The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Mayors give insight about their communities
Improvement was the key word of the day as the North Coast Chamber of Commerce held the 2018 Mayors’ Luncheon on March 15.
Mayors of Avon, Avon Lake, Sheffield Village and Sheffield Lake spoke about the positive happenings in their communities.
“We have the smallest land mass out of the four communities, but that hasn’t stopped us from showing tremendous improvement,” said Sheffield Lake Mayor Dennis Bring. “We have improved our digital communication system.
“In the past, we dealt with a lot of static, but we now have quality sound coming from our buildings. The sound system allows us to provide a safer community for our citizens and we are glad to
provide that.”
Bring said the crime rate has decreased over the past year in his community.
“Chief Anthony Campo and all our police officers have done an outstanding job,” he said. “I would also like to thank our fire department who was able to come up with a way to refurbish an existing fire truck in an effort to save the community money.
“We have major road construction for Lake Breeze, Harris and Abbe (roads) either coming up or currently underway. We also want to put money into the community center to make it more accessible to senior citizens.”
Sheffield Village Mayor John Hunter said he is proud of all the village’s service departments.
“We recently added two new police cars,” Hunter said. “This puts our total to 11 cars that are two years old or newer.
“Our service department has also done a great job in
making sure our roads are safe to drive and we all appreciate that.”
Hunter said the village encourages collaboration and working together.
“We just recently worked with Sheffield Lake to improve the road by the Ford plant that runs through both communities,” he said. “We need to communicate, educate and collaborate, and great things will continue to happen in these four communities.”
Avon Lake Mayor Greg Zilka said his community had a decrease in theft last year by 39 to 40 percent over previous years.
“Our police have really done a great job of limiting crime in general,” Zilka said. “In regards to potential fraud and thefts, the department has done a great job of preventing by educating.
“They have spoken with senior citizens in our community, and made them aware of how people are trying to take advantage others. There are people in our community who are willing to prey on others and you can’t assume that wouldn’t happen to you.”
Avon Mayor Bryan Jensen touched on the opioid epidemic and the effects it has had locally.
But he did it in a unique way.
In previous Mayors’ Luncheons, he addressed the attendees at the podium like his counterparts.
However, this year, was different.
Jensen was in attendance, but he never approached the podium.
He gave his address in a taped video message produced by Avon High School students with the Eagle Broadcast Network.
“All four mayors agree that we need to work and improve the opioid epidemic to the best of our abilities,” Jensen said. “Frankly, there is no answer to the problem.
“These are children in our neighborhoods whom we know and care about. The best thing to do is support the parents who have lost their children.
“We all need to support one another and parents must talk with their children. Don’t let them isolate themselves and allow them to get involved in this terrible epidemic.”