Build on regional cooperation; Vote now for 2 Valley projects

One need look no farther than the ongoing $650 million expansion of the V&M Star steel mill in Youngstown to fathom the colossal value of regional cooperation and collaboration.

That project, hailed as one of the largest industrial expansions in the United States this year, is the product of multiple collaborative agreements among the cities of Youngstown and Girard and the counties of Mahoning and Trumbull.

When completed, it will produce hundreds of jobs, fortify Youngstown’s and Girard’s tax base with millions in new revenue and strengthen the overall economic underpinning of the Mahoning Valley.

With such clear benefits, it is incumbent for all stakeholders in the Valley — from local governments to regional economic development organizations to individuals — to maximize the potential of collaborative regional projects of all shapes, sizes and varieties.

Toward that end, we throw our unbridled support behind two such endeavors that already have won rave reviews from the Fund for Our Economic Future, a 16-county consortium in Northeast Ohio that promotes and funds multi-government projects that promise jobs, cost-saving efficiencies and a stronger quality of life for all.

THE VALLEY’S PROPOSALS

Earlier this year the Fund for Economic Growth invited government officials throughout Northeast Ohio to participate in a collaboration and efficiency program, titled EfficientGovNow. Scores of local governments submitted proposals, and two from the Valley have been named Top-Ten finalists. They are:

A $76,000 project for Youngstown and Mahoning County to create a collaborative land bank designed to stabilize the housing market, strengthen the city’s core and stop the spread of property abandonment.

A $126,000 project to expand the Trumbull County Geographical Information System for collecting and sharing data more completely among local governments.

The competition comes at a time when Americans have become fed up with all-too familiar tax-wasting, bloated, inefficient governments. It also comes at a time when Americans in general, and Northeast Ohioans in particular, are demanding novel efficiency-driven ways of doing the people’s business.

According to Brad Whitehead, president of the Fund for Our Economic Future, 82 percent of Northeast Ohio residents favor greater government collaborations.

Of course, not all such collaborations will produce the windfall results of the private-public partnership in the V&M deal. Smaller-scale public-public partnerships, such as proposed in the two Valley projects, can also yield tangible results, reduce costs and increase our quality of government and our quality of life.

That’s why it’s important for Mahoning Valley residents to rally around the fund’s campaign.

Throughout this month, you can review and vote for the projects to be funded online at EfficientGov.Now.org or by phone at (877) 771-5206. You can also vote on a paper ballot available at public libraries in the region.

The Valley already has a strong track record in the competition, having won funding last year by placing first and second in the public voting. We’re counting on Valley residents again to flex their collective muscle this year to bring the proposals to fruition and to underscore the value of governments working together to fuel efficiency and progress.