All 59 Cuyahoga County communities sign on to anti-poaching plan

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald admits he never thought all 59 communities in Cuyahoga County would sign an anti-poaching agreement to not pursue businesses in other communities in the county.

It took longer than expected, but at the end of January, Middleburg Heights Mayor Gary Starr became the final signer of the "Business Attraction and Anti-Poaching Protocol.”

FitzGerald told the audience at his state of the county address Feb. 19 that the county has never been so united.  

"When I set out to bring every community in this county to the table, there were plenty of skeptics,” he said. "But all 59 communities sat down with us, and all 59 communities signed on to affirm not just our mutual goals, but our unrelenting belief in this county"s future.”

FitzGerald released guidelines for his anti-poaching agreement in September, 2011 and officials in several cities quickly signed on. But there was some resistance. Mayors in several cities, including Westlake and Beachwood, said they would not support it.  

The policy asks suburbs to agree to not pursue businesses in other communities in the county. If a company makes the first move, FitzGerald wants the cities to notify the company"s home community, unless the business demands confidentiality. And the pact makes it clear there is no commitment to tax-revenue sharing when a business relocates within the county, only that discussion is encouraged.

Ed Jerse, director of regional collaboration for the county, spent last year meeting with city officials and speaking at council meetings.

It took some doing. In Mayfield Heights, council voted 4-3 last October to approve the agreement after voting against it twice earlier in the year.

FitzGerald hopes the success with the anti-poaching agreement leads to other regional cooperation. He plans to reduce the number of 9-1-1 emergency dispatch centers from 48 to 4 in the next 10 years.

He said he has asked every mayor to rank services and how many of them would be amenable to regionalism.

"Police and fire are the toughest,” he said. "But maybe we can do road maintenance, road repair and garbage pickup.”

As for the promise to create a non-compete policy between communities - on the Fitz-O-Meter, the dial can now move from In the Works to Promise Kept.