The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mayor commends employees for city’s current state
Mayor Dennis Morley presented updates at a State of the Cities meeting
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Willoughby Western Lake County Chamber of Commerce hosted officials from the communities on Feb. 14 to discuss the “State of the Cities.” This is one in a series of articles detailing the speeches that were given.
When Eastlake Mayor Dennis Morley took over as mayor in 2014, the city was in a fiscal emergency.
In 2022, the city ended the year with an almost $5 million carry over, far better than the $600,000 carry over the city had when Morley took on the mayoral position, he said.
“When I was in council, we had no money and never really anything to report but doom and gloom,” Morley said as he asked his table to stand. “This is the reason, when I start talking about where we are as a city, why we’re all together.
“This is my 10th year of being mayor, but with me I have Law Director Randy Klammer, Vice President Dave Spotton from Eastlake City Council, Chief (Ted) Whittington, President (John) Meyers from council, Chief (Larry) Reik, my administrative assistant (Judy Moran), Carol-Ann Schindel, the other mayor of the city with Judy who help me run the city, and Grace Giangiacomo, our senior center. I thank you all for everything you do for me.”
Morley also took the time to thank those from the chamber for putting the annual event together, noting that the mayors work well together.
“People think when you’re a politician or elected official that you’re not like a real person, but all of us vent with each other, we have things together and we talk about sometimes, in this world right now, how it is very tough to be an elected official,” Morley said.
At the Eastlake Senior Center, 600 E. 349th St., the city plans to install two pickleball courts in April. In addition, the city installed a new pavilion, which the seniors love.
“We’ve had Oktoberfest there, which went over well,” Morley said. The city plans to continue to make more improvements to the senior center going forward.
Among the new developments in Eastlake is Washington Grove, which took over the former Washington Elementary site. Thirty of the 32 homes on the site have been sold, ranging from $350,000 to $375,000.
Meanwhile, at the former Taft Elementary location, six homes have been sold at Taft Pointe.
Eastlake also gained a Culver’s last summer, which has been doing well. Construction for a new Dunkin’ Donuts on Lakeshore Boulevard is scheduled to start in the next few weeks.
“This has taken me 10 years to get the Willoughby boys to come in Eastlake — the Coyne brothers are going to open up with Dave (Bartulovic) from Sol in one of our businesses — the old Manny’s tavern,” Morley said. “It’s been there for probably 80 years. He ended up retiring, so it’s going to be Croatian, Irish and an American bar and restaurant. They should be done in the spring.”
Biggby Coffee will also be an addition to Eastlake this year in the former Walmart location. Empire Engine Repair on Vine Street has had success since opening as well.
The city completed $2.7 million in road repairs in 2021 and roughly $2.6 million in 2022.
“This year, there’s going to be a lot of construction on Vine Street,” Morley said. “They’re going to put new water lines in, a new sanitary sewer system in from Willowick Drive to Vine, we have 357 new water lines going in, so we’re going to have a lot of construction.” Morley believes the new ownership of the Lake County Captains will bring more people in as the city continues to have the stadium and the team as assets.
The city’s concert series is going to be expanded this year as well as its car shows. The market is scheduled to start back up in June at the stadium.
Both the police and fire chiefs have been working to make new hires. The city is getting ready to hire three police officers.
“We just had a fire test over the weekend where we had 22 applicants, so both chiefs have been working to get that done,” Morley said.
The resurfacing of Vine Street is scheduled to take place in 2024 from the Willowick to Willoughby line.
“I’ve been working with the mayors on that,” Morley said. “We just picked a group, which will be CT Consultants that will run that project with us with ODOT.”
Ground may also break later this year for a new splash park, a $1.2 million development in the Surfside area.
“That won’t be open until 2024,” Morley said.