Honoring a fallen hero, responding to a wedding reception fire and scoring some drug busts — those are among the things that Mentor public servants have been up to lately, based on the latest Mentor city manager memo to City Council.

Manager Comments 
• We have been making arrangements with the family of Sgt. Mark T. Smykowski for the dedication of his Memorial Highway as previously authorized by the State Legislature. The signs will be located on Route 84 at both the 306 and Chillicothe intersections. As you will recall, this young man, age 23, and Mentor graduate was killed in action in June of 2006 in Iraq.

We would like to have the ceremony at the start of our Sept. 4 council meeting, at which time we will present a short video of the family unveiling the memorial road signs and have Council officially dedicate the road and present the family with commemorative memorial street signs which they can keep. We also anticipate that State Sen. Eklund and Reps. Young and Yuko will also be in attendance.

• At 4:58 p.m. on Aug. 16, the Mentor Police Department responded to a disturbance call at Mentor Square Apartments located at 6615 Center St. While on scene, officers attempted to speak to a male involved, and this male fled on foot while appearing to be carrying a firearm in his waistband. A perimeter was set up and a search for the male was conducted. The male was located hiding under a porch on Mansion Drive a short time later. He refused commands to come out from the porch. 

After continued requests to come out, he was sprayed with pepper spray. He then pointed his weapon at officers. The officers on scene secured a perimeter and waited until the Mentor SWAT and the Hostage Negotiations Team responded. After several hours of negotiations, he surrendered peacefully. He was identified as Antonio F. Iaconianni, 24. He was charged with aggravated menacing, obstructing official business, and carrying a concealed weapon. The Fire Department supported the operation.

Fire Department
• Fire Station Nos. 3, 4 and 5 responded to Capelli’s Aug. 11 at 8:02 p.m. for a fire alarm. The alarm was caused by candles igniting a plastic flower arrangement during a wedding reception. The fire was extinguished by employees with portable fire extinguishers. Smoke was cleared and the reception continued. Fire Prevention is following up with this and other safety concerns.

• On Aug. 11 at 1:08 a.m., paramedics were called to Lakeshore Boulevard for a female assault victim.  Reportedly, she was leaning in the car window when her husband pulled the car forward and then assaulted her.  The female was treated and transported to the hospital in stable condition.

• On Aug. 12 at 2:39 a.m., the fire department responded to Grace Court for a motor vehicle accident. Reportedly, a male lost control of his vehicle and struck the attached garage of a home. Emergency crews arrived to find two males in their early twenties outside of the vehicle. Both denied driving the vehicle. One was treated and transported to the hospital in stable condition and the other refused treatment. Personnel helped remove the vehicles from the garage and shored up the structure for the homeowners. The police are investigating the circumstances and, fortunately, nobody in the home was injured.

Police Department
• An injury accident occurred Saturday morning at 5 a.m. on I-90 westbound, east of SR306. An intoxicated driver drove off the right side of the rode and struck a guardrail, spinning the vehicle to the middle of the highway. The driver, who was not injured, exited the vehicle and sat on the side of the road. Another vehicle driving westbound did not see the stationary car on the road and struck it. The driver of this vehicle suffered injuries to his head, chest and knee. The crash is under investigation and charges are pending against the at-fault driver.

• A vehicle was stopped for marked lanes violations by one of our officers trained in highway drug interdiction.  The officer is part of the police department’s A.C.E. (Aggressive Criminal Enforcement) unit. While speaking to the driver, the officer smelled a strong odor of raw marijuana. The vehicle and all three occupants were searched.  Located in the car and on the occupants was a half-pound of marijuana and $1,800 cash.  The driver was charged with trafficking in marijuana, possession of marijuana and criminal tools. A passenger was charged with possession of marijuana.

• The A.C.E. unit stopped a vehicle on Wednesday evening. The officer smelled an odor of marijuana and searched the occupants and the vehicle. The officer located $5,029 in the pocket of one of the passengers. He also located drug paraphernalia and a hypodermic needle in the vehicle. The money was seized, along with six cell phones, from the three occupants of the vehicle. We anticipate trafficking in narcotics charges will be issued after a forensic search of the cell phones is completed. 

