TMACOG 2020 Annual Report

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the vision Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments will be the governmental partner of choice to coordinate regional assets, opportunities, and challenges.
January, 2021 Letter from the President and the Chair When this pandemic is over, we can’t just say good riddance to hard times and forget about last year. The fabric of civic life and government operations will be changed by our experiences in 2020, and they should be. We learned that jobs that we took for granted, and which don’t pay all that well, are absolutely critical. We need grocery store clerks as desperately as we need firefighters. We rely on teachers and neighborhood schools. How will we change the way we reward these workers now that we see their value with new eyes? We learned that lots of people – including government employees -- can work from home just as productively as from an office. And that they have a better life/work balance, and cause less traffic congestion, less air pollution, and their pets are happier, too. As we plan for the future of our communities, what will our neighborhoods be like with more neighbors in them? How will downtown business districts change? In the last year, government has been strained but it hasn’t broken. Clean water is still delivered to every house, garbage is collected. TMACOG members collaborated in new ways to produce our two primary policy documents: the Transportation Legislative Agenda, and the Agenda for Lake Erie. Our elections changed with more early in-person voting, more mailed ballots, and the integrity of election workers was essential to confidence in the outcome. The everyday government work of transparency, accountability, and competence is inspiring and should make us all proud. We do need to absorb some painful lessons. Public health professionals struggled to persuade some members of the public to accept science and expert advice. How can we increase confidence in this part of our health care system? We also learned that health outcomes are starkly linked to income and zip code which should be a call to action for all of society. We won’t waste this crisis, we will become better citizens and better leaders as we work together in cooperation, with faith in each other, and mutual respect. Mark W. Stahl Chair, TMACOG Ottawa County Commissioner Tim W. Brown President, TMACOG
Page 4 and 5: Governmental Members COUNTIES Lucas
Page 6 and 7: Financials Fiscal Year 2020 | July

TMACOG 2020 Annual Report

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