Mayor's Report

As we enter the fall season and students return to school, it is a great time to review a few of the exciting things we accomplished this summer.

We continue our progress with the Chagrin River Trail and the Osborne Park Reimagination project by pursuing grants and beginning construction on each project. We are finishing our Request for Proposal for the Chagrin River Trail, which will help us select a design-build team to initiate the work. We anticipate this effort will take a few months, but we aim to have the team in place before the year’s end. Phase one of the Osborne Park project has been submitted for permit, and we are also looking forward to receiving all approvals by the end of the year. We are incredibly thankful to State Senator Jerry Cirino, with the support of State Representative Dan Troy, for obtaining a $2 million grant from the State Capital’s fund for the Osborne Park project.

We expect the construction drawings for our police station to be complete and ready for bid this month, and we are looking forward to selecting a contractor to begin work later this fall.

In the coming months, we plan to have a ceremonial groundbreaking for these three transformation projects this fall.

The Union High School project is underway, and we expect it to be the capstone of our goal to preserve our heritage by saving and renovating important historic buildings. We want to thank the Lake County Commissioners for their contribution of $250,00 towards maintaining some of the essential historic elements of this building. Finally, the Union High School project developer has agreed to complete a master plan for Wes Point Park to create a functional and interactive public space.

We hope you enjoy the remaining summer days safely. Some end-of-summer events include our last summer concert on Thursday, September 5th, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm with FM 77 in downtown Willoughby. This is a rescheduled concert that was canceled last month due to weather.

Also, Willoughby Parks and Recreation, Police, Fire, and Service Departments have teamed up to offer a hands-on opportunity to explore various vehicles and meet the people who build, protect, and serve our community. Please join us at our annual Touch-A-Truck event on Saturday, September 7th, from 9 am – 1 pm at our Service Garage. Sensory hour (no horns, sirens, lights or DJ) is from 9:00 am – 10:00 am. To enter during this time, you must pre-register with Willoughby Parks & Recreation at 440-953-4200.

Please check our website and Facebook page for our fall city events and updates.