Okay, I'd like to call this Cleveland Heights City Council meeting to order.

It is what is it?

January 20th at 840, 740.

Eddie, would you call the role?

CUDA.

Here.

Cohen.

Here.

Do it for Posh?

Here.

Larson.

Yeah.

Cobb.

Here.

All right.

Any amendments to the agenda?

None.

We'll move on to approval of the minutes from January 7th and January 12th.

Any problem with the agenda with the minutes from those two agendas.

Okay, good.

And then we'll go to communications from the mayor.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Just wanted to cover two things this evening.

So one, I've had a chance to meet with mom most members from city council, and my goal is to include at least one goal from every council member in our work plan for the year.

Um the current state of the facilities and the work of a lot of the folks in the administration.

I also wanted to talk about snow removal for a moment.

So I have seen all of the comments on social media.

I've received a lot of emails, and I hear them.

And I agree that we need to do better.

I have been out there looking at streets myself.

I've been going through our nearby suburbs and looking at their streets, talking with folks in other cities' administrations to learn about their best practices.

Some folks may have heard we uh had uh assault shortage, and we are able to locate 150 tons that was transported to Cleveland Heights over the weekend to get us through until our next delivery on Wednesday.

Um I have arranged meetings with the public works and parks and recreation departments so that we can begin to go through every single facet of uh the snow removal process.

So today we are talking about staffing, we're talking about shifts, we're talking about equipment, equipment that's in need of repair.

Um, we're even talking about getting recalibrated the devices on the back of the trucks that spread the salt.

So those meetings are ongoing, and we hope to have a specific list of improvements that we're going to make to be able to present to council and to the public.

Um the next snowfall is forecasted for Wednesday.

Um we should have enough salt on hand, but again, we are still working through a lot of the structural issues that I think in the long term will help us to deliver uh better quality snow removal.

But I ask people to be patient.

I will Wednesday night be out on trucks myself so that I can observe for myself how uh things work, and I look forward to, like I said, sharing updates to council and to the public on uh the improvements that we plan to make.

But you're not gonna be driving the truck now.

Not until I get a CDL.

So keep everybody safe.

All right.

So we have no departmental reports, so we'll go to um report of the council clerk.

Nothing to report.

Not a thing.

All right.

Uh in that case, we'll go to public comment.

Now we have more than 15 people, so we're gonna we're gonna do two minutes tonight.

Um so make sure when you come up, name, street, city.

Uh and Eddie, you can start.

We have no legislative agenda item comments tonight, so we'll just do our regular um general public comment.

So Jamie Hickner.

Uh Jamie Hickner, uh Edge Hill Road, Cleveland Heights.

I'm here on behalf of Cleveland Heights Remegant Rights since July.

We have met with Mayor Petris and every council member asking for you to put our proposal for legal counsel and legal clinics on your agenda.

We are still waiting.

Um, on January 25th last year, ICE raided Solantra Takaria and abducted six workers without judicial warrants.

After being detained by ICE, most have left the United States.

They are a loss to our community.

Since then, our city council agenda has not even included the word emigrant one time.

Not once.

All immigrants deserve due process, all deserve to feel safe.

But in the past year in Cleveland Heights, immigrants have been detained without judicial warrants, have been deported by ice and self-deported in fear, have been abducted from our streets without public record.

More than 600 immigrants in Cleveland Heights are at risk from ice.

Many live in fear, afraid to go to work, to send children to school, to shop, to see a movie or worship.

Our schools, businesses, faith institutions, and medical facilities have had to plan how to protect immigrants because ICE no longer respects sensitive locations like preschools, hospital beds, or halls of worship.

Since January 2025, ICE and Border Patrol have removed 60, 600,000 people from the United States.

70 to 80% of detained immigrants have no criminal criminal convictions or charges.

68,000 immigrants are in detention at on any given day.

Our cities are occupied by thousands of ICE border patrol and National Guard troops.

Ohio and 19 other states have activated their National Guard units.

As one Cleveland Heights immigrant described, I am afraid to let my children play outdoors.

Please take action to protect due process.

Fund legal counsel, fund legal clinics, protect our immigrants.

Thank you.

Shay sing.

Shay.

Oh evening, Council Mayor.

Um my name is Shay.

Uh I'm a resident uh of 14 years on Euclid Heights.

Um here to uh also lend my my voice to uh why we need to fund right to counsel for people who are engaged by ICE.

My grandfather and my Dadaji came to Ames, Iowa in 1947 on a student visa to do his PhD.

Um he returned to India.

My dad moved in 1981 to Iowa City to do his PhD on a student visa.

Um it isn't lost to me that lots of our residents in the city are students, many of them international students.

Um of whom are are, you know, we are happy to ask to pay rent in new developments and be tenants in our city, work and pay Rita in our city, and also who deserve protection in our city when we have federal agents who discriminate and target people based only on race, garb, or accent, as we have seen, uh not just in in Ohio, but in Minneapolis.

Um, illegal uh warrantless kidnappings of people off the street, whether they are immigrants or citizens.

This is not lost on me that regardless of being born here, that I'm very much at risk of this kind of treatment.

Um I've been at coach in Cleveland Heights of our soccer team.

It is not lost on me that uh significant portion of our uh immigrant players no longer are on the team.

Um I'm a union member of Starbucks Workers United, and that is a national local of workers united affiliated with SEAU.

Um we have seen that immigrants who are in unions have been the only people who've been protected and made safe, like Luella Dixon, who made sausark, Mahmoud Khalil, Kilmargo, and that they deserve not just union, but protection of under the law.

Thank you.

David Barenson.

Lowell and uh hello to new council members who I haven't met yet.

And hello to the second and third mayors of Cleveland Heights.

Um I'm at uh Silsby Silsby Road in Cleveland Heights, the one with the children slide out front and the deer in the back.

Um I am here, I exist here uh because of immigration.

Most recently because of my mother who escaped Nazi Germany in 1941 with her parents.

While most of her family and friends didn't, she was lucky enough to have a sponsor.

Cousin that lived in Cleveland Heights.

The others weren't so lucky.

More uh longer ago than that.

My grandmother on my father's side uh escaped the pogroms in eastern Europe in the late 1800s.

So I urge Cleveland Heights to take a lead and be whatever we can be to support immigrant rights for people who are here legally or not yet legally, um, so that someday somebody else can come up to this podium and say, I exist here because of immigration.

Thank you.

