by Laura Freeman
Reporter
Hudson -- Communities can work together instead of competing against each other to attract new business and yet still retain their own identity, according to Mayor William Currin.
"Over time, if we work together, we will liberate ourselves from continual taxation," Currin said at a Hudson Chamber of Commerce luncheon Aug. 1. "If we don't work together, we will, as a city and as a region, continue to struggle."
Currin told members of the Hudson Chamber of Commerce and neighboring city officials about an initiative to promote regionalism, or cooperation of municipalities in Northeast Ohio, called the governmental cooperative regional economic development initiative.
The GCRED initiative would be non-partisan and sustainable, Currin said.
Currin said the first phase is to develop a regional plan specific for 16 counties in Northeast Ohio.
Fund for Our Economic Future, a collaboration of more than 85 foundations and other philanthropic organizations in Northeast Ohio, gave $90,000 to develop an economic action plan, an initiative of Advance Northeast Ohio, for advancing the economy in Northeast Ohio.
The Northeast Ohio Mayor and City Managers Association, headed by Currin, has been asking communities to donate $2,500 to help fund the $135,000 study to find an economic action plan.
Boston Heights Village Council President pro tem William Gorcy, who was at the lunch, said he was in favor of the regional plan, and believes it is important for the village to become involved. Gorcy said he would present the plan to the village finance committee at the end of the month.
Stow Mayor Karen Fritschel, who also attended the luncheon, said the importance of regionalism is to help all communities.
"We're in this as a group, not pitting one community against another," she said.
Fritschel said Stow is already working with Hudson on the Seasons Road interchange and a pump station.
"We're looking for more joint efforts," Fritschel said.
Currin said representatives from the Summit County Mayor's Association, Cuyahoga County Mayors and Managers Association, and mayors or representatives from 10 of the 16 counties in the Northeast Ohio region are represented in the GCRED Initiative.
Consultants from Cleveland State University and Lorain County Community College advise a group of 10 volunteers working on the GCRED plan.
The volunteers meet every two weeks and plan to complete a report by January 2008 and have a plan by March 2008, Currin said.
"It would be foolish to tell you how [the plan] will come out, but we plan to work rapidly," Currin said.
Currin said instead of each city trying to sell itself to a business, the 16 counties offer the region's resources as a whole to businesses, and no matter where the business locates within the region, everyone in the region benefits from the new revenue.
"If we look at all the riches and resources Northeast Ohio offers business, the only thing holding us back is ourselves," Currin said.
Other regions' plans include a non-poaching agreement to prevent a community luring business from another community in the region, land planning to control unbridled sprawl and sharing a portion of new investment revenue pooling, Currin said.
"We share revenue from new investments to help everyone," Currin said.
E-mail: lfreeman@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3150