Lakewood Sends More Talent To County: An Update From The Mayor

With the election of Ed Fitzgerald to County Executive it signaled that there was sure to be some changes in Lakewood City government. Changes not only in the elected office holders, but also in the administration were to be expected. The Lakewood Observer caught up with the new Mayor, Mike Summers, who succeeded Ed Fitzgerald, to discuss these changes and some of things residents can expect in the near future. Starting with the first and most obvious question, the Observer requested Mayor Summers to comment on the departure of Nate Kelly, who headed the Planning and Development Department.

Mayor Summers states the departure of Nate Kelly is both a positive and negative. It’s a positive in that Nate is leaving for a much bigger role in economic development at the county level, but a negative in that the city is losing a very talented individual. He was quick to point out that the Planning and Development Department is staffed with many capable individuals and that they remain with their institutional knowledge. Why this is important is, because the work with complying with stimulus funds, housing and urban development grants, and block grants can be very complex. There are strict parameters the city must follow to make sure it is in compliance with these funds. The staff does an excellent job navigating the city through these issues and the work continues unimpeded. The overall vision for the development in the City has been put into flux though, and this is something the Mayor will be actively working on the next few months.

Another high profile move was Nora Hurley, the City’s Law Director, who is also moving over to the county. The move brought a quick appointment of Kevin Butler, who was the City Councilman for Ward 1 and also City Council President to replace her. The official timeline for the change will make the transition much easier. Nora Hurley won’t officially depart until February 28, making Kevin Butler’s first official day March 1st. This will give the incoming law director plenty of time to get up to speed on legal matters facing the city. “This is a friendly transition”, the Mayor said.

With these two high profile moves it was naturally asked if there were other possible changes in the works. The Mayor responded that additional city employees have applied with the county, but feels it could take some time for more transitions to be complete. Some of the top appointments at the county have been made, but it could be months before all the positions in the county are filled.

The Mayor then gave an update on some of his goals. He outlined four starting with his main one which is housing. Maintaining a strong housing stock will be a priority of the Mayor who sees the many economic advantages in doing so. He also wants to focus on the financial strength of the city and implementing effective cost management policies. He wants to work on the economic development challenges in the city and deal with commercial vacancies. He said that in looking to begin a search for a new economic development director, he needs to further define what exactly he’ll expect of the person, and then create a job profile from there. Once that is done he’ll begin his search for a director. Finally, the Mayor said that he wants the city government to, “find efficiencies in the work we do.” For example, the city recently switched over from a Novell computer network server to a Microsoft one. The Mayor believes there are many new computer applications that can be used with the Microsoft network that can help streamline the work of the city.

Looking out at the political landscape the Mayor reflected on some of the changes. One of the main things to remember he said is, “We’re all still here.” He included Nickie Antonio, recently elected to the Ohio House of Representatives and made reference that while some of the seats may have changed, everyone is still charged with serving Lakewood in some way. “We’re all still herem” he said. “We’re all still on the bus.”