On Jobs and Leadership

The election is about a week away now, folks. November 8th will determine the future direction of this City. It is in yours hands, as it should be.

I did want to touch base on a couple of items that have come to my attention.

First, being the latest mailer from Mayor Cervenik. He claims that he has helped retain or created about 3500 jobs in Euclid, and, then proceeds to list the various companies that have added jobs.

Jobs, growth, of course, are what this City desperately needs. Jobs, and, the tax revenue it brings are the very life blood of City Services all of you expect.

What the mailer does not tell, or explain is over what time period any of these retained or created jobs occurred: since he became Mayor in 2003? Or, was it in the last year? That is unknown.

If we do some math, the total new jobs listed come to 405. He also listed Bluestone Business Park (former Chase Brass site) as the home to 1000 jobs (when the economy recovers).

Folks, Bluestone Business Park is empty! Nothing is on it. The assumption that it will contain

1000 jobs is pure guess work by the Mayor. Certainly he has no idea when it will be filled, and/or how many jobs will come from it. But, the last check with the owner, Fogg indicated

that any interest so far comes from warehouse type firms, firms that will bring few jobs.

Also missing from the Mayor's piece is the loss of jobs Euclid has suffered over the years of his Administration. Topping that list is Park-Ohio which took about 400 jobs out of the City several years ago.

The point here is that under this Administration, Euclid is on a jobs tread mill: some businesses

have grown, or come to Euclid, others have shrunk or left the City. Too many times the small businesses interested in Euclid are ignored by the current Administration.

To move ahead, we must jump off this treadmill. To do that, not only must we work with our larger firms, which we do now, but, we must begin cultivating those interested in opening

up small businesses. To do that, we must better integrate the activities of the Chamber of Commerce with city efforts to attract and grow jobs.

As a mentioned in earlier blogs, a real strategy to "Buy Euclid" must be implemented for the retail sector, along with developing a "commercial/industrial" pool that encourages local industry

to purchase from Euclid or Northeast Ohio firms. This will truly create jobs and City tax revenue.

The OAPC Report

On October 17th, the Ohio Association of Police Chief issued their report on the conditions of

the Euclid Police Department. Broken down into 18 sections, it should be used as a blueprint to make sweeping changes in how the Department is run. Police Chief Steven Sarver of Newark, and, Police Chief Douglas Knight of Vandalia conducted the top to bottom review.

Any organization is a reflection of its core values and missions statement. In good organizations each employee understands and works toward the values of that statement. The Euclid Police Department current mission statement is confusing and too long, according to OACP. Even when a committee was appointed to review that statement, Chief Repicky ignored the new statement

Leadership communication flows from the core statement of values. Great communication is the hallmark of well functioning organizations. While policies and procedures of the Police Department show a willingness to communicate, it is not translating into real communication with staff. When asked by OACP if “critical information is communicated efficiently” only 4.08% respondents said yes. 57.1% said “no.” In another question, when asked if “your input is considered before important decisions are made” 0% said “yes” while 80.9% said “no.”

Lack of communication has done much to undermine the spirit and cohesiveness within the Euclid Police Department. This is clearly illustrated in the management-labor area. OACP states that “a healthy relationship between labor and management is non-existent at this time.” Part of the contract between the City and Fraternal Order of Police Local #18 calls for a Labor-Management Committee consisting of the Mayor (or designee) Police Chief, and members of the FOP. In well functioning organizations, such a committee should meet every three months or so. Frequent meetings creates open line of communication, and building mutual trust. Euclid’s last meeting was held over a year ago and amounted to little more than grip sessions. OACP recommends that for EPD to move forward, labor and management must be willing to sit face to face and discuss issues before they become problems.

Two cases in particular that has caused much friction within the department. First is the lack of performance reviews for 2010 to the present. Chief Repicky stated that given retirements and supervisory personnel, it would be unfair to give review. The second is the need for 4 police captains.

Chief Repicky (and the Mayor) believed that not filling the position was a budgetary matter. Members of the department believe that it a personal and vindictive move based on who would next be promoted. OACP believes that since no conversation about dropping to three captains occurred prior to the latest opening, there is some credibility to staff feelings. OAC feels until both of these matters are resolved, morale cannot be restored.

Lack of a clear vision, poor communication and labor management mistrust creates an atmosphere where most officers enjoying being out of the Police Station and out on the street. As OACP reports, command staff confirms that “neither the Administration nor the police department establish annual written goals or specific and measurable objective by which to assess Euclid police performance. Further, the police department has no formal mechanism or periodic survey of citizens satisfaction to assess the degree to which the police and service philosophies conform to expectations of the community and city administration. One command officer described the current state of the EPD goals and objectives as “surviving and maintaining.” Another patrol supervisor, in a separate interview said, “We don’t know what we’re going, or what is expected of us.”

