the price tag.

The mayor responded by declaring that the city would work with the same (formerly local) company that designed the original (and by common consensus mediocre) website.

That suggestion was met with even stonier silence.

I certainly don’t question Councilman Legan’s good intentions.

However, I do question the cost of the consulting services and Mohr Partner’s pricey estimates for website redesign ---particularly given that the city doesn't currently plan to hire anyone to maintain the website or implement the suggestions after Mohr Partners hands in its final report and walks out the door.

GOOD NEWS ON THE CATALANO’S REDEVELOPMENT FRONT?

Several city insiders have confirmed that the city is actively participating in discussions concerning the Catalano’s property.  While details remain sketchy, residents remain hopeful.

FEEDING THE DEER? THINK AGAIN.

A Highland Road resident addressed Council last week, sharing his concerns about a neighbor who was actively feeding deer.

I thought the resident had a very interesting and helpful perspective on the problem.

It was clear that his main concern was for the welfare of the deer:

“It seems merciful to feed the animals, but any conservationist or ranger will tell you that you don’t feed deer. There are many reasons for that. Young animals will fail to develop foraging skills.  The animals will lose their fear of people and wander in the streets and close to children and dogs. The food used may not be nutritionally appropriate. And feeding attracts more animals than would otherwise be in the area and results in increased breeding. When the feeding stops, you end up with more starvation, not less.”

 The resident applauded Council, which is currently looking at enacting an ordinance to to address the issue----as many surrounding communities have done.

For him it was the responsible thing to do:

“It’s important to have a responsible stewardship to the animals we share our space with.”

Happy Anniversary and Other Items

This blog was launched on March 2009. It’s been a great 4 years so far…with more to come.

SPRING FEVER!

Noreen Paradise (of the Highland Heights Garden Club) appeared at Council’s Feb 26^th Committee of the Whole meeting to report on the Highland Heights Community Garden.

Paradise told Council that the Garden’s inaugural season was a huge success, so much so that all of the plots are already spoken for. She has a waiting list for the 2013 season.

“Everything was great. We had hundreds of pounds of produce. By the end we couldn’t collect it all.”

Mayor Coleman and Council were receptive to Paradise’s suggestions to build on the Garden’s success this year---by expanding the garden and installing a more permanent (and groundhog-resistant) fence.

‘’’…(We could) potentially expand the garden to the west. Perhaps put in 2 more rows…. Put in 12 more beds. It would allow residents late to party to rent space.”

Councilman Leo Lombardo, who had an abundant Garden plot last year, shared his concern about berry bushes that a fellow gardener planted, which apparently brought on a Japanese beetle infestation. Paradise promised to address the issue, humorously commenting,

“The groundhog ate a whole lot more than the beetles, but unfortunately we couldn’t get them in the soapy waters.”

THE CITY’S 2013 BUDGET: “TIGHT” WITH DEFICIT SPENDING

The City of Highland Heights spends more than $17 million every year.

That’s a lot of money.

Deciding how to spend that money is the single most important policy decision that the mayor and Council make.

Last week, they met to discuss the budget.

The meeting lasted just 18 minutes---making it an almost $1 million a minute conversation.

Mayor Scott Coleman, Finance Director Joe Filippo and Legislative & Finance Chair Councilman Leo Lombardo parroted each other, describing the budget as “tight”.

Here are a couple of highlights from the 2013 budget:

---The city projects that overall it will take in $17,549,104 as revenue and spend $ 17,697,181 this year. That adds up to a $148,077 deficit.

The budget figures will undoubtedly change as the year progresses---they usually do. Significantly, the city is still negotiating new labor contracts, which could really impact the city’s final revenue and expenditure figures.

Fortunately the city has a $7million+ reserve to fall back on, should the deficit-spending projection hold firm.

---One big contributor to the city’s projected 2013 deficit spending is (no shock) the Park & Recreation Commission (P&R).

After towing the line for a couple of years, P&R is apparently back to its old deficit-spending ways.
The budget shows P&R overspending its revenue by almost $80,000 this year.

It’s troubling to see, especially given the generous support that P&R receives from Highland Heights taxpayers each year.
Pursuant to our charter, 1 mil of the property taxes collected by the city are put into P&R’s coffers. Those taxes and program fees make up P&R’s revenue---projected to exceed $600,000 this year.

A few years ago P&R got into big trouble with its deficit-spending.  Things improved for awhile after that.
Unfortunately, however, it seems that living within its means has turned out to be a very short-lived P&R practice indeed.

---Another item of interest: increased spending for Community Day.

The city used to sponsor a 3 day community festival, known as “Home Days”.

