Hello, I am Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Walters, and I am here today to deliver this year’s State of the City address. Last year, I gave my remarks via video due to the COVID-19 pandemic and realized how much more effective it was, given that this way makes it accessible to so many more of you. We all deserve to know what is happening within the city limits, and today, I am going to talk about what we have been doing and where we are headed.
I’ll start by thanking all of our incredibly dedicated city employees who show up in service to us each day. The city is thriving because of your work, and I am eternally grateful for all of your efforts. I also want to thank my senior cabinet members: Law Director Janet Ciotola, Community Development Director Diana Colavecchio, NECCO Director Kelli Crawford-Smith, Finance Director Bryan Hoffman, Parks and Recreation Superintendent Sara Kline, and Service Director Anthony Zumbo, for their continued support, expertise, and advisement.
I want to thank the members of Cuyahoga Falls City Council for their service to the city. Last year, councilmember Jeff Iula did not seek re-election, and I want to thank him for his service. The election brought in new At-Large Councilmember Brian Ashton. Council unanimously elected At-Large Councilmember Russ Balthis as Council President. I want to recognize our At-Large Councilmember Tim Gorbach and Ward Councilmembers Rachel Loza, Susan Spinner, Meika Penta, Mary Nichols-Rhodes, Mike Brillhart, Adam Miller, Jerry James, and Frank Stams. Our council continues to work together to make Cuyahoga Falls a better place to live, work, and play, and I am honored to work with each and every one of them.
And, most importantly, I want to thank my wife Stephanie for her unending support and love. Being the wife of an elected official is not easy as much family time is sacrificed in service to the community. She is an incredible woman and I cannot reiterate enough that I do not know what I did right in this lifetime to deserve her. I love you, Stephanie.
Let us start by taking a look at our city finances. The 2021 General Fund ending unencumbered balance was over $17.1 million, with a cash balance of over $17.4 million. We were grateful in 2021 to have been awarded roughly $16.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. The funds will be utilized for continued investments in the city, such as the transformation of the Boardwalk alongside the Cuyahoga River, the construction of a new state-of-the-art fire training facility, and additional revitalization efforts along South Front Street. Our award-winning finance department, led by Director Bryan Hoffman, does an incredible job of ensuring the financial health and wellbeing of the city, and I am grateful for their efforts.
I want to take a moment and recognize our Information Technology Services Department. Last year, former director John Konich retired after many years of dedicated service to the city. In September, we were pleased to welcome a new director, Josh Kington, who came to us after working in the IT field with several of the largest private-sector companies throughout Northeast Ohio. Josh and his team continue to prioritize the safety and welfare of all of our citizens by looking to address the ever-evolving landscape of technology. They always provide technical assistance and expertise to all city departments while finding and implementing cost-effective technological solutions to our infrastructure needs citywide. Many thanks to them for their diligence and commitment to keeping us safe from the continual threat of malware to our city systems.
Our incredible Law Department, led by Director Janet Ciotola, handles all criminal and civil legal issues. This team is made up of some of the best and most experienced in the region, and I am always proud of the work they do on behalf of the city. Last year, they did an incredible job working on redistricting efforts based on the 2020 Census data to re-balance shifts in population in each of the wards throughout the city. Our city charter requires a ward redistricting process every ten years following the release of new census population data based on population changes, contiguous areas, limiting changes to the number of persons having a different ward than their current one, and ensuring natural boundaries. City Council unanimously approved the redistricting. Our next redistricting process will take place in 2031. Thank you to all who were involved in making that process so seamless and to all who responded to the 2020 Census.
Under the leadership of Director Anthony Zumbo, our Service Department works to ensure that we continue to provide the outstanding city services that our residents and businesses have come to expect and deserve. Every day, the men and women of the building and grounds, electric, garage, human resources, street, sanitation, water, and utility billing departments show up in service to all of us. Together, we have experienced the record-setting weather events that have kept our crews working around the clock addressing our roads so that we can all travel safely. They improve our roads, make sure we have clean water, that our lights turn on, and that our trash and recyclables are picked up. They often do not get the accolades that they truly deserve, but we are all thankful for their work to ensure a good quality of life for us all.
Our Engineering team, led by City Engineer Tony Demasi, continued addressing much-needed improvements to our city infrastructure. Over $4 million was spent on street improvements which was a 25 percent increase over 2020 expenditures. They paved 57 streets covering 31.25 lane miles of roadway. A few projects of note are the resurfacing of Chestnut Boulevard, the Summit DD parking lot, which added much need parking for the expansion of jobs being brought to the city by Summit DD, and additional parking for visitors to our downtown, and they began work on the Mud Brook Greenway Trailhead project. Our Engineering Department remains committed to the health and wellbeing of our Cuyahoga River and conducts ongoing bank stabilization projects to repair slopes. I am grateful for all of their efforts.
