Balancing progress, challenges in Elyria

Delivering a good state of the city speech is a balancing act. A mayor must avoid leaning too far into the good and therefore risking coming across like Pollyanna while simultaneously avoiding focusing too much on the bad and sounding like Eeyore. On Tuesday, Elyria Mayor Kevin Brubaker mostly managed to keep his balance as he delivered his third State of the City address at Lorain County Community College. "We're doing the work," he said as he began a speech that was optimistic about Elyria's future, while also recognizing that there were "challenges." Some of those challenges, such as inflation and the rising cost of living, are universal. Nevertheless, the city must still find ways to deal with them because they tie directly into other issues. For example, Brubaker said the city needed to keep a close eye on its budget. It came into 2026 with a carryover of about $12 million, and he said the city eventually would be reimbursed about $1 million for a new law enforcement training facility now being built through a collaboration between the Elyria Police Department and the FBI. City Council has yet to finalize the budget for the year. Last week Finance Director Ted Pileski said that he expected the city to bring in a little more than $38.5 million and that budget requests from the various departments totaled around $46.9 million. Brubaker also said the city had been aggressively seeking outside grants, which also could help. So, while the city might have the money this year to avoid financial problems, it must look ahead to the future, not only because it's good governance, but because we live in economically uncertain times. (We'll pause here to note that unlike in the past two years, Brubaker wasn't joined by Elyria Schools Superintendent Ann Schloss to deliver her State of the Schools speech during the same event. The district is facing significant headwinds because of $9 million in cuts it had to make. Brubaker didn't touch on the district's woes during his speech.) Brubaker said that economic development was necessary to keep the city's finances in good order. Later in the speech, he turned the microphone over to Elyria Police Chief Jim Welsh, who talked up his department's efforts. He also correctly noted that the safer a community was, the more likely it was to attract new residents and new businesses. Brubaker rattled off a host of economic development projects that came to fruition in the past year, including an expansion at Buckeye Welding and renovations at University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center, along with affordable and senior housing projects. What really caught our attention was Brubaker's insistence that progress was being made on several long-running projects. Last year, he insisted that Elyria was "on the cusp of great things," particularly on the economic development front. Downtown has some new stores, and progress is being made on a long-promised esports facility. Brubaker said it would not only include gaming, but 16 apartments and two restaurants. That, along with concerts and other events held in Ely Square, shows signs of life downtown that could snowball into further development. Brubaker told us after the speech that he expected the esports facility to open early next year. He also told us that developer Dan Reaser was still planning to move forward with developing land he owns along Reaser Pointe Crossing, which is north of the Chestnut Commons shopping area on the city's southeast side. The city and Reaser spent years fighting about various aspects of the project before appearing to reach an accord last year. Brubaker was less forthcoming, however, about what's going on with Midway Mall, which the Lorain County Port Authority bought in 2023 with a $13.9 million loan from the county commissioners. A $17 million deal to sell the mall to Industrial Commercial Properties fell apart in November, and the Port Authority has been trying to find a new buyer ever since. Brubaker suggested both in his speech and in our conversation afterward that something could be announced soon, but he declined to discuss specifics. County Commissioner Marty Gallagher, a former Port Authority board member, strolled by as we were talking to Brubaker, but he, too, was reluctant to discuss details. He did, however, say efforts to pitch the mall to potential buyers, including at an upcoming trade show in Las Vegas, were underway. "There's some traction right now," Gallagher said. Absent details, it's hard to gauge whether their optimism was warranted. Still, it sounded as if there were ongoing discussions with at least one potential buyer. That could be something to build upon. The same could be said of the city's other economic development efforts. As with the mall, we hope Brubaker's right and doesn't lose his balance.