Cleveland City Council Meeting Summary - February 2, 2026
Cleveland City Council Meeting Summary - February 2, 2026
On February 2, 2026, the Cleveland City Council convened to consider several emergency ordinances and legislation, including the final passage of "Tanisha's Law" to establish a Bureau of Community Crisis Response, various public safety grants, waste management infrastructure updates, marina fee amendments, and a comprehensive management training program. The meeting featured significant discussion on the necessity of administrative training for 700+ supervisors and the economic state of the Flats East Bank, resulting in the approval of most items pending committee referrals for the training ordinance due to budget transparency concerns.
Consent Calendar
- Tanisha's Law (Ordinance): Passed by the Finance committee. Includes a proffered amendment by Councilman Richard Starr and supported by Councilman Brian Casey to strike the phrase "in-person" regarding officer interview requirements for the Community Crisis Response unit, allowing for phone interviews to accommodate schedules.
- Ordinance 26-2026 (VAWA Grants): Approved authorizing the acceptance of grants from Cuyahoga County Public Safety and Justice Services for the FY 2025 Stop Violence Against Women Act program, covering domestic violence (law enforcement), sexual assault advocacy, and prosecution components.
- Ordinance 25-2026 (Clerk of Courts): Approved authorizing the acceptance of a $75,000 State Justice Institute grant to develop a continuity of operations plan following a cyber incident, including a contract with the National Center for State Courts.
- Ordinance 33-2026 (Waste Collection): Approved authorizing up to three-year contracts for residential carts, street receptacles, and compactors with an annual budget of approximately $2.3 million, funded by general funds and bond proceeds.
- Ordinance 1541-2025 (Marina Fees): Approved authorizing the amendment of a lease with Flats East Management LLC to charge boat docking reservation fees for a five-year period, subject to Coast Guard safety zone waivers.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Councilman Michael Belissy: Expressed strong opposition to adversarial relationships in Washington, praising the compromise achieved between the administration and council sponsors regarding Tanisha's Law. He noted the collaborative effort between the sponsors, administration, and the Safety Committee.
- Councilman Brian Casey: Stated sympathy for the Anderson family and expressed a willingness to serve as a co-sponsor. He voiced concern regarding police protocols for mental health crises in the field but acknowledged the deputy commissioner's future role in establishing those protocols. He offered congratulations to Councilwoman Jones and the administration.
- Councilman Michael Palency: Offered a critical position regarding the Flats East Bank, stating that local operators and property owners believe the area is "going backwards" due to insufficient security and city assistance on prime weekend nights. He demanded transparency from the administration and stakeholders regarding the true economic and safety conditions, contrasting with the positive reports given by the Flats East representatives.
- Councilwoman Jones (Proponent of Tanisha's Law): Expressed pride in the legislative process, highlighting the "labor of love" and the successful negotiation between the administration and council members.
Discussion Items
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Tanisha's Law (Bureau of Community Crisis Response):
- Councilman Brian Casey asked about the protocol for police officers to back off during mental health crises. The Chair directed that the future Deputy Commissioner will be responsible for setting these protocols, though officers currently have the option to call co-responders or non-CIT officers for support.
- Amendment Discussion: Assistant Director Jason Shachner requested an amendment to Section 135.481 to allow phone interviews instead of in-person interviews for specialized CIT officers to accommodate scheduling for 15-22 candidates. The amendment to strike "in-person" was approved unanimously.
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VAWA Grants (Ordinance 26-2026):
- Councilman Mike Belissy requested data on domestic violence cases broken down by ward. Prosecutor Jordan explained that breaking down data by ward requires manual counting and is not currently in their system, though they provided overall fiscal year numbers (2,220 DV cases, 12 stalking cases).
- Council Position: Councilman Belissy expressed support but emphasized the need for ward-level data in the future to understand geographic disparities.
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Management Training Program (Ordinance 29-2026):
- Councilman Christopher Harsh questioned the redundancy of the $900,000 expenditure, arguing it seems like "outsourcing HR to HR" and criticizing the city's admission of incompetent managers. He refused to support the ordinance without reviewing the detailed curriculum and committee vetting.
- Councilman Richard Starr noted that a similar assessment and design ordinance (Ordinance 10-2024) was passed two years ago for $100,000. He questioned if the same firm would bid and urged the item be sent back to the Workforce, Education, Training, and Youth Development committee for deeper scrutiny regarding the justification and specific scope.
- Director of HR (Cole): Defended the necessity of the program, stating it fills a gap in the city's history with no prior citywide management training. He explained the program involves three cohorts (people leaders, executive leaders, core leaders) focusing on core competencies and requires specialized vendor content development and delivery, which HR lacks the bandwidth to execute internally.
- Council Position: Due to concerns over the $900,000 cost and the distinction between the previous $100,000 design phase and this implementation phase, Council President and Councilman Harsh/Starr moved to delay the vote for further review.
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Flats East Bank (Ordinance 1541-2025):
- Councilman Brian Casey asked if the US Coast Guard waiver was secured. Director De Janero clarified the waiver has not been received and the legislation is null and void if the waiver is denied.
- Councilman Michael Palency challenged the optimistic view provided by the Flats East representatives, citing complaints from merchants about low attendance on weekends and lack of security. He directed the administration to investigate the discrepancy between the reported success and the operators' reality.
