Jan. 18—Lyndhurst has undergone a lot in 2022 and is entering 2023 with a promise to continue to do their best for their citizens and their businesses.

Mayor Patrick Ward said that 2022 was a good year for Lyndhurst with new additions to their infrastructure, collaboration with local businesses and plenty of events that he believes helped bring the residents together.

Due to the pandemic, Ward said that city officials have had to alter nearly every aspect of how they work, but thanks to the dedicated and talented people within their departments they were able to adapt.

"Everyone was hurt by the pandemic, yes. At Lyndhurst we never stopped, never closed, never paused. We adapted because we had to," Ward said. "On day 1 our employees received a letter from me articulating that everything they do is essential to the health, welfare, and safety of our residents, whether you write a check, push a plow, pick up garbage.

"Their job was to do their jobs, my job was to keep them safe. We had to look at every single discipline and decide how it was going to continue to function. It was a learning experience."

Ward said that although the pandemic caused them to rework how they conduct their events they felt like they owed it to their residents to adapt and continue to provide them quality events to boost morale.

"With COVID everything kind of changed," Ward said. "We used to have a Holiday Lighting event in the firehouse. Now we do a Candy Cane Lane, it's a walk-through the park with different stations, Santa's up in the gazebo so it's all kinda spread out. Instead of having our Halloween party indoors we would do similar outdoors celebrations, all the department hosted a tent and decorated it."

Ward said that their Halloween party showed him just how necessary their events are to their residents because even when it began to rain, residents continued to arrive.

"Right at 7 o'clock it starts raining. But the best thing was the harder it rained the more people came — hundreds of people, kids in costumes, people with umbrellas," Ward said. "This year we had thousands of people, lined up in both directions down the path in the park. That's what you want to see, your residents having a good time."

In 2022 Lyndhurst received two grants from Cuyahoga County to purchase new vehicles. The fire department received one grant in the amount of $700,000 for the purchase of a new fire engine and another grant of $177,000 for a new snow blower for their Roads Department.

Ward said that these new vehicles were welcomed additions to the city that will help civil servants continue to keep their residents safe, whether it be clearing the snow from the roads or putting out fires.

Ward said that their new snow blower was especially needed during the storms that swept through the area toward the end of 2022.

"Last year's winter storms, the way they hit, and the way storms seem to be coming in with a vengeance, we are trying to plan and do what we do," he said. "The new equipment will really help us make sure our residents are safe."

Ward said that going into 2023 they want to reinvest in Lyndhurst Park by following through with the second phase of Playground Improvement Plan.

He said the city wanted to have the playground up and running in October, but due to supply chain issues they were unable to get the materials in time. In 2023 they plan to open a new Police and Fire Dedication playground by utilizing state and county funding.

In addition to the new playground being added to Lyndhurst Park, Ward said that in 2023 they want to continue to support the local businesses that make up their community.

"We've been trying to support our business community as best we could, pushing the presence of our local business as much as we can. The businesses support the community, the community should support them." he said. "We know there are a lot of people who are working from home who work in Lyndhurst which is great because we're not very corporate-centric.

"I call Lyndhurst the lemonade community, you give us something, a challenge and we're going to make lemonade out of it. We don't turn tail and run, we just 'do'."

Ward said that among the stores in Lyndhurst, Dollar Essentials is an especially thoughtfully curated store they hope to celebrate going into 2023. He said that additional storefronts that he hopes to celebrate include The Drawing Board Arts, The Wicked Plant Co., and Fitness Factory.

Ward said that going into 2023 the biggest challenge that Lyndhurst faces is the food insecurity throughout the community. He said that this issue is a large problem that needs to be further addressed this year.

"For us as a greater community, the greatest challenge is all of the pockets of need. If there's one thing the pandemic called attention to and exacerbated is food insecurity," he said. "The events we have had for food distribution have grown in attendance of people in need. Our food collections have shown the generosity of our community is strong."