WESTLAKE, OHIO — The City of Westlake is honoring the directors and chiefs who have led its departments over more than two centuries with a set of perpetual plaques, one for each of the city's main departments.

The plaques grew out of Dover Township ~ City of Westlake Officials 1909-2026, a compilation of the community's officials by Clerk of Council Denise L. Rosenbaum. Ms. Rosenbaum then pulled from it the names of every director and chief of the departments established in the city's Charter and Codified Ordinances, organizing them into individual lists that trace each department's leadership succession from their establishment to today.

Those lists became the plaques, engraved with each leader's name and years of service. Together they create a permanent record of the people who have shaped city services from the community's earliest days as Dover Township to the present.

Two departments trace unbroken leadership back 214 years: the Treasurer/Finance Director and the Township/Council Clerk, offices that have served the community continuously since 1812.

The plaques were presented at the September 3, 2026 Council meeting, where directors accepted them on behalf of their departments.