By Bethany Ulrick

Lakemore Village Council regular meeting

Dec. 15, 2025

6 p.m.

1400 Main St. 

Lakemore, OH 44250

Attendance: Council President Pro Tempore Laura Cochran; council members Sam Ray, Jon Strittmatter, Nicki Coontz, Edward Eitner, Sr. and Heather Anderson; Mayor Richard Cole, Jr.; Village Administrator Tracy Sayers; and Fiscal Officer Megan Pitman

Council President Laura Cochran retired after completing her 13th year on the village council. Other council members thanked her for her service and talked about some of her achievements like reinstating the village police department, bringing the village out of a fiscal emergency and getting enough staff for the fire department to operate 24 hours a day. 

The Lakemore Police Department will be accepting a $200,000 grant to be used for programs that will improve the mental health of officers and reduce burnout. Some services included are counseling, trauma-informed leadership trainings and suicide-prevention trainings. They also received approval to donate unneeded equipment, such as several tasers, to the Village of Mogadore. 

There will be a public hearing on Jan. 20 at 5:30 p.m. for legislation that would change village sewer rates by reducing the base fee but increasing the amount charged per 1,000 gallons used over the base 1,000. Council Member Sam Ray said the goal of the legislation is to decrease costs for residents. This legislation has not yet been voted on, but if it passes, it will take effect in July 2026.

There was a second reading for legislation that would increase EMS billing rates. 

An ordinance was passed to increase water rates in order to meet operating expenses, debt obligations and capital reserve needs, beginning on the April 1, 2026 bill. 

Village Administrator Tracy Sayers said she is working on getting emergency funding to completely replace a section of water lines that has had two water breaks recently.

Councilperson Heather Anderson thanked everyone who donated to the Spartan Snack Pack GoFundMe page, which had raised a total of $625 at the time of the meeting. These funds will be used to purchase food to distribute to families to fight childhood hunger in Lakemore. Anderson encouraged residents to continue donating, no matter how small the amount.

The next council meetings will be held on Jan. 5 and Jan. 20, both at 6 p.m.

The previous meeting minutes and purchase orders and bills from Dec. 1-12 were accepted.

The resignation of Jasmine Harp as a part-time firefighter/medic with the Lakemore Fire Department was accepted, effective Dec. 23, 2025. 

Ray, Jon Strittmatter, two members of the fire department and Clarence Bittner were appointed as board members of the Volunteer Firefighters’ Dependents’ Fund for 2026. 

A resolution was passed to allow the fire chiefs to apply for a grant totaling $9,725 from Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation to receive the Firehouse Innovations Forcible Entry Door. 

The Lakemore police chief received approval to accept a grant for $200,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice’s COPS Office through the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act program, a federal initiative that provides clinical and non-clinical services designed to address burnout, trauma, stress and long-term health risks. Some of these services include counseling with licensed mental health professionals, trauma-informed leadership training, stress management, resilience education, suicide-prevention trainings and other wellness programs. 

The Lakemore police chief was also approved to enter into a donation agreement with the Village of Mogadore, which will be receiving used equipment, including several tasers, holsters and drop leg holster platforms.

The village administrator was authorized to apply for, accept and enter into a Water Pollution Control Loan Fund agreement on behalf of the Village of Lakemore for planning, design and/or construction of wastewater facilities for phase II and to dedicate the source of repayment as the sanitary sewer fund. 

Council passed an amendment of ordinance 1873-2024 pertaining to the water base and usage rate for the village of Lakemore. All council members voted yes except for Heather Anderson, who abstained. Rates will be increased in order to meet operating expenses, debt obligations and capital reserve needs, beginning on the April 1, 2026 bill. 

The residential-in for water base rate every quarter will be $80.47 and the commercial-in for water base rate every quarter will be $80.47. The usage rate for all accounts in the village will remain an additional $5.20 for each 1,000 gallons used and metered above the initial 1,000 gallons covered under the base rate. These rates will continue to increase by $0.20 each year on April 1. 

An ordinance to increase EMS billing rates had a second reading. The new rates would be:
BLS: $850, ALS: $1,000, ALS2: $1,200, Non-Transport: $300, Mileage Rate: $16.

