|
Hopeful City's Community Renaissance Task Force leaders are continuing their efforts to educate residents about Unified Government. According to Community Renaissance Task Force Chair Rev. Mark Seitz, studies show that communities that have created unified governments have experienced greater economic development growth than their peer communities.
As the leaders have learned, unified government would not mean Wheeling would take over Ohio County or Ohio County would take over Wheeling.
A new unified government would be created that could perform some or all of the functions previously performed by the municipal and county governments.
A Charter Review Committee would study issues surrounding unification and possibly propose a charter of how the new government would be structured and what governmental functions would be included. Ohio County voters would then vote to approve the charter or not.
"At this point we don't know whether a unified government would benefit our community or not or what a unified government would 'look like'. |
Interested residents listen to Sen. Edwin Bowman and author David Rusk during unveiling of "Creating a Greater Wheeling".
Participants in first Creating a Greater Future class discuss their ideas for possible charter. |
|
"We believe, though, that our community would benefit by exploring the advantages and disadvantages of unified government and having an informed discussion of how best to structure our government. We think this is democracy at its best," explained Seitz.
Task force members are making Uni-Gov presentations to groups throughout Ohio County. For further information or to schedule a UniGov presentation, contact Seitz at 304-233-0133 or mseitz@stmatts.com.
|
