JEFF FUSCO: BACKGROUND & QUALIFICATIONS

Though I have been walking the various neighborhoods of the city for a couple of months now, it was only fairly recently that I've been able to give prospective voters a leave-behind card that says a little bit about my background and experience. They'll be available everywhere you'll be seeing me over the summer, and many of you will be getting this and similar information in your mailbox as well.

I encourage you to review the information on the card and compare my background and experience to some of the other candidates who are running for City Council at Large. As a former member of Akron City Council and the Mayor's Administration, I am the only candidate who can offer both legislative and administrative experience in serving the citizens of Akron - and I think this is important. Here are some other facts about my background that I'd like to share:

City of Akron
Deputy Service Director 1997-2007
Assisted in developing policy for Service Department; directly responsible for Parks & Recreation Bureau, 311 Call Center and Customer Service Department.

Part of leadership team that studied and reviewed “Best Practices” for reorganization of Akron civil service employees and policies - saving Akron taxpayers millions of dollars.

City of Akron
Councilman At-Large 1994-1997
Ward 10 Councilman 1986-1994
Served Akron City Council as Vice President and chaired the Planning, Public Safety, Housing and Recreation Committees.

ALSO:

LED the management team that implemented Akron's 311 call center.

WORKED with Summit County to promote regionalism and combine Akron's Weights and Measures Dept. with the county’s operations, saving Akron taxpayer funds.

ESTABLISHED funding for Keep Akron Beautiful after Gov. Taft cut state funding.

CREATED an employee driven team to streamline the way Akron handled nuisance complaints thus saving tax dollars and increasing revenue.

Throughout my career in public service, I have been known for concentrating on actually getting things done - not on garnering attention or trying to make headlines. That approach has served me well over the years, and my constituents have always made it clear that they appreciate real accomplishments more than promises and rhetoric.

I also want to point out that while I always believe it's important to have an independent voice, I think teamwork, an open mind, and fairness are important too - and that's why I have always been a strong supporter of our Mayor, and fought hard against the recall. It's critical that wee keep Akron on the right track, and I hope you will support me in our effort to keep us there. - JEFF

COMMUNITY EVENTS KEEPING CAMPAIGN BUSY

Summer is surely a time for all kinds of events and festivals, and the past few weeks have been no exception. The campaign schedule has been filling up fast, but it's provided some great opportunities to get back out into the community and re-connect with so many old friends. While an appearance at the West Akron parade was unfortunately postponed by rain, the Italian Festival held downtown at Lock 3 turned out to be a great event for everyone.


Members of the Friends of Jeff Fusco Committee were on hand as volunteers, and the crowds on hand were enthusiastic about the food, the great music and the atmosphere. Jeff had a number of opportunities to talk to people about the issues they think are important, and the festival organizers made it clear that they were very happy about the new Downtown Akron venue for their annual event, which saw some record crowd turnouts for the weekend.