(UPDATED) DeWine picks Kirtland Hills attorney to head Ohio Lake Erie Commission

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine continues to fall back on policy wonks to help him shape his natural resources, agricultural and environmental agenda.

Recently named by DeWine to head the Lake Erie Commission is Joy Mulinex, of Kirtland Hills in Lake County. She takes over a small four-person (including herself) staff that helps organize, share and develop strategies that are intended to assist Lake Erie’s recreational, commercial, environmental and other associated issues.

Mulinex will earn $115,000 annually for the job; the same figure her predecessor under the-then Kasich Administration collected. Her immediate previous job was the Director of Great Lakes Relations with Geauga County-based Western Reserve Land Conservancy, a Non-Governmental Organization, or NGO.

The position also was elevated so that the director now reports directly to the governor and not some departmental head.

And like her counterparts who now lead the Ohio departments of Natural Resources and Agriculture, Mulinex is a female attorney.

However, Mulinex says her selection is neither gender-based nor because she is an attorney. Rather it is because Mulinex – like the other aforementioned agency heads -has advised DeWine during the governor’s previous several political lives.

“It’s about finding the right person for the job,” Mulinex said. “I believe my selection had more to do with my background in Great Lakes Policy and some of its associated programs. That will help me with my new job.”

In Mulinex’s case that fit included previously working on Great Lakes issues for DeWine when he was in Washington as a U.S. senator rather than in Columbus when he was the state’s Attorney General or its Lieutenant Governor.

“This new job gets me back to doing some of that work,” Mulinex said.

This work is multi-faceted; dovetailing with several state agencies and departments. Among them are Natural Resources, Commerce, Health, Agriculture, and Ohio EPA, with some members also coming from the private sector. The group meets quarterly in public.

One of the Commission’s role being to help ensure that everyone is working from the same playbook as shaped by DeWine.

The spear point of DeWine’s Lake Erie initiative are so-called “Policy Pillars.” Chief among them, Mulinex quickly says, is the oft-contentious issue of nutrient loading from farm field run-off – chiefly within the Maumee River Basin – that is the backstop of the annually seasonal Lake Erie algal blooms.

“Governor DeWine has enfolded that particular policy issue as a priority of his administration,” Mulinex said. “That should not come as surprise to anyone, and it won’t be accomplished overnight.”

Mulinex did say the DeWine Administration will seek additional funding in the up-coming budget for help in solving this problem though no exact number was available at the time of writing this story.

As for the funding of the Commission’s activities, that comes in at least some measure from the sale of motor vehicle license plates that feature either the Marblehead Lighthouse or one featuring a stylized life ring encircled with the words “Lake Erie.”

These license plates cost an additional $25 annually of which $15 is secured in the Lake Erie Protection Fund, held in a trust account. Some of the proceeds from these sales goes towards scientific and various research grants of up to $50,000 each that benefit Lake Erie in a wide array of issues and matters.

Though the license plate sales started out strong when the program was first introduced in 1993, collecting about $900,000, that figure is dropping about five percent annually and now stands at only about $145,000 annually.

Thus, additional funding – particularly for staff salaries – must come from the various agency members. To save money, the Commission closed its Toledo office with staff now work at other state offices located along or near the Lake Erie shoreline. Mulinex will be working out of the DeWine Administration’s Cleveland office.

Mulinex says she does not anticipate any major shifts in how this grant program works but that her staff will continue to monitor that all applications will help provide the foundational footers for DeWine’s Policy Pillars regarding Lake Erie.

The Commission – with the assistance of its agency partners - also develops a periodic Lake Erie Protection and Restoration Plan, the latest installment being written three years ago.

All with an eye focused on transparency, Mulinex says also, noting that a methodology will be used to gauge the impact and effectiveness of the team’s approach along with “accountability.”

“The make-up of the Commission represents a wide spectrum of interests, so we have a lot resources that we can tap,” Mulinex said.“

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net