Gary Benjamin, Gary Benjamin, Monmouth Road.

I'm here to speak for AMI, friends of immigrants.

We organized in early 2019 to raise funds for immigrants who had no work permit.

Yeah, it takes about six months to get one.

They needed a rent paid fees to lawyers and government agencies covered, and for other needs to get the family stabilized until someone found work.

In our experience, all of them wanted work.

None were here illegally, and none were criminals.

But some of those who were legally here were under federal programs, such as TPS and humanitarian parole.

There are hundreds of thousands of people under those programs.

Some have been here for years.

They have jobs, houses, cars, and pay taxes.

Those programs for no rational reason will almost all be ended as of early February.

Just Haitians and Venezuelans alone are hundreds of thousands of people that will lose their uh legal status.

This is just because of arbitrary irrational whims that rule our country these days.

The federal administration has created illegality where there was none.

Transactional records access clearinghouse reports there are 65,000 people in detention held now by ICE.

In Ohio, there are 55,000 cases pending before the immigration courts.

There's no longer the right to post bond, which is what we would do with AMI before we get people out.

You have to go through a hearing, and it's a habeas corpus hearing, which is in federal court.

Lawyers are needed to file those petitions.

Any immigrant that has a lawyer has a much better chance of staying out of jail out of the detention.

Just last week I showed up fully armed at Fairmont Presbyterian Church.

Some of you may have heard of this.

Pastor Wallace stood in the door and they went away, finally.

You're being asked to provide funding for legal representation, which would mainly go for habeas corpus petitions because they've ended the right to bonding.

We'll continue participating in that as best we can.

But we would ask that you figure out a way to help our local citizens remain.

It's support for our neighbors and friends who live here.

Would show we are a diverse and welcoming place.

Thanks.

Melody Jihart.

Was that a joke putting me after my husband?

I'm Melody J.

Hart, Monmouth Road, and as all of us, I'm from immigrants, Russian immigrants who accept who escaped Tsaris Russia.

In 2018, we were contacted and volunteered to sponsor a Haitian asylum seeker who had been in detention in Gyaga County jail for over two years.

Yet after we volunteered to sponsor ICE turned us down twice and kept him incarcerated.

He was not a criminal.

He had been a teacher in Haiti, who spoke up against corruption, was then beaten, would likely have been killed by the local government officials if he had remained there.

He had committed no crimes here.

When he was not released to us, the lawyer strategized and brought in the ACLU who filed a habeas corpus suit successfully.

Ainsley was released to us, lived with us for 18 months, got a work permit, a job, a car, rented a house, and was a viable member of our community here in Cleveland Heights and paid taxes here.

If he had not had an immigration lawyer, he would still be in detention or deported back to danger.

So representation is important for immigrants.

As council members, you are charged with representing all Cleveland Heights residents, whether they're voters or not.

This includes those immigrants.

Now, I don't think you should create a department and infrastructure for this within city staffing.

Nor do I think paying an outside for-profit law firm is the most efficient solution.

However, partnering with a not-for-profit that has immigration lawyers working on this and providing them some funds to assist them in this work for our residents would be a responsible solution.

Three not-for-profits locally in the in the area have lawyers who do this work.

They're Catholic charities, legal aid, and a Cilio.

They have immigration lawyers on staff, and the funding to them will help make sure our residents have representation.

I encourage the city to budget this and move forward with the partner organization.

Let's show all our residents that all are welcome.

Thank you.

Barbara Aguilar.

Hello, everyone.

My reason for being here today is because I believe that Cleveland Heights has a unique opportunity to set a new standard for Ohio and the entire country that we will support our communities with a basic standard of justice, dignity, and people's rights to liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness through the means of legal counsel.

Since the last time I was here, I personally know of two families who are without a mother and a father because they were denied rights to speak to a lawyer and unknowingly sign their own deportation orders.

They were told they were able to go home if they had signed the paperwork, but they did not know this meant that they would be sent back to Mexico.

These are people who have already paid an immigration lawyer to file for their paperwork.

They have been vetted and given permission to work, pay taxes, and live in the United States, and they have families who rely on them.

The mother has four U.S.

born children who will now be without their mother here for the next 10 years before she can reapply for a green card.

And their family is now under the supervision of the eldest child, a 19-year-old senior in high school.

The father and grandfather are from a separate family, and they were an asylum seeker with two daughters who are U.S.

naturalized citizens, and they and he has three born American grandchildren.

Their family relied on his income and time to help take care of them, and they will now be at a loss.

These are two individuals, these two individuals would be 10 times more likely to remain in the country if they would have had legal counsel.

A few weeks ago, we all gathered for the holidays to spend time with our families.

But for some of us, we watch children wake up without their parents, without gifts, and without celebrations because their families have become victims of the cruel and unjust administration.

How many more families will sit back and be destroyed?

Yesterday we celebrated the life of Martin Luther King Jr., and today is the National Day of Racial Healing.

Will Cleveland Heights continue to sit idly by as families are torn apart, or will they make it a priority to protect the children in the community and the families who desperately need our help to do what is right and stand up to races, racism, tyranny, and justice.

Council members, I urge you to take the lead.

Angela Manella Hello.

My name's Angela Manella.

I'm a mother of two young children in the Cleveland Heights University Heights School District.

My family moved to Cleveland Heights four years ago in part because we kept meeting kindred spirits from this community who lived their values and stood up for their neighbors.

They tried to be, they tried to be the helpers.

I teach my children to try to look for the helpers.

I'm here tonight with Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights to ask you to support our proposal to fund legal representation for Cleveland Heights residents facing deportation.

This proposal is about assuring due process rights for our neighbors who are under direct threat from federal agents who do not respect the due process rights or human rights of our neighbors, documented or undocumented.

Arrest without due process is kidnapping.

Deportation and incarceration without without due process is human trafficking.

And Mayor Petrus for pledging to make this proposal a day one prior priority.

Immigrants with legal counsel are 10 times more likely to win their cases than those without.

Safeguarding due process for our neighbors is all of our responsibility, and I ask you to take action on this measure.

Thank you.

Mike Corridani.

Because I can't hear the name, and I doubt if they could either.

Funding legal representation is not a sanctuary city policy.

This distinction matters for both accuracy and for public trust.

