City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, welcome to Cleveland Heights City Council  meeting. It is Monday, May 18th, 2026 at 7:38.   Addie, would you please call the role? Dittofoy  here. Cohen here. Stone here. Kosh here. Cobb   here. Cuda here. Larson here. All right. Any uh  amendments to the agenda? All right. Hearing none.   Approval of the minutes from previous meetings.  We don't have any. Um all right. We do have a   presentation though. Carolyn Barney is here from  the Cedar Lee Special Improvement District and she   is the executive director of that district.  Welcome. Thank you. Good evening everyone.   I'm here for the simple purpose of thanking the  city for all of the help during uh the Cleveland   International Film Festival this year. Um on  behalf of the Cedarly Theater in our district,   the Cedarly Special Improvement District and the  many building owners, business owners, and workers   that make up our one magnificent mile in Cleveland  Heights. We were proud to welcome back the film   festival uh to where it started 50 years ago at  the Cedarly Theater. And we couldn't have done   it and we couldn't have shined so bright without  your help. There's a lot of people I want to thank   um tonight and I hope I I hit a lot of them. But,  you know, when the film festival has had a little   bit of a roller coaster since it left Tower City,  um, with the when they met with the district and   with John and looked to bring it back to a vibrant  neighborhood full of things to do outside of just   watching movies and we were ecstatic to be picked.  Uh, we know we're a little bit of a construction  

zone right now, which is a good thing, but  sometimes hard if you're not familiar with   the district to get around. Um and we approached  the city and were really overwhelmed by how many   people jumped in um and jumped on board with doing  things little and big uh to make us shine for   the film festival. So um I want to thank um Jim  Streb, fire inspector um one of the most heartfelt   communications we've received from the city um and  and really wanting to support you know coming from   a fire a year ago to what we were able to do for  the film festival in April. Um, Chief Britain,   we had cops on the streets, uh, not only there to  keep things safe, but also to welcome many people   to the district. Um, Anthony Fon, who helped  out from public works on a lot of different,   uh, efforts for the city. Andre Gonzalez Parks  and Wreck, um, we love him helping hang banners   and put his team that put up parking signs for us  to help visitors find parking in our district. Um,   all of the staff of those departments that did  the work as well. Um, I want to thank Julie   Coffin and Brian Anderson, um, who supported  our businesses and really allowing them to   shine during the the event. Um, they got engaged  not only in providing specials to the visitors   that came to the district, but some of them  got involved with directors of films and held   events like the cheese shop who had 50 pounds  of cheese delivered by the film director for   an afterparty that was free for people to come  and enjoy the district. and have cheese. Um,   Michael Reese jumped in quickly and managed a  long project list for us to get things done. So,   thank you, Michael. Um, and even Mayor Jim uh was  picking up garbage in the district uh at the last   minute. Just every little bit mattered. And we put  together a quick video uh once again to say thank   you. Thank you for helping our district shine.  We know when we partner together uh that keeping  

this momentum up and going in our district is  important. So, um, thanks again on behalf of   the Cedarly Special Improvement District and,  uh, John Foreman from the theater. Okay, Eddie.   All right. Well, thank you. And we have video.  Oh, we have video. Yeah, let's do it. All right. Now, while we're waiting for the video,  um I was I along with several members   of the council had been at the last SID  meeting and I have to tell you the number   of merchants that showed up and landlords  and so forth. Uh it it it just speaks of   the vibrancy and the growing the growth of  the Cedarly District. U I I think we have a   really bright future and thank you Carolyn  because you've been a great leader there. Oh, that's great. Come back to Cedar Lee. We love   the film festival. We love this  neighborhood. This is so perfect,   so convenient. We know this community loves  independent film, and we're excited to be here. Look at those lines. Did you find it? Ed, where are you from? I am from Rocky  Ver. And how has your experience been   here at Cedar Lee Arts District? Well,  we've been coming all week, you know,   going back to downtown in here. And I  got one of these early and we I ate at  

uh the bread place down the street and the  Turkish place down the street. Of course,   I don't remember their names, but great and  everything. The cheese place wasn't open on   Monday. They open on Mondays. Uh, but the big  thing is we like to come to the theater here   a lot and we got free parking here. So, free  parking, keep it up. Enjoy it while it lasts. Thank you, Cleveland International Film Festival   in the city of Cleveland Heights  for helping our district shine. Carolyn, thank you so much. I do have a question  for you. Is there any possibility to come back   next year? Well, we hope so. Um, John will be  meeting with the film festival. I believe it's   this week. Um, and we hope to talk to them quickly  thereafter just to see what we can do hopefully   um to even make it bigger. Uh, there was room to  expand it for for um a subsequent year in terms   of theater space. So, we're hoping not only that  it comes back, but it could be bigger and better   than ever next year. Thanks. I just wonder  in your conversations if you may want to just   throw like maybe you can use the high school  auditorium. They've got a lot of auditorium   spaces at the high school which is right across  the street if you're looking for some overflow.   Just a thought. All righty. Well, thank you for  that communications from the mayor. Thank you,   Mr. President. Um, I'd like to begin by um sharing  some unfortunate news with folks. Um, about a   month ago, there was a house fire in Cleveland  Heights. Some people may be aware of this. Um,   there were five children, I'm sorry, four children  from the household that were hospitalized and,  

uh, at the end of this last week, one of them  unfortunately passed away. Um that child was a   first grader at Noble Elementary and um while we  have not had a chance to speak with the family,   we've been in contact with the school district  and uh we're trying to learn how the city may be   able to assist the family with this this um really  unfortunate event. And so I'd just like to take a   moment of silence if we could um to to recognize  the passing of this person. His name was Cortez. Thank you. The city planned uh for its Junth event to be on  Sunday, June 14th. Uh we recently learned that   the city of Cleveland has decided to cancel its  own Junth event which was scheduled for Saturday,   June 13th. Part of the reason for us choosing  Sunday the 14th was so that people could attend   both if they'd like. Um there were previous  years where events overlapped and attendance   uh was not as good as it could be. And so we hope  that by having ours on Sunday, people could attend   both. But now, in light of the city of Cleveland  cancelling its event, we've decided to move ours   up to Saturday, June 13th. So, we've started to  communicate that out. We'll continue to do that.  

