With the beginning of a new year, it is time to review the state of our Village and to look towards planning for 2016 and beyond.

Fiscal: Once again, through sound fiscal management by our Council and department managers, the Village ended the year with an operating surplus.

• the Village had operating revenue of $4,667,501, and operating expenses of $4,124,723, both of which were better than budgeted;

• the resulting operating surplus of $542,778, which will help in providing funds for, among other things, capital improvements (road, culvert and bridge repairs, primarily);

• we spent $766,523 on capital improvements and street maintenance and repairs in 2015;

• the Village’s cash and investments rose to $4,747,551 from $4,664,638; and

• unfunded debt was reduced from $540,324 to $438,031, all of which is interest free.

We continue to look for cost savings, greater efficiency in our operations and new ways to balance services. As mentioned in last year’s State of the Village, the loss of estate tax revenue, that provided funding for capital improvement projects, forces us to find new sources of revenue or reduce our expenses dramatically by changing the way we deliver services. In light of that, we have formed a Long Range Planning Committee to review and update our five-year financial forecast for the Village. The committee will analyze and develop options for Council to consider as they work to manage the fiscal challenges facing our Village’s operations.

Operational: Chagrin Valley Dispatch continues to run smoothly. We project an additional $20,000 in savings for 2016 due to more communities joining the consortium. We will continue to have Town Hall Coordinators in Village Hall during normal business hours. The Village’s EMS contract with Mayfield Village was negotiated for a five-year term with no increase during the term instead of a three-year commitment.

Personnel: We will miss Jo Ann Lechman, who retired and sadly passed away recently. Janet Mulh succeeded Jo Ann as Finance Administrator.

After being elected to serve on Council in November, Sandra Turner, Ed Welsh and Jay AuWerter were sworn in as members at the January 2016 meeting. Mary Reynolds was elected to fill the remainder of my term (December 31, 2017) and long-serving Councilman Ed Welsh nominated Mary to serve as Council President Pro Tem.

Todd Hunt has succeeded Margaret Cannon, who retired as Law Director at the end of 2015.

Infrastructure: Berkshire Road had extensive stream bank protection work completed and drainage work was undertaken and completed on Foxboro. Various roads throughout the Village were repaired and restriped as part of the 2015 Road Program.

Commission: The Village formed a Regional Commission to address oil and gas well drilling and exploration. In December the Commission completed its one-year goal to develop a report with actionable items. They will move forward in 2016 with sample ordinances and leases to be composed. The Commission will be presenting its power point report to the Village this spring.

Our year ended on a good note with above average temperatures and little snow. This translates into salt and aggregate savings for the Village, which has been an increasing expense in recent years.

We look forward to a healthy and prosperous 2016!