Our Fire department has seen a more community outreach and training-driven focus in Fire Chief Chris Martin. He has hit the ground running in his leadership of our Fire Department following the retirement of Fred Jackson early last summer. He and Assistant Chief Jack Breese were sworn in to their respective positions last July. As we have begun to pivot out of the pandemic, the fire department has been committed to engaging more with the community. It now has fourteen Cuyahoga Falls Fire Department Ambassadors to help with recruitment, orientation, and community outreach. Last year, they held the first 9/11 Last Alarm Service to honor fallen safety service members who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The service was an incredible tribute, and I am proud of all involved in making it happen. Plans are also now underway for a new, state-of-the-art chartered training facility for the department. This will allow our department and area departments access to increased training opportunities to learn modern firefighting strategies and tactics. Captain Matt Kee was recently promoted to the position of Deputy Chief, where he will serve as Training Officer to oversee these efforts.
It is also important to note, members of the department have formed the Cuyahoga Falls Firefighter Memorial Foundation to raise the necessary funding to construct and install a memorial site at Fire Station One to honor firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Fundraising efforts are underway with their next event on June 3, from 5-10 p.m., in partnership with the Neighborhood Excellence, Communications, and Community Outreach Department and sponsored by Western Reserve Hospital. The Falls Fire Showdown will invite area fire departments to compete against each other in fitness obstacle courses. This is an event no one will want to miss!
To all of the members of our Cuyahoga Falls Fire Department, I sincerely thank you for all that you do for the city.
2022 is a big year for our Cuyahoga Falls Police Department, which, under the leadership of Police Chief Jack Davis, is celebrating 100 years of service to Cuyahoga Falls. Formed on January 12, 1922, the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department was the first fully paid police force assigned to serve and protect the city’s residents. The first and longest-serving police chief was Russell Duffy, who served from 1922-to 1946. Chief Davis is our city’s eleventh chief and currently oversees a department of more than 80, including police officers, records personnel, and two canine officers. The community will recognize the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department's 100 years of service later this summer at the August 12, Falls Downtown Fridays event.
I previously mentioned the new fire training facility and I wanted to give you a quick update on the police training facility that opened in 2019. In addition to our officers being able to utilize the training classrooms and shooting range, nine other area departments have taken advantage of the facility. These outside agencies have spent over nine weeks in the training room and over thirteen weeks in the range. The training and shooting range facility is top-notch and I am thrilled to see how instrumental this investment has been to law enforcement here and around the region. My administration remains committed to making sure that our safety forces are equipped with the tools they need to do their jobs as safely and effectively as possible. As such, I am also pleased that our department began purchasing body cameras. All of our patrol officers are now outfitted with body-worn cameras that link directly to the in-car dash cameras. The department is able to access two views of every call once the cameras are activated. Usage of this technology allows for increased transparency and improved documentation for our officers and community as whole. I want to take this moment to recognize all of our officers, past, and present, who have so selflessly served our great city. Thank you for all you do to protect and keep us safe from harm.
Our Community Development Department, headed by Director Diana Colavecchio, has always successfully balanced both housing and economic development opportunities throughout the city. This past year has been no exception. In neighborhoods, from corp line to corp line, you see houses selling almost immediately when they are listed. Our business districts are thriving. The department continues to capitalize on new and innovative ways and funding sources to recruit new businesses and help sustain existing ones. Now, they have started to actively engage in the process of planning and executing public art in our public spaces.
Last year, I was pleased to announce the formation of the Cuyahoga Falls Public Art Board. The Public Art Board serves as an advisory body to the Planning Commission on any public art installation or art project in the city. They recommend, review, approve, and certify all public art installations. I am excited to let you know that local icon Don Drumm has created an original stainless steel sculpture, “Birdsnest,” that will be installed at High Bridge Glens Park in the fall of this year. The statue will stand at over 25 feet, affixed to a roughly two feet tall base, and will be uplit during evening hours. The piece will be cut and fabricated locally by Quality Fabrication & Assembly, LLC. This statue is the first public art piece approved by the Cuyahoga Falls Public Arts Board.