Um, also we have had a lot of communication over  time with Laya Edward's parents and agent and I   was really excited to finally uh speak with Ila  directly myself this last week and she confirmed   that um she uh would love for us to celebrate  her with a parade. And so we met internally and   identified a number of dates that uh we've  proposed to her and look forward to being   able to settle on something so that we can share  that with uh the community. those plans with the   community. Um, in case folks have not heard,  there is going to be an event on Wednesday,   May 27th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the community  center. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss   the future of the South Rink OM advisors, which is  working with the city on the park's master plan,   is going to lead this conversation. And so  again, that is Wednesday, May 27th at 5:00   p.m. at the community center. And finally, uh,  this last week, we had a chance to meet with   Congresswoman Brown's office. Um, we met with  them, I think maybe two weeks earlier, and,   uh, we had a follow-up meeting to further  discuss, uh, the congresswoman's priorities.   It was a very good meeting. And, um, this,  um, is part of our work to put together a   capital stack for renovating or rebuilding  Cumberland. And so, with that, uh, concludes   my remarks for this evening. Thank you, mayor.  Uh, communications from the city administrator. Michael Reese. Thank you, President Cuda, Vice  President Larson, members of council. I have   uh just three updates this evening. Uh first, the  Coventry parking garage elevator. Um the elevator   passed inspection today. It got moved from last  week to today uh by the state and uh it passed   inspection and will be fully operational beginning  Wednesday morning, May 20th at 6 o'clock a.m. We  

going to have a ceremony. Okay. See you out there  with breakfast. I mean, um secondly, I just want   to take a moment to um uh talk about an important  issue related to the consent decree with the USPA   um and uh pertaining to sanitary sewer overflows.  Uh we had a meeting um last week involving public   works, law, finance, communications, and the  mayor's office and the consent decree. We know   that further investment will be needed in the  coming years to respond to it. Um we are working   uh really hard uh to get everyone on the same page  about thinking and acting proactively um when it   comes to community outreach and education related  to consent decree uh including looking at best pra   other cities best practices. So um uh we'll look  forward to giving uh city council an update at the   appropriate time on that. Uh third and finally um  the hillside dairy abatement and demolition which   um the mayor will be reading into the record. Um  uh regarding the the project uh bids came in lower   uh than we expected with the lowest bid at um  just under 500,000. precise amount is $498,875 um dollars. We are expecting something in  the 700,000 range. Um so this is really   good news. Regardless, we will be  requesting a budget amendment for   the June 1st city council meeting on this  matter. Uh the amount will be um $298,875. However, we will be reimbursed for $226,875 of this amount from the state land bank grant we  received state land bank grant. Thus, only 72,000  

will come out of unencumbered cash in 2026. So, if  you follow the math, basically um you know, 72,000   is going to uh come out of uncovered cash in 2026.  Um, so we're very excited to continue to move this   project forward and u make it a priority um that  the mayor and council have put at the top as well   as the community. And that's the conclusion of my  report. Be happy to answer any questions. I have   Yes. Go ahead. Just want to thank you. I think  this is the first time since we began this year   that we got good financial news that we're saving  money. So, thank you. Really appreciate that.   Welcome. Anybody else? I had a quick question. Um,  I forgot to ask this when Director Brzinski was in   the room, but are we on track uh to uh turn in our  financial audit uh materials at the end of this   month? I I believe so. Um I'll have to confirm  with the director, but when I talked to him   about it a couple weeks ago, we we were we were on  track. So, I'm pretty confident that we are, but   let me get back to you on a definite Okay. Thank  you. Okay. Anybody else? All right. Great. Thank   you. Thank you, Mr. President. Yes. If I could  um read into the record that on May 14th, 2026,   four bids were received for project 2603, Hillside  Dairy Public Works yard improvements project.   The lowest and most responsive bid was from  Proquality Demolition with a bid of $386,783 for   abatement and demolition and $112,92 for fencing  and landscaping for a total bid of $498,875. The bid results for I'm sorry, the bid  results for all biders are as follows. Again,   proquality demolition. The total was $498,875. Eagle abatement, $413,160 for demolition and no  bid for fencing and landscaping. Northeast Ohio  

trenching demolition, $527,31 and $155,871  for fencing and landscaping for a total of   $682,92. And finally, platform where  uh demolition would be $594,937 and fencing and landscaping would be $138,838 for a total of $733,775. Thank you. You need a motion on that, mayor? Uh  this is just bringing into the back. All right.   Thank you. Okay. Um, uh, director, uh, Ryan Proser  was on the agenda, but, uh, couldn't make it   tonight. So, we're rescheduling that information  technology report for June 1st. Uh, report of the   clerk of council. I would just like to notify  council um, that I have received a notice to   legislative authority from the Ohio Department of  Liquor Control for the transfer of a C2XC2 liquor   permit from Kosher Bakery, Inc. to Venture LLC  located at 1831 South Taylor Road. This matter   will be referred to the mayor and chief of police.  Thank you. We have public comment now. Uh how many   do we have for agenda items? Just one. All right,  three minutes. State your name and the city you   live in and then we'll do the other public comment  after we read the legislation. Dvita Russell, who Uh, good evening, Mayor, President of  Council, Mr. Cuda, Vice President Larson,   and all my council members. First of all, I want  to thank you very much for bringing legislation   106 2026 forward. I am here to ask you to send  it not only for first reading, but for passage.  

