Council affirms support for Northwest Toledo substation, approves lease for Cherry Street police substation

The Toledo City Council on July 15 adopted a resolution expressing support for continued operation of the Northwest Toledo police substation and approved a lease that would locate a police substation at Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center LLC's property at 2527 Cherry Street.

Councilman Melvin introduced Resolution 3-48-25 and urged colleagues to back a commitment to a West Toledo policing presence. "I think the idea of flippantly and kind of quickly closing the Northwest Substation is a really, really bad idea," Melvin said during the July 15 discussion. Councilman Sorrento said he had attended a neighborhood meeting at Blessed Sacrament Parish where residents echoed the same concerns and said the police chief was actively looking for a substation in that neighborhood.

Councilwoman Williams pushed to remove the lease ordinance from committee and take final action at the July 15 meeting so the city could move quickly to place community service officers in a visible, neighborhood location. "This legislation does not say that we're closing the substation. This actually says we're opening a substation that can open up a lot of opportunities for the Cherry neighborhood," Williams said.

Council members moved both measures for immediate consideration. The council recorded a motion carried and then adopted Resolution 3-48-25; the clerk recorded the roll-call votes. The council then considered Ordinance 3-35-25 authorizing the mayor to enter into a lease agreement with Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center LLC for 2527 Cherry Street to operate as a Toledo police substation, including authority to pay rent and operating costs. Council members voted to pull the lease out of committee and then to pass the ordinance with recorded roll-call votes.

Councilman Hobbs, chair of the Public Safety Committee, announced a public safety committee hearing scheduled for July 29 at 4 p.m. where the community can comment on the substation plans. The hearing will allow additional public input into the substation’s role and placement within West Toledo.

Both the resolution and the lease ordinance were adopted; the council recorded the votes in the meeting minutes. The transcript shows multiple council members emphasizing the importance of a West Toledo police presence and the need to address building condition and operational readiness of any substation location.