Engineering
• The city opened bids for sidewalk replacement on Aug. 16. Legislation will be presented to Council on Aug. 21 to recommend approval of a Resolution of Necessity, as well as a contract to award for sidewalk replacement based on the lowest and best bid. A total of 1,517 slabs have been identified as having deficiencies. Of those, the City will be repairing 516, which includes sidewalk ramps at street intersections. The remaining 1,001 slabs are the responsibility of the homeowner to have repaired. The City will also be having a public meeting on Aug. 23 at 6 p.m. at the Senior Center’s Main Hall to provide residents more information regarding this program.  Residents that have had sidewalk marked by the City have been notified by mail this week of the upcoming meeting.

• The City has estimated project assessment costs for providing storm sewer improvements to Harrison Street storm sewer. Residents will be notified this week of an upcoming public meeting here at the Municipal Center for Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. to discuss the assessment process and costs. The meeting will be held in the 2nd Floor Conference Room.

• The Bellflower Road asphalt surface course was placed and the road was opened to two-way traffic on Aug. 13.  The remaining work, which will be performed under two-way traffic, includes joint sealing, traffic loop installation and pavement markings, is scheduled to be completed by Aug. 24.

• A contractor is working on roadway replacement on Stoneybrook Lane and Garfield Road. The contractor has also moved equipment to the retention pond at SR84 and Garfield Road to start work on the reconstruction of the overflow channel from Newell Creek into the pond. Guardrail on the east side of Garfield Road still needs to be installed as well as final restoration on residential properties. The scheduled completion date for construction is Sept.16.

Parks and Recreation Department
• It is finally here!  “Everything You Wanted To Do, But Your Mother Wouldn’t Let You” rolls into the Civic Center Amphitheater on Aug. 21 beginning at noon and running until 3 p.m. This messy, gooey, sticky, wonderful, entertaining program has sold out again this year and we have made accommodations to take all the people on the waiting list, so no one that wanted to join us is left clean and on the side lines!

• Most of our college lifeguards have returned to college so Garfield Park Swimming Pool is now closed. The Civic Center and Morton Pools are still open for those sultry days of August. Morton and Civic Center will remain open from 1 to 5 p.m., Aug. 20 to 24 and will be open Aug. 25 from 1 to 8 p.m. The pools will close for the season at the end of the day on Aug. 26.

• The Wildwood Community Gardens are doing well this year. Many of the gardeners have donated produce to the Senior Center for use in the lunch program. Their generosity is very much appreciated by the seniors!

Economic and Community Development
• Staff had a follow-up meeting with a prospective tenant in the Midland/ Mentor Avenue vicinity.

• Tom Thielman and Ron Traub met with a Mentor manufacturer seeking to convert manufacturing/warehousing space to additional offices, which could result in additional jobs.

• Ron Traub is attended the ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers) regional meeting in Columbus, Ohio.

• Tom Thielman met with Jay Fernandez, Business Advisor, Economic Development Division of Cuyahoga Community Colleges regarding the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses initiative. Goldman Sachs is investing $500 million to help small businesses create jobs by providing entrepreneurs with education, access to capital, and business support services. The program is being launched in seven cities across the nation, which includes the Cleveland market. Tri-C is in partnership with Goldman Sachs to provide area business owners practical business and management education free of cost.

Finance
• In order to reduce administrative costs and streamline payroll processes, a goal has been set to eliminate paper negotiable checks and set up all employees for direct deposit by the end of September 2012. Employees currently still being paid by a negotiable check will receive a memo with their paycheck this week instructing them to provide necessary documentation to the payroll department in order to set them up for direct deposit. 

Public Works Department
•    Rebuilt 4 inlet basins on Cornell
•    Full depth asphalt repairs on King Memorial
•    Sidewalk replacement — various sections along Mentor Ave.
•    Slabjacking concrete road sections along Deepwood Blvd.
•    Established composting area at Wildwood community garden
•    Repaired vandalized irrigation system at ERW park - $1,500
•    Dog Park pavilion — underway
•    Storm sewer repairs on Chillicothe and Lorrich
•    Completing layouts for drainage assistance projects
•    Storm sewer cleaning Georgetown and Sutherland
•    Drainage assistance project — Cumberland

-- Betsy Scott, BScott@News-Herald.com, @ReporterBetsy