Additionally, the city has received a $50,000 Our Town grant from the National Endowment of the Arts to support “River in the City,” a public art project to highlight the Cuyahoga River and our Native American heritage with public art for all to enjoy. As part of the grant, nationally recognized environmental artist Stacy Levy and Peter Jones, best known locally for his sculpture of the Native American carrying a canoe in the Merriman Valley, will be creating art pieces in our downtown in celebration of the Cuyahoga River. Installation of these pieces is anticipated this coming fall.
We know that public art positively impacts community health and tourism and can serve as an economic driver in cities like ours. We are thrilled to partner with Don Drumm, Stacey Levy, and Peter Jones. These installations that elevate our public spaces and honor the residents of Cuyahoga Falls who intend to ensure that beautiful public spaces continue to be a highlight of our community. Thank you to all of these artists for their visions and work.
The department also joined with the City of Akron for the purpose of creating the Merriman Valley – Schumacher Area Master Plan to help steer future economic and greenspace development. To garner public input, our cities developed surveys and held countless public participation meetings with residents, landowners, stakeholders, and all who have interests in how the area can be improved upon. I was incredibly pleased with the community engagement and participation that was displayed throughout the creation of the master plan. The plan maps a path forward for the Valley that balances economic and community development opportunities with the preservation of much of the natural resources that define and distinguish the area. As a direct result of that process, a resolution was introduced by my administration and passed by our City Council recognizing our city as a gateway community to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and the Summit County Metro Parks. The full master plan can be viewed on our city website.
Last year, I announced the groundbreaking of the new Summit DD headquarters in our downtown and they have now opened their doors. Summit DD invested more than $6 Million in construction cost to renovate the former day program workshop to office space and added space to welcome over 130 employees. I am so grateful that they chose our city as their home. I also want to take an opportunity to thank all of the new businesses that have opened in the city over the past year. You could have taken your business anywhere and we are so proud to have each and every one of you. Thank you for choosing us.
Our Neighborhood Excellence, Communications, and Community Outreach Department, led by Director Kelli Crawford-Smith, has continued to serve as a central hub for communication, ramp up our community outreach initiatives and collaborations through community partnerships, and work to strengthen neighborhood connections through the Neighborhood Excellence Initiative. They have also been activating the Downtown Plaza through public events. Last year, through a shortened Falls Downtown Fridays event series, the department helped raise over $20,000 for non-profit partners that provide direct services to Cuyahoga Falls. Members of the department also partnered with our Cuyahoga Falls Fire Department to host the inaugural Fire Truck Pull that brought 25 teams to our downtown to pull a fire truck weighing 37,000 pounds forty feet in the fastest amount of time. The event raised over $10,000 for Pantry on the Corner at Journey Covenant Church. The event will return this year on Labor Day weekend to benefit the Cuyahoga Falls Firefighter Memorial Foundation. This summer, Falls Downtown Fridays will return to a full season of local entertainment, food trucks, retail vendors, craft beer, and family-friendly activities for all to enjoy. The events will kick off Friday, June 17, and will run through August 12. Many thanks to our presenting series sponsors, Western Reserve Hospital, Pilot Plastics, and Clear Gold Audio and Sound.
I could not be prouder of this team for being the recipient of two national awards for excellence for our city website. They were awarded a 2021 The Communicator Award and were named a 2021 Silver Winner by the w3 Awards. They are also responsible for all content creation, updates, videos, and graphics on our social media pages and handle all media relations. I think we all were able to enjoy their River the Elf posts over the holidays as they very creatively utilized Elf on the Shelf to give historical information, promote the city’s assets, and educate the community on why we all should live, work, and play in the city. The NECCO Department remains committed to delivering accurate, accessible, and transparent communication and is consistently making pivots to address new changes in ever-evolving technology to meet people where they are to receive information.
One of the most exciting projects to evolve out of the department’s community outreach efforts has been the Cuyahoga Falls High School Fresh Farm, a partnership between the city, the Cuyahoga Falls High School Urban Agriculture class, The Workz, and HiHO Brewing Co. to create a deeper impact on the community. The student-run Fresh Farm is growing microgreens, herbs, and other produce that is bought by The Workz and HiHO Brewing Co. to be used in their menu items. Students learn entrepreneurial skills while providing locally grown produce to local small businesses. The NECCO department teaches the students about sustainability initiatives. This unique partnership sets the standard for how businesses, schools, and government can work together to benefit the community at large. The department has also increased efforts to educate the community about sustainability and recycling initiatives and has increased cleanup events to help ensure the health and wellbeing of our parks and waterways.
