Williams attends event with other mayor-elects

The Youngstown mayor-elect bonded with his counterpart from Rochester, N.Y.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Jay Williams joined about 25 other mayor-elects of medium to large cities at a three-day training seminar at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
In a telephone interview from Boston, Williams, Youngstown's mayor-elect, said the seminar proved to be valuable experience as he and the other attendees discussed various issues and heard presentations about issues they will face as mayors.
Among the issues addressed at the seminar, Williams said, were crisis management, government financing, public/private partnerships and how to deal with the media.
The speakers included Boston Mayor Tom Memino, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut.
Williams said he developed a good relationship with Robert Duffy, the mayor-elect of Rochester, N.Y. Duffy quit his job as the city's police chief to run for mayor. Williams resigned as Youngstown's Community Development Agency's director to run for mayor.
'Almost identical'
"Our campaigns were almost identical stories," Williams said.
Among those at the seminar were mayor-elects from Buffalo, N.Y., Lansing, Mich., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
"The interaction between the other mayor-elects was extremely helpful," Williams said. "We were able to share some of the similarities and problems we're all facing such as economic decline and regionalization."
Williams received an e-mail from Harvard before the November election inviting him to attend the seminar free of cost -- the university and other organizations paid for the expenses of the attendees -- if he won.
Harvard tracks mayoral elections in cities with populations of at least 75,000 and invites the winners in races in cases where the incumbent isn't running for re-election to attend the seminar each year, Williams said.
Youngstown Mayor George M. McKelvey couldn't seek re-election this year because of the city's term limits law.
skolnick@vindy.com