Aurora Mayor Ann Womer Benjamin and School District Superintendent Mike Roberto each gave a keynote speech to address the City’s and School District’s recent accomplishments and future at the annual State of the City Luncheon last Wednesday afternoon at The Bertram Inn Hotel & Conference Center.
Aurora Chamber of Commerce Board President Kyle Hersh introduced them and said that the Chamber hopes to bring back some of Aurora’s favorite community activities, such as Aurora’s Favorite Things, that will allow local businesses to participate.
Roberto said that in only the second year of the State of Ohio using a new five-star grading system to rank school districts, the Aurora City Schools once again earned a five-star rating, making them one of only six schools in the state to earn that recognition in both years.
“This means the young people in our district have significantly exceeded the state expectations in each of these components,” he added. “Congratulations to the pre-k through 12th grade staff for this recognition.”
He also provided updates on other plans such as the school district seeking renewal of a permanent improvement levy of $1.5 million on the March 19 ballot. Funds from the existing levy were necessary to provide infrastructure improvements during the last five years to roofs, roads, boilers and buses.
Roberto then said that Aurora was in the third year of planning for a construction project to replace Craddock Elementary School with a new high school building. The project would move the pre-k, first and second-grade students to Leighton Elementary School, the students in grades three through five would go to Harmon Middle School and the sixth through eighth-grade students and the Board of Education would occupy the old high school building.
“Over the next year we will continue to work on our master planning process with the goal of having community and staff meetings that will help our architects to come up with a solid overall plan for the new high school,” Roberto noted.
If all goes well, the Aurora City Council will place the measure on the November ballot.
Mayor Benjamin then delivered her keynote address and thanked several city and council employees who helped make Aurora a better place.
The mayor talked about the city’s plans to meet with Charter Review Commission, which will evaluate any changes needed to the organizational structure of the city.
She said that the City had to trim $2.5 million in projects from the capital project plans for the new fiscal year because it could not fit every project into the budget and Aurora needed to make room because it had two major projects in development.
In development news, the mayor said the city has purchased several properties including the house next to the Aurora Memorial Library and two lots next to Fire Station 2 for expansion purposes. She added that the city bought the former Sutton/Haynes building on the corner of State Route 82 and 306 to preserve the iconic structure at the entrance to the Historic District.
The first major project in Aurora’s plans is building the first leg of the Aurora Trail, a hike and bike trail on the former Norwalk Southern railroad right of way. Mayor Benjamin said the city was awarded a $500,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Clean Ohio Trails Fund.
“The city is almost finished designing the first leg of the trail that will run 2.8 miles from Chamberlain Road to State Route 82,” she said. “We are planning a paved, 10-foot wide ADA-accessible trail that will bring economic and health and wellness benefits to our community.”
According to Mayor Benjamin, the city has worked for years to acquire the land, including litigation with First Energy when it wanted to install a transmission line in Aurora. As part of the settlement, the city was granted a permanent recreation easement starting from Mantua’s Chamberlain Road to Aurora’s Treat Road.
Pending the city’s purchase of the Geauga Lake property and adjacent land, it plans to demolish the former waterpark’s existing structures.
“We have some exciting ideas and have identified a consultant which can help make them a reality,” she said. “We are fortunate to have the funds set aside for this acquisition, when our negotiations are completed, and also the funds to begin the work on transforming the area.”
Mayor Benjamin also said that the city planned to continue installing new sidewalks and will work on installing one on the west side of New Hudson to connect the East Pioneer Sidewalk and State Route 82.
The last piece of news regarding Aurora’s future was an update on the city’s Geauga Lake FEMA Project of $2.6 million, made possible by a $2.36 FEMA grant and funding of $257,000 from Aurora.
“The goal is to purchase flood-prone homes in the Geauga Lake neighborhood to help reduce flooding,” Mayor Benjamin noted. “Pursuant to this project, we have had ten flood-prone homes and five vacant properties appraised, which appraisals have to be approved by the State of Ohio pursuant to the grant.”
Mayor Benjamin said that by having already completed some major wastewater treatment upgrades, the city will continue moving forward by designing and building a new pump station in the Cochran Area to replace the Sherwood’s pump station that will better handle back-up water issues in the neighborhood.
“We are about to embark on projects that have been in the works for years,” Mayor Benjamin concluded. “The really fun aspect of being Mayor is being able to recognize potential opportunities, seize those opportunities when they appear, and then work industriously to lay the groundwork for them so they ultimately become realities.”