Second, I want to thank Mayor Petrus for  acknowledging my work on this legislation   at the state of the city address as well as the  splash pad. My disappointment was and I know it   has nothing to do with you all. I was exp it was  explained to me by President Cuda that my name   could not be on the legislation moving forward  because it's only for current council members.   That is something that needs to be looked at  at the charter. And I'm going to tell you why.   Because there are a lot of council members here  and the mayor and you may start something in the   future or in the past. I've worked on that piece  of legislation for almost seven years. Seven.   And that becomes part of your history of being  on council. So once you leave and it goes into   someone else's name, it seems like you never did  the work at all. So to be able to council members   here to have projects moving forward and to be  able to leave council, you want your legacy to   stand that these are things that you actually put  in place and that you ac actually accomplished. So   that's my disappointment, but I know you all have  nothing to do with that. But to make things right,   I hope you will pass this legislation today  moving forward. Uh I will be back. I be I'm   watching you all and um uh you all know I won the  primary so let me say that first and uh I've been   talking with the mayor and we're going to be  doing some wonderful things moving forward and   uh so you have my support and hopefully I will  continue to have yours. Thank you so very much   and I'll be back when it's time for the splash  pad. And I am so happy to know that the dairy is   finally going to have is going to be gone. And  that's another project I worked on for a very   long time. So, thank you so very much for all  you've been doing, Mayor Petus. And thank you,  

council, for uh what you are doing as well. Never  gave us your name and address. Oh my gosh. Well,   I am former councilwoman Devita Russell and my  address is uh Upper Finley Upper Finley Road.   uh where Tony lives on Laura Finley. Thank  you so very much. You know the rules. Sometimes. All right. Um we're going to move  on to uh legislation. Mr. First readings for   consideration for adoption. I have resolution  number 10000-2026 on first reading. A resolution   declaring the necessity of assessing a portion  of the expense of street lighting and declaring   the necessity this legislation become immediately  effective as an emergency measure introduced by   Mayor Petrus. I believe you guys were holding  off on this one and the next as well. I have   resolution number 101-2026 on first reading. A  resolution declaring the necessity of assessing   a portion of the expense of improving streets  and parkways, including grading, draining,   curbing, paving, repaving, repairing, sweeping,  or cleaning thereof, removing snow there from,   and planting, maintaining, and removing shade  trees thereon, and declaring the necessity this   legislation become immediately effective as an  emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petrus. So,   I'll just interject that we are going to take  those up uh next time uh for second reading.   I have resolution number 102-2026 on first  reading. A resolution authorizing the mayor   to enter into an agreement with GPD group  for construction management and observation   services relating to the 2026 road program and  declaring the necessity of this legislation become   immediately effective as an emergency measure  introduced by Mayor Petrus. So moved. Is there   a second? Second. All right. Any discussion? All  in favor? I. Any opposed? That motion passes.   Next, I have resolution uh 110-2026 on first  reading. A resolution authorizing the mayor  

to enter into an agreement with OM advisers for  engineering design services for the Taylor Road   TLCI project and declaring the necessity this  legislation become immediately effective as an   emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petrus. So  moved. Second. All right. Any discussion? All in   favor? I. Any opposed? That motion passes.  Uh, we're going on to first readings now.   I have resolution 103-2026 on first reading. A  resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into   a memorandum of understanding with the friends of  K park to support K park programming for the 2026   and 2027 seasons introduced by Mayor Petrus. The  chair would entertain a motion to table this. So   moved. Second. Any discussion? And well, I'll just  say that this is just because we have a few odds   and ends to clean up on that. So, we'll take that  up again at the appropriate time. Go ahead, Addie. I have Sorry, I do. Yeah, you need a motion. Yep.  Yeah. Sorry. All in favor of tableabling this uh   103 say I. I. Any opposed? All right, that motion  passes. Next, I have resolution number 104-2026   on first reading. A resolution accepting  a grant from the Ohio Department of Public   Safety's Office of Criminal Justice Services Ohio  bodywn camera grant program authorizing the use of   grant funds and authorizing the mayor to enter  into an agreement with Motorola Solutions for   bodywn cameras and declaring the necessity this  legislation become immediately effective as an   emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petrus.  We have a motion. These are for first. Oh, I'm   sorry. I'm terribly sorry. Go ahead, but council  president, if I if I could just to state that I   um on the advice of my company's ethics uh  department, I'll be recusing myself from the   discussion and the vote on this matter. Thank  you. Next, I have resolution number 105-2026  

on first reading, a resolution authorizing the  mayor to execute an agreement with Wade Trim,   Inc. of Ohio for professional design, engineering,  and associated services relating to the mitigation   of elicit connections in the Overlook Road area  and control of sanitary sewer overflow CH-46   and declaring the necessity this legislation  become immediately effective as an emergency   measure introduced by Mayor Petrus. Next, I have  resolution number 106-2026 on first reading. A   resolution authorizing a grant agreement with  the Taylor Merchants Association and declaring   the necessity this legislation become immediately  effective as an emergency measure introduced by   Council Member Cohen. All right. Uh we're going  to before we move on to second readings, I I just   I'm not going to ask I'm not going to make a a  motion for this this week, but I will uh when   we take that up for second reading, I'm talking  about 106. Uh to to add, whereas former council   vice president Dvita Russell provided leadership  and vision in the creation and development of the   Taylor Merchants Association, helping to foster  collaboration among local businesses and support   economic vitality within the community. So, I  will be asking to add that to this legislation   uh when we vote on this on June 1st. Uh second  readings, I have resolution number 095-2026 on   second reading. A resolution authorizing the mayor  to to execute an agreement with the Northeast Ohio   Areaide Coordinating Agency for the design and  installation of eight DC fast charger electric   vehicle charging points at city hall and the  Cleveland Heights Community Center. Introduced   by Mayor Petrus. So moved. Second. All right. Any  discussion? Go ahead, Councilman. Uh, this is long   overdue. The city has no public charging stations  and there's a significant number of people now in   the city that do have electric cars. So, um,  I'm I'm I'm glad that we're finally going to  

