DevelopOhio

Mayor D. Michael Collins’s administration wants to “create a new economic development arm for the city,” now that it is no longer a part of the Lucas County Improvement Corp., the Toledo Blade reports. A recent restructuring removed the city’s seat from that board; relations between the city and the county “have been strained since [the mayor] announced Toledo would slash what it pays to the county for criminal justice charges by ordering city police to start charging most criminals under state laws rather than city ordinances.” That change could save Toledo $4 million to $5 million per year, but would remove an equal amount from county revenues. Toledo’s urgency to create a city agency stems from $9.4 million in pending land purchases “that could potentially help Chrysler expand its Jeep operations in the city,” according to the article. Senior attorney for the city’s law department, Eileen Granata, said creating Toledo’s own agency would be faster than trying to rejoin the Lucas County Improvement Corp., and noted that more than 200 cities in the state have their own city improvement corporations. For more, read the full article.