LIGHTGOV Engler combines varied interests in tech venture

About 98 percent of the company's business comes from outside the area.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
BOARDMAN -- He's best known locally as a former politician, but David Engler says he's developing a reputation outside the area as an entrepreneur who knows how to bring more money in for a local government.
Engler, whose 14 years in local politics included stints as a Mahoning County commissioner and a Youngstown councilman, dropped out of politics in 1999 to concentrate on his law practice and to start a business.
Founded 31/2 years ago, his Boardman-based technology company, LightGov, specializes in Internet-based solutions for governments.
The business is a perfect fit, said Engler, for a lawyer with a background in government and a fascination with technology.
LightGov has landed contracts with 10 Ohio counties, he said, and in May the company won the endorsement of the County Commissioners Association of Ohio.
He's made presentations before state lawmaker groups and other government leaders around the country and signed a joint marketing agreement this spring with Teranet Enterprises Inc., also a provider of Internet solutions for government based in Toronto, Canada.
Online buying, selling
The company's main thrust is an Internet product called egovmarkets.com which governments can use to buy and sell online.
For local governments with surplus equipment to sell, Engler said, the product works much like eBay, the Internet auction site.
Cities, townships and counties tend to accumulate large amounts of surplus equipment yearly, he explained, from outdated office machinery and vehicles to cars and equipment seized by police. Storage is a major expense, and attendance at regular auctions is often so low that the items sell for pennies on the dollar.
Governments draw a wider audience with LightGov's online auction product, so they get more for their items. Hamilton County in the Cincinnati area registered more than 1,000 users in its first week after contracting with LightGov this summer.
Governments can also auction items more frequently with the online option, which reduces their storage costs.
Egovmarkets.com can also be used to help a government get the best price for supplies by forcing suppliers to bid against one another in a "reverse auction." In Lake County, for example, officials estimated they saved $1,700 in May by using the reverse auction method to buy copy paper and paper towels.
Meeting specific needs
Engler said the company also designs services to meet the specific needs of a local government.
For example, the company designed a program to automate collection of past-due parking tickets for Youngstown. The company expects to bring in at least $30,000 in ticket revenue for the city, double its $15,000 contract amount.
"What we do, very simply, is applying technology to a government process to provide a more efficient way of performing the process," Engler said.
LightGov is also renovating a warehouse building it is leasing on the 500 block of Mahoning Avenue in downtown Youngstown. LightGov staffers there will refurbish and resell computers and will break down computers that can't be refurbished in keeping with disposal standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Overall, Engler says business is going well. He won't reveal sales figures but said LightGov's sales have been rising steadily.
Frustration
Engler's only gripe is that he thinks government officials in the Mahoning Valley shy away from doing business with LightGov because they fear political fallout, a concern that he insists is unfounded.
"I'm not losing sleep over it, but it bothers me that 98 percent of our business is from outside this community," Engler said. "Our business has grown outside the county, and we want to be able to do business in our own hometown."
One prospective deal with Mahoning County fell through last month. Commissioners were considering a $7,500 contract with LightGov to have outdated computers collected and either refurbished or disposed of, but commissioners put the proposal on hold.
Engler still holds an elected office. However, he said his position as a member of the Mahoning County Educational Service Center Board and the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center Board is nonpartisan and nonpolitical.
As for politics, Engler says it's part of his past. "I'm out of politics, and I have no plans to go back. I'm busy; I'm happy. I wish people would realize that."
vinarsky@vindy.com