The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mayors give their ‘State of City’ addresses
Six western Lake County mayors came together Feb. 14 to outline future plans during the annual “State of the Cities” event.
The breakfast event was held by the Willoughby Western Lake County Chamber of Commerce and featured a new setup where the six mayors — of Eastlake, Kirtland, Wickliffe, Willoughby, Willoughby Hills and Willowick — were part of a panel.
According to the chamber president, Karen Tercek, the new format was decided based on a survey. Each mayor had a set amount of time to speak about the past, present and future developments in their city.
Eastlake Mayor Dennis Morley highlighted that the city had a $2.2 million carryover from 2018-19.
“This year we’re going to be adding personnel,” Morley said. “(And) a couple fire trucks, some police cars, we’re doing improvements of our facilities, due to a NOPEC grant and a FirstEnergy grant. This year for personnel, we’re going to add two more policemen, one service worker and one in the building department.”
Morley also said that the city has grown as far as jobs, spurring a $1.9 million increase in income tax over the past four years.
Mayor Doug Davidson of Kirtland discussed the Fiscal Review Task Force in 2018, as well as the paving of Route 306.
“There are about 21 different tasks on there (Fiscal Review Task Force),” Davidson said. “Some of which are already accomplished, others we need to continue working on. One of those items was dispatch. The community, the council, the administration — we looked at every angle, we went into great detail, we had great community participation; we came to the right answer for Kirtland.”
He also thanked Willowick, Kirtland and Wickliffe Economic Development Manager Monica Drake for her work to help grow the business community.
John Barbish, mayor of Wickliffe, focused on economic development and highlighted an 11-acre, city-owned property that could be used for a large business facility.
“If you have any clients or any folks, or your own business you’re looking to expand, looking to move, we’d love to talk about that,” Barbish said. “That’s probably one of the biggest
“This year we’re going to be adding personnel. (And) a couple fire trucks, some police cars, we’re doing improvements of our facilities, due to a NOPEC grant and a FirstEnergy grant. This year for personnel, we’re going to add two more policemen, one service worker and one in the building department.” — Eastlake Mayor Dennis Morley
things I want to work on this year.”
Willoughby Mayor Bob Fiala talked about commercial developments and downtown residential projects, as well as a possible apartment complex behind downtown Willoughby, near Todd Field.
“We’re going to do a request for qualifications for developers to develop that into public parking; apartments,” Fiala said. “What does everyone complain about? Parking, right? Hopefully this is going to solve the problem.”
Fiala said there is a property for potential industrial space on the airport property. The Cleveland Clinic has also been given some property on Lost Nation Road.
The mayor of Willoughby Hills, Robert Weger, lead by saying that it was “a new day in Willoughby Hills.”
“When we look at today, opposed to last year, we’re going to work together, we’re going to be one family together,” Weger said.
He highlighted that in 2008, his city started with a $18,000 carryover in the general fund and they will start with a $1.3 million carryover this year.
Weger also said that they are currently working on filling or refilling various commercial locations.
Willowick Mayor Rich Regovich said that a lot of his focus has been on developing the city’s owned 12-acre lakefront, as well as refilling commercial areas, including Shoregate shopping center.
“We’re only 2.4 square miles,” Regovich said. “You’d think that’s kind of easy to manage, but it isn’t, because a lot of businesses don’t want to come.”
He said that businesses say it is hard to find a customer base in the radius around the Shoregate location because the presence of Lake Erie limits their radius.
Regovich also mentioned that he has been mayor for about three years and has seen positive collaboration between the Lake County mayors during that tenure.
“I understand in the past that each mayor kind of just took care of their own city, it was like everybody was on an island,” Regovich said. After being elected and meeting the other area mayors, he said that “it’s been fairly easy.”
The State of the City addresses were following by a question-and-answer session.
When asked about state cuts in local government funding, a few mayors highlighted that they hope to retain some funding for infrastructure.
“I think most of us learned to deal without it,” Regovich said, concerning the funding cuts. “I’d rather be independent. If they’re going to do anything with that fund, because the emergency fund is going to be legally funded as high as it can get, I’d like to see them invest in infrastructure.”