The sanctuary city is defined by one core feature: limiting local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

These are policies that change how city employees or police interact with agencies like ICE, whether by restricting ICE detainer practices, limiting arrest based solely on immigration violations, reducing immigrant uh information sharing, or prohibiting participation in programs like 287G that deputize local police to act as federal immigration agents.

These types of policies are all critical to keeping immigrant community members safe.

But legal representation does none of these things.

It does not alter how our police operate, how our city communicates with federal agents, or how immigration laws are enforced.

It does not restrict ICE detainers, ICE access to jails, information sharing, or any other federal action.

There is zero overlap between providing lawyers for immigrants facing deportation and the legal mechanisms that define sanctuary jurisdictions.

Sanctuary policies are fundamentally about enforcement, while legal representation is fundamentally about due process.

Our proposal is an access to justice program, similar to how cities fund domestic violence, legal aid, tenant representation, and public defense programs.

It's about fairness, not about enforcement.

And we know this approach is not unique or tied to sanctuary policies.

More than 70 jurisdictions across the country, including many that do not consider themselves sanctuary jurisdictions, already fund legal representation.

They do so because due process is a widely shared American value.

Thank you for your time and thank you for considering this vital program that strengthens due process without changing our city's enforcement policies.

Anastasia Kirillyuken.

I live on Covenant Road in Cleveland Heights.

And I'm an immigrant in 2008.

I came to this country with my mom from Ukraine.

Since then, we have felt very welcome here until recently.

It has been very alarming to see the treatment of immigrants and some US citizens at the hands of ICE.

I worry about my own safety.

I worry about my mom's safety.

I worry about the safety of my loved ones who are immigrants.

I want to see Cleveland Heights do everything in their power to protect people like me and my mom and all the other immigrants that make this community as beautiful as it is.

And one way to do this is to provide funding for legal representation for immigrants.

Thank you.

John Mark Wisnewski Hi, my name is John Mark.

Um I'm a resident of Cleveland Heights.

I live on Coventry Road, and I would like to see Cleveland Heights support and protect the immigrant community in the city.

Thank you.

Carly.

Carly Whitaker.

Hello, counsel.

My name is Carly Whitaker.

I live on Sylvania Road.

I want to say, first of all, I got involved in Cleveland Heights for immigrant rights after the ICE raid on in Cilantro.

I helped by canvassing uh businesses in my noble neighborhood district to sign the pledge.

I I will say that I um voted this time this past election very much based on the responses that some of the candidates gave to uh whether or not they would support a proposal.

So thank you, Jim Petris, for making committing to make this a day one priority.

Um I want to make sure that you know that you're invited to a teach-in work hav this coming Sunday at the Lee Road Library, where you can hear more from people like Mike Cordini about why legal counsel is so important.

And um, I'm actually going to start.

I'm reading uh I'm sure you all know Sheila Keller, who's one of our main organizers.

She is in Minneapolis right now.

So she was she works for the NEA as a labor organizer and is sent to Minneapolis to help with the upcoming strike.

So I'm going to be reading a speech that Sheila prepared since she's not able to be with us because she's defending people in Minneapolis right now.

So, City Council, we have a question for you.

What does democracy look like to you?

Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights formed after the raid on Cilantro.

That raid happened a year ago this week.

Since then, the word immigrant has shown up zero times on city council's agenda.

Since then, all but one of the workers in the raid on Cilantro have self-deported to countries they likely risked their lives to leave, looking for a better life here in Cleveland Heights.

Yet they now find those places safer than Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA.

Let that sink in for a minute.

Since then, 38 people have died in ICE custody, two have been shot by ICE and killed.

One, a white woman at point blank range.

In a country where whiteness is so protected that most of us with that skin color.

So it's uh what plan?

I know.

And she is indeed next, so Marcy Cannard.

Okay.

I live uh I live on Elmwood.

Um Cleveland Heights have since 1991.

Um have been shot.

Anti-racism is an action.

Protecting democracy is an action, not a speech.

We have been heartened to hear that many of you are concerned about the attacks on immigrant rights or can relate to these attacks on basic human rights and constitutional rights we are seeing.

But until you use your power as elected officials to do something tangible about it, you are not anti-racist.

You are not pro-democracy.

Since then, CH Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights has researched, consulted, and produced an eight-point document recommending the best practices for protecting immigrants, prioritizing the safest and most impactful point for you, league for you, legal counsel for immigrants.

We picked this point precisely because it will not draw federal attention the way other sanctuary city policies would.

And yet some of you continue to repeat this mute talking point as if our voices had fallen on deaf ears.

Does democracy look like like listening to your constituents, even the ones you don't dine with and call friend?

Because then, since then, Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights has turned out 90 members of our community to your city council meetings over 120 times to speak on this matter.

Those 90 people each represent many more people who want to see you prioritize immigrant rights in our community.

We have attended eight city council meetings and one safety committee meeting to speak on this matter since August of 2025.

We have met with all of you once, and most of you two to four times to speak on this matter.

We have demonstrated widespread community sport for immigrant rights through our business pledge for immigrant rights, which has over 80 signatures and still ever growing.

Again, since then, Cleveland Heights City Council has not taken any public action that has improved the safety and security of immigrants, some of, if not the most vulnerable residents.

Alan Fetterman.

Family moved here in 1952.

Longtime resident.

And I had a longer talk, but I decided to cut to right to the heart of it.

Some of you may be thinking, why should Cleveland Heights do something like this when maybe Shaker, Cleveland, Beechwood, Lakewood?

They haven't been doing things like this.

And I have an answer.

It's looking around the room.

Do those cities have turnouts like this?

Are the people really backing it?

Are they trying to get their will and their needs uh known?

Actually not.

And there's a reason for that.

That's because this is Cleveland Heights.

And Cleveland Heights has always stood for values that go beyond our immediate needs.

Sure, we want our streets plowed, and we want our garbage picked up.

But we also care about things beyond our immediate needs.

And right now, that means standing up for people who live and work here who contribute to our community but are being persecuted because of their race and their national origin.

So what we are asking here today is not just to represent us in things like uh the function of a city, but we want you to hear and represent the people who represent the values of Cleveland Heights.

Thanks.

Raul Montejo.

Hi, Council, Raul Montejo.

Princeton Road, Cleveland Heights.

I'm here on behalf of Cleveland DSA and coalition with Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights.

I'm gonna I am not going to repeat the demands of my comrades, but instead make a case for you to listen and act now.

Anyone who thinks that this reign of terror will just go away is absolutely delusional.

