As leader of a key Cuyahoga County suburb, Seven Hills Mayor Anthony Biasiotta knows how to set priorities.
“Growing up, I was always told that you have to clean your house before you invite people over for dinner,” Biasiotta says. “As a city, we are at the point now where a lot of projects have been completed or in action. It is a new day in Seven Hills. Today, we have some of the best parks and recreation offerings in the entire area.
“Now, we need to communicate that. We need to re-educate people so they can reimagine what it is to be a part of a great community like Seven Hills. We’re only about 10 minutes from Progressive Field and downtown. We offer some amazing advantages.”
For both residents and businesses that choose to locate in this suburb located in south-central Cuyahoga County, it’s easy to see. But perhaps more importantly, Biasiotta is taking Seven Hills to the next level, where it will play a prominent role (along with other suburbs) in transforming Cuyahoga County and creating a more regional focus.
“As a community, we have something very unique to offer,” says the mayor. “We are one of the Top 20 safest cities in Ohio. We have great fire protection, which is rated in the top 14% of fire departments nationwide.
“We have a close-knit community and events and amenities that you might find in a small town. But we also offer all of the advantages of being a partner in Cuyahoga County — minutes from downtown, Ohio City and Playhouse Square. A world-class orchestra and nationally recognized museums are at our fingertips. And we just happen to find ourselves at a very important area of Greater Cuyahoga County.”
Since his election over three years ago, Biasiotta has keyed on developing important partnerships with the county.
“Partnerships are especially important,” says the mayor. “We realize we are a part of a much larger community. We have fostered great relationships and working partnerships with many surrounding government entities, and probably at the top of that list is Cuyahoga County.”
Seven Hills utilizes some county services for its human resources. It also works with the county on block grants, sewer resources, “and many other things,” Biasiotta adds. “They also have subject matter experts we can leverage.
“We have found out that we don’t have to do everything ourselves, because the county has some very good programs that we can participate in, and that helps to build a sense of regionalism. We send fees their way, which helps us because we don’t have the expense of doing all these other things in-house.”
It also helps that Biasiotta is on the same page as Chris Ronayne, newly elected Cuyahoga County Executive.
“We are on a similar path with Mr. Ronayne,” the mayor says. “We share a lot of the same vision. It also helps that we both come from a nonprofit background — his in his career and mine is a passion.”
While Biasiotta is setting an excellent example of both community and regional leadership, he is also quick to credit a new generation of leaders and politicians who are focused on the Northeast Ohio region.
“Rarely do we look at political or geographical boundaries on paper and say, ‘I am the mayor of Seven Hills,’ or ‘I am the mayor of Parma.’ We are all a part of Greater Cleveland. We are all in this together,” he says.
“Mayor Bibb even sends a representative to the meetings of our Association of Cuyahoga County Mayors and City Managers. You have leaders coming up now who don’t care who gets the credit — they only want to see that the job gets done,” he adds. “And that is the way great things happen.”
