100 Days in Office: Summers Outlines Opportunities, Challenges in Lakewood

In his first 100 days in office, Lakewood Mayor has learned a few of the differences between running a business and running a city government.

On Friday, at a luncheon at the , he shared some of those lessons.

Summers also talked about his next steps as mayor.

In his formal address to the city, the former CEO and president of the Summers Rubber Company said one of the major differences between running a business and managing the city is that in government, the owners and the customers are “one in the same.”

“In business we can quantify relationships, we can look for trends and we can document performance much more easily,” he said. “In the government sense, I find that government is much more complaints-driven. I think we have an opportunity to take our listening and information capacity to a higher level.”

Also, he said keeping a balance sheet is tricky — and somewhat complicated.

“Cities don’t have balance sheets,” he said. “Although, I am thinking about one. I look forward to coming back one day to share it — but it might be a little controversial.”

As mayor, Summers is the “CEO of an $82 million enterprise” that employs more than 400 fulltime employees, representing seven different bargaining units.

When discussing Lakewood’s assets, he touched on the city’s informed and engaged community, Lakewood’s geographic location and walkability. 

He also outlined the pressing issues during his time so far. He referred to them as a “five-legged stool.”

Those issues included (in order): Housing, safety, economic development, “right-sizing” the finances and “external forces,” which include the state’s budget proposal that would slash the city’s state funding.

During his third year as the representative for Ward 3 on Lakewood City Council, Summers was appointed to the mayoral post in November when then-mayor Ed FtizGerald was elected to become Cuyahoga County's first county executive.

Summers has said he plans to run for re-election in November.