I can empathize with the fear that keeps them from accepting this reality, but I cannot excuse it because I recognize the consequences of denying reality in this moment.

Freezing in fear will allow the killing of our bodies and our spirits, and it won't stop until we organize to build power and force it to stop.

I too fear for my life and the lives of my friends and family.

If I could move us all out of harm's way, I would.

But I myself don't even have the means to flee.

And even if I could, my heart would break for all of those I left behind.

So I look for the helpers.

They fill these halls today.

I look to the thousands of Minneapolis who coordinated a rapid response network to fight back the white supremacist militia invading their city.

Reporters, dispatchers, responders, coordinators, and most importantly, organizers.

We've got organizers here in Heights, too.

We're not waiting for politicians to decide what they're willing to do about this.

We're training with those whose experience has showed us that a people united will never be defeated.

We're learning how to win elections too.

Cleveland just elected its first socialist councilperson in over 100 years, thanks to a coalition of passionate leftists led by DSA and an immigrant.

That's true.

The leaders of tomorrow are fighting for our communities today.

So if you intend to lead, you better join us and get to work.

But anyway, uh I'd like to thank Cleveland Heights Council for the things they have done and the things that's before them that they must do.

It's not easy.

And that's with the immigration problem, a lot of different problems.

So hopefully we will find some solution to this.

But it's not, don't just take city council.

It's gonna take every person that walked his face of this nation to reach what we're trying to reach with immigration and every other problem we have.

It starts with you.

It starts with I.

We have to solve these problems.

So I didn't come to preach.

I just came to thank the council for what they did with the problems that I'm having.

You know, they opened the door, so we're talking about it trying to solve that.

Hopefully, not just Cleveland Heights, but the cities across the nation and the people across the nation will rise up and try to do what's good for all of us, not just a few of us, because it's gonna take all of us to solve this problem.

Thanks for listening, and we'll get the hell out of here.

Thank you again.

Lynn Tremonte.

Hi, um Lynn Tremanti on Cedar Road.

I'm the executive director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance.

I wanted to talk about one feature of the proposal that we haven't discussed yet, which is legal clinics.

Um, included in so we're talking about direct representation for about a defined number of people, but then there are these legal clinics where people from all around the city can come and ask questions.

And I can't tell you, I don't think I need to tell you how useful that will be.

You're talking about a student who wants to figure out if they can change their status to to continue to work in this country after they graduate, talking about somebody who's got conditional legal permanent residency and is having a tough time with their current spouse and wants to get a divorce, but doesn't know if that will mess up their ability to get their conditions removed.

We're talking about people who are sponsoring people for immigration.

Um, my colleague just sponsored her mom.

We have a new Cleveland Heights resident, uh, who's a brand new immigrant.

So I work with immigrants every single day.

Being able to say to folks in Cleveland Heights, you can go and get your legal questions answered at this clinic every two months or whenever we're gonna do it, um, is another huge benefit that many taxpayers in the Heights will um benefit from.

And we absolutely, I'm so glad that the gentleman said, you know, why are we doing this here in Cleveland Heights?

It's because of us.

I've lived here for 18 years.

I deliberately chose to live in Cleveland Heights and not Shaker Heights because of what I saw in this community.

And I'm very happy to be here.

Um, this is something that we can be leaders on.

I believe that once Cleveland Heights does this, the other cities and suburbs in the northeastern Ohio area will it will consider it.

And you could be trailblazers.

Um finally, Columbus is the fastest growing region in Ohio because of immigrants.

If Cleveland Heights wants to harness that, you know, one way to do that is to distinguish yourself as a pro-immigrant city and be the first one in Northeast Ohio to do this.

Thank you.

Harley Rubin.

Hi, my name's Harley Rubin.

Um, I see him pronouns, and I live on Lake A Sherode.

Um, this is not the first time I've stood before the council.

Uh, I actually stood before the council the last time in November 2024, when Cleveland Heights City Council passed resolution 119 2024, the trans safe haven resolution.

Um, and I'm here to talk a little bit about that.

So uh I am very thankful that we passed that resolution and that I was able to through a single email and then a meeting with council member member Larrison and a few people that I asked to show up at council meetings have that resolution passed.

But there's a few like other bits there that I want to talk about.

One was I only got a few people each time to come to the council meetings, the two that I spoke at.

And right now I stand with a really, really big group, and I did last council meeting too.

I actually took off work.

Um, and the other piece is that that resolution was a symbolic statement.

It was a statement of our values, but it did not have teeth.

It didn't have anything enforceable, anything to implement, and that's something that I regret.

That's something that I wish that I could have said that was happening.

So I'm really, really excited to be standing for an actionable policy this time, a policy that will put into practice the proclaimed values of the city.

Um, specifically, it wrote that the city strives to celebrate diversity and promote equitable policies that will make the city a welcoming and inclusive plate community for all, including people of all gendered identities and expressions.

And I want to ask, what does this mean for gender diverse people that are not documented citizens?

Because the truth is we all carry multiple identities.

We aren't just walking around one flat representation of one group or another.

And while I am thankful and grateful that that resolution was passed, I'm really hoping for something bigger this time.

I'm hoping that this will be uh a protection for the fund of legal funds for um immigrants will be a protection of due process and uh promotion of real action.

Thank you so much.

I'm I'm proud to stand with Cleveland Heights Immigrant Heights.

Quentin Yoder.

Hello, City Council, Quinton Yoder, uh Bridgeview Drive, South Euclid.

I'm talking to you tonight because we've heard your concerns, specifically Cobb.

I've watched your interview with Adam Dew, and I have to admit, we have listened to your concerns, and I want to assure you on a couple points about our proposal.

The first point that you had talked about was you were unsure if community support was large enough for our proposal.

Let's ask the room.

How do we feel?

There's your community.

One of the other concerns that you had brought up was specifically vetting who got legal representation and who did not.

And I understand why you bring this concern forward.

First, I need to acknowledge that the that any of the screening done for immigrants that would be provided legal representation would be the job of the legal service provider.

Whatever contract you draft up with the legal service provider is the terms that the legal service provider has to follow when providing counsel for immigrants.

So from my perspective, truthfully, if your main concern really is the fact that you want to have a hand in screening who gets legal counsel and who doesn't, I think you should help us pass our proposal.

Be a willing member, help endorse our proposal and negotiate with us.

