The TMACOG General Assembly was held today. Members met in caucus sessions before the business meeting. Here's what they talked about:
Counties Caucus
Notes presented by
Doris Herringshaw, Wood County Commissioner
- Heroin/opiates epidemic and its influence on law
enforcement and impact on families.
- Insufficient funding for necessary infrastructure.
- Water quality and supply discussion recognizes
that we have made progress as a region in designing a safe and fair system.
- County officials are anxious to see what’s in
the new state budget particularly in the Medicaid sales tax issue.
- They discussed if counties of northwest Ohio and
southeast Michigan should create an emergency plan for zero carbon energy.
City Caucus
Notes presented by Mike
Beazley, Administrator for the City of Oregon
- Agreed that the water discussion was making
progress.
- Discussed a law slipped into a bill that allows
microcell towers to be erected in right of way with little warning to the
community. Cities are looking at legal options.
- Like the counties, city representatives are
worried about proposed changes to Medicaid which could cost millions.
- The struggle to provide adequate public services
(streets, legal services, criminal justice) is Recommended that elected officials start talking
to gubernatorial candidates now because it will be too late to be effective
after an election.
Village Caucus
Notes presented by Gordon
Bowman, Mayor of Pemberville
- ·
Appreciated a presentation from TMACOG Vice
President Kurt Erichsen on the regional water planning progress
- ·
Noted EPA water requirements that are difficult for
villages to meet
- ·
Community policing is a big challenge: cost of
training, getting enough coverage from officers, turnover among staff. Some
village are having to change part-time to full-time to hold on to staff.
- ·
Heard from First Energy about the role of Davis
Besse to the regional energy grid and tax consequences of closing that
facility.
Township Caucus
Notes presented by Mark
Hummer, Lake Township Administrator
·
Thanked TMACOG for providing a forum for discussion.
·
Is grateful that townships are heard in the
water policy discussion.
·
Noted that townships have room for growth and
need to be part of economic discussions.
·
Noted that noise ordinances, zoning compliance
are difficult to enforce.
·
Identified firing ranges as a source of
complaints.
·
Noted lack of funding for road repair.
Schools, Colleges
& Universities
Notes presented by Anne
Theis, Dean, Business, Information & Public Services at Owens Community
College
- Community colleges and 4-year colleges are
offering new programs in cyber security, agribusiness. Nursing continues to be
strong
- BGSU and the Toledo Museum of Art have been
discussing a summer program in technology aimed at young people who live within
a mile of the museum
- The concept of coding boot camps was discussed
as a strategy for training a lot of people quickly for jobs that are available
now. Private partnership seems to make these successful.
- Universities said that it is hard to keep
faculty in coding and technology because the jobs for people with those skills
are very well paid.
- Community colleges are partnering with industry
for non-credit training in pre-apprentice programs
- New high school graduation requirements in Ohio
are a source of great concern. Many current juniors are not on line to
graduate.
- Programs that give college credit to high
schoolers don’t know how they are going to handle students who can’t graduate
high school and move to college.
Special Districts
Notes presented by Joe
Cappel, V.P., Business Development, Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority.
- Special districts contribute to quality of life
which keeps young people in the area
- ·There are investments paying off right now:
Overland Industrial Park, new Metroparks including one in downtown Toledo, Bike
sharing program, new libraries
- The regional water plan is the best solution
- Regional planning and discussion is vital to
economic development, road planning.
Non-governmental
Members
Notes presented by Dennis
McMickens, President & CEO, Safety Council of Northwest Ohio
- Business are concerned with protecting their
property and employees
- Caucus members discussed creating emergency
action plans including plans to address domestic violence that moves into the
workplace.
- Private industry is concerned about cyber
security
Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments | www.tmacog.org
