Making positive changes in virtually any aspect of life often requires overcoming the “way it was always done” mentality. This is likely not more true anywhere than it is with the federal government.

Lawrence County Engineer Doug Cade is at least doing his part to change that by offering detailed suggestions that would likely benefit our region — and most county engineers in the state of Ohio — when it comes to infrastructure and road projects that utilize federal funding, as many do.

In a recent meeting with U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson and Cade outlined many of the challenges tied to the red tape of dealing with federal funding including difficulty in gaining matching funds, slow reimbursement processes, lengthy wait times to get a project of the ground, expensive hoops to jump through for components of jobs that are relatively inexpensive and more.

But Cade didn’t just point out the flaws. He offered detailed suggestions and new ideas that he feels would make things better.

Hopefully Johnson will run with this and initiate some meaningful legislation, or conversation even, that addresses these issues.

In today’s economic climate, with the need for government to do more with less, “the way it has always been done” often isn’t the best solution and simply isn’t good enough.