Response to the VA's Decision to Move

In response to the recent articles regarding the Lake County Department of Veterans Affairs’ decision to move to Willoughby, the City of Painesville would like to emphasize that we as a city did everything in our power to keep the VA Clinic in Painesville, a centralized location for all our county veterans.

 

When the Department of Veterans Affairs put out their first solicitation for site relocation in 2014, the city was immediately involved in the process. Painesville made several viable location proposals to the VA over the next three years. New solicitations continued to come from the VA, with the requirements narrowing each time to the point where all Painesville locations no longer met the specific criteria.

 

The city spent hundreds of hours on proposals, site walks, meetings and phone calls to work on a solution. There was a consorted effort between the city, private property owners and development partners to present submittals to the VA to try and retain them in the city.

 

Painesville strongly believes that we are the best fit for the VA Clinic. As the county seat, we support several agencies of Lake County and will continue to work with these agencies and the Department of Veterans Affairs for our veterans care.

 

Cathy Bieterman

Economic Development Director

City of Painesville