You may want to think twice if you plan to drink & drive in Mentor in the coming weeks; a big Mentor Lagoons erosion project cleared a final hurdle; and the city appears to be performing better than many in the retail arena — those items and more in the latest weekly city manager memo to council.

Manager Comments 
• The Mentor Police Department will be joining with other law enforcement officers, highway safety officials, and safety advocates across the state in support of the 2012 “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign. The effort will target impaired drivers from Aug. 17-Sept. 3. During these dates, additional patrol units will be patrolling in an effort to identify impaired drivers.

• We recently learned the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has approved the city’s Shore Structure Permit application to repair approximately 600 feet of shoreline adjacent to the Marina. This now allows us to bid the work to restore the armor stone lost and repair the resulting erosion. The Army Corps of Engineers has already approved the repair.

• Initial steps have begun for the 2013 budget preparation. Departments should plan on turning in budget requests by Sept. 10. A formal budget memo with a specific timeline will be published soon. We anticipate a first council work session to be on or around Oct. 16.

Fire Department
• On Aug. 5 at 7:59 a.m., the Fire Department was called to Headlands Road for a 34-year-old male who nearly drowned while competing in a triathlon. Paramedics arrived to find a bystander administering CPR. Paramedics administered advance life support care and transported the male to Lake Health TriPoint.

• On Aug. 6 and Aug.7, the Fire Department responded to two separate motorcycle accidents. The first was on Tyler Boulevard where a male lost control of his motorcycle and was found lying in the grass near the roadway. The second single motorcycle crash occurred on Corduroy Road, where a male lost control of his motorcycle and crashed. Neither was wearing a helmet and both suffered head injuries, requiring transport to the hospital.

• On Aug. 8 at 8:14 a.m., paramedics were called to a home on Munson Road to treat a male who fell from his roof. The male was transported to Hillcrest Hospital in stable condition.

• On Aug. 8 at 9:53 a.m., fire crews responded to Rich’s Lounge at 9324 Mentor Ave. for a reported fire in the electrical panel. The power was shut down, controlling the fire, and an electrician was called to make repairs. The bar remains open for business.

Police Department
• A female was arrested at the Studio 6 motel after officers discovered she was promoting herself as a prostitute and conducting a massage parlor in her room. A complaint was received regarding several males coming to and leaving from the female’s room. Officers knocked on her door and found a massage table, prostitution client ledger, narcotics (prescription pills) and drug paraphernalia. This female has been known to frequent the city motels and advertise her services on the Internet.

• The department Facebook page continues to have success with over 4,700 followers in a 10-month period. We are posting information regarding crime prevention tips and activities occurring in the city.  We have also posted traffic alerts when there are accidents causing significant delays or road closures.  This is in addition to our regular postings for criminal arrests. We anticipate having over 5,000 followers by the time we hit our first year anniversary in October 2012.

Economic and Community Development
• CBRE released their mid-year 2012 Retail Overview; retail vacancy was 11.8 percent in Lake County (in Cuyahoga County East the rate was 18.9 percent). The vacancy rate in Willoughby trade area was above 15 percent; in Mentor-Great Lakes, the vacancy rate was 6.8 percent. The report continues that “some well-performing stores are looking to relocate to newer prototypes or to relocate to areas with stronger demographics…Mentor (has) been (an) active market with retailer interest and new store openings.”

• Rick Spence and Ron Traub met with representatives of Laketran and their consultant (Parsons Brinckerhoff) regarding their long-range plans. The conversation centered on the location of existing and potential employment generators, healthcare facilities, and low to moderate income neighborhoods.

• MEACO is working on two new loan applications for AAA Stamping, Inc. and Macy Family Dentistry.

Engineering
• The Engineering and Building and Economic and Community Development Departments have begun using iPads for some inspections. The iPads give the inspectors the ability to provide “real time” inspections with the results being emailed to the homeowners and/or contractors of the project. So far, this new procedure has been successfully tested on the city sidewalk program and zoning and fence inspections. In the near future, we will be looking to begin using the iPads for other types of inspections.

Parks and Recreation Department
• As of Aug. 3, pool attendance was 83,664, which is up by 16,555 swimmers compared to the 5-year average; a 25 percent increase. Overall, aquatic revenue is up $16,597 over the same 5-year average.

• The Mentor swim team was undefeated in regular season and also won the league championship.

• Blackbrook hosted 111 golfers for the Cardinal Club Boys Basketball Outing on Aug. 4. They will be host to the Kirtland Athletic Boosters Golf Outing on Aug. 14. The junior golf league completed another successful season on Thursday. Both the Mentor and Lake Catholic High Schools are having tryouts this week at Blackbrook.

Public Works Department
• Full depth asphalt repair - Hendricks @ Brownstone and King Memorial
• Rebuilt 3 inlet basins on Lenore, one on Cornell
• Completed sidewalk replacements on SR 306 between US 20 and Tyler
• Repaired street lights on SR 615 near Norton Parkway
• Provided emergency power to traffic signals on US 20 during outage on August 5th
• Dog Park improvements
• Replaced vandalized irrigation heads at Walsh Park
• Completed ditch improvements (re-profiling and stabilization) of Barto Ditch from Roosevelt to Jackson
• Storm sewer cleaning - Spring Blossom, Cherry Blossom and Georgetown
• Mentor Park Blvd. - roadside ditch cleaning
• Remove vegetative growth near culvert inlet – Rockport
• The State Forester advises that lack of rain and high temperatures are increasing the likelihood of a gypsy moth outbreak.

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