Plusquellic was the President of the
United States Conference of Mayors during 2004. Plusquellic currently serves as vice president of the International Mayors for Peace organization. He is well known as an architect of the
Joint Economic Development District (JEDD) program in Ohio, and he is a member of the
Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a
bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition is co-chaired by Boston, Massachusetts Mayor
Thomas Menino, New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg, and
Columbus, Ohio Mayor
Michael B. Coleman. Throughout his tenure as mayor, Plusquellic often suggested bold, outsize ideas which energized his supporters. He proposed leasing the city water system to a contractor and using the payments to pay college tuition cost for Akron residents, suggested forming a city-owned construction company to bid on projects and generate revenue for the town, and advocated construction of a baseball stadium at a time when there was little to no support for it. (This stadium,
Canal Park, was completed in 1997.) Plusquellic later apologized, and surrendered a day's pay to the city.
Cleveland Plain-Dealer columnist Mark Naymik criticized Plusquellic for engaging in "ego-driven politics" that won him re-election and notice from the press but which did little for Akron, allowing the city's finances to decline. A campaign to
recall the mayor was initiated in March 2009. In a special election in June 2009, Plusquellic was kept by a vote of 20,500 to 7,200 with almost 99 percent of precincts reporting. Plusquellic led a delegation from Akron to meet with representatives of
Mekorot, the Israeli water company, in 2012. The meeting led to an announcement that Mekorot would be opening its first U.S. office in Akron through Akron's Global Business Accelerator. The office will coordinate information exchange relating to
water security,
water technology and
energy technology, with an ultimate objective of commercializing joint ventures, creating jobs, and developing the economy. ==See also==