An ordinance was introduced to amend all ordinances pertaining to sanitary sewer rates. This would reduce the quarterly residential-in metered sanitary sewer base rate to $200 and increase the usage rate for residential-in metered to $15.00 per 1,000 used over the base 1,000 gallons. The quarterly residential-out metered sanitary sewer base would be reduced to $320 and the usage rate would be increased to $21, including the 40% surcharge for out of Lakemore accounts. This would be effective on the second quarter July 1, 2026 billing. All other rates charged would remain the same. The annual $0.20 increase to the usage rate would continue on the first quarter April 1, 2027 billing and all others following.

An ordinance was passed to amend ordinance 1874-2024 “Make Appropriations for Current Expenses and Other Expenditures of the Village of Lakemore, State of Ohio During the Fiscal Year ending December 31, 2025.” 

The council approved to increase appropriations in: 

The council also approved to increase revenue in:

The council approved to change advance funds to transfer funds in:

Mayor’s Report

Mayor Richard Cole thanked Cochran for 13 years of service to the village, since this was her final meeting before stepping down from the council. He recounted how Cochran helped get the village out of a fiscal emergency, helped deal with a great number of nuisance properties, filled in for a previous mayor several times, helped Lakemore reinstate a police department, chaired many events and parades and would make time to go door-to-door campaigning for levies. 

Council Reports

Cochran pointed out that her father-in-law also served on the village council and brought a newspaper clipping from his retirement in his 13th year of service. She added that she had a goal to surpass his tenure and that she did serve for several more months than him. Cochran also said that while looking through old newspapers, she found articles where she was interviewed while campaigning before her first term and after being sworn in for the first time. She explained that she has achieved many goals she told reporters in the beginning of her career. Her top priorities were to get the village out of fiscal emergency, bring a police department back to the village after many years without one, get 24-hour fire department coverage and hire full-time employees at the department, and improve the village infrastructure. The new police department opened on June 5, 2017, and the other goals were accomplished, as well. Cochran said that the current administration is a great group and has been able to secure significant grant funding to improve the village. She said that she will continue helping with community activities in her retirement.

Ray said that there was a public hearing for the legislation that had a third reading at this meeting and has not yet been voted on relating to water rates. He added that there will be another public hearing on Jan. 20 at 5:30 p.m. for legislation that would change village sewer rates, hopefully resulting in lower costs for residents. This legislation has not yet been voted on, but if it passes, it would take effect in July 2026.

Strittmatter said that the next council meetings will be held on Jan. 5 and Jan. 20, both at 6:00 p.m.

Anderson thanked everyone who donated to the Spartan Snack Pack Go Fund Me page, which had raised a total of $625 at the time of the meeting. These funds will be used to purchase food to distribute to families to fight childhood hunger in Lakemore, and they also have enough to purchase small stocking stuffer items to give to the mothers of families in need who typically do not get much for Christmas. She encourages residents to continue donating, even if it is a small amount, because hunger does not stop after the holidays. More information about the Spartan Snack Pack is available on Facebook and will be shared to the Lakemore Village page.

The council commended the road department for keeping the roads salted and cleared during the winter weather conditions over the weekend. The village went through hundreds of tons of salt in those few days and placed an order for 400 more tons of salt. 

Sayers said she is working on getting emergency funding to completely replace a section of water lines that has had two water breaks recently. She also thanked the Lakemore Lions Club for cleaning and stocking the community food pantry. 

Public Comment

A resident wanted to let the council members know that he disagreed with recent social media posts calling for some members of the Lakemore government to resign because he believes they are doing good work. 

He continued on to ask if there was a way to register for priority service restoration with the power company in case of another extended outage, because his wife is on supplemental oxygen and the recent outage lasted so long that he almost ran out of power for her medical equipment after exhausting several back-up power sources. Sayers said she would talk to FirstEnergy and see if they had a similar program and that if there was another outage, he is welcome to bring his wife to the fire department, where her medical equipment can be run on their generators until power is restored. The resident asked what caused the outage, and it was suggested that there may have been a blown transformer or an insulator failed and workers had to locate which insulator it was on foot, which delayed power being restored. The council members were not certain if either of these were confirmed to have caused the outage. 

The council did not go into executive session and the meeting was adjourned.