Mayor Don Plusquellic is going to work on a
new 20-member federal task force on homeland security. Plusquellic has been elected vice
president of the task force whose job it will be to seek solutions for moving federal
funds for homeland security from the state to the city level."Our job is to cut
through some of the red tape that has stalled the money at the state level,"
Plusquellic said today. "President Bush acknowledged the problem when he spoke in
January to the U.S. Conference of Mayors. In fact, he told us he wanted to see the money
get---in his words---‘unstuck’ so cities would have access to it."
Akron and Summit County could receive $2.6 million in federal money for security
upgrades under the current funding formula.
Plusquellic, who becomes president of the United States Conference of Mayors in June,
was tapped to become a member of the task force by virtue of his position within the
organization of mayors. The task force, created by Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge,
includes five governors, six mayors and a number of top-level county executives from
across the nation.
