City Council Caucus Meeting [IN-PERSON ONLY]

Cleveland City Council

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Monday, March 25, 2024
12:00 p.m. — 2:00 p.m. EDT

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601 Lakeside Ave E Cleveland, OH 44114 (Directions)

Cleveland City Hall, Room 220 (large conference room)

NOTE: This is an in-person-only meeting.

A City Council Caucus is an informal gathering of Cleveland City Council members. Council members use the meeting to discuss and gain clarity on issues and processes and to hold political discussions. They do not vote on legislation in this meeting.

Council caucus meetings are held in person and are NOT broadcast by TV20 or live-streamed to council’s YouTube channel.

Documenters: Two additional hours ($36) will be added to your paid assignment hours. Be sure to bring your photo ID.

NOTE: At a past caucus meeting, Documenters noted a lack of available seating in this room (chairs were reserved for city hall staff and Cleveland school district staff). Seating availability can vary from meeting to meeting, but on that occasion, a Documenter was left with the options of standing or sitting on the floor. Please don’t hesitate to ask council or city hall staff for additional chairs if there is no seating available. This is a meeting open to the public, after all!

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

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

Check the source website for additional information

Reporting

Edited and summarized by the Cleveland - OH Documenters Team

Note-taking by Karima McCree-Wilson

Fair Districts Ohio describes its efforts to end gerrymandering

View notes

Live reporting by Rosie Palfy

Council learns about Ohio gerrymandering petition, organ donation

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy

Today I will be livetweeting the @CleCityCouncil Caucus meeting for @cledocumenters & @signalcleveland. The meeting starts at noon. It will NOT be livestreamed & the agenda doesn’t list discussion topics. My colleague Karima McCree-Wilson will take notes. #CLEDocumenters #SignalCLE #CLECityCouncil

10:14 AM Mar 25, 2024 CDT

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 2/27

Citizens Not Politicians is at the monthly Cleveland City Council Caucus meeting to discuss how #gerrymandering impacts elections at the state level.

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 3/27

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 4/27

My tweets are posting slowly. Anything that I miss, I will add later. Caucus meetings often feel like inside baseball. They’re informal & people don’t always introduce themselves because all of the council members already know who they are.

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 5/27

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 6/27

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 7/27

@cledocumenters will get the meeting presentations & I will post links later.

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 8/27

@cledocumenters A gentleman is here from @Lifebanc to discuss the importance of organ donation.

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 9/27

@cledocumenters @Lifebanc This slide shows the organs that can be donated to give the gift of life. #LifeBanc

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 10/27

@cledocumenters @Lifebanc

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 11/27

@cledocumenters @Lifebanc Below is data from @Lifebanc’s 2023 Year in Review.

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 12/27

@cledocumenters @Lifebanc

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 13/27

@cledocumenters @Lifebanc You can sign up to be an organ donor at the @Ohio_BMV & at @Lifebanc.org

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 14/27

@cledocumenters @Lifebanc @Ohio_BMV Jacques Smith shared his story. He is a #LifeBanc board member & a liver recipient. He talked about the challenges he faced as well as his recovery. #OrganDonation

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 15/27

@cledocumenters @Lifebanc @Ohio_BMV @CleCityCouncil president @Griff4CLE6 says he’s giving 2 important updates. One is about the pending TIF legislation. If the legislation passes today, they are just setting up the tool. He discusses the importance of having a “robust community benefits agreement.”

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 16/27

@cledocumenters @Lifebanc @Ohio_BMV @CleCityCouncil @Griff4CLE6 “We want to make sure we get the best deal” for #Cleveland, said Council President Blaine Griffin. They are not talking about the “bonding side” today. There is a part B & C to this legislation.

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 17/27

@cledocumenters @Lifebanc @Ohio_BMV @CleCityCouncil @Griff4CLE6 The next update is about the request from residents for city council to pass a resolution to support a cease fire in Gaza. “This is a very nuanced conflict,” said @Griff4CLE6. He said today the UN Security Council adopted a resolution supporting a cease fire.

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 18/27

This has been a hot button topic at @CleCityCouncil meetings for months. Public comments have been dominated with concerns about the conflict. Residents have demanded that council members pass a resolution supporting a cease fire. Here’s a story from @signalcleveland explaining the controversy.

signalcleveland.org/cleveland-publ…

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 19/27

Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin said that when Palestinian protestors came to meet with him in December, I told them to wait until the after budget hearings conclude in March. He said he’s been watching this “closely” to see how city council could potentially “align” with the federal government’s actions because he did not wanna be “at odds” with the federal government.

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 20/27

Griffin said he wanted to make sure council members knew his “strategy” & he wants to hear from them. Now he’s a little more “open” to passing a resolution. But he wants to really understand what the U.N. Security Council did first. He said nothing was planned as of now, but he’s going to make a phone call after the caucus meeting.

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 21/27

Griffin said he would try to give council members “a heads up” & let them know what's coming up. He wanted to make sure everybody knows that “when it comes to making decisions for this body. All of us are gonna have to do it together.” He’s willing to see what the U.N. Security Council wrote & to see if that's something that city council can be support.

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 22/27

Finally, Council member Mike Polensek said he was “really troubled about” today’s news release from the @CityofCleveland. He said @MayorBibb indicated that 52 new recruits were starting the #police academy & they will graduate in about 7 & a half months. The release is posted below in its entirety.👇

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 23/27

Council member Mike Polensek chairs @CleCityCouncil’s safety committee. “We passed a budget calling for the hiring of 181 officers” & council gave @MayorBibb’s administration “everything that they asked for & then some.”

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 24/27

“Unless they got some tricks up their sleeve,” they aren’t going to hire 181 new @CLEpolice officers this year, said Council member Mike Polensek. His concerns were echoed by Council member Kevin Conwell. Even if the @CityofCleveland hires more #police recruits, they will not hit the streets in 2024 because they will still be in training.

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 25/27

Council President Griffin said he thought they would have at least 70 police recruits in the new academy class. There’s going to be more attrition in April. Griffin talked about the importance of receiving administration updates during city council’s public safety operational hearings.

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 26/27

@CleCityCouncil @MayorBibb @CLEpolice @CityofCleveland Griffin said he agreed with Polensek & asked, “What’s the plan?” The Cleveland City Council Caucus meeting adjourned at 1:30 pm.

Rosie Palfy @RosiePalfy 27/27

@CleCityCouncil @MayorBibb @CLEpolice @CityofCleveland Have questions? Think we got something wrong? Send any inquiries on the meeting or these tweets to @cledocumenters. Or email us at cledocumenters@gmail.com

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Agency Information

Cleveland City Council

See meeting notes for details

www.clevelandcitycouncil.org

(216) 664-2840

@CleCityCouncil

Facebook page

See Documenters reporting

Cleveland City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Cleveland in Ohio. 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 ombudsmen for their constituents.

Find meetings streamed at: *online on TV20 at: http://www.tv20cleveland.com/watch-now/

*The meetings are also streamed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ClevelandCityCouncil/