In 2010 Mayor Scott Coleman cut the festival back to a one day event. It is now known as “Community Day”.
While fireworks were retained, the well-attended city parade got the boot.

Councilman Chuck Brunello---who also serves on P&R --- has headed the Community Day Committee since 2010.  He and the other committee members spend a lot of time planning the one day event.

The city spent $20,301 on Community Day in 2010.

The budget shows that this year the city is planning to spend $30,000.
For those of you who hate doing the math, that amounts to a 50% increase in 3 years.

AIRPORT ROAD RELOCATION: NOT OFF THE TABLE?

A couple of years ago, the county floated the idea of relocating Richmond and/or Bishop Roads to allow for a major expansion of the Cuyahoga County Airport.

Residents hit the roof.

Local opposition and the Cuyahoga County corruption scandal seemed to put an end to that scheme.

“Seemed” is the operative word.

 According to a recent Plain Dealer story, the county is still hoping to expand the runway. The story led readers to believe that any expansion would stay within the airport’s current boundaries.

President of Council Cathy Murphy---who is a member of the airport’s Noise Abatement Council---took issue with that spin.
In a letter to the editor Murphy wrote:

“…I'm not as confident … that the idea of relocating Richmond and Bishop roads to allow for airport runway expansion has been taken off the table...Seven "alternatives" are being studied. Six out of them entail expanding the airport footprint by relocating Bishop and/or Richmond Roads.”

Murphy urged interested residents to weigh in on the issue while an environmental study is underway, to ensure that their comments would be included in the study. According to Murphy:

“Residents can express opinions by going to www.cuyahoga-airportea.com and sending an email or by mailing a letter to the Cuyahoga County Airport/Environmental Assessment Study, 26300 Curtiss Wright Pkwy., Richmond Heights 44143.”

You can read Murphy's letter at:

http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2013/02/cuyahoga_county_airport_runway.html

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE WATER MAIN?

During his most recent reelection campaign Mayor Scott Coleman promised that he would come up with a plan for replacing the Highland Road water main within 100 days after returning to office.

That was an important commitment.
The water main supplies water to a large portion of the city---and to communities to our east as well.
The Cleveland Water Department identified it for replacement several years ago, due to increasing instances of failure of the water main’s joint flanges/rings. 

Replacing the water main will take a lot of thoughtful planning, given the cost and extent of work required.
Having to do it on an emergency basis would cost a whole lot more.

Residents are still waiting for Mayor Coleman to make good on his campaign pledge, and based on the conversation at last week’s council meeting, I’m guessing they’re going to have to wait a whole lot longer.

The mayor appears to be backing away from tackling the water main project, focusing on something else instead: renovating Miner Road.

The mayor is quite familiar with Miner Road. It’s the road he uses to access his home and neighborhood.

Service Director Thom Evans recently reported that the county is willing to reimburse the city for repaving Miner Road---a nice offer for sure.
But the mayor wants to do more than repave the road. He wants to spend several million dollars renovating it.
Replacing the Highland Road water main would cost more.

 

After listening to the discussion at last week’s Council meeting I got the distinct impression that the county repaving offer was driving the mayor’s selection of the city’s next infrastructure project.
That’s unfortunate.

Deciding how to spend public money is the biggest and most important policy decision that the mayor and Council make each year.

The decision about which infrastructure project to tackle next shouldn’t be based on which is the easiest or cheapest to get done.
It should be based on which project is more urgent and more vital to preserving city assets (like water mains) and ensuring the provision of necessary services (like water) to residents.

Money is a tool.
Interest rates are at historic lows.
As a friend of mine (with an advanced degree in economics) pointed out, that means that cities have a unique opportunity right now to borrow money very cheaply. In his opinion, any city would be crazy not to take advantage of that opportunity to pay for big-ticket items, like infrastructure needs.

That got me thinking.

Instead of draining the general fund to pay to renovate one road, as the mayor seems inclined to do, should the city consider borrowing money (at low cost) to do both the Highland Road water main and Miner Road project, preserving capital by repaying for that work over time?

Mayor Coleman is familiar with borrowing money to get municipal needs addressed.
He was part of a team that successfully pursued bond money during former Mayor Fran Hogg’s tenure.
Those bonds financed major infrastructure work, including installation of the city’s new pool.

Deciding to take on debt to get needed work done would take leadership---real leadership---on the part of any mayor.
I’m not sure we can expect to see that kind of leadership from Mayor Scott Coleman.

That’s really a shame.

Residents have to wonder about the mayor’s priorities.

  

Is he really willing to risk a city-wide water main failure so that he can have a smoother commute to work?