Be a hand in moving our proposal forward and negotiating with us rather than sitting back and saying, I'm not sure, I have these concerns.

We want your voice in our proposal.

You're very experienced, you're very respected.

Lastly, one of the claims that you have made is the fact that we ought to make sure that immigrants are that immigrants have legal status before representing them.

And I have to admit, I reject this clip.

Well, I agree with this claim in court.

I reject this claim before court.

If you levied this claim in a criminal trial and said, uh, I would support providing legal defense for criminals under the guise that they were legal uh that they had not committed the crime, that would be a ludicrous statement.

Our proposal aims to give a fair trial to every person in Cleveland Heights, immigrant or not.

All I'm asking is that you fund the rights that I have as an American citizen to immigrants as well.

Thank you.

Natalie Davis.

Natalie Davis.

There's so many people here.

Okay, good evening.

My name is Natalie Davis.

I live at 2257 Rexwood Road.

Um I will first want to give a warm welcome to our new council members.

I think it's really insane to run for office right now.

And I commend you for that.

Um I'm here to urge council to take immediate action on immigrant rights.

Um, and specifically to pass legal counsel for Cleveland Heights residents who are facing immigration detention or deportation.

I'm a practicing attorney, and while I am not an immigration attorney, I do spend most of my days trying to navigate state and federal courts.

It's not easy.

I spent several hours today going through the 8th district local rules of appellate procedure.

Um I know in my line of work that we have rights that are enshrined in the law.

But those rights are violated every single day.

And for many of these rights, for most of them, the only recourse available to anybody is through the courts.

Having access to legal counsel is an enormous barrier that can mean a world of difference, especially for immigrants.

Ummigration courts are notoriously difficult to navigate.

And as you have hopefully right in the materials that chair has provided you, having counsel can absolutely change those outcomes.

When we talk about positive or negative outcomes, we're talking about the difference between staying in our community in Cleveland Heights or being stuck in a detention center where there are documented human rights abuses and where people die.

Um we're talking about staying in our community or being deported to a country that you fled or to a third country that you have no connection to.

Um it's absolutely paramount that we ensure that these legal rights that everyone has are empowered to residents of our community.

Since I've been involved in this in this project, um I out of time?

No.

Okay.

I've met with many of you.

Yes.

Okay.

Well, in that case, I'll send you all an email.

Thank you.

Miss Taylor Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

Um, Ms.

Taylor, on sale when, where they're doing the construction for the new apartment building that's being built on NOBO.

My concern, I'm here to speak for the voice of the children that live on sale when they play on sale when and the cars run up and down the street, well, roll up and down the street doing about 50, 60 miles per hour.

And I want to know how to get the speed traps on the street.

I have personally been out there telling the cars to slow down.

Of course, they're not gonna listen to me, but I do have a granddaughter, and I want them to play.

So I'm speaking for the voice for the children to try to get some speed bumps so the cars can slow down when the children are playing in the summer.

And that's it.

Not specifically your street, but speeding on side streets, Mayor.

I could um I am happy to come out and meet with you and see for myself what you deal with on a daily basis.

Yes.

I can't at this point guarantee that we'll be able to do any particular thing, but I'm happy to come out and relay the message to staff and get it into the queue so that we can try to improve the safety of the street.

And the reason I'm mentioning that now because they're doing the construction.

And while they're doing construction on the street, I felt as if maybe they could add those bumps when they put that role back together.

Did you provide your contact info on the I did?

Okay.

We'll reach out and I'm happy to stop by.

Thank you.

Thank you for coming.

Marty Galfand.

Hi, good evening.

Good evening, members of council, mayor, law director, and everybody gathered here today.

My name is Marty Gelfan.

I live on Meadowbrook Boulevard.

I am the grand three of my grandparents were immigrants, and uh the fourth one was the children uh child of immigrants.

Um I'm also an attorney, and uh I'm here tonight to talk about sovereignty.

Um among the responsibilities of the sovereign in a democracy is to protect the rights, interests, and self-determination of the people.

Um at the federal level, we have sovereignty over the whole country.

Um through the Constitution, there are a number of enumerated responsibilities of the federal government, including um the exclusive jurisdiction of uh immigration.

And um, we've never had a perfect immigration system.

Um, and maybe it's because of the volume, but um due process has been a problem.

One of the responsibilities of the federal government and state governments through the 14th Amendment is due process for its citizens for its residents for anyone uh who lives in under the jurisdiction of this country.

Um the 10th Amendment delegates anything that's not enumerated uh by the Constitution to the state, so the sovereignty then drops down to the states, and Ohio has home rule.

So um Ohio is sovereign over the things not covered by the federal government.

Um the cities through home rule have um sovereignty over uh to protect the people of our city.

Um among the things that we do to protect the people are police protection fire, plowing streets, um enforcing speed limits on Selwyn and other streets in Cleveland Heights.

Um and one of the things that the city could be doing to um to to be effective in protecting its people is to fund this program that's been um proposed uh for immigrants to get uh to get their due process rates to get their uh legal representation because they're not getting it now.

The federal government has been failing in providing that in this these mass raids, and residents of Cleveland Heights, what no matter their immigration status should get that protection.

Graham Ball.

He's out there.

Good evening, council.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, my name is Graham Ball.

I live on Bradford Road.

It was hard to hear my name being called because there's so many people out there in the hallway.

Um but uh yeah, I'm here tonight um as a member of Cleveland DSA in coalition with uh Cleveland Heights for Immigrants' Rights to speak about, of course, the right to counsel legislation.

Um I remember when we were meeting with you guys on this in special committee a few months ago, um that former councilman Maddox talked about um how to him this felt like during the civil rights movement when white liberals up north were debating timelines and strategy and when is the right time to act while people down south were being brutalized.

Um I feel like that was a pretty uh pretty salient statement then, still relevant now.

Um the the timeline is really what I'm here to talk with you guys about because I feel like so far we've been lucky.

Um in late December in Columbus, about 200 ICE agents descended on the city um for a week or two and made hundreds of arrests.

Um we were just lucky that they didn't come to Cleveland instead.

I think that we know it's just a matter of time of when ice does a surge in Cleveland, which will of course include Cleveland Heights.

Um it's it's a matter of of when and not if.

And you know, I I feel like we are gonna be out there in the streets and getting tear gassed and pepper sprayed by ice agents.

Um, and it would be really cool to have the city have our back at least a little bit in regards to this.

So my question is what's the timeline?

