Eastlake, Ohio Mayor Ted Andrzejewski

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	Mayor Ted Andrzejewski

Mayor of Eastlake Ted Andrzejewski

Mayor Ted Andrzejewski has been Mayor of Eastlake since he was elected in 2004. He was re-elected to the Mayor's Office in 2005 and again in 2009. In a short time, Mayor Andrzejewski has had to deal with managing considerable responsibility with limited resources. He enjoys his role as Mayor and claims to be in the job for the long haul.

Mayor's May Report

Dear Residents:

Many of you already know that our City Council has voted NOT to re-open our city swimming pool. I did all that I could as Mayor to state the case as to why we needed to open the pool , but since council controls the budget they all voted to take the pool out of the budget. I think that this is very sad because unlike other years we HAD THE MONEY to open the pool. The pool would cost us a net dollar amount of $55,000 to operate. With the pool in the budget we are anticipating a $550,000 surplus for 2013. What this means is we had enough money in the budget to open the pool and still have $500,000 if an unexpected expense came up. I feel very strongly that we need to provide the pool to allow all families young and old to have a place to cool off in the hot summer months. We also need a place for the youth of our city to go and stay off the streets during their summer break. We now will probably have to return a grant of $150,000 to the State of Ohio. The grant was used to refurbish the pool with the provision that we keep the pool open for 15 years. Council several years ago voted as a group to accept the grant with the 15 year operating provision. Now they are stating with their action that they would rather pay back the grant than open the pool.

In recent months there have been several articles written about employees in other cities and public officials double dipping. This practice allows a person to retire and collect a pension and then go right back to their previous job and collect another paycheck. The residents of Eastlake should know that it is my policy NOT to allow double dipping in our city government. Once an employee retires from the city they will not be rehired back. I have always believed that double dipping hurts the taxpayers and prevents someone who needs a job from getting that new job opening.

Our new city sign has been installed on the corner of Route 91 and Vine Street. We will now be able to display announcements of city activities and city group’s activities on this very visible location. If you have an announcement, please call Karin in the Mayor’s office and we will get it put on the sign. This is for Eastlake activities and Eastlake affiliated groups such as city sports leagues etc.

Our City Festival will be held from Thursday June 20 through Sunday June 23. The annual parade will be held on Saturday June 22 beginning at 1 p.m.

The parade will begin at North High School and end at the festival site taking the same route that we have had for many years. If you have a group or organization that would like to be in the parade please contact Karin in the Mayor’s office or go online and fill out the short form for the parade. I will have more information on times of the festival and activities in next month’s article.

One last note is that residents will notice a new sign up on Lakeshore Boulevard heading towards Route 91 and Lakeshore. This sign indicates that there is a speed enforcement zone ahead. I did not like how Timberlake has set up an almost constant patrol looking to ticket Eastlake residents. Anyone coming in either direction on Lakeshore is almost always from Eastlake. The sign hopefully will remind our residents to slow down BEFORE they reach the Timberlake border. Remember that Timberlake must clock a driver in Timberlake and not on Lakeshore when still driving in Eastlake. Be aware of this area. Drive safely.

Thank you,

Mayor Ted Andrzejewski

Archived monthly letters...

Kasich's surplus came from the budgets of busted cities
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Wednesday, July 11, 2012

I was reading the July 4 article about Gov. John Kasich declaring that the state will have a $235 million carryover surplus for 2012. I nearly fell off my chair in disbelief. That money belongs to the cities, villages, townships, school districts and counties in Ohio. Then I read further that the $235 million will double to $482 million.

Gov. Kasich, that is our money that you took from us when you lowered by 50 percent the local government fund, took away the CAT tax reimbursement and took away the public utility tax reimbursement.

Every mayor, city manager, school superintendent and township trustee should be outraged that the governor is bragging about the large surplus at our expense. From Eastlake alone, he took $1.5 million, or 11 percent of our general fund. We had to lay off police officers, firefighters, Service Department employees and office workers.

Has the governor forgotten about the hundreds of tax increase issues that were on the ballot last November because of his actions? We had no choice but to ask our voters for help. Most tax increase issues were defeated, so we all had to make painful cuts.

Gov. Kasich, it must be nice to push the need for a tax increase to the local level so that your administration does not get the blame. You should use this surplus to restore funding back to local municipalities.

~ Ted Andrzejewski, Eastlake

White House official attends Eastlake summit
The News-Herald, Thursday, July 26, 2012 by David S. Glasier

Mentor-on-the-Lake Mayor John M. Rogers and other local community leaders had the ear of the White House during a meeting Wednesday at Classic Park in Eastlake.

David Agnew, deputy assistant to President Barack Obama and director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, exchanged viewpoints with mayors, city managers, administrators, representatives of school districts, labor union officials and business owners.

"I'm pleased with the fact we have someone here from the White House who made it a point to come to Lake County and Northeast Ohio to listen to community leaders talk about challenges directly affecting our residents," Rogers said. "We haven't raised our taxes since 1995, which means we're being forced to do more with less and less."

The 31⁄2-hour event was organized by Mayors Ted Andrzejewski of Eastlake and Georgine Welo of South Euclid under the aegis of Building One America, a Pennsylvania-based not-for-profit agency that lobbies for the interests of suburban governments and school districts.

Andrzejewski said there were "55 to 60" attendees at the meeting, held in the Officers Club on the ballpark's suite level.

The major topic of discussion was the steadily decreasing flows of tax revenues from the federal and state coffers to cities, villages, townships and school districts.

"This group is here to help us fight for dollars to balance our budgets," Andrzejewski said. "We want a voice in Columbus and Washington, D.C., for the suburbs and schools. Right now, we don't feel that mature suburbs like ours have that voice. The goal is to get federal and state dollars into the communities to benefit residents."

Agnew spoke with attendees only after reporters left the room. The stated reason was that the White House had not been told reporters would be in the room during the back-and-forth between Agnew and attendees.

Andrzejewski said the exchanges were civil but pointed.

"It was a good meeting. We were able to share our opinions with someone who talks directly to the White House," Andrzejewski said.
Welo said there was no hint of partisan politics during the session.

"This group is bipartisan. We have Democrats, Republicans and independents," Welo said.

Andrzejewski and Welo said local members of Building One America will have at least two meetings in upcoming months at venues yet to be chosen.

Paul M. Scully, national strategic director for Building One America, said the organization's focus is primarily on so-called "mature" suburbs in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and other states.

"It's not so much a matter of geography as shared characteristics," Scully said. "We represent racially and economically diverse suburban communities solidly in the middle class."

Rogers fell silent for a few seconds when asked if he thought anything positive would come of Wednesday's meeting with Agnew.

"If he takes input from this event back to Washington to people who make policy," it definitely was worthwhile," Rogers said.

"And if those people in positions of power at least consider changes in policy that make a difference at the community level, it was 1,000-percent worth the effort."

Archived Mayor's Reports:

February 2013

January 2013

2012

December 2012

November 2012

October 2012

September 2012

August 2012

February 2012

January 2012

2011

December 2011

November 2011

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2010

December 2010

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February 2010

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2009

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November 2009

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2008

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2007

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