City Council

601 Lakeside Ave Cleveland, OH 44114 (Directions)

Cleveland City Hall, Council Chambers (or watch on YouTube)

Cleveland City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Cleveland in Ohio. In this meeting, residents may address council with public comments, and council typically introduces legislation and votes on legislation. Council does not typically discuss legislation in detail at this meeting; that happens in council’s committee meetings.

There are 17 elected Cleveland City Council members representing the 17 wards of the City of Cleveland. Each ward has approximately 25,000 residents. Council Members are elected to serve a four-year term. Council members serve two roles in their duties: to draft and enact legislation for the city of Cleveland and act as ombudspersons for their constituents.

Council members:

• Joe Jones
• Kevin Bishop
• Kerry McCormack
• Deborah Gray
• Richard Starr
• Blaine Griffin, council president
• Stephanie Howse-Jones
• Michael Polensek
• Kevin Conwell
• Anthony Hairston
• Danny Kelly
• Rebecca Maurer
• Kris Harsh
• Jasmin Santana
• Jenny Spencer
• Brian Kazy
• Charles Slife

Note: Sometimes, council is late to update its agenda for this meeting. If you hear the clerk read something interesting, but you don’t see it on the agenda, you may want to check for updated agendas for this meeting and other council meetings from earlier in the day. Check out this video for how to find those agendas.

Note: Confirming the spelling of public commenters’ names can be tricky. One place for a quick check is the commenter index on Public Comment CLE, a website created by Clevelander Angelo Trivisonno. The index has the names of all public commenters at Cleveland City Council meetings since October 2021, along with links to video of their comments. Check out the index to see if any commenters from the meeting you covered have been at the mic before: https://pubcomment.org/cle/commenter-index/. If not – and if a one-minute Google search doesn’t turn up a match – feel free to note that you’re unsure of the spelling in your coverage.

Watching remotely?

The meetings are streamed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ClevelandCityCouncil/streams

You may also catch livestreams on TV2O’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ClevelandTV20/live_videos

Also TV20’s website: http://www.tv20cleveland.com/watch-now/

Attending in person?

We add two hours of pay ($36) to the assignment. Be sure to bring a photo ID. Parking is free on Mondays after 5 p.m. on the top level of the Willard Parking Garage, located at 601 Lakeside Ave.

Find past Documenters coverage of City Council meetings here: https://cleveland.documenters.org/reporting/?agency=181

For more information go to Cleveland City Council’s website: https://www.clevelandcitycouncil.org.

Check the source website for additional information