Dixon's long tenure at GCRTA speaks to Cleveland's sub-par political culture

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​Our low standards are killing us

The forced resignation of George F Dixon III two weeks ago as board chair of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority at the behest of his fellow trustees comes across as an urgent carbon monoxide detector. He resigned as his fellow board members investigate whether Dixon may have improperly failed to pay his share of premiums for his GCRTA subsidized health insurance.

The situation points once again to a Greater Cleveland political culture that recycles and rewards a collection of undistinguished political insiders — both elected and appointed — whose chief assets seem to be a general affability accompanied by a reluctance to rock the boat.

The administration and management of GCRTA seem at this moment to reflect the same political culture that enabled the Jimmy Dimora-Frank Russo era of just a decade ago.  Blessed with a high school education, Dimora epitomized the archetype of the jovial back slapping, deal-making public official.

Even after the FBI raid on their county administration offices and homes in July 2008 — Dimora was one of three county commissioners and Russo the county treasurer — most local Democratic Party apparatchiks were reluctant to challenge the duo’s leadership of the party. Over and over, when asked how they could tolerate the indicted pair’s continued party leadership, people would recite some favor or kindness rendered to them or a family member by Dimora as a rationale for enduring an unconscionable situation.

Our preference for affability and comfort over a commitment to excellence and service is one of the key hindrances to our community advancement. It is not the kind of cultural attribute one expects would appeal to a corporate giant looking to expand to a new community.

We don’t know George Dixon personally, nor have any facts emerged thus far established that he has broken any laws. People we respect describe him

George Dixon was appointed to GCRTA board
in 1992 and served as chairman from 1994
until he resigned under pressure last month.

warmly as an intelligent guy with an engaging manner. He did enjoy a reputation as the King of GCRTA, however, with an aura reinforced by the fact that board meetings took place in the George F. Dixon III Board Room.

Yet on the face of it, something is wrong when a person serves as chairman of a public agency for nearly a quarter of a century. As former judge and county council president C. Ellen Connally has written, such long uninterrupted tenures are breeding grounds for threats to the public interest.

Dixon’s departure opens the door for a major overhaul of the ten-member GCRTA board. Not only did the terms of Charles P. Lucas and former East Cleveland mayor Gary Norton expire on March 31, but two other trustees continue to serve after their terms have expired. Valerie McCall’s term expired in March 2017 and Leo Serrano’s term expired in March 2016.

Three of Cleveland’s appointees are serving past term and the fourth just resigned. It does not speak well for the appointing authorities — the Jackson and Budish administrations — to be so lackadaisical about making timely appointments to a vital public agency with more than 2000 employees and a $300 million budget.

Mayor Jackson likes to say Cleveland will not be a great city unless and until all its neighborhoods share in the prosperity of the city’s renaissance. Most of the people who live in those “least of these” neighborhoods don’t have cars and are dependent upon public transit to get to work, to the doctor, and to shop.

It would behoove Mayor Jackson and County Executive Budish to consider appointing some regular bus riders to the board. We see little evidence that the current board members identify with workers who face two hour commutes each way to jobs that pay less than a living wage.

Frank, if you want Cleveland to be great, start by giving us some great board members. Even better, do it with a sense of urgency and transparency. 

Don't keep letting it be "what it is".

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[Cleveland appoints four members of the RTA board. The County appoints three, and the Cuyahoga Mayors and Managers Association appoints three.]

Judge bars two from Cleveland Head Start board

Court says Rev. Charles Lucas, Amos Mahsua have overstayed their terms, can no longer serve.

Preliminary injunction issued; litigation continues.

Efforts by the former chairman and treasurer of the Council of Economic Opportunities of Greater Cleveland to terminate the agency’s president and chief executive officer boomeranged yesterday when a Common Pleas Court judge ruled that the board members’ terms had expired and they are ineligible to serve.

In a ruling issued yesterday afternoon, Judge John P. O’Donnell found that Rev. Charles P. Lucas Jr. and CPA Amos Z. Mahsua, were holding their seats in clear violation of CEOGC’s code of regulations. The judge found it likely that the two have not been eligible to serve since at least September 25, 2016.

The case is important because CEOGC, a nonprofit agency, administers numerous area antipoverty programs including the federal Head Start program and local programs for home energy assistance, job training, and work force development. The agency’s budget is close to $40 million, most of which comes from the federal government through Ohio’s Development Services Agency. The dual nature of the funding sources means that CEOGC officials are accountable to both the State of Ohio and the HUD office in Chicago. Officials in both Columbus and Chicago have indicated that funding could be withheld or withdrawn if CEOGC remains outside of compliance with its code of regulations.

The preliminary injunction was issued in a lawsuit filed March 1 by seven current board members, including Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Charles Patton and Quiana Baskin, who heads the agency’s policy council. She was elected to that role in October, automatically elevating her to a seat on the CEOGC board. Defendants in the suit are Lucas, Mahsua, and six other current board members, including Rev. Cecelia Williams, Robert Black, Monique Olowa, and Arlene Anderson. The latter three are understood to be the primary faction seeking to oust the CEOGC’s chief executive officer, Dr. Jacklyn Chisholm.

Chisholm was hired in May 2015 and signed a three-year contract to run the agency. Her predecessor was charged in August 2014 with fraud, bribery, and conspiracy for accepting more than $23,000 in cash, home renovations and other things of value in exchange for steering work to specific contractors, and is now serving time in a federal penitentiary.

Chisholm, who has three degrees from Case Western Reserve University, including a doctorate in psychological and educational anthropology, in addition to certificates in management from a host of the nation’s top colleges, was brought in to restore the agency’s reputation and clean up its act. She soon began to butt heads with a few board members, and in October 2016, several board members, led by Lucas and Mahsua, tried to fire her. Chisholm refused to acknowledge the affirmative vote, considered it illegal, and responded by filing suit in Common Pleas Court on December 8 against Lucas, Mahsua, and other directors. The defendants had the case transferred to federal court, but legal counsel have informed The Real Deal that it may be remanded back to Common Pleas.

Conversations with several CEOGC insiders — who each spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the pending litigation — paint the agency as doing good work efficiently, even as the struggles at the top continue.

Several questions remain as to the agency’s governance, however, including the status of four new trustees elected at the CEOGC’s annual meeting in January. If O’Donnell’s ruling becomes final, and Lucas and Mahsua are permanently tossed off the board, any official board actions they participated in may be subject to challenge. The new board could ratify those decisions, but it is an open question how the reconstituted board will function.

The Patton lawsuit is set for pretrial on May 10; a final resolution of the agency’s internal struggles will likely have to await further court rulings.