The Observation Deck

Our Mayor Edward FitzGerlad is already making sweeping changes in the way the county
does business, hires, fires, and well does everything. Which is good to see, but...

Would it not be best for city and county to make the switch sooner than later?

Merely a thought, looking forward to hearing Mike's plans for the city both short term and
long term, and seeing who he puts in place to help with that.

FWIW


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Hi Jim,

I hope you know the answer to this, as a long time resident. I'm assuming this situation has come up before in Lakewood, that an interim mayor was appointed when an elected mayor in the middle of his term has had to leave for some reason.

Does the new interim mayor, when he steps up to start his term in January, give a speech, or a "state of the city" kind of address, where he lays out where he sees the city to be, and what his plans are for the future?

Thanks.

Betsy

p.s. It seems that Ed has already taken his new office, he's just running it from Lakewood for the time being. Maybe Mike Summers has also stepped up to start being the mayor of Lakewood, if only in an unofficial way, it would make sense. There are only 4 more weeks until January.

If so, it would be great to hear about what he's doing, the way we're getting daily reports in the media about what Ed is doing. Ed seems like he's raring to go. It appears that he has a very definite idea of what Cuyahoga County needs, and he seems to understand that part of what will heal and energize this very bruised and abused county, is sharing what he's doing with the public. I imagine that Mike has definite plans for Lakewood; it would be great to start hearing about them. It would take away some of the sting of the fact that we have an unelected mayor for a whole year, no matter how good he may be. It's still an unsettling feeling for a city, not having a person who's been elected by the people running the show.

Betsy--- To my recollection, the only time in recent history, going back to WWII,we have only had an interim Mayor was when Law Director Dave Harbarger stepped in according to the Charter after Tony Sinagra was elected to the State Senate during the middle of that mayoral term.
I do seem to remember Dave giving a talk early on about what the outlook for the City was. After all, it is simply politically prudent and polite to "introduce" yourself when the mandated Charter process puts in place an interim Mayor.
I think Mike Summers has shown himself over many years of elected public service to be very practical, hard working, and respectful of the Lakewood citizenry. I think these qualities will lead him to give a talk shortly after the new year in a non partisan setting where he will give us his insight as to the upcoming year.
Stan

Its all nice to talk about early transitions. but the hard fact is the office of county administrator does not exist until the swearing in, so if Fitsgerald resigned early, he would not get paid until he was sworn in, and I think that is a lot to ask of someone who is raising a family.

In a similar vein, any thing signed as mayor before you are sworn in is invalid. so while people of good will can certainly cooperate, when it comes down to an official act, it has to be done by the official.