Setting priorities that benefit county is a commissioner’s job

It was no surprise that Carol Rime- dio-Righetti won the race for Mahoning County commissioner. Her only opposition came from a candidate whose campaign didn’t rise to the level of lackluster.

While her victory was easy, governing will not be. But there is no reason for Rimedio-Righetti to make the job more difficult than it has to be.

Yet there are some signs that Rimedio-Righetti is contemplating going down avenues that would be more about her agenda than about providing Mahoning County residents with better government.

Specifically there is the matter of George Tablack, the county’s administrator and budget director.

Rimedio-Righetti made it clear during her campaign that she is not a Tablack fan. This newspaper has had its differences with Tablack in the past, but someone doesn’t have to be a fan to recognize that Tablack has an understanding of public entity accounting that has served the county well.

Rimedio-Righetti has suggested that three commissioners should be able to oversee county operations without the help of an administrator. We suppose Rimedio-Righetti could reach an agreement with the other two commissioners on how they would equally share the duties and responsibilities of an administrator. That’s not an easy thing to do in a higher population county such as Mahoning, where cities, suburban and rural areas make different demands on county government. But even if an argument might be made for doing without an administrator, that wouldn’t address the need for a budget director.

Unrealistic expectations

One commissioner can develop the expertise needed to address, for instance, sewers, while another concentrates on urban problems and another works with residents in the farthest reaches of the county. But no one commissioner can be expected to develop a budget and counter the demands of other elected officials for the money they say they need to run their departments especially at a time when there will be fewer local government dollars coming from the state.

If Rimedio-Righetti or any other commissioner thinks the time has come to force Tablack out, he or she better address all the potential consequences of such a move. To be sure, Tablack is well compensated, at least by local income standards for the work he does, but in the overall scheme of things most business people know that hiring people to do those jobs they can’t do is cheaper in the long run.

There certainly are enough issues to demand a new commissioner’s attention and that should be given higher priority than a solitary personnel issue.

There are millions to be saved in addressing the duplication of services throughout the county in the operation of 911 systems. There is more money to be saved in consolidating county offices in Oakhill Renaissance Place. There are going to be fights to be fought with those other elected officials who believe their offices should be getting a large piece of the shrinking financial pie. Rimedio-Righetti ran on a promise to develop a five-year economic development program, and, frankly, that could well take all of a commissioner’s spare time.

The job of an executive — and that’s what a county commissioner is, after all — is to set priorities and get things done. Recognizing what’s important and what isn’t determines the difference between a good commissioner and a poor one.