For recorder: Palermo; opponent’s interesting

The race for Mahoning County recorder in the Nov. 4 general election is intriguing — not because incumbent Noralynn Palermo, a Democrat, is in any danger of losing, but because her opponent has a doctorate in chemical engineering and is pledging to “develop a performance metric for each specific task of county recorder’s office.”

No, it’s not a misprint. Dr. Jeanette Garr, PhD chemical engineering, MS biochemistry, BA biology/high school science and math certification postdoctoral fellow, is a professor of chemical engineering at Youngstown State University.

Garr has never run for public office before, is a Republican and she discusses the role of recorder in professorial language that is intriguing. After all, the main responsibility of the office is to preserve documents, such as property titles and deeds. The qualifications for the job are no more than those required to be a voter.

Indeed, Palermo, who has worked in the office for more than 30 years, was appointed recorder in June 2007 by the Mahoning County Democratic Party’s precinct committeemen and women. She is a high school graduate.

Yet, she is intimately familiar with every aspect of the office’s operation, knows the applicable state statutes like the back of her hand, and is of the firm belief that the taxpayers deserve a full-time officeholder.

There is nothing pretentious about Palmero’s tenure or her candidacy.

The office is keeping up with the latest computer technology, which has allowed Palermo to operate with a staff of seven. In 2000, there were 12 full-time employees, and in 1974, during the heyday of pencil pushing and paper shuffling, the office had 23 employees.

There is no doubt that Palermo has earned a full four-year term as recorder.

Academic’s mind

But, we aren’t ready to dismiss Garr’s candidacy off-hand. She has an academic’s mind, which is something not commonly found in government. Her ideas deserve to be explored further by the county recorder and even the county commissioners.

County officials should ask Garr to show how her performance metric and the cost analysis models can save money, While it may be rare for governments in our area to use the expertise of YSU faculty to make their operations more efficient and cost-effective, such public-private interaction is common around the country.

Given the concern about data security, it is interesting that the challenger, who has never served in government, would have the instincts to talk about the danger of putting documents on-line without first establishing measures for securing information, such as social security numbers.

There’s another reason we are intrigued by the chemical engineering professor’s candidacy: She has publicly admitted that she is using this race as a springboard for future political endeavors.

Garr believes that there should be political balance in local government, which is now dominated by Democrats.

Finally, she strongly supports reorganization of county government as proposed by the Regional Chamber. The Home Rule initiative would place the day-to-day operation of the county in the hands of an executive. A board of elected officials would set policy and be responsible for hiring the executive.