Jan. 16—LIMA — Lima Mayor Sharetta Smith is stepping into big shoes as she prepares to head to the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington D.C.
Following a vote last December, Smith was appointed to take Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther’s spot on the board of the Ohio Mayors Alliance, as he was named president of the conference.
“It’s an honor to be selected to serve on this board,” Smith said. “In order for Lima to thrive, we have to be connected with other cities across Ohio and the nation. Active participation and leadership in organizations like these allows us to connect to resources, build partnerships and also share new ideas.”
The mayor headed to Washington on Thursday to speak on two panels at the conference, “The 2025 Tax Bill: Key Opportunities for Cities” and “Hiring America’s Heroes — Harnessing the Power of the Veteran Workforce.”
“Over the last three years, we’ve been able to bring in several resources from the conference to help with our day-to-day programming, and we’ve also been able to do some new initiatives through relationships we’ve built with the conference, including funding for Brownfield remediation and the floating solar panels at Twin Lakes,” Smith said.
Smith pointed to the alliance helping to bring grant money to the city and direct exposure to federal agencies, sometimes through those connections, as examples of its value.
“We’ll continue to build consensus with other cities across the state, staying true to the bipartisan nature of the organization, staying actively involved in policy and legislation by maintaining open lines of communication with our representatives and we will also work closely with lobbyists for the Ohio Mayor’s Alliance to keep us abreast on pending legislation that could affect our cities,” she said. “We worked to bring funding here to the city by assisting families with FAFSA and we’ve been engaged with the governor’s office on various issues. We have advocated for more direct support for cities for housing and one of the outcomes of that has been Lima competing for the Welcome Home Ohio Fund.”
Smith has been a member of the alliance since becoming mayor of Lima.
“The United States Conference of Mayors’ annual winter meeting provides mayors with the chance to gather in the nation’s capital to exchange ideas, discuss solutions to shared challenges and bolster support for cities from key federal officials,” Ginther said in a statement through the city. “The 93rd Winter Meeting will also highlight how mayors from across the country hope to collaborate with the incoming Trump administration. Our country is at is best when cities and the federal government work together.”
The Ohio Mayors Alliance is a bipartisan group of mayors from across the state to share practices, resources and advocacy.
For more information, visit ohiomayorsalliance.org.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
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