uh have this uh here in Cleveland Heights. Anybody  else? All right. Mr. President, if I could just to   reiterate, the city's receiving over $500,000 in  grant money to assist with this. Wonderful. All   right. All in favor? I. Any opposed? That motion  passes. Next, I have resolution number 096-2026 on   second reading, a resolution authorizing the mayor  to execute an agreement for the continuation and   expansion of the citywide food scrap composting  program through Rus Belt Writers Composting LLC.   introduced by Mayor Petrus. So moved. Second.  All right. Any discussion? Councilwoman Larson,   you don't have to. Well, I'm excited that this is  no longer a pilot program and that is a part of   the operations of the city of Cleveland Heights  to give people the opportunity to compost their   waste in a program that is working really well.  people um are pleased with the locations that are   set up and we're moving forward to the next step.  So, thank you, mayor, for doing that. We really   appreciate your leadership on this. All in favor?  I. Any opposed? That motion passes. Onto the   consent agenda. I have three on our consent agenda  tonight. First, I have resolution number 107-2026   on first reading. A resolution declaring June  2026 to be LGBTQ pride pride month and declaring   the necessity that this legislation become  immediately effective as an emergency measure   introduced by Mayor Petrus and all city council  members. I have resolution number 108-2026 on   first reading a resolution proclaiming June 5th,  2026 to be National Gun Violence Awareness Day   in the city of Cleveland Heights and declaring the  necessity that this legislation become immediately   effective as an emergency measure introduced  by Mayor Petus and all city council members.   Finally, I have resolution number 109-2026  on first reading. A resolution recognizing   May 17th through the 23rd, 2026 as National  Public Works Week and declaring the necessity  

this legislation become immediately effective as  an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petus and   all city council members. All right. Can I have a  mo motion to suspend the rules? Motion to suspend   the rules. Second. All right. Any discussion?  All in favor? I. Any opposed? That passes. Now   we vote on the legislation. I need a motion and  a second. Yeah. So moved. Second. Very good. Any   discussion? I'll just say on behalf of uh Colette  Clingscale, our public works director. Uh she she   really deserves this recognition. Uh and we really  appreciate everything she does. And with that,   all in favor? I. Any opposed? That motion passes.  Now we're on to committee reports. Who would like   to go first? I'm going to look right this time.  Go ahead, Councilman. I'll highlight uh that the   parks and recck advisory board will meet this  Wednesday, May 20th at 6 p.m. at the community   center. And then to reiterate what the mayor had  said earlier, um an open house future of the South   Rink will take place at the community center  on Wednesday, May 27th, uh from 5 to 7:00. So,   please come out, learn more about options, and  um discuss with council members and others what's   possible. Thanks. Thanks. I would like to thank  um uh members Gil Larson and um member um Jojo   Witfoy uh in my absence next week at the finance  committee and the health and uh public safety   uh committee. they will be leading uh those two  committee meetings and that's going to be during   sort of likely the council meeting as a whole  now new committee structure uh but that'll be   on the 26 the evening of the 26th council vice  president I agree to do that if I get a postcard  

you get two All right even better that I do have  a report I'm sorry the next meeting of the climate   environmental sustainability committee is tomorrow  Tuesday May 19th at 4 p.m. Next meeting of the   transportation and mobility committee is May 27th  at 7 p.m. And the next meeting of the municipal   services and sustainability committee is June 8th  during committee the whole. Thank you. Sure. Uh   the meeting of the housing and building committee  will take place during the committee of the whole   on um Tuesday May 26th. Thank you. Um so at the  last committee of the whole meeting we did discuss   the proposed landmarks commission uh review  and update of their governing ordinance. So,   we had a really great discussion about different  policy issues that um members of council brought   up as well as the law department um that we  gave the law department some instructions of   what direction we'd like to go and we will  be getting another draft um at some point,   but we'll have an update on the progress of this  on our June 15th committee of the whole meeting   prior to that June 15th council meeting. Um,  I would just ask um, council clerk, I believe   we had meant to post the landmark commission  ordinance draft and the memo on that committee   of the whole site. So, if we could do that, I did  get a couple questions about that. Um and then   looking forward to the 26th we are going to have  a brief part of the committee of the whole agenda   with presentations from uh Startright CDC future  heights very brief presentations and hopefully   YRM on the progress of their infill housing  initiatives. Um so we're looking forward to that.   And the last thing is the ADU public hearing.  It was in the newsletter this past Friday. Um,   thank you very much to the communications team for  getting it in there. June 2nd at 5:30, we'll be in   the atrium. There'll be a half an hour of time  where people can come and see the um ADU designs  

that were part of the ADU design competition.  At 6 p.m., we'll be convening a meeting of the   planning and development committee meeting here  in council chambers. But really, that's just a   way for us to have a a public hearing. We're going  to have the planning staff present on ADUs and all   the work that's been done so far. And then we'll  have public comment and then the planning staff   will be here um after that to answer questions and  also to answer questions when we're all together   for the committee meeting. So, I hope everyone  that's interested in ADU's accessory dwelling   units will come out on June 2nd. Thank you.  Thank you, Councilwoman. Okay. Very good. All   right. We'll move on now to um public comment.  General public comment. How many do we have? Okay. So, um unlike Dvita Russell,  you guys are all going to say your   names and your address and then we'll  uh you have three minutes. CJ Nash. CJ Nash. Band of Mar Street, Cleveland Heights,  Ohio. Um I just want to make sure I know all you   know, but I know there are a lot of people  who don't. We've got a Culver's coming in   at the corner of Mayfield and Noble at the  lot where they wanted to put 9,000 pump gas   station a few years ago. Thank goodness that all  changed. But there is a meeting this Wednesday in   the community center at 7:30 and the owner  of Culver's is going to be there to give a   presentation and let us know what the plans  are and answer questions that the public may   have. and he's bringing free ice cream. So, yeah,  free ice cream's good. And I live down the street   from a Culver's when I was in Wisconsin. It's  dagon good ice cream. Really good ice cream. So,   Wednesday 7:30, I hope people come to  the community center to hear what he's  

