State of the County: Shapiro highlights pandemic work, announces she'll seek reelection
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After two years of foregoing the State of the County address due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro returned Wednesday to give an update on the county’s operations over the last three years.
Shapiro, whose last State of the County address was in September 2019, also announced she’ll be running for reelection in 2024, in which she will seek her third four-year term.
“The state of Summit County is strong because the people of Summit County are strong,” she said during Wednesday's address, which was hosted by the Akron Press Club, at the John S. Knight Center in downtown Akron. “I am proud to lead a remarkable team of public servants who make our incredible community better, safer and more hopeful than ever before.”
Shapiro spent much of her address highlighting the work the county did during the pandemic.
The county received $94 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding from the federal government in April 2020. The county's allocation of the money included $12 million in local small business grants to more than 3,000 small businesses, $4 million in arts organizations and nonprofit grants, $7 million in reopening or technology funds to all 17 Summit County public school districts, $22 million in direct support to all 31 communities and the University of Akron to ensure the continuity of services for first responders and $16.7 million in emergency assistance for rent, mortgage and utilities.
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Shapiro, who said the Summit County Executive’s Office didn’t lay anyone off because of the pandemic, also recognized several agencies that helped the community during the pandemic, including Summit County Public Health.
“Today is about looking back and it’s about moving forward,” Shapiro said. “The past few years have brought both challenges and opportunities. It is what we chose to do with those challenges that makes us stronger. We started with what needed to be done, and then we moved on to doing what was possible, and ultimately, we found we could do things we never dreamed of and today, we are stronger for it.”
Millions of settlement dollars spent to fight opioid addition
Shapiro also highlighted some projects that began before the pandemic.
She said the work of the Opioid Abatement Advisory Council remains ongoing. The group is working to determine how the county will spend the $104 million it received as part of the county’s federal opiate lawsuit settlements in 2019.
So far, the invested money includes $1 million at the Akron Community Foundation to support local organizations, more than $2 million to Centering Pregnancy programs at the county's hospitals to support pregnant women who are addicted, more than $6 million in medications from drug manufacturers to be used in hospital emergency rooms and $2.5 million in addiction treatment services in hospital emergency rooms
“While we were in the deepest waters of the pandemic, we were still building the lighthouse to find our way through the opioid epidemic —an epidemic inside a pandemic,” she said.
The county is selecting a vendor to build and implement a data platform connecting treatment providers, hospitals and the criminal justice system to help people in crisis.
“This platform will allow individuals to access their own information and will allow providers to identify gaps in services and understand why we continue to lose too many of our loved ones each year,” Shapiro said.
The county also is working on a plan to use some of the money to establish an endowment “intended to assure that the long-term benefits are available for years to come,” Shapiro said.
“We want to make sure these funds live on in perpetuity and provide us the ability to implement new and innovative programs in the field of addiction treatment and recovery,” she said.
Summit County technology upgrades during COVID-19 pandemic
Shapiro also highlighted the technological upgrades made in the county during the pandemic, including a virtual courtroom platform using videoconferencing between the jail and the courts; a new jail case management system; the Outreach Smartphone Monitoring software for people on probation for felonies; and a consolidated 9-1-1 dispatch system that involves Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, Fairlawn, Green, Stow, Tallmadge, the University of Akron and the Summit County Sheriff's Office.
The county, Cuyahoga Falls, Fairlawn, Stow and Tallmadge are building a consolidated 9-1-1 dispatch center, which is currently under construction in Tallmadge. The city of Akron will also house its dispatch operations there.
Shapiro said the collective cost savings over the first five years of acquiring and maintaining the system will be nearly $9 million.
The county also is working on creating a new online attorney billing system for court-appointed attorneys and building a public safety monitoring network in the neighborhoods located just south of the University of Akron with the city, the university and FairlawnGig.
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Summit County spending ARPA money
With some of the $104 million the county received as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, the county is creating “Summit Connects,” a 125-mile fiber ring connecting the county’s public safety services. The high-speed fiber will connect all 31 of the county’s communities to a publicly owned and operated data center.
“From the onset of the pandemic, the reliance on the internet service was unparalleled,” Shapiro said. “It quickly became clear that the digital divide not only impacted school children, but businesses, nonprofits and in an eye-opening reflection, on our public safety."
The project is also expected to incentivize private sector internet service providers to deliver service to homes and businesses across the county.
The ARPA money also was used to create the Summit County Stormwater District, which includes Reminderville, the county's nine townships and three of its villages: Boston Heights, Clinton and Northfield.
“This ARPA funding is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cure some of the infrastructure problems we have faced for decades,” she said. “After decades of stalling out, this idea will now move forward with the investment of over $19 million in construction and development projects in the participating communities.”
Other projects in Summit County
In her address, Shapiro also highlighted the county declaring racism a public health crisis; its participation in the upward mobility program, with Shapiro implementing mental health first aid training for her staff; its work on Age-Friendly Akron Summit; the creation of the county’s first Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council; and the creation of the Minority Contractor Capital Access Program with the city of Akron and the Development Finance Authority's Western Reserve Community Fund, with participants in the program securing 169 new contracts totaling $2.8 million in revenue in less than two years.
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Shapiro also highlighted projects underway around the county, including:
The renovations at the Bowery, the Law Building and Canal Place in downtown Akron.
The transformation of Lock 3 into downtown's Central Park as part of the Civic Gateway.
A new county Department of Sanitary Sewer Services service center in Akron's Firestone Park.
Bridgestone’s expected completion of the construction of its new race car tire manufacturing facility across the street from its Technical Center in Akron.
Alpha Phi Alpha Homes breaking ground on the Residences at Good Park, a new $22 million neighborhood housing project in West Akron, with 89 new homes on 16 acres.
The construction of infrastructure to support commercial expansion at Union Square and residential expansion at Southwood Drive in Green.
The expansion of Gardner Pie to a new, larger facility in Coventry Township, a $27 million investment financed by the DFA.
The Safety Center Project in Northfield Center Township.
The relocation and repair of Akron-Peninsula Road in Peninsula, with the county getting emergency funding from the Ohio Public Works Commission.
A $7.5 million project to bring water and sewer services to Peninsula, along with a project repairing roads and extending sewer infrastructure in Boston Township.
Kyocera SGS Precision Tools consolidating its operations throughout the county into a renovated facility in Cuyahoga Falls.
The Summit County Land Bank working with Cuyahoga Falls to bring new apartments to Front Street, a $15 million investment.
The building of a new Best Buy distribution center, which created 200 jobs, in Richfield and Richfield Township.
The new Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Hospital in Fairlawn.
A one-million-square-foot industrial park in Stow, with 400 new jobs.
Improvements to Eastern Road and the Brookside Greens residential development in Norton.
The county investing more than $750,000 for sewer infrastructure to expand the Arhaus warehouse and distribution center in Boston Heights.
LTA Research, an airship company, opening at the historic Akron Airdock. The company plans to launch its first airship in California in the coming year.
A $2 million Commercial Energy Efficiency Loan Fund, created by the county and the DFA to provide loans to businesses for energy efficient improvements and help with business retention and attraction.
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Contact Beacon Journal reporter Emily Mills at emills@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter @EmilyMills818.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Summit County Executive Shapiro gives State of the County address