Our Parks and Recreation Department is headed by Superintendent Sara Kline. Parks and Rec is responsible for twenty-six neighborhood parks, five facilities, and countless programs and activities for all. Whether coming up with new and innovative programs for older adults or adding adaptive programming, the team remains committed to providing diverse and accessible programming and park equipment for people of all ages and abilities. They continue to execute unmatched community events across the city. It is still exciting to see the enthusiasm that ensues when Mobile Rec pulls up to activate our public spaces with games and activities for the kids. It was amazing to see the community come to the City Hall campus this past year as the Parks and Rec Department partnered with the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department to produce a large-scale National Night Out event. I am looking forward to how the event evolves this year. I also want to note Kids to Parks Day and the Back to School events that brought everyone together with entertainment, inflatables, games, crafts, and more. We all know and can agree that no one in the area can do Halloween activities and a holiday tree lighting event like our Parks and Rec Department. They truly are the best of the best, and we are always so grateful to see the community's support as families take advantage of these top-notch events.
I was pleased to see the addition of kayak classes last year for adults and children to address the ever-increasing number of people engaging with the water on the Cuyahoga River. I am excited to announce that they will soon be installing signage for the Cuyahoga Water River Trail along the river that notes mileage and amenities at access points in Cuyahoga Falls. This is one more way we are able to make the river more accessible and inviting for all who take advantage of the waterway in our city.
The Natatorium, Water Works Family Aquatics Center, and Brookledge Golf Club have remained popular destinations for residents of Cuyahoga Falls and surrounding communities. All of the facilities have done an incredible job of adapting services through the pandemic. It was great to see Water Works Family Aquatics Center named by the Akron Beacon Journal as the top swimming spot in 2021. The staff works incredibly hard to ensure that all of the guests of the park have an enjoyable and memorable experience, and I am thrilled that the Akron Beacon Journal took notice of their efforts. Our golf club remains one of the very best and highly rated in the area, and I am incredibly proud of the work they do. Patrons of both of these destinations will see facility improvements and other park facilities over the next year.
Last year was an election year, and I want to thank the voters of Cuyahoga Falls for allowing me the incredible honor of another four years to serve as Mayor. It is the honor of a lifetime to be able to serve another term as Mayor of Cuyahoga Falls as we continue the forward movement and progression of this city that I love so much. I am truly just as energized coming into my third term as I was when I first took my oath of office back in 2014 – some days I would argue I’m even more energized now. We have come so far with Portage Crossings, the reopening and redevelopment of our downtown which is now a thriving business district, and a booming housing market. Cuyahoga Falls is officially the place to be. We know this. We see it every time we visit the shops, restaurants, and events downtown and any time we engage in activities on our beautiful Cuyahoga River or in our many parks systems.
We have arrived, together, to a point where we are now able to showcase our city as a destination for tourism and experience. The pieces are in place. Seated alongside our stunning Cuyahoga River, the redevelopment has encouraged and influenced an influx of engagement in outdoor recreational activities. Those who are looking for opportunities to spend time on the river come to fish, kayak, canoe, and float. Most recently, anchors were affixed to invite rock climbing right alongside the Cuyahoga.
Bicyclists, runners, and hikers have an abundance of access to the stunning trails of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Summit County Metro Parks, and The Ohio Towpath. The connectivity and accessibility to these phenomenal trails and waterways make the City of Cuyahoga Falls uniquely positioned to host outdoor enthusiasts from near and far. Very soon, signage will be placed designating the TowCon, or Towpath Connector, to our downtown. Those who use the Towpath will have a direct pathway through the southern corridor of the city that will lead directly to Downtown Cuyahoga Falls. The economic impact on the city is exponential. Those who come to visit can stay at our downtown hotel, patronize our local bars and restaurants, shop at our small businesses, and are able to see live concerts and the Cleveland Orchestra at our very own Blossom Music Center. Investments are currently being made to reimagine and redesign the Downtown Cuyahoga Falls Boardwalk, and public art installations are enhancing the aesthetics of the city as a whole to continue to encourage tourism in the City of Cuyahoga Falls.
I could not be prouder of the incredible momentum we have generated and the exciting direction in which we are headed. Even out-of-towners comment on Cuyahoga Falls as being the “hot spot” of the region. The fun truly flows here for residents and visitors alike!
The state of the city is undeniably strong.
We are a city on the move, and we cannot wait to welcome with open arms all who are ready to truly experience all that is Cuyahoga Falls. As I have said before, my goal is to have only two groups of people; those that live in Cuyahoga Falls and those that wish they did. Thank you.