Mayor's Corner

Welcome to the Mayor’s Corner! I am excited to begin using this space to contribute short pieces from time to time to offer insight for Lakewoodites into issues currently happening at City Hall or important ideas I’d like to communicate to the community. I’m grateful for this forum and I intend it to start ongoing conversations with you. 

During my campaign for the Mayor’s Office last year and since getting elected, you have probably heard me talk about my priorities for city government: Safety, Neighborhoods, Environment, and Disciplined Finances. In this first edition of the Mayor’s Corner I want to talk a bit about Finances.

In the City’s Finance Department, we are currently hosting a team of auditors from Auditor of State Keith Faber’s office. To most people, the word “audit” suggests a hassle, at least, and maybe serious legal and financial consequences, at most. The Auditor of State and his team are the compliance officers for Ohio taxpayers and their responsibility is to ensure that local governments like ours are conducting the people’s business in an open, honest, and efficient way. 

When they are through, they will have spent weeks reviewing our finances in tremendous detail and providing me with any “findings.”  As I begin my first year as Mayor of Lakewood, my interests (and yours!) are aligned with Auditor Faber’s—We want to be sure everything is just as it should be. We will be back to you with their results.

Additionally, my administration has been given the directive to review spending and overtime use to make sure that we are staying within our budget. We are also looking at keeping projects in-house whenever possible to reduce costs. One such project is the re-striping of the Lakewood Park parking lot. This entire project will be completed by our public works employees which will reduce the overall cost of the project.

In closing, I’m looking forward to working with all members of our community for the next four years. The future is bright in Lakewood!