You know, when when can we see some motion?

Um, because I don't know how long how much longer we're gonna be able to get lucky.

Thank you.

Grace Heffernan.

Hey, my name's Grace Heffernan.

I'm the executive director of the Northeast Ohio Worker Center.

Thanks for having me today.

Um I want to echo Graham's comments that it really is just a matter of time before we see large-scale raids like we are seeing in other cities.

Um, but certainly I want to emphasize that people today are being detained and terrorized in our community with or without large-scale raids.

Um and so I'm here to tell you the story of an individual whose life would have been fundamentally changed uh had he had access to portable legal representation that could have followed him to wherever he was taken once he was detained.

Uh so we are a labor rights organization.

We run a monthly wage theft clinic where individuals who um speak Spanish can come in and receive um bilingual services.

Um about a year ago today, a gentleman named Jose came into our wage theft clinic.

He had come here to the United States seven years ago to build a better life for himself.

He worked in a restaurant that was tied to his housing.

Uh you will not be surprised to know that disproportionately, if you are exploited at work, that exploitation will intersect with one of your identities.

And so his uh undocumented status was used to exploit him at work.

The fact that his housing was tied to work was used to exploit him at work.

And so over the course of a six-year tenure at a restaurant, many of us have probably dined at.

Um, he was exploited out of tens of thousands of dollars.

Um, this is someone who's already living very close to the edge.

And so to access a private attorney to have someone like that on retainer, I mean it's kind of laughable.

Um, but that's what we tell immigrants to do to have an attorney on retainer in the case of detention.

Um, despite all of that, despite being here with a family, having children, um, Jose never missed a check-in ever in six years.

He also was here on work authorization.

Jose had a hard choice to make in September.

Did he go to his uh check-in appointment, or did he uh skip it?

And if you skip it, you don't get that work authorization anymore.

You're not able to stay here with status in the same way.

And so we decided to go.

He was detained despite that work authorization, despite never missing a check-in.

And he was taken to the Mahoney Valley detentional facility where he was incarcerated.

And I use the word incarcerated um very specifically because it is it is um it is uh it's it's it's terrible.

While there, he was not able to access his medication.

He's diabetic.

Um, he also wasn't able to access legal representation.

Cuyoga County legal aid cannot work in uh Mahoning Valley.

And so I say that to say he was forced with uh the horrible decision of choosing between his eyesight or um self-deporting, and he's self-deported.

So um I'm here today just to ask you to um make sure that everyone has portable legal representation wherever they're detained to.

Thanks.

That's all.

As always, thank you very much for coming and sharing your views with us.

We're gonna move on to uh first readings for consideration of adoption.

Uh go ahead, Addie.

I have ordinance number 008-2026 on first reading and ordinance to amend certain subparagraphs of ordinance number 241-2025 relating to appropriations and other expenditures of the city of Cleveland Heights, Ohio for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026, and declaring the necessity that this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petris.

All right, do I have a motion?

So moved.

All right, second.

All right.

Any discussion?

Just so everybody knows we we had an hour and a half discussion on legislation and in the other room.

All in favor?

I need opposed, that motion passes.

Next, I have a resolution number 009-2026 on first reading.

A resolution confirming the mayor's appointment of Helen Hertz as a member of the community improvement corporation of the city of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and declaring the necessity that this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petris.

So moved.

Second.

And seconded.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Any opposed?

The motion passes.

Next, I have resolution number 010-2026 on first reading, a resolution confirming the mayor's appointment of Linda Strievski as a member of the community improvement corporation of the city of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and declaring the necessity that this is that this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petris.

So moved.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

The motion passes.

Next, I have resolution number 011-2026 on first reading.

A resolution appointing Schneer Kushner as a member of the planning commission of the city of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and declaring the necessity that this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Councilmember Cobb.

So moved.

Second.

All right.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The motion passes.

Next, I have resolution number 012-2026 on first reading.

A resolution appointing Matthew Carey as a member of the planning commission of the city of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, to fill a vacancy of an unexpired term extent ending December 31st, 2028, and declaring the necessity that this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Councilmember Cobb.

So moved.

Second.

All right.

Any discussion?

Yes, Councilman Cobb.

We have uh our appointee stand up and say hi.

And be recognized, yes.

And Shadr was here earlier, right?

No?

No.

I I think he had a conflict.

An emergency came up.

Um, I'd like to say that Matt and Shadur really should be um uh just uh uh very much uh appreciated.

Uh because the competition, I have to tell you, was really incredible.

We had an amazing group of people who applied for this uh planning commission.

They're actually two seats on the planning commission, and um these two rose to the top and uh this this this community just over and over again uh and the talent that we have here just uh continues to amaze me.

And uh we want you to know how much we're looking forward to you and uh your colleague joining uh the planning commission.

Any other comments?

Yes, please.

Um just as the former former Madam Chair of the Planning Commission um and someone who sat on the body for 10 years.

Um, I could not have been more thrilled with the applicants for these two open seats.

And I am so confident that um Schneer and Matt will really round out the incredible expertise we have on the commission and move us forward at a very critical time in terms of reviewing and considering changes to our zoning code writ large.

So I just want to thank all of the applicants and um wish Matt and Schneyer uh a lot of luck and success and uh and you know where to find me if you have any questions.

So thank you.

Uh please, council.

I just want to say thank you for your willingness to stir to serve.

Thank you to um all of our appointees that were appointing tonight for your willingness to serve the community in this important work.

I look forward to working with you in the future.

So thanks.

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, that motion passes.

Next, I have uh resolution number 013-2026 on first reading.

A resolution reappointing David Benson, Laura Black, Cindy Carroll Pankhurst, Sue Dean Dyke, Susan DeFroemson, Casey Friedland, Jonathan Goldman, Leslie Jones, Mara Liken, Adam May, Illy Massey, Aaron Miller Tate, Rachel Moore, Sarah Leen Oakley Tombs, Lorna Rudolph, Darius Smith, Patty Substalny, and Darlene White as members of the Citizens Advisory Committee of the City of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and declaring the necessity that this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Councilmember Cobb.

Second.

Go ahead.

All right.

Uh Councilman Cobb, how many openings are there on that committee?

Uh we will have four vacancies specifically need uh residents from the Oxford neighborhood, Calder, Caledonia, and Fairfax.

All right, that's good to know.

Uh any discussion on this?

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

That motion passes.

Next, I have resolution number 014-2026 on first reading.

A resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with Green Home Solutions LLC, a certified lead abatement contractor for the use of lead safe Ohio grant funds in connection with the abatement of lead-based paint hazards at permanent parcel number 681-03-044, providing compensation therefore and declaring the necessity this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petris.

So moved.

Second.

All right.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

A motion passes.

Next, I have resolution number 015-2026 on first reading.

A resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with SOSIC painting and remodeling LLC, a certified lead abatement contractor for the use of lead safe Ohio grant funds in connection with the abatement of lead-based paint hazards at permanent parcel number 682-29-035, providing compensation therefore and declaring the necessity this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petris.

So moved.

Second.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

That motion passes.

Next, I have resolution number 016-2026 on first reading.

A resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into agreement with American Builders and Applicators LLC, a certified lead abatement contractor for the use of lead-safe Ohio grant funds in connection with the abatement of lead-based paint hazards at permanent parcel number 684-20-029, providing compensation therefore and declaring the necessity that this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petras.

Moved.

Second.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

That motion passes.

Next I have resolution number 017-2026 for on first reading.

A resolution declaring the fire damage property at 3631 Randolph Road, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, to be a nuisance, authorizing abatement of the nuisance and declaring the necessity that this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petris.

Second.

All right.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

That motion passes.

Next, I have resolution number 018-2026 on first reading.

A resolution authorizing a second amendment to the consulting contract between the city of Cleveland Heights and Aisland Consulting LLC for municipal financial services and declaring the necessity that this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petris.

So moved.

Second.

All right.

Any discussion?

I just want to say thank you again to Mr.

Unetic for staying on with us.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

That motion passes.

Next, I have resolution number 019-2026 on first reading.

A resolution authorizing the mayor to accept a grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to renovate the skate park and tennis courts at Kane Park and declaring the necessity that this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petras.

So moved.

Second.

All right.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

That motion passes.

Next I have resolution number 020-2026 on first reading.

A resolution authorizing the mayor to accept a grant from the U.S.

Department of Justice through the Rural and Small Department Violent Crime Reduction Program authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with Ken Ganley Ford Inc.

for the purchase of four 2026 Ford Utility Hybrid Police Interceptors for the City of Cleveland Heights Police Department and declaring the necessity that this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petris.

So move.

Second.

Any discussion?

I'd just like to say once again, uh big thank you to the Cleveland Heights Police Department, especially Chief Britain and Lieutenant Corrigan for saving this grant.

Um this is a grant we were about to lose.

And because they were so persistent with the Department of Justice, it was saved, and we will have four more uh police cars uh specifically uh to keep our youth safe at the high school and the middle schools.

Any other discussion?

All in favor?

I'm sorry, yes, all in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

That motion passes.

All right, first reading only on this one.

I have resolution number zero two one-2026 on first reading.

A resolution authorizing the city to participate in the NOPEC Green Community Choice Program for the city's electric electricity aggregation program starting June 2026, and declaring the necessity this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petris.

And now I have second reading.

I have resolution number 004-2025 on second reading.

A resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with Farnham Equipment Company through the Source Well Cooperative Purchasing Program for the provision, installation of and related construction services for the improvement of new seating for the community center's main gymnasium, and declaring the necessity that this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petris.

I have a motion.

Second.

Any discussion?

Just out of curiosity, did you know you know this was read for the first time last week?

Did anybody have any questions that they emailed and got answered?

Just wanted to make sure.

Okay.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

That motion passes.

Now we're on to the consent agenda.

I don't need to suspend the rules for this, do I?

We will.

I'll read both of them first, then you'll do a motion to suspend rules, and then you'll do a motion to um adopt.

So I have two on consent agenda tonight.

I have resolution number 022-2026 on first reading.

A resolution recognizing February 2026 is Black History Month and declaring the necessity that this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petris.

And I have resolution number 023-2026 on first reading.

A resolution proclaiming February 14th, 2026 is national donor day and declaring the necessity that this legislation become immediately effective as an emergency measure introduced by Mayor Petris.

Well, after that long list, can I have a motion to suspend the rules?

I would like to move to suspend rules for the consent agenda.

All right.

Second.

All right.

Any discussion?

All in favor of suspending the rules?

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

And now on the legislation, do we have a motion?

So move.

Second.

All right.

Any discussion?

All right.

Thank you.

Then all in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

The consent agenda passes.

We're now on to committee reports.

And who would like to give a committee report?

Well, I know we have some committee meetings coming up.

Anybody want to advertise?

All right, go ahead.

I'm having that administrative services committee meeting.

Uh this Monday, I believe it's at five o'clock.

Uh, we're going to discuss some vacancies that we have on our arts commission, um, our um uh uh transportation and mobility committee, our climate and environmental sustainability committee, uh, and did I mention the arts commission?

Um and also uh we have four vacancies as I uh mentioned earlier on our citizens advisory committee.

Uh we do have um applications on file for all of these positions.

But if you are interested in serving, particularly um on the uh uh citizens advisory committee, please go to our website and and try and get an application filled out by um Monday morning so uh we can take a look at it during the meeting Monday night.

That's all I have.

Are there any um committees that we don't have enough applicants to cover the vacancies?

I believe it would only be the Citizens Advisory Committee.

And there are a number that um are on file.

And what we do do uh for the public if you're listening is we do keep uh applications on file, and when vacancies come up, uh we do consider the applications that we currently have on file, and we do try to um fill from the applications on file uh before we go out and seek additional um persons.

So I do know that for the Climate Environmental Sustainability Committee, we already have uh applications.

Uh we have had preliminary discussions about some people for those appointments.

And also we have a backlog of applications for the mobility uh committee as well.

Thank you.

Councilman Posh.

So also on Monday the 26th, we have two uh committee meetings at six o'clock.

We have a finance committee meeting, and then at seven o'clock, we have a safety and health committee meeting.

Thank you.

Any other committee reports, please?

No report, but I'd like to request that we schedule a planning and development committee meeting, and I think we discuss going every other week.

And so if finance and administrative services and public safety and health are on the 26th, then we would look at the 9th for the next Monday.

That's not a council meeting for the remaining committees.

So um Addie, if council agrees, if we could consider 6 p.m.

on February 9th, I would love that slot.

Sure, I'll send out an email.

We good.

Might not might need to start earlier if there are four committees.

Okay.

I'm sorry, what was that?

