Westlake Mayor Clough Highlights 40 Years of Municipal Growth

One of the highlights of the West Shore Chamber of Commerce annual calendar is Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough’s State of the City address.

This year’s State of the City program was hosted by the Tri-C Westshore Campus on March 25.

This year marks Mayor Clough’s 40th year in office, an extraordinary achievement.

The packed lunchtime house heard the mayor summarize those 40 years of municipal growth under his leadership. Mayor Clough has served as the city’s highest elected official since 1986.

A lot has changed since he took the reins.

Much of Westlake’s current infrastructure was not on the map in ‘86. There was no Crocker Park, City Hall was in the small, one-story brick building at the corner of Hilliard Blvd. and Dover Center. The Police and Fire Depts also were housed in the miniscule structure, along with the Building Dept. and every other division of Westlake city government.

“The interesting thing about that is that when I became involved, every single department was contained in that particular building,” said Mayor Clough. Even the basement of the antiquated building was used for office space.

“Obviously, we had outgrown it,” he said.

Today, Westlake is a different place.

The Police Dept has more than doubled and enjoys larger needed space nearby the old station. Staff has nearly doubled, from 38 to 73 employees including one chief, 2 captains, 8 sergeants, 35 patrolmen, 5 community officers specialists and dispatchers. There were just 24 patrolmen back in ‘86.

The Fire Dept. has grown from one central station to two (serving both sides of town), with personnel growing from 35 to 52. 38 firemen today exceed just 24 in ‘86.

“When we had one fire station in the middle, it was a little difficult to reach all the areas of Westlake. We’re 16 square miles.” said the mayor.

Recreation is another area of focused growth. The Westlake Recreation Center, built in 1998, is a jewel with gymnasium, fitness room and swimming pool. Many don’t realize the Center was carefully planned, built on 85 acres of land specifically for this purpose. Prior to 1998, Westlake had nothing in terms of a recreation facility.

When Mayor Clough took office, Westlake was a growing suburb with a traditional municipal structure. It was an earlier era of local government. Departments were few, reporting lines were direct and services organized around core functions. The city was built of core structures: public safety, infrastructure, legal and finance. Today, changes include departments of Community services, Information Technology, Communications, Finance as a core department, Human Resources, Recreation, Planning & Economic Development and a Service Department with five divisions. There is also a Building/Inspections Dept. with 10.5 full time employees and a $1.6 million budget.

“The City of Westlake is in great financial shape,” said Mayor Clough of life in 2026. “This year, we are focusing a lot of capital projects on recreation to improve the quality of life in the City of Westlake. We are also looking forward to celebrating the 250th birthday of the United States along with all of Westlake. Our citizens should be very pleased that we are maintaining solid financial positions and are able to spend additional dollars to be able to improve the quality of life here in Westlake.”

The Mayor’s presentation of his address was simplified by a slide show highlighting important elements of Westlake’s operations, growth and finances. Here is a look: