Accomplishments
- Sponsored & Passed legislation to expand the Homestead Exemption water-sewer discounts for seniors and people with disabilities.
- As President, established a tradition of Council holding community listening sessions in all four wards
- Sponsored & Passed legislation establishing the CASE Advisory Board made up of citizens with diverse lived experience using our right of ways to help make them safer for all.
- Anticipating Covid crisis, wrote ordinance for emergency remote council meetings to quickly allocate federal dollars for local businesses, first responders, and rent relief
- Increased public participation by initiating eComment and proactively sharing information through videos and in community groups
- Bolsters Lakewood’s small business economy
- Established Curbside Express Parking
- Served as Council Liaison to the Small Business Task Force and established the Restaurant Roundtable to help local businesses weather the pandemic.
- Served on the Americans with Disabilities Task Force and passed the ADA Transition Plan
- Implemented online reporting of accessibility problems
- Working to transition all public spaces to full ADA compliance
- Championed closed-captioned live-streaming
- Introduced legislation to protect our trees and helped update regulations to make it easier for residents to install solar panels.
- Committed city leaders to racial equity & social justice education, and wrote and passed legislation to protect LGBTQ+ neighbors from government overreach.
Sarah has more than two decades of public service working for and with diverse populations. Sarah knows first-hand how budget and policy decisions can affect people who often have the least input in these decisions. As a community organizer, she understands the positive role that government can play in the lives of residents when they are engaged in the process. Sarah believes that it isn’t enough for government to be transparent and available; it needs to be accessible.
Working hard to make our government,
accessible, equitable and sustainable
Sarah feels called to public service to represent and involve residents who are not part of decision-making. Sarah uses her experience as an organizer, educator and librarian to connect constituents with resources and information, invite them to the conversation, and help them fully participate in their government. In her service as an at-large Lakewood Councilwoman Sarah has prioritized involving residents in local government. She served as council’s representative on the Americans with Disabilities Act Task Force, engages closely with the Anti-Racism Task Force, and works tirelessly to increase public awareness and participation in local government by actively publicizing meetings, creating and publishing video updates, and working to augment Lakewood’s technological participation solutions.
Experienced, effective leadership, rooted in our shared Lakewood values at a time when it is needed most.
Sarah has been remarkably effective and productive in her time on council. In February of 2020, she recognized the advancing threat of Covid-19 and sought a way to ensure that we could keep Lakewood’s government functioning and accessible in the event that it couldn’t meet in person. Less than a month after being sworn in, she wrote and passed Ordinance 06-2020, to allow Council to meet remotely and continue the people’s work during the pandemic. The City of Lakewood was one of the first municipal governments in Ohio to take this step and was able to respond more quickly to the emergency needs of the Lakewood community. This included securing funds for resident and small business rent relief, approving flexibility for city employees caring for family members with Covid-19, and passing expanded outdoor dining to help our locally owned, independent restaurants.
An entrepreneur herself, Sarah served as council’s liaison to the Small Business Task Force, and has worked closely with the Uptown & Downtown merchant groups, Lakewood Alive and the Chamber of Commerce. After listening to the challenges faced by restauranteurs and merchants during the pandemic, Sarah sponsored Resolution 39-2020-Curbside Express Parking to enable busy families to safely support the local economy with curbside pickup at neighborhood shops and restaurants.
Sarah’s unique combination of empathy, energy and skill helped shepherd Lakewood out of the Covid crisis. We are once again facing a time of crisis, and her leadership is needed now more than ever. This fall, please vote to #KeepKeppleOnCouncil!
