Lima City Council president Jamie Dixon presents a resolution of gratitude to outgoing Lima Police Chief Angel Cortes at Monday night’s meeting.
Jacob Espinosa | The Lima News
LIMA — Lima council commended an outgoing official and welcomed a new leader in a different field at Monday night’s meeting.
Retiring Lima Police Chief Angel Cortes said 33 years have gone by fast, but he would not trade it for the world.
“It’s been a great honor to serve this community,” he said. “A lot of the credit goes to the men and women who work at the street level, our detectives and our majors. If not for them, we wouldn’t have accomplished as much as we did in the last few years.”
Mayor Sharetta Smith touched on those accomplishments in her comments Monday, praising Cortes’ embrace of technology, approach to changes and attempts to build morale among officers.
“You’re very much appreciated, and the community will miss you,” councilman Todd Gordon said.
Councilman Tony Wilkerson added, “You have been nothing but professional in our limited encounters.”
Cortes touted his record on recruitment and programs such as the filling the gap food program.
“We’ll supply a family in need with food and give them a voucher so they can get it from the West Ohio Food Bank the next day,” he said. “Major Baker, who is going to be chief, is going to keep this momentum going because we’ve been doing this together for the last two years. He’s going to have some ideas of his own, and I’m sure they’re going to be good.”
Council also heard ArtSpace/Lima’s announcement of a new poet laureate: Rhodes State College professor Laurin Wolf.
“I’m excited for this position,” Wolf said. “This is such an honor because you work so hard behind the scenes as an artist. To have the public recognize your position and offer you a chance to spread it in the community is incredible.”
councilwoman Carla Thompson, whose husband works with Wolf, added, “The one thing I know for sure is my husband is an excellent teacher, so I believe him when he calls someone else a wonderful teacher. You are more than fit for this position, and I cannot wait to see what you do with it.”
Wolf, who teaches English and communications at Rhodes, said she is looking forward to running programs through ArtSpace in local schools and showing people that poetry is alive.
“It’s a living art that isn’t written by people that are no longer with us,” she said. “There are still poets alive doing this, and you might want to do it too.”
Wolf will take over the position from the city’s first poet laureate, Tim Cheeseman.
The city swore in Jim Baker as the new chief of police last Wednesday (bit.ly/3WqaRGO), and he will officially take office Saturday, July 27.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
