The President's Corner

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This month I am continuing my series entitled Civics 101. The hope is to provide you with useful information about your local, state, and federal governments. So far I have covered municipal (city) and school district governments, as well as the judicial branch of government in Ohio. This month I will report on county government with a focus on Cuyahoga County.

Prior to January, 2011 Cuyahoga County’s government consisted of a three-member Board of Commissioners. That changed as a result of voters adopting our current form of government, which consists of a County Executive and an 11-member County Council. Our current County Executive is Armond Budish. He has a four-year elected term and has decided not to seek re-election. Therefore, we will be electing a new one this year. 

Each county councilmember represents a district. Parma is located in County Council District 4, which includes Parma, Parma Heights, and Middleburg Heights. Our representative is Councilman Scott Tuma, who used to work with me on Parma City Council, representing Ward 8. He is currently the chairman of the important Public Works, Procurement, and Contracting Committee of County Council. This is the committee that reviews and approves legislation involving water, sewer, road, bridge, and storm drain projects throughout the county, as well as the purchase and lease of equipment by the various county departments. He has been instrumental in steering county dollars to benefit our community in many ways. Councilmembers have a four-year elected term of office.

The County Executive of Cuyahoga County is like the mayor of the county. In other words, the job entails law enforcement and running the county on a day-to-day basis, much like how a mayor does the same for a city. The primary job of county government is to deliver health and human services to those across the county, to support infrastructure needs and services for cities throughout the county, to attract and retain businesses in the county, among many other services. The County Executive also appoints the Sheriff with County Council’s approval.

On the other hand, County Council represents the legislative branch of our county government. That is, their job is to make the laws for the county, like a city council does at the municipal level of government. In the spirit of checks and balances, they oversee the County Executive, like a city council oversees a mayor. Further, as their website points out, they are “the link between government agencies and citizens.” Their meetings are open to the public and take place on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month at 5:00 pm in Council Chambers on the 4th floor of the Cuyahoga County Administrative Headquarters at 2079 East 9th Street. Parking validation is available for meeting attendees who park in the attached garage. Meetings are also livestreamed on their website.

Here is a list of some of the many services provided by our county government: alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services, animal shelter, adoption and foster care, senior and adult services, including adult protective services, adults transitioning back into the community from prison, auto and boat titles, clothing and housing assistance, benefit application assistance, board of elections, child abuse and neglect investigations, child care assistance and licensing, child support case services, court of common pleas, property tax collections, property appraisals, veterans services, developmental disabilities services, Board of Health, real estate records, etc.

As always, this column only scratches the surface of our county government. To learn more about it and the plethora of services it provides, visit cuyahogacounty.us. Best wishes for a blessed Easter Season.