PART 1 of 2 – After four terms in office, retiring Medina Mayor Dennis Hanwell discusses his earlier days in law enforcement, and the life lessons of assessing and individuals needs, and learning to recognize and utilize one skills and contributions.
LIVE TALK: Outgoing Executive Reflects On His Legacy Of Leadership
AUDIO INTERVIEW:
City Of Medina
November 2025
Mayor Dennis Hanwell / Emily Canning-Dean
Audio Details
Canning-Dean:
“Hello, I am Emily Canning-Dean, and I am here with Mayor Dennis Hanwell. We’ve been talking about his career in law enforcement. Mayor Hanwell, can you talk to me about the church where you first got the idea of really working with everyone and their strengths? Can you tell me a little bit about that?”
Mayor Hanwell:
“Sure. I’d be happy to. So, my family, and a small number of other families actually started meeting, at an elementary school in Brunswick, called Grafton Road Elementary. Today it is called Kidder Elementary, after the principal that I attended the elementary school under.
And, that group of church members then built the first Brunswick Reformed Church just up the road from the elementary school.
What I noticed growing up in that church was all the adult men and women had different talents. One might be a plumber, or a carpenter. And by watching them take care of all the needs of the church without having to bring in outside help, showed me how everybody has their own areas of knowledge and expertise.
And by tapping into that knowledge and expertise in my police career, we were able to support, fire operations, life support team operations, improve the police department – because each person had their own value and their own expertise to then make the whole department better.
And that was really the success of what we accomplished there at the police department.”
Canning-Dean:
“Thank you so much for explaining that, Mayor.”
LIVE Talk: Audio Details
Readers will find many LIVE Talk audio features with the content of our Medina County Time Capsule. Enjoy our mini-cast audio features below as we capture the voices of civic, community, and business leaders and document their comments and perspectives.
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PART 1 of 2 – After four terms in office, retiring Medina Mayor Dennis Hanwell discusses his earlier days in law enforcement, and the life lessons of assessing and individuals …
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Brunswick City Schools Superintendent Jason Niedermeyer talks with members of the community on the $102 million new Brunswick High School complex. He spoke with Emily Canning-Dean on the impact of …
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