Mayor's Appointment Committee Meeting - March 11, 2026
Mayor's Appointment Committee Meeting - March 11, 2026
The Mayor's Appointment Committee held its first meeting on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at 1:02 PM to establish committee procedures, set meeting schedules, and consider two nominees for city boards and commissions. The committee reviewed and adopted a set of operational agreements and voted unanimously to recommend both nominees to full council.
Discussion Items
- Committee Agreements: Chairperson reviewed 15 proposed committee agreements covering preparation, communication, respect, punctuality, focus, conflict disclosure, fairness, transparency, and centering public interest. Committee members discussed and implicitly accepted them with no changes. Scheduling preferences were discussed; the committee agreed to meet on Tuesdays at 12:00 PM starting in April, with remaining March meetings on Wednesdays to accommodate scheduling conflicts.
- Nominee: Sydney Evans – Cleveland Commission on Black Women and Girls: Evans, a PhD student at Case Western Reserve University, shared her background in public health and community health work. She expressed interest in addressing the region's poor outcomes for Black women through education and qualitative research. Councilman Casey raised concerns about a residency discrepancy: Evans listed a work address on her application but resides in Cleveland Heights (not Cleveland proper). Councilman Shaw noted that student residency can be transitory and advocated for leniency. Chairperson explained that Evans had been waiting over 18 months for consideration and that the commission legislation would be revised to require city residency for half of the seats. All council members expressed support for Evans' qualifications and passion. The committee voted unanimously to recommend her.
- Nominee: Lucas Reeves – Fair Employment Wage Board: Reeves, a Senior Advisor to the Mayor (at-will employee), described his community development background and the importance of centering people in the board’s work. Councilman Casey questioned his at-will status, noting potential conflicts if the city were named in a complaint. Reeves stated he would seek legal guidance on any conflicts. Councilman Shaw asked about his ability to push back against authority or systems; Reeves provided an example of organizing against a dollar store in Old Brooklyn. The committee voted unanimously to recommend him.
Key Outcomes
- Committee agreements were adopted as presented.
- Regular meeting schedule set: Tuesdays at 12:00 PM beginning in April.
- Sydney Evans recommended to council for appointment to the Cleveland Commission on Black Women and Girls (unanimous).
- Lucas Reeves recommended to council for appointment to the Fair Employment Wage Board (unanimous).
- The committee aims to work 16 weeks in advance of expirations and gave themselves 4–8 weeks to interview candidates before recommendations. Outstanding vacancies will be processed on an as-needed basis.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon. The mayor's appointment committee will begin. Um can we do a roll call? Do we need to take a roll call? No. Huh? Okay, today. Okay. Uh, today's date is Wednesday, March eleventh, twenty twenty six, and the time is one o two. Um, this is the first meeting of the mayor's appointment uh committee, and all the committee members should have received a I sent a couple of things and we printed it out. One of first and foremost, uh, everyone uh should have received a letter as it relates to um our general process when it comes to this committee. One of the things that um Miss Um Iva Coon and myself, we had an opportunity to meet with the mayor's administration to have a conversation of getting our flow together. And um, in an ideal world, we would like to uh work very far in advance, uh, about sixteen weeks prior to when an expiration comes before us so we can give the administration and our council enough time to promote that opening so that uh community members who may be interested may have an opportunity to apply, go through the interview process, and then looking at that time frame between four to eight weeks prior to the expiration date to be able to bring them before our committee and and have conversations. Um then they will be able to then, you know, if we choose to recommend them, it will take uh process from there. Um, beyond that, there was a um uh shared like committee agreements that I propose for um council committee members to at least review. I'm not sure if people had an opportunity to review them, um, but I would like to take a moment um to just review what our committee agreements will be so that everyone will know, and therefore, if there's any conversation, any changes that people will have, we can just talk about them and make adjustments accordingly. Um, so number one, be prepared for committee meetings by reviewing materials and nominee information in advance. Communicate in advance if you are unable to attend or will arrive late. Thank you, Councilwoman Santana. Um, thank you. See, this again when you do commute committee agreements, it helps to set the standard. Uh, number three, treat nominees, guests, staff, and fellow committee members with respect and professionalism. Number four, be respectful of everyone's time by staying focused and keeping remarks concise and relevant. Number five, share concerns, questions, or conflicts in a timely manner so that they can be addressed appropriately. Practice active listening and allow others to complete their thoughts before responding. Number seven, limit distractions during committee hearings, phone side conversations or multitasking. Number eight, maintain fairness and objectivity when evaluating nominees. Number nine, disclose any potential conflicts of interest related to nominees or appointments. Number 10, engage in thoughtful and constructive dialogue, even when they are differing perspectives. Number 11, focus on qualifications, responsibilities, and public impact of the appointment. Number 12, support transparency and accountability in the committee's work. Number 13, respect the role of the chair and establish procedures to ensure orderly and productive meetings. Number 14, assume positive intent while holding one another accountable. And number 15, center the public interest of Cleveland in all discussions and decisions. So those are things that I wanted to offer to the committee for your consideration. And so did anybody have any thoughts, changes, things that you feel like no, I absolutely cannot do. Yeah. I did call though and communicate in a timely manner. Nonetheless, do we anticipate meeting on Wednesdays at this time regularly? So that's what I wanted to talk about. There are two things adjusted. Ideally, yes, beginning in April. Right now, one of the things that I realize is that this March time at this time is not necessarily conducive specifically to our partner, Miss Ibun, who also has a conflicting standing policy meeting, and I wanted to be respectful of that. And so that's one of the reasons when I reach out to each committee member. I've been trying to actually it's you, you might be able to answer this question for DPS. But I need to know do you have the set schedule for um DPS? Is it gonna be every Tuesday? It's most likely every Tuesday. 9 30, and then workforce is yeah, I know workforce. I got I got the um I do have the schedule for work for us, they're every other.
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