We might need to start earlier because that will be four committees that haven't missed.

I was asking for planning and development to start at six, just oh, okay.

For my slot.

Um but I'm open to the other committees around there.

I just know that six might be a little bit easier for me where I'm needed.

I yield to whatever works out.

Clerk Ballister.

That's quite a yield.

Good.

Okay, so uh probably have municipal services on the same day, or is that what you're saying?

Okay, very good.

Um other committee reports?

Any old business?

Any new business?

Any monkey business?

No.

Um, what else do we have left?

Council members.

Council comments.

Vice President Larson.

Thank you, President Kuda.

I thank everyone that spoke this evening.

ICE has acted cruelly and criminally against the residents of my home state of Minnesota and in many more locations across this country.

If anyone is interested in donating to a nonprofit that is supporting immigrants, please consider sending funds to the immigrant defense fund sponsored by Cleveland Jobs for Justice.

Per the website for this effort, quote, all money, all money raised through the immigrant defense fund will be used to pay bonds, airfare, application fees, and related legal expenses incurred by immigrants.

Unquote.

Thank you.

Thank you, madam vice president.

Any other council comments?

Yes, council.

Thank you.

I wanted to publicly thank Mayor Patris and Director Klingstale for the immense amount of work and that conversation and listening ear that went into the most recent snow removal over the last week.

But I I just want to praise this administration for the care, the concern, the diligence in following up.

Mayor Patrice and I spoke daily, if not more than daily about snow removal and your openness to input from me and the other members of council, the collaboration and the partnership that we've seen just in the last week.

I wanted to publicly thank you, and I wanted to thank our public works department for the hard work.

We have more work ahead of us to fix a lot of the structural issues that we're identifying now, but I'm very optimistic that we are in a forward direction and that we're going to see improvements, um, perhaps slowly, perhaps incrementally, but we will continue to see improvements.

The second thing I wanted to just acknowledge, and I wish the folks that came to speak came to listen to us respond, um, but perhaps they'll see it on the video, is that I share the dismay around what is happening with immigrants in this country and the actions of ICE.

Um I do, though, want to make it clear that council um is waiting on further information.

And it's really important that we as a municipality approach these issues with clarity about our legal authority and with thoughtful, responsible policy making.

Um I I also want to suggest um as someone who's been in nonprofit for many years that many of the requests that the group is asking for us seems to be aligned with programmatic and funding opportunities from nonprofits or nonprofit um uh supporters like grants, uh foundations and things like that, and suggest that the group consider looking into alternative, more immediate um opportunities because the wheels of the public sector move incredibly slowly, particularly as we're now in a transition period for the city and are on boarding a new administration and a new council.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilwoman Cohen.

Councilman.

Well, I really didn't have any, I hadn't planned to say anything, but I really do want to echo the two comments that uh councilwoman Cohn just mentioned.

I mean, I think, you know, I have spoken to the um immigrant immigration rights folks, and you know, my heart bleeds when I see what's going on.

But where we sit as a city, when Columbus is the only municipality out of hundreds of municipalities, I mean, there's not an easy journey to path.

I mean, we have to we have to figure this out.

Um, and I think it's going to take some time to do it.

And in the meantime, I do like the idea of a focused effort on trying to fund nonprofits that can that are initially set up to do this work, whereas city councils and cities just don't have that luxury.

Um changing the subject slightly, I do want to comment and thank uh our new mayor.

Um you started the conversation off this morning, inviting us in to see how things work so we can make better decisions.

You sat here and realized and the former administration, your hands were tied and you couldn't do it, and you needed that information.

We need that information, and I'm here to thank you.

We all thank you for the work that you're doing.

And oh my God, I think I spent an hour or two with you over the phone this week and myself talking about snow removal.

I can, I mean, it's just really you you have your head in this game, and I really appreciate it.

And you really care about the residents.

So your work is really appreciated.

So good job.

Any other council comments?

Yes, please, councilman.

Uh, I also want to thank the members of Cliffman Heights for immigrant rights for coming in tonight and speaking.

Uh, want to acknowledge the fear and anger that many of us have for um the actions that we're seeing in Minneapolis and across the country.

Um, there were a number of uh reports last week of ICE sightings in and around the city.

And um, I too felt that fear uh despite being of uh considerable privilege.

Um there was a there was a report it turned out to be false of ISA at Fairfax Elementary, right when I was going to pick up my daughter there.

And that was uh a moment of terror for me personally, given the scenes that we're seeing play out in Minneapolis.

And would look forward to working with members of council and the mayor towards progress, towards something that the city or aligned groups or nonprofits can do to support immigrants in our community.

Thank you.

All right.

Any other counsel comments?

So let me just say in my uh council president report, uh, mayor, thank you.

I think the way you're communicating and the amount you're communicating with the public and with council makes all the difference in the world.

We know it wasn't a masterpiece last week, but we also know that you are on this and you're looking at ways to make snow removal and city services in general more efficient.

And uh we look forward to working with you as partners to make that happen.

Um lastly, I want to say, I don't know how many of you watched I am uh MLK yesterday.

They show it every year.

Um, one of the things Martin Luther King said in Memphis, you know, longevity has its place.

And you know, now I've starting to have lived a longer life, certainly lived a lot longer than Martin Luther King.

He was shot and killed when he was only 39 years old.

Um I I was watching last night, and I was thinking if I had to pick something that was the defining moment of my life, it would be his life.

And the civil rights movement.

And when his associate was talking about what happened that night when he spoke, he was exhausted.

This is when he was in Memphis the night before he was killed.

He was exhausted.

Some of his associates had been told a doctor had actually told him that he needed help.

He needed like a psychiatrist.

And they didn't want him to go to a psychiatrist because they knew that um J.

Edgar Hoover and the corrupt people in the FBI would have used that to just terrorize him.

So, you know, they he couldn't even get help, even though he needed help.

And if you watch Martin Luther King speaking at last time, his eyes are darting around like somebody who thinks this might be his last moment.

And then at some point in that speech, and this happened completely extemporaneously, he just see this piece come over him.

And he says, you know, I mean, I get there with you.

You know, I was 13 when he was killed.

You know, some of you weren't born, I I understand that.

But if you were alive during that time, and I bet there were some people in this room that were, you know how profound that man was and what he did for this country.

So I wanted to recognize this tonight.

And um again, I want to thank all the people that came out tonight to speak.

This meeting is adjourned at 8 58.