Welcome to the Village of Moreland Hills - The #1 Rated Community in Northeast Ohio

Message from Mayor Susan C. Renda

Dear Resident,

As I stated in last month’s newsletter this will be the last time I write to you as your mayor. The last 12 years have flown by, as years tend to do. I will miss this job and writing to you every month but it is time for me to go. Dan Fritz will do a fabulous job in this position and, thus, I leave knowing the village will be in good hands. As promised I will take a look back at some of the more significant events and accomplishments over the last 12 years.

Fiscal Responsibility:

I came into office in 2008 as the country was sinking into the great recession. Shortly thereafter the Ohio Legislature and the Kasich administration eliminated the estate tax (a significant revenue source for the Village), personal property tax and the inventory tax. Furthermore, they significantly reduced the Local Government Fund. All these actions combined to reduce our revenues by **We did not raise taxes until a grim financial picture forced us to in do so in 2018. Instead, we decided to do more with less and to that end, the Village:

• Participated in a Baldwin Wallace Collaboration Study to find ways to collaborate with other communities to save money;
• Participated in a county-led shared services and collaboration study among Orange, Pepper Pike, Woodmere and Moreland Hills with a goal of sharing services and equipment which we regularly do;
• Conducted internal efficiency studies and adjusted operations as needed to maintain maximum efficacy and conservative fiscal management;
• Entered into an agreement to share a Building Department with Pepper Pike;
• Converted four of five waste water treatment plants to pump stations and entered into an agreement with NEORSD, effectively getting out of the decidedly expensive waste water treatment business;
• Sold Village-owned property on Hiram Trail after Council determined there was no public use for that property;

Increased Communication and Outreach to Residents:

• Introduced the updated newsletter, Moreland Hills at a Glance and the biannual more comprehensive In and About Moreland Hills in 2008;
• Updated the website twice over 12 years in an effort to make communications interesting, informative and appealing;
• Created resident-based Vision Committee, Master Plan Committee, Green Commission and Parks Commission to gather resident input;
• Created online resident surveys in 2011, 2012 and 2014;
• Offered Police-led educational outreach to residents on various safety issues and offered “Fight Like a Girl” self-defense classes;

Cared for the Environment:

• Created the biannual Greening the Hills paper shredding and hazardous waste collection event;
• Preserved Forest Ridge in perpetuity (144 acres of forested land, streams, and ravines and 3.5 miles of hiking trails-off Chagrin River Road); it was paid for primarily through state and federal grants and private donations procured with the help of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy (WRLC);
• Allowed WRLC to build their environmentally-friendly headquarters on Chagrin River Road;
• Acquired the abandoned and blighted BP station at the corner of SOM and Miles Roads;
• Accomplished the required environmental remediation work on that property, planted flowers and trees and converted the property into Veterans’ Park by adding an American flag and a flag for each branch of the military;

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