Why the flap over combining building inspection services?

The merger of Youngstown and Mahoning County building inspection departments seemed like such a no-brainer in March that we applauded the forward thinking of the mayor and county commissioners.

We may have been premature in our praise of the local governments. Last week, it appeared that the plan had gone off the rails because of a disagreement over the building inspection fee the county wanted to charge the city.

By any measure, the $40 increase — from $60 to $100 — was unreasonable and, not surprisingly, a deal-breaker as far as Mayor Charles Sammarone was concerned. Sammarone said so publicly, prompting Commissioner John A. McNally IV, who is leaving office at the end of the year, to insist that the goal is to make the consolidation of the building inspection departments a reality. The proposal to increase the fee was not an arm-twisting ploy, McNally said.

“The efficiencies that will be gained for contractors in the county and the city by having one building-inspection department in place will be more than enough payment for us,” the commissioner said.

If the end result is all the matters, why the controversy, when in March Mayor Sammarone and commissioners McNally, Anthony Traficanti and Carol Rimedio-Righetti seemed to be having a lovefest when a three-month agreement was signed? That agreement called for the county to handle building inspections in Youngstown.

If things worked out, they said, the arrangement could become permanent.

We hailed this step as the beginning of what we wishfully believed was a preview of other more complicated consolidation of services.

Our position on the creation of a 911 emergency telephone system is well known. We strongly supported former Mayor George M. McKelvey when he offered to pay the county $1.5 million to take over emergency dispatching for the city. Despite growing public support, nothing happened.

And our taking the lead in the creation of a metropolitan court system below the common pleas level has resonated with the taxpayers, but has triggered vocal opposition from the special interests who benefit from the current system. In Mahoning County, there are municipal courts, county courts and mayor’s courts. All paid for by tax dollars.

Finally, we have given our unyielding support to Mayor Sammarone in his bid to have the city health department folded into the county health department. But, the decision-makers at the county level have been dragging their feet.

Bleak record

With such a bleak record of local governments agreeing to do more with less, as Republican Gov. John Kasich has advised, and reducing operating costs, as taxpayers have demanded, we viewed the county’s takeover of the city’s building inspection activities as a no-brainer. After all, both sides seemed committed to the idea.

Thus our question: Why the controversy?

From where we sit, there was no reason for the hiccup, especially since Commissioner McNally has said that an assistant county prosecutor would be drafting a proposed one-year agreement with the city, maintaining the $60 as the inspection rate.

The one year is to give the city a chance to evaluate the new system, but the commissioners said the ultimate goal must be the consolidation of the offices — which is what the mayor wants.

Sammarone will be leaving office at the end of 2013, and there is no guarantee that his successor will be as committed to changing the way city government operates. Therefore, we urge him to not only enter into the one-year agreement, but to put consolidation in place before he departs city government.