Cleveland City Council Safety Committee Meeting – September 24, 2025
Cleveland City Council Safety Committee Meeting – September 24, 2025
The Safety Committee met on September 24, 2025, to consider three ordinances and discuss traffic enforcement, pursuit policies, and public safety. The committee approved two items and held one for revision. Public comment was heard from a business owner.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Chris Taylor, a business owner attempting to start operations under the proposed underspeed vehicle ordinance, expressed frustration with the 27-month delay and the decision to hold the legislation due to a formatting issue. He stated he had already invested money and marketed the concept. The Chair explained the legislative process and that additional amendments required careful review.
Discussion Items
- Ordinance 820-2025 (Corporate Sponsorships for City Facilities) – Director of Parks and Recreation Alex Nichols presented the proposal to authorize $35,000 for consultants to study and sell corporate sponsorships for city facilities. He clarified that existing named facilities (e.g., Lonnie Burton Recreation Center) would retain their names, with sponsors added similarly to Playhouse Square. Chief Two (COO) noted this supports the underfunded parks master plan. Councilmember House Jones raised concerns about evaluating current building names for historical appropriateness. An amendment requiring legislative approval for any naming or sponsorship was added. The committee approved the ordinance as amended.
- Ordinance 808-2025 (Underspeed Vehicles) – The ordinance, introduced July 9, 2025, came with extensive amendments adding application requirements and an appeal process. City Planning Director Callie Mersman explained the amendments refined operational aspects. Several council members (Casey, Starr, Kelly, Slife) recommended holding the item and asking for a clean substitute rather than voting on a heavily amended document. Despite a plea from business owner Chris Taylor, the committee voted to hold the ordinance until the next meeting. Councilmember House Jones questioned the delay in providing updated materials.
- Ordinance 950-2025 (Traffic Enforcement Grants) – The ordinance authorized applying for $46,054.10 from the Ohio Department of Public Safety for impaired driving and selective traffic enforcement (STEP) programs, with no cash match required. The grant funds overtime for traffic enforcement on high-incidence holidays (e.g., 4th of July, New Year’s Eve). Council members expressed strong concern about widespread speeding and reckless driving in neighborhoods and school zones. Discussion included requests for data on traffic tickets issued, pursuit policies, and coordination with the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Councilman Casey asked for statistics on tickets over the last 10 years. Councilman Slife criticized the charter prohibition on traffic cameras and state-level restrictions on automated enforcement.
- Traffic Enforcement and Pursuit Policies – Councilman Casey requested the current Cleveland police pursuit policy, the sheriff’s policy, and information on when they were last updated. Councilwoman House Jones requested details on enforcement discrepancies between downtown establishments (e.g., Play) and neighborhood bars. Chief stated that different agencies operate under their own pursuit policies and that mutual aid agreements exist. Councilman Starr noted a prior request about suburban police pursuits inside Cleveland.
- Drones and National Guard – The Chair indicated the committee will later request a presentation on drone implementation for police and fire. He also stated that he had spoken to Congressman Max Miller and expressed opposition to deploying the National Guard in Cleveland, emphasizing that such a step is not needed at this time.
Key Outcomes
- Ordinance 820-2025 was approved as amended, with legislative approval now required for any naming or sponsorship changes. (Unanimous consent recorded.)
- Ordinance 808-2025 was held and the administration directed to submit a clean substitute with all amendments incorporated. The committee will hear it at the next meeting.
- Ordinance 950-2025 was approved. (Unanimous consent.)
- The committee directed staff to provide traffic ticket statistics, pursuit policies (Cleveland PD and sheriff), and last review dates for those policies.
- A future presentation on drone operations will be scheduled.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, ordinance eight twenty dash twenty twenty-five as amended by council members Griffin by departmental request and emergency orders offered the director of finance to employ one or more professional consultants to study, assess, market, and self corporate sponsorships for city facilities and assets. It's been approved by Director of Finance Bureau. There's no legal objection by the law department. Excuse me, and director. Tell us what this is about. So it was great that we had a lot of interest in this. If the entire proposal is accepted by our legislative body, the first phase would be an assessment of our facilities and the viability of them to receive corporate sponsorships. And if we uh proceed with uh that phase, uh we would go on to phase two if the city is interested and if we have enough viable properties to receive corporate sponsorship. Um that second phase would be an 18-month phase where we would pay the vendor to go out and seek uh corporate sponsorships, they would receive uh portion of the revenue as compensation, and the city would receive the majority of that compensation. Um this item was reviewed by the municipal uh services and properties committee, um, and it was passed, and we are here today to seek approval from the safety committee. Uh and I appreciate your time. Thank you. So thank you, thank you, Director. And director, identify yourself for the viewing public again. I apologize. Uh, my name is Alex Nichols, and I'm the Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Cleveland. Thank you. So to the again to the viewing public, you want to you want us to authorize $35,000, correct? To the chair, yes, that is correct. And then you want to retain at some point um a consultant or I guess that's the best way to describe it, a consultant who then would go out and try to identify uh potential sponsors for city facilities. Is that in a nutshell? To the chair, yes, that is correct. Okay. So what happens, let's say um Lani Burton Rex Center. There's a name on it already. What do you do with something like that? So to the chair, um, we certainly respect and recognize that we have named uh many of our facilities after um folks who uh been very uh influential in our community. Right. Uh the goal of this project is not to change the name of any of those facilities. Um I guess I would imagine it being similar to the way Playhouse Square does it, where the name is retained and it could be um I don't know, uh progressive sponsoring Lonnie Burton recreation center. So the names would be retained. So then we would actually put advertising on the building, how would that work? Let's say again, let's say it's uh progressive insurance and they want to sponsor a rec center, they would put their name on the building. How would they or to the chair? So uh yes, I'm gonna pass this to Chief Two. Thank you, Bonnie T1 to you operating officer. Um I think that's part of the negotiations. Um it would be similar to any naming rights that we have on any buildings, but that would be part of the negotiation if they want signing, what type of signing, how big the signing would be. Okay. So outside of the Cleveland Brown Stadium, which um the Browns control. Um are there any other buildings that are controlled by an outside entity? Complexes to the chair, depending on how you describe uh city buildings, um, the facilities at Gateway, okay, which we have uh oversight of those obviously have naming rights. We have no control over that. That's correct. Okay. Um and it's if it's um those naming rights and the the um uh funding that are associated with those naming rights are usually written specifically in the contract who has responsibilities for those to pursue and to um harvest the the funding. Uh the same would be for the convention center as well. Right, okay. Okay. Um any other thoughts, director chief before I open up for questions.
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