Mentor-on-the-Lake’s 2019 plans revealed

Mentor-on-the-Lake Mayor David Eva sees a lot to like going on in his community.

The past year brought positive staff changes and infrastructure improvements, plus additions to recreational offerings, he said.

Along with appointing a full-time fire chief and keeping emergency response times within a few minutes, the city installed a walking path behind city hall with grant funding and completed the Pinehurst storm sewer project.

Eva also highlighted the police and fire departments continuing to volunteer in many ways during the year at Lake Elementary and other events to benefit the community.

“When we all work together, we accomplish a lot in Mentor-on-the-Lake,” he said. “I could not be more pleased with the way we operate.”

The new year will bring some new practices as well

as ongoing efforts to improve services.

For example, City Council in November approved legislation for mandatory city tax filing in 2019.

“We will work with CCA, our city tax third party, to make sure all residents understand what is required to file,” Eva said.

Big projects for the year are to include the Miami Drive stormwater project. Bids are anticipated to go out in May with an early fall completion date.

“We continue to make our way down our main street — Andrews Road — improving our drainage on our streets which run east to west down Andrews,” he said.

“We will continue our relationship with Mentor to combine our asphalt and concrete road improvements, which leads to quantity discounts for both cities.”

Other plans include promoting the new walking path, which got some use during the fall, he said. One idea is to create a walking club in the spring.

With the November passage of charter amendments continuing taxes for safety forces and roads, revenues are relatively stable and no notable cuts are planned for 2019.

“The biggest challenge every year is making sure we have the right training and equipment available for all of our departments,” Eva said. “I’m always proud of our fiscal discipline and our department heads’ ability to operate within our constraints.”

He expressed gratitude to staff for their contributions to making the city run smoothly.

“All of what we do, we do to make our city a happy place for our residents,” he said.

“Finishing my sixth year as mayor, our residents can count on us to get answers for their questions.”