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Council approves SmithGroup shoreline design contract; Blake presses for $40M referendum before full project spending
Summary
Council approved a SmithGroup design agreement for Mineral Lagoon shoreline protection and debated whether a potential $40 million construction phase should go to a public referendum; the manager indicated administration plans to submit the larger spending to voters when appropriate.
The Mentor City Council approved a professional services agreement with SmithGroup Architects and Landscape Architects to design shoreline protections at Mineral Lagoon but faced questions about the size and public review of the full project.
City Manager Robert Fowler said the administration recommends the design contract and expects the design work to lead to a larger construction plan that could cost about $40 million. Councilperson Blake warned that if the project advances further that large expense should be subject to a public vote: "I would like to think that if we're going to move past this phase, at some point, there is some sort of '[referendum] among council that this is a referendum vote before the $40,000,000 is spent," Blake said.
Fowler and the city manager indicated their plan would be to submit the larger spending to voters when the project reaches that stage. Council debated whether the charter requires a referendum; Blake said a failed referendum could shelve the project and complicate revisiting it years later. Despite concerns, on third reading the ordinance authorizing SmithGroup to provide design services passed by roll call.
The ordinance approving the SmithGroup contract was recorded as passed on third reading; council members asked staff to ensure voter outreach and clarity as the project moves from design to funding decisions.
