“The merger will serve to reduce expenses associated with the MVCC programming and will allow MVCC and MVECA to restructure those services to support larger numbers of educational and governmental entities,” Sage said.
MVCC is a municipal communications and technology organization that represents Centerville, Germantown, Kettering, Miamisburg, Moraine, Oakwood, Springboro and West Carrollton. It formed in 1975 as a council of governments to monitor, regulate and administer common cable access channels, according to its website.
It provides contract services such as a CodeRed emergency notification system and solicits bids for programs such as electric supply aggregation for more than 20 cities.
Recently, five cities have launched a co-responder program through the MVCC to share licensed mental health clinicians who can respond with police officers to individuals in crisis.
MVECA has a much larger footprint and is a full service internet technology provider serving Clark, Clinton, Greene, Highland, Fayette, Madison, Montgomery and Ross counties. It also is one of 16 information technology centers licensed by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, Sage said.
“The new organization is going to serve both schools and governments,” he said.
The combined membership will include more than 178 entities in the Miami Valley and throughout Ohio. Members will include municipal, township and county governments; public, community/charter and private schools; nonprofit organizations; educational service centers; career centers and joint vocational schools; and information technology centers like MVECA and others that are part of the Ohio Education Computer Network. It also will include the expansion and consolidation of regional fiber optic network assets including the Gateway Network and Clark County Fiber Network.
MVECA will absorb MVCC’s technical operations.
“There’s going to be a lot of cost-avoidance. We can expand an existing implementation,” Sage said. “For example, backup storage. … Rather than going out and buying a new solution they’ll be able to utilize ours.”
MVCC and MVECA already work together, with MVECA providing service for MVCC’s Gateway Fiber Network, Sage said.
The two organizations have been in talks for at least the last six months. MVECA’s assembly approved the merger April 17, and the MVCC board approved it during its May 21 meeting. Each member government or school also either has approved the merger or is expected to vote soon.
Kettering City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the merger.
“I think it’s going to be a really good thing for the region,” said Councilman Shane Sullivan, who is a Kettering delegate to the MVCC board.
As more residents disconnect from traditional cable boxes, there has been a decline in franchise fee revenue, which makes up more than 80% of MVCC’s annual revenue. MVCC has significantly downsized full- and part-time staff, but those measures have not kept pace with the franchise fee decline, according to the resolution.
It was estimated that by 2029, MVCC would be operating at a deficit, said Kettering City Manager Matt Greeson.
The new organization with a merged administration and staff is expected to be in place within 60 to 90 days, likely sometime in August, at the MVECA building at 888 Dayton St. in Yellow Springs, Sage said.
“We’re moving ahead,” he said.
MVCC’s executive director, Jay Weiskircher, will serve as the deputy director focusing on government relations.
Once services at the MVCC building in Centerville migrate to Yellow Springs, the building will eventually be sold, Sage said.
MVECA has oversight by school superintendents and treasurers across an eight-county region. MVCC has two delegates from each member municipality. The new organization will have two appointees each from the existing boards plus a fifth member selected by the new board.
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