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Votes at a glance: Lakewood Council approves resolutions on retirement commendation, codified-ordinance correction, tax budget referrals and recycling grants
Summary
At its March 18 meeting the council approved a commendation for a retiring finance official, adopted an ordinance correcting codified-code errors, referred several finance items to committee, and accepted two recycling grants. Multiple procedural referrals were also approved by voice vote.
Lakewood City Council on March 18 approved a series of routine and substantive items, including a resolution honoring a retiring assistant finance director, adoption of an ordinance correcting codified-ordinance errors from the 1984 code update, and referrals of tax and budget items to the finance committee.
Key votes and referrals
- Excused absence: The council voted to excuse the absence of Council Member Evans (motion made and seconded; voice vote; passed).
- Minutes: Council approved the minutes of the March 3, 2025 regular meeting without reading (motion made and seconded; voice vote; passed).
- Resolution 2025-09 (Item 1): Council adopted a resolution commending Keith Schuster for his public service as assistant director of finance. Motion to adopt was moved and seconded and passed by voice vote; the administration presented the resolution and invited the honoree forward for a presentation.
- Ordinance 12-20-25 (Item 5): Council moved to suspend the rules, adopt on first reading, and passed an ordinance correcting errors introduced during the city’s 1984 comprehensive codified-ordinances update. The ordinance corrects language related to sections 147.02 and 147.03 of the Lakewood Codified Ordinances and was adopted by voice vote.
- Finance and tax budget items (Items 6–10): Director of Finance Mahoney presented the second-quarter transfer ordinance and a package of tax-budget-related resolutions, including maintaining the city’s existing property tax rate of 17.4 mills for collection year 2026 and authorizing requests for tax advances. Those communications were referred to the finance committee for further consideration (motions to refer were made, seconded and passed by voice vote).
- Land bank / property sale (Items 11–12): The Department of Planning and Development notified council of four vacant properties acquired through the county land bank and requested authorization to solicit a realtor to market the parcels. The communication and related ordinance were referred to the Housing, Planning and Development Committee.
- Grants received and filed (Items 13–14): Council received and filed two Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District grants for recycling programs: a $1,585 special-project grant to pilot a bulb-recycling program (goal: collect 800 bulbs) and a $5,850 community recycling awareness grant to produce truck magnets and refrigerator magnets for recycling guidance. Motions to receive and file were adopted by voice vote.
- Other procedural referrals: Multiple routine resolutions and referrals (advance transfer ordinances, tax budget resolutions, levy certifications) were moved to the finance committee and passed by voice vote as recorded in the meeting.
Several council members commented on potential policy follow-ups. Councilman Bullock and Vice President Baker asked that the administration and committee consider whether properties acquired through the land bank should be used to support affordable housing goals. Councilmember Bogdan raised questions about affordability and the tax budget discussion as a point for future exploration.
Votes were generally recorded as voice votes; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the meeting transcript for the items summarized above.
