Lake County commissioners recently unanimously approved reappointing Brian Falkowski, Lane Sheets and Kim Stenger to the Laketran’s nine-member board of trustees.
All three were sworn in during the transit agency’s May meeting and will serve three-year terms.
Falkowski, who serves as board president, is the chief operating officer of Cleveland-based Singerman, Mills, Desberg, and Kauntz and has served the Laketran board since 2011.
During his tenure, he’s led the agency through a financial recovery plan, launched two alternative-fuel fleet transitions, including operating Ohio’s first battery-operated electric bus, expanded services to Tyler Boulevard in Mentor and successfully passed two sales tax referendums.
“During this past three-year term, we navigated the pandemic, while still keeping promises we made to the public like service along Tyler and expanded hours,” Falkowski said.
“While ridership was recovering, we took the time to add passenger amenities, building our new indoor transit centers, and now we’re now looking at how to improve services with the pandemic behind us to make sure we can meet the demand of our aging population here in Lake County,” he added.
Sheets, the former owner and president of Diversified Business Systems, brings 40 years of IT and engineering expertise to the agency and will be completing his third term on the board.
Stenger’s reappointment begins her first full term with the agency, as she was first appointed last July to fill a vacant seat.
Stenger is a legal researcher of the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office, a past board member of the Lake County Society for Rehabilitation and a lifelong advocate for people with disabilities.
The board is responsible for the general oversight of the Lake County public transportation system, including the annual budget and fare structure.
Trustees serve the agency voluntarily. Meetings are open to the public and are held on the last Monday of each month.
Rider Alerts
This week, Laktran’s Route 4 detour, in both directions, began due to bridge construction on U.S. Route 20 over the Grand River between Casement Avenue and Fobes Street in Painesville Township, agency officials announced.
Construction will continue through Oct. 31.
Details of the detour are as follows:
Eastbound
• Right on Erie Street
• Right on North State Street
• Left on Main Street
• Left on Casement Avenue
• Right on East Erie Street
Westbound
• Left on Casement Avenue
• Right on Main Street
• Right on Nprtj St. Clair Street
Buses can be tracked during the detour by using the Laketran Real-Time map at info.laketran.com/RouteMap/Index.