got to say and he will be able to answer  your questions. Thank you, Mike Gainor. Good evening everyone and uh thank you for  allowing me this time. I live at 2412 Uclid   Heights Boulevard in Cleveland Heights and  I've served on the planning commission for the   past 10 years, the last six under council member  Cohen and the four before that after under Craig   Cobb who was the chair before her. And I want to  talk about planning commission business a little   bit here and advocate for a public sidewalk  on Warrenville Road. Mayor Petrus and I had   an opportunity to talk about this in January.  And this is really a public safety issue that   I think is very very important. For those of you  who are familiar with that stretch of the road,   there's no sidewalk from the beginning of the  Hebrew Academy school property, used to be the   Oakwood Country Club, all the way south to the  shopping center district that we have there. And   uh we had a pedestrian fatality there two and  a half years ago. And after that happened,   um the commission went back and we relooked  at our decision to allow that development   to go without requiring a sidewalk. it wasn't  codified at the time and uh decided to prepare   a memorandum of which I distributed to council  a couple of years ago and had meetings with the   prior mayor but didn't go anywhere and uh so  this time I've uh started things off meeting   with Jim and bringing this everybody on council up  to date with what I want because there are three   very important reasons that this needs to get  done. It's a public safety issue. Number one,   we are a community proud of our walkability and  our cycling and all of these kind of things. And  

we've been missing that sidewalk for as long as  all of us have lived here. And it needs to be done   done now to link our east side and our north side  neighbors to all the the very popular shopping   districts at the south end of Warrenville Road  there. Uh the other reason this has been a very   overdue project for the neighborhoods over there  um to provide the kind of safe mobility that they   need. And then lastly, I just want to point out,  you know, we're talking about the Culver's Dairy   potentially coming and so forth. putting that  sidewalk from a development perspective for all   the things that we're trying to do on the east  side of town up there on Mayfield Road. This is   a great selling tool for developers if they  want to build new residences up there to be   able to show prospective financers and builders  and so forth that when you have that kind of   walkability right there where where you want to  develop property properties, it it it's another   incentive for people to come here and redevelop  this land like the dairy we just took down and   so forth. It will contribute to that vitality. So,  I thank you for listening. I've brought copies of   the memo that we put out a couple of years ago.  I'm going to leave with the clerk and I'll also   leave some for anybody in the public that would  like to have one. So, thank you for your time. Allison Height. Good evening. My name is Allison Height. I live  on um 3427 Orman Road in Cleveland Heights.   Um I'm a parent of a Cleveland Heights University  Heights student. Um and I was at the school board   meeting a few weeks ago and now I'm here um to  urge you sincerely um to think of creative ways   uh to increase your support for the public  schools. Um one specific item that is near  

and dear to my heart is the public preschool  program. I have a 2 and 1 half-year-old um who I   would really like to send to the public preschool  program, but recently the district uh eliminated   its full day 3 to fouryear-old preschool program.  So, I cannot choose a public program for my   son. Um because I work full-time, my husband  works full-time. I don't have family nearby. I   can't cobble together something to happen at  11:30 every day and all day on Fridays. Um,   so and I appreciate that there are limitations  as to what the city can do to support the public   schools financially with resources, but I do  think that there are creative ideas potentially   um that I would love for you all to entertain.  Um, so specifically with the preschool program,   um, there's a lot of alignment, right? So the city  has an interest in the public health components,   the child care infrastructure, parks and  recreation equity. Um so there are thoughts   about what could the city do? Um one option  I thought of uh and discussed last uh at the   schoolboard meeting um is an extended day program.  So this district provides school district provides   educational programming in the morning and then  there's an extended care program in the afternoon   which um is something that you could charge for  because it's not legally required services. Um,   so the district can sort of take care in the  morning, provide anything that's necessary for   like a student with a disability in the afternoon  as well. Um, but otherwise it's something that is   extra. It's like daycare pretty much. Um, could  this be housed at the community center? Um,   could this be part of the South Rink? Um, think  of the intergenerational programming that could   be available. You could have seniors come in and  do story time at the community center. Could Kain   Park have a um outdoor uh preschool educational  learning center for the preschoolers? Um you know,   when the city can take care of that part of the  programming, they can take care of utilities,  

uh maintenance, janitorial services, the parks and  recck department can take care of the play area   and then the school district can be responsible  for the educational components and anything   else that would be necessary. But it would it  would, you know, lower the burden for the school   district. Um, so I urge you uh to try to meet with  the University Heights um city council to think   of creative ways to reinstate this program. The  school board last meeting talked about how they   wish they had a stronger partner partnership with  the city. Um, I will volunteer my time any any way   that's possible uh to support this. Um, and I  know there's lots of other creative ideas. So,   um, I hope we can find a solution. Thank  you, Allison. I I have a quick question   for you. So the 21 or so odd people that were  uh furled by the school board. Yeah, that was   the pro that that's where the program got No, my  understanding is um from that meeting last was   there were about 30 people that were rifted. Um  none were part of the preschool program. This is   uh like a reconfiguring of the preschool  program. I've tried to get answers as to   exactly why. I know there are limitations as to  the space and the personnel um but um this was an   option last year. Um it's just gone away and I'm  not exactly sure why. Yeah. Thanks Jim Nemesis. Uh Jim Neistl uh 2930 Edge Hill Road, Cleveland  Heights, Ohio. First, Mayor, I'd like to say that   Dennis Park looks really nice. They did a nice  job. Uh President Cuda, Mayor Petus, Council,   I'm going to speak plainly tonight. Horseshoe  Lake Park is not a done deal. It's not approved  