In many ways, the department is adrift, its effectiveness more the result of individual officers, rather than organization excellence. An example cited by OACP is in crime prevention. Euclid only one officer is trained in crime prevention techniques, and that the commitment to crime prevention has fallen off, according to a police supervisor. OACP recommends that ALL members of the Department share in crime prevention responsibilities. A good program of crime prevention addresses the community’s perception and misperception of crime in Euclid. Every few years, such programs must be evaluated for effectiveness and adjusted accordingly.

The focal point of all of these issues appears to be Chief Jim Repicky. The OACP report makes no ultimate value judgment of his leadership. Yet OACP reports, that the effectiveness of the lines of communication among the captains and Chief Repicky was poor. In his 3 years as Chief the command staff met together only 3 times, the Chief ultimately ending them all together. This means that critical information was not share uniformly among the chief and the captains. This ties in with the answers received from FOP members as to the three most important issues facing the department. Answers included poor leadership, trust, favoritism, personal agendas morale, no input. While not all the fault of Chief Repicky, the rejection of his leadership by his own staff was clear and overwhelming. He had no real choice but to step down.

One individual the OACP does not mention is Chief Repicky’s supervisor, Mayor Bill Cervenik. As the city safety director, he is ultimately responsible for what happens within the department. What can be gathered from OACP Report is that Mayor Cervenik failed to provide adequate supervision for Mr. Repicky. In the area of labor management, he very well could have intervened and insisted on frequent meetings between Police Management and the FOP. At the same time, Mr. Cervenik allowed members of the Department to speak to him directly, rather than through the Labor Management Council. Thus, he undermined is own chain of command, without providing feed back to the Chief to improve his performance.

For a Mayor that prides himself on keeping the safety forces strong, the OACP provides a devastating critique of his own management of the Euclid Police Department. It appears that Mr. Cervenik placed more value on his friendship with Chief Repicky, than on the well being of the EPD.

An Editorial on the PD Editorial

The Plain Dealer Endorsement

It surprising that the Plain Dealer endorsed Bill Cervenik for another term

What is disappointing are the numerous errors in their reporting and, their blatant disregard for the two challengers, Mr. Johnson and Ms. Mancuso.

First on the PD's error list is that Mr. Cervenik asked Police Chief Jim Repicky to step down. As of today, Mr. Repicky is still on the job, earning his salary as Chief of Police.

Second, Mr. Cervenik did not settle the Department of Justice voting rights case against Euclid.

In fact the City went to court and lost, and, the City Council settled the case. And, what the Plain Dealer forgot was that Mr. Cervenik supported fighting the Justice Department, stating in Scene Magazine that the DOJ "should be ashamed of themselves." for their prosecution of Euclid.

Third, Ms. Mancuso did not lead the attempted recall of Bill Cervenik in 2005. In fact that was

Mr. John Conway. By the way, in the fall election of 2005, after the recall election, Mr. Conway was elected to City Council with 57% of the vote.

But what should insult every thinking Euclid voter is the dismissive way the Plain Dealer treats

Mr. Johnson and Ms. Mancuso.

Mr. Johnson, for example, served the City admirably for many decades as Administrative and

Finance Director. The Plain Dealer calls Mr. Johnson's ideas "small bore." You can almost hear the editorial writers snickering over how clever they were. Insulting is more like it.

Ms. Mancuso's long service at Metro Health probably has done more to save lives of ALL residents in Northeast Ohio, especially for the poor and less fortunate than few others. To insinuate that somehow her housing plan is discriminatory shows that the Plain Dealer's claim of "Editorial Excellence" should more appropriately called "Editorial Laziness.

The Plain Dealer says that Mr. Cervenik is not a showy, big-vision leader. I agree.

If he were, he would understand the very real challenges faced by the City:

Falling population (under 50 thousand)

Growing poverty (16% as of 2009 and climbing)

Empty commercial and retail space

Neighborhoods littered with empty homes

Declining Recreation programs

Decline in City Services

If he were a big vision leader, he would have realized decades ago the value of a lakefront marina, and Shore Cultural Centre for example instead of fighting tooth and nail against both.

The Plain Dealer fails to understand, that solid redevelopment plans will combat Euclid's clear decline.

Instead they talk about his sensible leadership, leadership that has brought to you:

City spending increases at roughly a million dollars each year during his 8 years in office, from roughly 32 million in 2002 to over a projected 40 million this year.

Borrowing 3 million dollars to balance the budget in 2004, and, imposing trash and lighting fees in 2009.

