Eyeing Easy Re-election, Chris Ronayne Promises Growth for Cuyahoga County in Second Term

When Chris Ronayne took over the county executive seat in 2023, he did so with an eye on change.

Armond Budish, Ronayne’s predecessor, had left an office littered with controversy after his two terms.

Ronayne seized on a mesage of in with a new Cuyahoga and out with the old and ran with it. He won both the primary and the general election that year by 30 percentage points.

“That’s what the voters kind of voted to reform,” Ronayne told Scene from a conference room at the County Building on Wednesday. “So, we are continuing to be the reform candidate in the reform government.”

Ronayne is 57 and currently vying for a second term as Cuyahoga County executive, a role leading a region of 1.2 million people and 59 municipalities. As of mid-February, his candidacy is uncontested; he practically will be handed the county’s foremost seat come November.

It’s an opportunity Ronayne approaches with excitement. He envisions it as a kind of sequel to a laundry list of accomplishments he listed off from his first term. Successes marked by an pointed expansion of government. In 2023, he opened up the county’s Welcome Center for incoming immigrants; he created the Child Wellness Campus in 2024 to give kids more access to mental health care; the new Office of Violence Prevention, meant to tackle illegal guns, opened up last year.

And it’s likely Ronayne will champion that same growth energy come 2027, if everything goes as planned. He’ll oversee the construction of the new county jail in Garfield Heights, potential groundbreaking of a remaking of the lakefront and riverfront; trees and pathways sprouting at Irishtown Bend; new music festivals and parks; new bus lanes, bike lanes and highway extensions; new uses for a dwindling Burke Lakefront Airport. (Ronayne’s fingers crossed.)

But nothing may better represent Ronayne’s hunger for growth, and his hyper-focused view of county government, than the $1 billion county jail, funded mostly by a sales tax extension, set to break ground this spring in Garfield Heights. It’s the largest project in recent Cuyahoga County history.

And it involves two of Ronayne’s latest dissenters. Earlier this year, County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley rebuked Ronayne for “illegally” handling County Sheriff Harold Pretel’s payroll, going as far as to threaten a lawsuit. (Pretel wants to control officer pay himself.) Cuyahoga is the only county in the state wherein its sheriff is not elected but assigned by its executive.

Ronayne found it yet another relic of the “old boys” club. He would rather, he said, spend time on progress, on rethinking part of the criminal justice system in the county.

“This is an ecosystem, a justice ecosystem,” Ronayne said, about the complex. “I don’t wake up out of bed and say, ‘Gee, I’m happy to be building a new jail.’ I’m only happy in as much as I will be building a more humane space.”

And a space where those awaiting trial or a plea can make use of their time locked up. Like, Ronayne suggested, earning a certificate at a partnering Tri-C program.

“Look, if your in with us for 30 days,” he said, “you ought to come out with some kind of skill that you can bring to the outside world.”

But will Ronayne’s character and itch for growth continue to warm other members of the bureaucracy? After all, the county executive’s sparred often in the past three years with County Council over a range of issues—from the jurisdiction of the formerly-named Downtown Safety Patrol to what extent county taxpayer funds should be used to keep Downtown clean.

And also to what extent he should be buddying up with Mayor Bibb to actualize plans that he needs Bibb to follow through on. The obvious ones come to mind: How to reimagine the lakefront in a post-Browns world. And what to do with Burke.

And there’s finally creating a county Music Commission, akin to Nashville’s or Austin’s. There’s expanding the county transit-oriented development loan program and funding housing near transit stops. There’s better utilizing brownfield land, building dedicated bus lanes or making sure people know they have unclaimed funds the state is using to build the new Browns stadium in Brook Park.

“The overall objective in the next term is to lay out a blueprint for growth and work that plan,” Ronayne told Scene. Despite still losing a half percent of its population per year. “We need to stop that population loss and turn that corner toward population growth.”

Or at least convince the people he’s trying to reverse a decades-long trend.

“I’ve fought good fights. Some we win, some we lose,” Ronayne said. “But I can always look at myself in the mirror and saying I’m fighting for the people.”

“Do you feel like after all this time you’ve helped restore trust in this seat?” Scene asked.

“Yes,” Ronayne said. He smiled. “And I think that’s reflected in not having an opponent” in this race.

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