Governmental Research Institute of the Citizens League Of Greater Cleveland
In 1965 I returned to Cleveland with the hope of starting a career in local government. My previous two years working in a large federal agency were good training in the way federal policy is implemented at the local level. The key to that system is federal funding. Local governments do their best to meet local needs; but sometimes find that their financial resources are inadequate. They often turn to the federal government for the needed funds. Those funds are a two edged sword. They give local government the ability to do things they otherwise couldn’t afford while at the same time they lose some control over how things get done.
Since my interest was in how things get done at the local level and my commitment was to the Greater Cleveland community, I wanted to find a job in Cleveland which would prepare me for a career in politics and community service. It’s been my experience that success is a combination of being prepared and being in the right place at the right time. That was true in my life when I returned to Cleveland with a degree in political science and experience in public administration. I also had some knowledge about local government developed while working in local politics while attending Western Reserve University. I had also met many people working for various branches of local government. When I decided to return to Cleveland, one of my friends told me that the Governmental Research Institute was looking for a research assistant. I interviewed with the Research Director and he offered me the job.
The Governmental Research Institute was the research arm of the Citizens League of Greater Cleveland whose mission was to research and monitor local government activities. The Institute supported the Citizens League in its missions, including state and local government reforms such as municipal home rule, city manager government, reapportionment of Ohio’s general assembly and metropolitan government for Cuyahoga County. The Citizens League had a small staff which supported the many volunteers who worked on committees which reviewed candidates for public office and developed policies for research. Estal Sparlin was the Executive Director and was supported by Harold Peele, the Research Director, two research assistants and a clerical staff. A lot of the League’s work involved legislation at the state and local levels. To support that mission the League employed Blair Kost, one of the most respected lobbyists in Ohio, to represent us in Columbus and Cuyahoga County.
Even though we had a small staff we were highly respected by elected officials and administrators in every level of state, county and local government. This was partly due to the fact that the League had been working in Greater Cleveland since its founding in 1896. When we walked into government offices we carried the reputation established by70 years of promoting good government. We worked in coordination with other good government agencies like the Cuyahoga County Mayors and City Managers Association and the Municipal Finance Officers Association. In the course of our work we had behind counter privileges in most government agencies and access to government administrators at all levels of government. We were also helped by the fact that many of the research assistants who preceded us had moved on to important positions in local government, such as Sigfrid Pearson, who became the first Director of the Mayor’s Office of Budget and Management in the City of Cleveland and Howard Bruce, who held a similar position at Cuyahoga County.
Most of my work at the Governmental Research Institute involved writing articles for a regular newsletter and major publications like the Local Government Yearbook. The Yearbook, for which I was the editor, was a compilation of data related to the governance and finances of county and local government. That involved many meetings with staff at the county auditor’s office and financial officers in cities, villages, townships and school districts in Cuyahoga County.
1010 Euclid Building
The offices of the Citizens League and Governmental Research Institute were on the 5th floor of the 1010 Euclid Building. The building was located just east of the Cleveland Trust Bank Building at East 9th and Euclid. That was a convenient location and easily accessible to the government offices I needed to visit such as Cleveland City Hall, County Administration Building and the County Planning Commission in the Old Arcade.
The City Club
It was also close to the City Club on Short Vincent Street, which was a great place to lunch with local politicians and other movers and shakers in the Cleveland community. The club had just hired Peter Halbin as its Executive Director and he started a program of attracting new young members. I’m not sure how Peter contacted me; but I joined the club along with many others who were just starting their careers in the Cleveland area.
Like those who worked at the Citizens League before me, I found the experience to be the best training for my career in public service. My contacts at the government agencies with whom I worked and at the City Club were very helpful to me over the following 40 years as you will see in future essays in this series.
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