by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Yet the city of  Cleveland Heights website keeps telling the public   the opposite. Your website says the project is  moving forward. It says the plan is being advanced   in coordination with the Northeast Ohio Regional  Sewer District. To the public, it reads like a   park is inevitable. A deal is done. It's going to  be built. Like the corpse is a rubber stamp. It's   like years of citizen objections never happened.  And I'll tell you how it felt to many of us.   It's like we're stabbed in the back. Like the city  quietly stepped away from its own residents and   stood with the district instead. I'm not saying  there was a quidd proquo. I'm saying that your   message creates an appearance of one. And that  appearance is corrosive. So now let's talk about   the law and the public input. Under the Army Corps  under federal NEPA regulations, title 33 of the   code of federal relation section 23010. The core  must prepare an environmental assessment or a full   environmental impact statement that examines  the full range of reasonable alternatives and   evaluate those environmental consequences. And the  core requires public input and multiple stages.   Public comments, public review of alternatives,  the public review of court's draft environmental   document. Nothing can be finalized until the  public has a real meaningful chance to weigh in.   But the core cannot begin this process until the  district submits a complete alternative analysis,   including a no action alternative with real data.  This has not been done. And let's be honest,   the court didn't impose this new standard  by coincidence. They did it because the   public residents like those in Cleveland Heights  documented serious procedural failures by this   district and others who weren't following the  rules. People spoke up and the core listened.   Which means this, anything the city does  from this point forward to advance the park  

plan could be for nothing. Once alternative  analysis is done, the core could choose a   different option. The the park could be changed,  delayed, or scrapped entirely. The gaslighting,   the illusionary truth being put forth  by the sewer district is not acceptable.   Let's talk about why the city is so eager to align  with uh the district. Why is the city cozying up   to the authority that has already led them down  a primrose path? Why do they double down with a   partner who's required federal intervention? And  finally, the questions residents keep asking. Why   would you want choose an agency whose core  mission is building sewers to design a park?   This is a fundamental mismatch and everybody  sees it. Thank you very much. Anthony Miozi. Hello everyone. My name is Anthony Mosiozi. Uh  I live on Metobrook. I just I'm going to start   with a few questions. Does anyone up here want  to give exactly how they got here today? What   car they drove? What color their car is? The  any dents or dings? Any bumps or scratches? No.   Well, neither do I. Uh, so, as you can tell where  I'm probably going with this, uh, flock cameras,   record all of that, whether we like it or not.  I know we're starting a I don't know, an an   amendment, uh, look into it. Uh, I, believe it or  not, I do want to be safe. I do want to prevent   crime. Flat Cameras, a billion dollar company that  records all of this data behind the public's back.   even though they say they're being honest with  you guys, they're not. I I asked this because my   friend did a formal uh foyer, whatever the local  version of that is, foyer for a different city,   which I'm not going to name because that's  the entire point of this. And they tracked  

him across three different cities under the guys  that this the same guys that we have here that   they aren't doing that. They uh had the cameras  at Home Depot. And again, I'm not going to say   what city because Home Depot also partnered with  Flock. They tracked exactly how fast he was going,   which direction he was going, where he turned,  when he stopped, and sometimes even if his   light was out. I don't trust Flock. I'm pretty  sure like we can say that pretty comfortably   that's the case. I appreciate you guys taking a  deeper dive into it. I heard that there might be   uh a meeting coming up about that. I'm not sure  if that's correct or not, but I really want again   to just keep bringing up that there might be  a different way that's not a billion-dollar   company who thinks that anyone like me bringing  up this problem is a terrorist. So, thanks guys. Edgar Mitchell. Edgar. Good evening, council. I'm Edgar Mitchell. You see  me almost every meeting and I just like to uh I   have positive things to say tonight because I'm  very happy with the project that we had at 1062   Neil View. The project is well underway. It's not  complete, but you can see that it's going to be a   beautiful thing when it's over. Also, uh I want  to thank council for their input and everything   they did to make this happen. Mayor Petrix, thank  you for your input on that. You did a great job in   helping me too with that. Also, the human resource  center here in Cleveland Heights and everyone that   uh participated in this. I want to thank them once  again. I can never thank you enough. I also want   to thank the city for uh what it's doing about a  lot of the potholes in the city. I don't care what  

kind of car you got, electric or gasoline, if you  hit a pothole, it might mess it up. So, some of   the potholes are being worked on and I thank the  city for for doing that and hopefully we can get   some more uh things going with that because right  down from Goodno where I have a home and where   East Overlook runs into Goodnor, there's a pretty  bad pothole right through there. Anyway, uh thank   you. God bless and we work together, we'll get a  lot of this done. Thank you, Lou. Ratavoyovich. Thank you, Council Mayor. Lou Radavoyovich,  Middlehurst Road. Um, I just feel like I need   to share my two cents on rank choice voting. Um,  to me, I just feel like it is fundamentally a   better way for us to run our democracy. Last fall,  I spent a lot of time uh with you guys bantering   about the charter amendment. I was in Dvita's camp  of dividing the charter into chewable chunks. You   all wanted an all or nothing type of campaign with  the charter amendment. It never occurred to me and   I suspect many other residents that rank choice  voting would never be on the ballot. It was just   a function of when it would be on the ballot. So,  I'm just asking you to finish what you started and   finish what you promised. The charter review was  working on this for two years. You had hardworking   neighbors. That's what I heard about. They were  dedicated to this. Important enough to have one   out of five buckets to be a part of rank choice  voting. Out of these nine members, we had six   of them who approved it. Only one of them did  not like it and the others abstained. That's   that's a high majority. That might be even a super  majority. To me, I just want to make sure that we   understand rank choice voting is not some novelty.  It is significant. Why change the current way of   voting? Some might say, "It ain't broke. Don't fix  it." And I look at it and I see 70% of our voters  

