Mentor Council approves $2M in advances, awards road, police and technology contracts

Mentor City Council on April 7 approved a package of ordinances to advance funds and award contracts for road repairs, parks work and police equipment.

City Manager Filipiak presented ordinance 26-O-023, which advances $2 million in cash from the general fund: $1.4 million to the street fund to support this year’s road repair program; $340,000 for initial due-diligence work on nature-preserve shoreline work by the Smith Group; $50,000 in the fire fund for generator engineering and rental; and $650,000 for parks and recreation to fund construction and required Ohio Building Code testing for Garfield and Civic Center splash pads. Council suspended the rules and approved the ordinance by roll call with all members voting yes.

Council also approved two intermunicipal agreements with the city of Mentor-on-the-Lake for 2026 road work. Ordinance 26-O-024 authorizes Mentor to perform approximately $87,000 of alternate asphalt paving in Mentor-on-the-Lake, with that city providing funds and inspection and a target completion date of Aug. 29. Ordinance 26-O-025 approves alternate concrete repairs in Mentor-on-the-Lake (about $33,000) as part of a roughly $2 million concrete program; completion was discussed for Oct. 16. Both measures passed unanimously after brief presentation by Mr. Phillipiak and Mr. Swiger.

The council also awarded procurement contracts for police department equipment. Chief Gunch recommended awarding bid contracts to Vance Outdoors Inc. for Glock Gen6 duty handguns and related accessories. Three bids were received; two met specifications. The city had budgeted $210,000; the low Vance Outdoors bid was $194,721.65 and Vance’s bid to buy the city’s current duty weapons was $28,526, producing a net cost to the city of $166,195.65. Council members asked about purchase counts and retiree provisions in the department’s replacement policy; staff explained retiree allowances and extra inventory needs. The ordinance (26-O-026) passed on a unanimous roll call.

Finally, Council approved ordinance 26-O-027 to purchase replacement in-car mobile data terminals (the police department’s aging laptop fleet). Staff said the lowest responsive proposal from Upstate Wholesale Supply LLC, doing business as Bright, totaled $120,380. The council approved the purchase unanimously.

All votes on the ordinances were recorded by roll call; no dissenting votes were recorded during these agenda items.

The measures move forward immediately under the emergency declarations included in the ordinances; staff will return with contract documents and implementation details where required.