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Council OKs $10,445 for police 'Leo' mascot, to be paid from drug enforcement funds
Summary
Sylvania City Council approved an emergency ordinance to appropriate $10,445 from police drug-law-enforcement funds to purchase a custom "Leo" mascot costume for the department's LEAD (youth outreach) program.
Sylvania City Council on Feb. 17 approved an appropriation of $10,445 to purchase a custom "Leo" mascot costume for the Sylvania Police Department's LEAD program using drug law enforcement funds.
Chief Miller told council the department replaced its DARE program with LEAD beginning in September and has already completed a first round of classes. She said the costume is custom-made and "quite expensive," telling members, "He is quite expensive. He runs about $10,000 for us." Chief Miller said the quote in hand included a fan to make the costume usable for officers and cadets.
Chief Miller proposed funding the purchase from the department—s drug law enforcement accounts; she said the department currently has about $68,000 in that account and received more than $36,000 in opioid lawsuit funds in 2024, which are eligible for drug-education and related uses. The council read the ordinance by title and adopted it as an emergency measure by voice vote.
Council members asked practical questions about who would wear the costume; Miller said explorers, public-safety cadets or volunteer officers would rotate into the role and that the department would take care of the costume's maintenance and use at events such as Safety City, community expos and school graduations.
