As I look back on 2025 and evaluate the year, I realize how grateful I am as we head into Thanksgiving. First off, I want to thank you all for putting your trust in me as your councilman for another two years. I truly appreciate your support and promise to work diligently to represent your needs at City Hall. There’s a lot of work to do as we work to make our neighborhoods safe, try to keep city services affordable and make Akron and Ward 8 a great place to live, work and raise our families.
I’m thankful that the city has reached a contract agreement with the FOP/ Akron Police Department, and the Akron Fire department and Local 330’s contracts are close to being approved too. Our safety forces put their lives on the line every single day to keep us safe and I appreciate the work they do. I do want to remind everyone, City Council does not have any negotiating powers here, we either approve or disapprove these contracts that are presented to us.
I’m off to the National League of Cities Conference later this week with a few of my peers on Council. I’m hoping to learn how other cities are dealing with crime, speeding in our neighborhoods, rising costs of services, housing/ homelessness and innovative ways to bring jobs to Akron. We’ll still have our Monthly Ward Meeing on Wednesday 11/19, and Councilman at large Jeff Fusco will be filling in for me. We’ve got Akron’s Planning and Finance Departments to go over the Capital Budget process and you’ll have a chance to ask questions and also shew them where you want. Your tax dollars spent. This was a great meeting last year and hope you can attend.
Thank you again for your support and I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.