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Waste Collection (Ordinance 33-2026):
- Councilman Palency questioned the efficacy of the new carts versus broken ones being "eaten" by trucks. Commissioner and Director explained the shift from 48-gallon to 64-gallon carts to better match truck calipers, significantly reducing breakage. They also discussed education plans with Cuyahoga County to improve recycling participation.
Key Outcomes
- Tanisha's Law: Passed the committee with the amendment to allow phone interviews for CIT officer selection. Will be heard by the full body that evening.
- Ordinance 26-2026 (VAWA): Approved; authorizes acceptance of grants for domestic violence and sexual assault programs.
- Ordinance 25-2026 (Clerk of Courts): Approved; authorizes $75,000 grant for continuity of operations planning.
- Ordinance 33-2026 (Waste): Approved; authorizes $2.3M annual spending on carts, receptacles, and compactors for up to three years.
- Ordinance 1541-2025 (Marina): Approved; authorizes lease amendment for boat docking fees, contingent on Coast Guard waiver approval.
- Ordinance 29-2026 (Management Training): Held and Referred to the Workforce, Education, Training, and Youth Development committee. The committee deferred the vote to allow for further vetting of the $900,000 expenditure and to clarify the relationship with the 2024 assessment ordinance. Councilman Star and Councilman Harsh led the call for this reassignment.
- Directives: The Director of HR was instructed to meet with Councilman Star and Councilman Harsh to discuss the reassignment and provide further clarity on the training program's content and necessity before a future vote.
Meeting Transcript
Michael Anderson, along with many family members, he worked with a group of case West Preserve University Law Stud, which was the first version of Tunisia's law that was presented to this body in November of 2024. From that point to now, um, when you start off to what you have in front of you is a piece of legislation which will create uh the Bureau of Um response, which will be housed in the division of EMS with Commissioner Wheeler, under the leadership within public safety, with Director Drummond, and um from that point, um this legislation creates a position of a deputy commissioner of community crisis who will then be tasked once hired to build out this division where we will have um unarmed crisis professionals that will be utilized as we know the fourth option currently when people call 911, inspire EMS, police fire EMS. Uh we were going through the process to create a fourth option, which um we have yet to title what that fourth option will be, but the new deputy commissioner uh will do that. Um as part of that you will find that there are a minimum of some training standards for uh our current uh first responders, um, as well as creating a path for mental health professionals as well as um peer specialists, those with lived experiences from I will say the multitude of behavior health and mental health. Um lived experience to get training to hopefully uh then be able to provide care if it is deemed necessary. Um that's basically what you have in front of you all. Um there were a multitude of professionals that have gotten us to this point, and as we look to hopefully pass this legislation, um our community stakeholders will be working in partnership with um uh the team in EMS, uh, specifically in the Bureau of Community Crisis Response to ensure that the vision that we have laid out is actually carried out with fulfilled. First of all, thank you, uh Councilwoman and great work. I know that this was um uh labor of love that you want to take on. I want to take a moment if I can. I believe that a couple of members of uh this and family are here. I didn't think any other family members are here. Okay, so they'll be here later tonight. Okay. I just wanted to make sure that we acknowledge them. Um I do want to hear from council and drumming and then uh any remarks from the chair of the same chair to our council members. Thank you for giving out to come relative to Tisha's law. Um we've had in hand with uh the council members. Um specifically uh council member House Jones and uh tomorrow uh assistant director Shaq to come up with this legislation. Uh and uh working hand in hand uh to make sure that uh the best possible work is together. We we have this cooperative uh both uh administration the council members want to get this uh to the finish line. Thank you. Uh I'm gonna ask any remarks from uh councilman Michael Belissy, the chair of public safety. Thank you, uh Mr. Chairman by the colleagues and to the uh members of the administration to my colleagues Stephanie House Joseph. Um here is a classic case, Mr. Chairman. We're always believed that reasonable people can come up with reasonable solutions. We went into this with the administration opposed to it, uh, what was being proposed by and the mayor post to it um uh by being proposed by the prime sponsors, but through negotiations through dialogue through sitting down and coming to understand each person to each side's um concerns and issues, we were able to come up with the piece of legislation is before us today. So again, um, and I say that especially for the viewing public, because we live in a world today, as we see in Washington, especially in Washington, where there was no compromise, there is no meeting middle ground, coming to middle ground. It's just an adversarial relationship. But I'm glad to say, and I'm proud to say that uh through the efforts of both the sponsors and the administration, and then which came before the safety committee, we're able to effectively put forth a piece of legislation, which again will take time to implement. We all understand that, but I believe we're on the right path and right course in dealing with this issue that we've been confronted with from our first responders. So again, I want to commend everybody who was involved in the process. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I wholeheartedly support it, and I hope all the other members of the safety committee, including myself, which who asked to be added, were put onto the piece. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Brian Casey, thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, Mr. Chairman, as council members, we're not supposed to be human, and we're not supposed to put emotions into things. But it's no surprise or it's no shock to anybody that I'm a father with a daughter who has a developmental disability. And I wear that with the with the badge of honor. And I didn't want to get involved with Tanisha's law because I felt that I would be too emotional in the process. And I didn't think that that would be fair to the people who were trying to put this together. But I sympathize immensely with with the Anderson family. And when I keep going over that case, I could just imagine, and everybody at this table has met my daughter, right? And you I don't think anybody could imagine Brianna going through something like Tanisha did. The hard work and dedication and and councilwoman House Jones, we don't always see eye to eye.
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