Shaker Heights Has A New Interim Mayor

SHAKER HEIGHTS, OH — Shaker Heights City Council has appointed David Weiss as the interim mayor of the city. A former city councilman, Weiss has already announced he will seek the public's vote in the November 2018 election for mayor.

“I am honored to serve the City of Shaker Heights and am deeply grateful for the faith shown in me by City Council. I look forward to working with Council, City staff and the entire Shaker community. As a long-time Shaker resident, I am pleased to serve the community where my family and I have lived for many years,” Weiss said in a statement.

Weiss was a Shaker Heights City Councilman from 1996 to 1999. He was a member of the City Planning Commission from 1998 to 2002 and from 2009 through 2018. He is an attorney who recently served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for DDR Corp., a real estate investment firm.

Weiss had to beat out six other candidates for the position of interim mayor, including Brian S. Gleisser, Julianna Johnston Senturia, Peter Lawson Jones, Robert Taylor Segraves, Earl Williams and Mark Zetzer.

Gleisser is the president of the Shaker Heights Library Board of Trustees. Senturia and Williams are currently sitting city council members. Jones was a city councilman and vice mayor for Shaker Heights and is an actor, according to his website. Zetzer is a frequent candidate for city council. Segraves is a bit of a new face in Shaker Heights politics. He's a doctor of psychiatry, according to Shaker Heights Clerk of Council.

Mayor Earl Leiken will officially resign his post on March 31, leaving the city to become Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish's chief of staff.

Leiken has been mayor of Shaker Heights since 2008. His departure fulfills the changing of the old guard in the east side, which has seen several suburbs, including Beachwood and University Heights, oust their longtime mayors. Leiken will leave on his own terms to join Budish's staff.

"As a mayor, I am keenly aware of the fact that many of the most important challenges to our area's future can be addressed most effectively at the regional and county level. I am deeply grateful to the residents of Shaker Heights for the opportunity to serve them as mayor for over 10 years and want to assure them of a smooth and successful transition to my successor," Leiken said.

Photo from Shutterstock