Mr. Cervenik did settle the court case with the Providence Baptist Church, informing City Council by e-mail. (BTW the Plain Dealer could not even name the church, just referring to it as "a black church),

As you might recall, the citizens of Euclid decided to put this rezoning on the ballot, and they rejected the plans of the church. That was in 2004. As of today, Providence Baptist Church

has built nothing at Hillandale. History proves that Euclid residents were right in questioning church plans.

In his role as Safety Director, he is responsible for the chaos that has engulfed the Euclid Police Department, as indicated by lawsuits, the FOP no confidence vote and the Sheriff' Department investigation.

But finally, it is curious that the in making their decision, the Plain Dealer ignored their own reporting on county corruption, and the connection to Bill Cervenik.

4/27/2008: The Plain Dealer ran an article on how politicians and their relatives filled dozens of

well paying jobs at the County Recorders office. Then county Recorder Pat O"Malley handled

the hiring for this agency, jobs were seldom posted and, O'Malley made the final decisions. The Plain Dealer profiled literally dozens of individuals that owed their jobs to political connections.

One of those jobs went to Tony Sustarsic, former Euclid Councilman at Large, son of former Council President Jerry Sustarsic. And, his reference was Mayor Bill Cervenik.

11/30/2008 The Plain Dealer investigation reveals how a well connected company,

1-888-Ohio Comp scooped up most of the Workers Compensation medical claims business in Cuyahoga County. This company's connections reached directly into (former) County Auditor

Farnk Russo's office. Mr. Russo and (former) County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora pressured

mayors to make the switch to 1-888-Ohio Comp. Mr. Russo's son Vince worked for the firm.

The owners of the firm were shown to have made substantial contributions to mayors and candidates for mayor throughout the county.

In Bill Cervenik's first campaign for Mayor in 2003, Tom Coyne, former Brook Park Mayor and

(then) consultant for Ohio Comp and the one of the principals owner of the firm, Sam Lucarelli, contributed $6000.00 to his tight campaign against Ed Gudenas. The following May, Cervenik switched the City to 1-888-Ohio Comp.

(For the full article, see the link below)

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/11/auditor_frank_russos_links_to.html

Mr. Cervenik seemed to be a willing part of the easy, sleazy way the county was formerly run.

The Plain Dealer chose to ignore all this, and chose to ignore the fact the Euclid voters have

clear and competent choices for Mayor, rather than 4 more years of the same old stuff.

The Endorsement Game

The Endorsement Game

President George Washington had a deep suspicion of what we call today political parties. He believed that political parties ("factions" as they were called then) injected themselves between

the citizen and government. This interfered with the direct connection between the citizen and the government. Each citizen had the intelligence to make up their own mind, Washington believed, without the prepackaged ideas produced by political parties. Washington believed parties created followers, not independent thinking citizens that democracy needs to thrive.

President Washington suspicions are spot on. How many times have we seen both political parties pedal a party line, and expect citizens to simply follow? And, how many times have

we seen endorsements based solely on inside party connections, rather than truly on the best candidate.

Above all, party loyalty to seems to trump over all. In party structures, incumbent office holders are the most valuable. Its power and influence for state and national races. Challengers from the same party are frowned upon because that creates upset and discord and wastes money. Parties believe they must save their resources to take on the other party.

In the Euclid Mayor's race, you have this familiar pattern developing. The incumbent is endorsed because they are the incumbent. He is "our guy." Or, "we have always backed him."

And, this is true. Mayor Cervenik always had County party support, and, the support of

certain federal representatives.

You, as the citizen must ask yourself, HOW HAS THIS HELPED EUCLID?

Is the City better off after 8 years of this Administration? Are our neighborhoods safer? Are our rec programs better? Have major projects been completed?

Political parties at all levels have some democratic process to formally endorse candidates. The candidates actually interview for the endorsement. The a vote is held. This is far fairer to all party candidates and, is far more transparent.

At the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party level, NO EUCLID MAYORAL ENDORSEMENT WAS MADE. The vote tally had Mr. Cervenik with 10 votes, Ms. Mancuso with 9 and, Mr. Johnson with none.

What is even more interesting is the vote tally by the local Euclid Democratic Club.

The Results were:

Charlene Mancuso 15

Bill Cervenik 10

Jack Johnson 8

Christopher Lit. 2

Mancuso was the clear winner. But, more importantly, at both the county and local level, the leadership of Mr. Cervenik is rejected BY HIS OWN PARTY

He knows this, of course, so, he has simply called in the party loyalty card, which does not take into account the true condition of the City.

Endorsements are nice, and all politicians seek them. But, I have found over 10 years on City Council and, 5 campaigns that they have little bearing on the caliber of the candidate, or the condition of the community. Make sure you do your home work before voting.

After all, the real power is in your hands.