Politics & Government

City Council Votes For Public Works Equipment-Sharing Agreement

Council also thanked Chief Daniel Llewellyn for his service, voted to put cameras in police cruisers during its meeting Tuesday evening

Mentor City Council voted in favor of an agreement during its meeting Tuesday night that will allow it to share public works equipment with Painesville, Painesville Township and Madison.

The pact is part of a pilot program for the state of Ohio and it leaves room for other municipalities in Lake County, as well as the county engineer's office, to join.

In addition to loaning out its public works equipment, this means the city of Mentor could also receive additional help from neighboring communities in time of need, Mentor City Manager Kenneth Filipiak said.

Find out what's happening in Mentorwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"We can choose to participate at whatever level we see fit," Filipiak said to Council.

He added that the agreement was "very open ended."

Find out what's happening in Mentorwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"We have a structure in place to allow us to share equipment but it's completely voluntary," he said.

Other details about the agreement:

  • The lender can choose to charge for the use of equipment or personnel, if applicable.
  • The lender is still responsible for any workers' compensation for loaned employees
  • Any organization can leave the agreement with 30 days' notice.

Mentor business owner Michael Talev attended the Council meeting and said he didn't agree with the proposed pact.

He said the verbiage of the agreement seemed hastily made and vague. Additionally, he said Mentor did not need assistance from neighboring communities.

"Why should we catch the slack of our neighbors?" Talev said.

Filipiak replied to Talev that the city had just recently borrowed a $10,000 GPS from the Lake County Engineer's Office.

Mentor City Council voted for the ordinance unanimously.

Also at the Council meeting:

  • City Council approved the 2013 budget.

The 2013 budget is $53 million, as opposed to the 2012 that was $51 million.

Filipiak explained that operational expenses for this and next year will be similar. The $2 million difference comes from additional capital programs, he said.

For additional information on the proposed budget, you can read previous stories on Mentor Patch.

  • Council approved a contract to put high-definition cameras and microphones in 25 police cruisers.

The city has been talking about putting cameras in police cruisers for more than a year now.

The cameras would film activity happening both inside and outside of the cruiser.

The city estimated that the entire project will cost about $167,000 when taking into account the additional expense of hard drives, wireless access points, a server and the installation costs for the Information Technologies Department not included in the bid.

  • City Council thanked Mentor Police Chief Daniel Llewellyn for his 32 years of service.

Llewellyn will retire in January.

He will be succeeded by Capt. Kevin Knight.

The reading of the resolution in Llewellyn's honor and part of Llewellyn's thank-you speech is attached to this story as a video.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Mentor