A few months into his new job as Akron mayor, Dan Horrigan is way behind on one of his initial goals.
He has yet to meet every city employee face-to-face.
All 1,800 of them.
Horrigan wants to say hello and shake hands — an ambitious goal that involves him venturing out to all the fire stations, recreation centers and other city locations.
He’s about a third of the way there.
“That’s exactly who he is,” Summit County Executive Russ Pry said about the Democratic mayor’s desire to personally greet all city workers. “He’s just a guy from North Hill who’s proud to be from Akron.”
As Horrigan celebrated his first 100 days in office on Saturday, his personal and personable approach — which stands in stark contrast to former longtime Mayor Don Plusquellic — already has won him numerous fans.
Many neighborhood, business, community, labor and political leaders are praising the job he’s done so far, saying he’s brought new energy and temperament to the state’s fifth-largest city.
“He’s creating an atmosphere of optimism,” said Dan Sladek, president of the Civil Service Personnel Association, one of four unions at the city. “So far, I like what I see.”
Transition
There were questions about how Horrigan, 53, would make the transition from Summit County clerk of courts to mayor.
The clerk’s position is low-key. He was not in the spotlight and not making decisions that impact the region’s health and economy.
“Nobody wanted to take a picture with the clerk,” Horrigan said with a laugh while having a coffee with a Beacon Journal reporter at Urban Eats downtown.
For Horrigan, it’s been a humbling experience.
His focus, he said, in this early stage of his term was to develop a new team at City Hall, try to empower even lower-level workers in decision-making, and improve transparency and accountability.
Horrigan described his managerial approach as “servant-style leadership.”
He stepped into a job that had seen the former mayor argue with City Council members, battle with a federal judge, feud with the Beacon Journal and bump heads with others.
Before taking office, Horrigan created a “Blue Ribbon Task Force” designed to recommend ways to improve the city’s financial health, economy, leadership diversity and quality of life.
Business as usual wouldn’t be accepted, he pledged.
“Effort mistakes are OK,” Horrigan said. “It’s the apathy or ignorance that I have a problem with and that’s not fair to the customer or taxpayers.”
Indeed, he set out immediately to change the culture and attitude at City Hall.
Horrigan, a former school teacher who served on City Council in the early 2000s, told city workers to replace the oft-heard phrase “What do you want?” with “How can we help you?” when answering the phone.
He also launched a #HeyAkron campaign on Twitter saying that city officials would respond to all questions sent their way.
Better relationships
It appears Horrigan has smoothed over rocky relationships and won over even some of the most outspoken City Hall critics.
“So far, I think they have done a great job,” said attorney Warner Mendenhall, who often crossed swords with Plusquellic. “It’s certainly an open administration.”
City Council President Marilyn Keith noted that Horrigan has set aside time each week for council members to come and talk with him.
Some council members had complained in the past about a lack of communication and transparency.
“He’s done a great job of resetting the tone and the culture,” Keith said. “It’s been a very refreshing open door policy.”
The unions, as illustrated by Sladek’s comments, also are pleased — so far.
“The lines of communication have been open and he’s approachable,” said Frank Wright, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 7.
Others also have positive things to say.
“We’re very pleased,” Greater Akron Chamber President and CEO Dan Colantone said. “The business community is excited about supporting his vision and work. … He’s listening to the business community and that’s a good sign.”
Meanwhile, Tracy Deitrick, the North Howard Block Watch captain, said Horrigan values neighborhoods and family.
“He has such an amazing vision for Akron and prides himself on collaboration,” she said. “He is very warm, approachable and honest, which are wonderful qualities for a mayor.”
Rough start
That’s not to say everything has been peaches and cream.
Before Horrigan took office, interim Mayor Jeff Fusco appointed Horrigan’s brother-in-law Chris Ludle as the city’s deputy public service director.
Horrigan has said he learned of the appointment after it was made. But the city still was criticized for a move that smacked of nepotism.
And while he’s talked about the need to watch spending, he added two new members to and filled three vacancies in the mayor’s Cabinet — a move that added more than $500,000 to the annual budget.
He also allowed his top administrators — many of whom had been on the job for less than a month — to receive a 3 percent raise in January at the same time that the labor unions got a raise.
The administration defended the increases, saying that’s the way it has always been done in the city — a response that contradicts his pledge to challenge the status quo.
Tough start
Horrigan’s administration encountered a couple of community nightmares right at the beginning.
Multiple stores closed at Chapel Hill Mall, raising questions about the future of the shopping center.
Akron-based FirstMerit was bought by Columbus-based Huntington Bank, raising concerns about the future of the banking industry here.
And the Knight Foundation and Columbus-based Greater Ohio Policy Center released a report saying Akron has fared worse than the country as a whole and five of its peer cities on many key indicators ranging from household income to the poverty rate to attracting young professionals.
“This is not the way how you want to spend your first month in office,” Pry said. “But that has not deterred him from refocusing and I haven’t seen him lose his temper. I have seen him want to work with people and be open and move things forward.”
Pry said that Horrigan has approached the job with “an unbelievably positive attitude.”
Accomplishments
Even though he has been in office for only a short time, the mayor has several accomplishments under his belt.
He successfully got voters to approve the creation of a new department of human resources and a gas aggregation program. Both were recommendations of the blue ribbon task force.
He also ushered his first budget through City Council, a $575 million spending plan.
There remain plenty of challenges ahead.
He and others are trying to improve downtown by reducing office vacancies and increasing housing opportunities; create better relationships between the community and police; boost neighborhoods; and grow the city population.
He’s working with federal officials on the ongoing sewer project that is increasing bills for residents and businesses.
And he’s helping Stark State College find a location for a satellite campus in the community.
“The ball has to roll forward,” Horrigan said. “It’s exciting.”
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ.