Resident urges council to reject North Regional Community Improvement Corporation, citing transparency and accountability concerns

During the lobby session of the North Ridgeville City Council meeting, resident Bernard Garcia addressed council about a proposed North Regional Community Improvement Corporation (CIC), urging council members to vote against creating or using the CIC.

Garcia introduced himself as a North Ridge Road resident and said he had researched the proposed CIC. He told council he believes the entity could concentrate power, sideline elected officials and planning bodies, and allow decisions to be made without adequate transparency. "This is Ohio. This is not Soviet Russia," Garcia said, arguing the CIC could silence majority-appointed members and "give the illusion" of public involvement while concentrating decision-making.

Garcia also said a CIC could become a vehicle for the city to avoid accountability and shift financial responsibility, calling it "nothing more, in my opinion, than a shield of legal house of cards" that could let the city "wash their hands" of wrongdoing. He pointed council to the city master plan, Ridgeville Ready 2024, saying the plan’s goals include "responsible and accountable leadership" and that a CIC would contradict that objective.

Garcia concluded by asking council to "vote no or against anything related to this" for the protection of residents and elected officials. The lobby session is a public-comment portion of the meeting; no formal action on a CIC occurred during the meeting and no council response adopting or rejecting the proposal was recorded on the record.