Lakewood To Benefit From $200K In Grant Money

LAKEWOOD, OH — Lakewood, along with four east side communities and Parma, will benefit from a $200,000 grant given to the First Suburbs Consortium. The money will be used to streamline housing code enforcement in all six participating cities.

“Ideally, we would have more communities join this effort,” stated Jennifer Kuzma, executive director of First Suburbs Consortium. “By aligning technology across municipal lines, we would build a strong foundation for other potential regional permitting and code enforcement opportunities in the future.”

The grant was awarded to the Consortium by Cuyahoga County. The Consortium's Code Enforcement Pilot Program will regionalize online permitting and code enforcement while increasing regional collaboration, the county said. County officials believe the program could save $400,000 annually across the six pilot communities. Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, South Euclid and University Heights will also take part in the pilot.

The regionalized program will let code enforcement officers more easily track properties in their communities, and shrink the amount of time needed for inputting data. Contractors will now be able to register properties in multiple cities at once, and residents will be able to apply for most permits online.

“Being able to have a web-based code enforcement and permit data system is a game changer. Many functions that now require a time-intensive manual process will be automated,” said South Euclid Mayor Georgine Welo. “With multiple cities using one platform, the groundwork is in place for more collaboration and sharing of services down the road. This is regional collaboration at its best!”

Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish said this is the latest example of the county supporting regionalization efforts.

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