consider themselves as independents. And we can't  even get more than two and a half people out of 10   to show up to vote. Not even two and a half people  to vote out of 10. That's a broken system. It   seems confusing. If you're not willing to learn,  just keep doing what you're doing and vote for one   is what I would tell somebody. I like to dial in  my vote. I like to tell you what my second place   vote is. I like to tell you what my third place  vote is. And I like to tell you most importantly   who my last place vote is. If they're toxic,  they're going to know. Um, you know, I I just   see how it works for one position. People might  say, "I see how it works for a mayor. I see how   it works for a governor. I see how it works for  a senator. I see how it works for a president."   But then they always come back, I don't see how it  works for our council. And I look at that, are we   seriously talking about just council, part-time  roles? Yet we see the validation as a governor,   a validation as a senator, a validation as  a president that this is a proper way of of   voting going forward. And certainly I hear  about the state funding, the 2.1 million,   I guess now it's 2.2 million. I don't know how we  didn't have that conversation a year or two years   ago. I think we would know that the state was  going to bring some of that to the table. Um,   but I look at and saying, hey, I don't think that  is a done deal. I understand there's loopholes   that we can go around and protect ourselves to  that. And I also asked that that is 2% of our   annual budget. Maybe we need to focus a little  bit more on how do we get from 100 million to 103   million, 105 million, and put our energy towards  growing the city rather than figuring out how   we're always saving money. And then I just say,  mayor, I mean, I know you're better than potholes.   I know you're better than swimming pools. Um,  it's been a long time since Cleveland Heights   took on a leadership role, and it should be you.  Every city in this state is counting on us to   show some courage and what home rule means. Rank  choice voting should be your legacy. Thank you. Harriet Applegate. Oh. Oh. Oh. Mayor would  like to say something. Just like to say that   I personally am a big proponent of rank  choice voting. I actually when it was  

being considered in University Heights  organized voter outreach efforts there,   door knocking. So, I'm a big proponent, but  the reality is that this is a council function. Harriet Applegate, 1522 Crest Road. Um,  I want to ditto everything that L said,   maybe expand a little bit on that, but I want  to express my my great disappointment in you as   a group and you as individuals. I've been working  on this. I've been working actually active around   rank choice voting since 1994. Um there were  a couple campaigns and since C Cincinnati used   it for 25 years and during that time it was  considered one of the best governed cities in   the country by Forbes magazine. It's a really good  system. Its time has come. It is now rank choice   voting is is you can almost say it's a trend.  It's so much of a trend. It's being adopted by   progressive cities and states around the country  such to the extent that ALEC took it upon itself.   the American Legislative Exchange Commission,  the right-wing think the right-wing uh group   that writes legislation for all the states that  Republicans control. They they made it they they   put on a campaign to me get states to say that  it's illegal. Just giving you a little background   that you may or may not know. So you've got the  right the far right of this country actively   working to destroy the prospects of a of truly  what is a a movement around the country for rank   choice voting. And so we don't exist Cleveland  Heights is not in a vacuum. We're a part of a   of a of a county of a state and of a nation.  And it it's important to to put ourselves in   that context. We are not just this little island  of a of a very well-governed city that fixes all   its potholes and does everything right. We exist  in a much larger context. As you may I hope you  

understand, reform comes from the grassroots and  goes up. It does not trickle down. And you can't   get reforms if you don't start at the local level.  So proponents of rag choice voting all across the   country start at the local level. Now, you might  not think that it would make a difference in   Cleveland Heights City Council. None of us can say  whether it would or not. You know, you I can see,   for instance, if if rank choice voting were on  uh it were in place right now, we might have   two members of the Orthodox community on this.  We might have a socialist on this council. We   might have any number of things because that would  reflect the the this city. And as you know and and   all of us know, this city is chock full of people  who are engaged not just at the local level,   but at the state and national levels as well. And  and we care about things, not just potholes. We   care about politics. Our politics is broken. Rank  choice voting is is one of the best ways to uplift   and improve politics in the United States,  in the state of Ohio, the county of Kaihoga,   and the city of Cleveland Heights. So, I wish  you could, you know, appreciate the the the   context of your of all your worries about, you  know, what was it? 1% 2% of the budget. Really,   I mean, this is this is an important political  reform. It's an important way to make our country,   our state, and our city more democratic. And  God knows we need these kinds of reforms at this   point in our history. We got a broken system.  This is one of the ways to fix it. Thank you. That's all we have. All right. Thank you.  Uh we're uh as by the way, very thoughtful   comments as usual tonight. Uh old business. New  business. Mayor, I just have a quick question for   you under new business. I don't know if this  actually belongs here, but so Memorial Day,  

uh we're doing a celebration. I guess my  question is how do we get vets there and   you know more people because it's a wonderful  event but you know you know how can we get   attendance up especially among among veterans.  We we've been actively working on this. Um so   we have a weekly Friday call on this event.  Um and we have worked with a number of local   veterans to come up with ideas for how to  improve this event. Um and so I think that   this year's event will be one that we should be  proud of. And it is a week from today. At what   time? Let me check the time real quick.  Might as well do a little advertising. I apologize. I'm not finding it immediately  and I don't want to misspeak. Um, Michael,   do you happen to remember the time? I think  that I know what time, but I again I don't   want to misspe. Okay. But it will be on the  city's website. Yeah. Correct. All right. Well,   thank you. Um, move on to council member comments.  Who would like to go first or go at all? Actually,   I shouldn't assume you have comments to make, but  uh Councilman Posh, I just want to talk about rank   choice voting here for a minute. Um, and I hope  anybody that is concerned about I think council's   I don't want to say decision, but feeling that  I really can't move forward at this time on it,   they go back and they listen to the meeting  that we had a hour and a half ago. uh and the   passionate comments that my peers uh made about  it. I mean, I think the the general feeling is   we're we we love the idea, we want to do it, but  the penalty that the state could put on put on  

