Lorain native to take helm of department

Will oversee building, housing, planning

A Lorain native will take the helm of the city’s Department of Building, Housing and Planning.

Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer on July 19 named Kellie Glenn as the director of building, housing and planning for the city.

Glenn succeeds Leon Mason, who left the post to take a job for Denver City Council.

The department oversees a range of issues, such as projects paid for with federal grant money; building code inspections and enforcement; and planning and zoning changes in Lorain.

“I’m excited,” said Glenn, who was interim director of the department. “I think I’m still in shock, so to speak.

“Hopefully, I’m successful. I hope I don’t disappoint.”

A Lorain native, Glenn is an alumna of the former Southview High School. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Akron and a master’s degree in public administration from Cleveland State University.

Starting in December 1998, Glenn began working as a planner, then assistant director for community development for Lorain County. She worked as a project director and compliance manager for the city of Cleveland from January 2006 to March 2015, when she returned to Lorain.

“One of the reasons I got into this field was, I was growing up and seeing, you know, South Lorain and the way it was and I felt like there were things that needed to be done that weren’t being done,” Glenn said.

She said her work in Lorain County and Cleveland became the foundation for coming back to Lorain.

In City Hall, Glenn said she and Mason had many professional acquaintances in common, but they did not know each other or work together before she was hired.

Glenn said her goals as director are to work with low- to moderate-income areas of Lorain, which is mandated by the rules for spending the Community Development Block Grant money from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Glenn’s experience ensuring compliance with federal rules was “critical” in the appointment, said Mayor Chase Ritenauer.

“She was the best candidate that applied to be able to do that,” he said. “The driver for me in this was her ability to oversee programming and make sure we’re compliant with HUD regulations, to keep the dollars that we have and make sure we are eligible for other dollars.”

She said the department still will carry out its consolidated plan drafted during Mason’s tenure.

The department also is getting ready to assist economic development efforts and upgrade Lorain’s housing stock through rehabilitation of homes. Downtown Lorain development is important “because this is too vibrant of a city not to have a vibrant downtown,” Glenn said.

Glenn said she wants to have a presence in Lorain neighborhoods and among residents.

“I don’t want to make decisions for them,” she said. “I want them to help me make good decisions.”

A resident of South Euclid, Glenn said she still has siblings living in Lorain and she hopes to move closer to the city.

Glenn has an 8-year-old son and also has been a foster parent for 10 years. Currently, she is foster parent to two sisters ages 18 months and 8 months.

Glenn