Meeting in Boardman opens door for more cooperation

Like government corruption and organized crime, political parochialism is deeply rooted in the Mahoning Valley. That is why something as universally accepted as 911 consolidated emergency telephone service is still the subject of intense debate locally. Or, why something as sensible as a metropolitan court system is literally talked todeath.
But just as organized crime in the Valley has been virtually eliminated through the effortof federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, and government corruption has been nipped with the conviction of officeholders, including a sheriff, a prosecutor and judges, political parochialism can also become a thing of the past.
What is needed is a commitment on the part of elected officials and community leaders to open and maintain lines of communication between governments and for taxpayers to demand the implementation of programs to eliminate duplication of services.
It can be done, as a gathering Monday in Boardman Township showed. The session, which brought together officials from Youngstown, Mahoning County, Boardman, Austintown and Poland, was organized by Boardman Trustee Kathy Miller, who made regional cooperation a major issue in her re-election bid this year.
Miller has long sought to strengthen the ties among the communities that adjoin the city of Youngstown, and this year's election in the city paved the way for such an effort. The win by Jay Williams, a registered Democrat who ran as an independent, gave the trustee an ally in the push for such cooperation.
Williams, former director of the Youngstown Community Development Agency, is one of the architects of Youngstown 2010, the city's long-range development blueprint. A main ingredient of the plan is regional cooperation.
As the mayor-elect told the gathering, "We exist as a region whether we want to believe it or not."
But what was most encouraging about the session, which included representatives of the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, was the realistic view taken by participants of how to go about breaking down the barriers to such cooperation. They plan to start small.
Thus, as a first step, the corridors that connect the communities will be cleaned and potential economic development activity along the thoroughfares will be explored.
Focusing on the "low-hanging fruit," in Williams' words, will not only enable the officials to assess how various agencies work together, but will provide a much greater chance of success than if the group had selected some deeply entrenched problem.
Another reason to be encouraged is the determination expressed by the participants to make sure that Monday's get-together wasn't the first and the last. Miller made it clear she intends to make such sessions a regular event so other problems can be discussed and addressed.
During the election campaigns in Boardman and Youngstown, crime was one of the major issues debated by the candidates. The fact that criminals are not confined to one particular community was seen as a challenge confronting all local governments.
At some point in the not too distant future, a regional solution to this problem must be found.