us is a couple million dollars. I mean, that's a  big ask and where we'd be what the second city in   Ohio that does it. I mean, it's not like there's a  groundswelling interest in adopting this. I mean,   if there was a way to do a constitutional  amendment and do it right so we can have this   statewide, I think that would be a wonderful  thing. I think it's a better better way to to   cast your ballot. Um, but I just personally  as a council member can't see us forfeiting   two plus million dollars plus working with plus  working with with groups like ODNR that give us   their their their advice and help for free. Um,  and hopefully can help us with Shaker Lakes and   stuff. I mean, I just think it's it's too much of  a risk at this point. Um, and the and the lawyers   that are advising us are agreeing with that. So,  I think that's where where we stick right now. And   I'm sorry that people are disappointed about it.  I don't think it's basically on the merits of rank   choice voting. It's really based on the penalty  that the state legislature is putting on uh cities   like us. I mean, they're the ruling party and  they're ruling on us right now. And I don't see   us I I just don't see any any other alternative  at this time. All right. Any other council member   comments? Councilman Cohen refer the public back  to our committee the whole meeting for the fuller   discussion. But I do want to make clear which  wasn't mentioned earlier that the penalties   were we were discussing are the result of the  passage of Ohio Senate Bill 63 which was passed   um this past March and signed on March 17th, 2026.  So the land current legal and financial landscape   that we are working in right now changed just two  months ago. And for those that ask, you know, why   didn't we think about this earlier, that's why,  and I think I can speak for myself and that I was  

u more favorably disposed to the idea and eager  um to learn more and to potentially put it on   the ballot. But given the current legal status  of uh that that there is now a uh a state law   that prohibits rank choice voting and given the  potential fiscal financial loss of not only the   local government funds but any costs of litigation  that might have to follow which is very likely   um are my I can't in good conscience um given my  fiscal responsibility to the city support this now   if the legal uh lands Cape changes, I'm open to,  you know, reconsidering, but currently right now,   that's where I am. Thank you. Other other  comments from council. All right. Well,   I'm going to talk. Okay. Go ahead.  Apologize. Uh Addie, with her help,   identified that the event starts at 10:30 a.m. on  Monday. Glad to hear that. Okay. 10:30 a.m. for   the Memorial Day celebration. Let them know where  at at the Veterans Memorial at the intersection of   Cumberland and Mayfield. Right across from the rec  center. Correct. All right. Thank you. Very good,   Mr. President. Yes. If I might on the question of  the rank choice voting and uh the penalties as the   council has discussed in the past. I just wanted  this to be clear based upon some of the comments   and I think the comments that members of council  made a couple hours ago capture this correctly,   but there are arguments that the penalty might  not apply to a charter municipality exercising   its home rule authority and um having ranked  choice voting occur via a charter amendment.   Unfortunately, it seems equally clear. So, there  are arguments. Um, it seems equally clear that the   penalty I think is probably constitutional um in  terms of how it could apply if it were triggered.  

Um, and what's not known is how the Secretary  of State might approach this, how courts might   approach, you know, evaluating the Secretary of  State's determination if this litigation that was   mentioned were to come about. And um, you know,  there's no clear answer that says the city could   do this, could provide for this, and be free  from the risk of losing those local government   funds. Thank you. All right. Uh, so I really feel  compelled to talk about rank choice voting. Uh,   my colleagues have spoken about it. I have a  different take than some of my colleagues and   I do think that because of the passion. Uh, you  know, I certainly owe an explanation about where   I'm at. So, first I would like to say that that  I do appreciate the rank choice voting advocates.   uh they've shown a lot of passion for that  and that type of dedication should always   be commended. I and I want to again commend the  work of the charter review commission uh although   I wouldn't characterize their vote the way Mr.  Ratavoyovich did uh because there were members who   just thought they didn't know exactly how they  felt about it but they thought it should move   forward which is different than being an advocate.  I I do appreciate their work and where they landed   and it is um it is the reason we have a much  improved charter today, the work of the charter   review commission. But at the end of the day, I  have to be convinced that every charter amendment   that council puts on the ballot is in the best  interest of Cleveland Heights. That's in our oath   of office. And in this particular case, I have  to be convinced that the way we vote now would be   improved by rank choice voting. And after giving  this matter a lot of thought, I'm not convinced. I   don't think the way we vote now is problematic. I  believe eliminating the primary election for mayor  

is problematic because it removes what I believe  to be an essential part of the process. The second   round of scrutiny that happens after a potentially  crowded field of candidates is whittleled down to   two. It's a completely different animal when  you have 10 people running and then when it's   whittleled down to two people. Um that seven weeks  that follows the primary allows our residents to   focus on the two top vote getters and make a  sidebyside comparison. I think we need more   scrutiny in our elections, not less. You eliminate  an election, less scrutiny. I believe eliminating   the primary gives us less than what we have now.  I also do not believe this council or any council   should put any charter amendments on the ballot  without doing what last year's council did. Uh   you you cannot forecast what another council will  do. So what what did we do? We scrutinized every   charter amendment recogni uh recommended by  the charter review commission. Some we decided   not to put on the ballot. Even though they were  recommended, we didn't put them on the ballot.   Many if not most we modified in some way or  another. Some we put on the ballot as is and   then council put some amendments on the ballot  that the charter review commission did not even   consider. Regarding rank choice voting, we went  through a process. We listened at forums that were   held by rank choice voting advocates. We studied  the issue by researching. There's no shortage of   information on the internet. And we held a hearing  and asked questions right in this council chamber.   This council gave more time to this issue than  any other single recommendation by the charter   review commission. At the end of the day, you have  to have five votes to put a charter amendment on   the ballot and you have to have public support.  I have not seen a significant amount of support  

from council or from our residents. That in no  way diminishes the effort put forward by the   rank choice voting advocates. I would just like to  think that we simply have a difference of opinion   on this issue. Again, thank you all for coming to  this meeting. This meeting is adjourned at 8:43.