CH council leadership sets forth new agenda

Tony Cuda

Davida Russell and I are delighted to have been elected (on Jan. 2) as the new leadership team for Cleveland Heights City Council.

As council president, I wanted to make sure we hit the ground running. At the time I wrote this, on Jan. 14, Council Vice President Russell and I had already met with the mayor, most council members, our council clerk, the law director and several residents.

The first thing we wanted to do was get a plan together and begin executing it. Here is what we were able to accomplish in the first two weeks:

• For the first time since the city’s new form of government was established, we were able to get the packets (legislative agenda) out on the Wednesday, instead of Friday, before our Monday council meetings thanks to the cooperation of our council clerk, the law director and the administration. This will allow council members more time to get questions answered ahead of the Monday meetings.
• From now on, each piece of legislation will have a cover sheet with a purpose statement describing what the legislation is about. This will help members and residents alike by giving context to the legalese they are reading in the legislation.
• We began the creation of a council calendar for 2024.
• We scheduled a photo shoot for our new council member, Jim Petras.
• We assigned committee chairs and membership.
• We began scheduling community meetings with new council leadership and residents.
• We presented a draft of council rules and a legislative process at our first Committee of the Whole meeting.
• We changed the regular meeting agenda so all of the public can address council at the beginning of our bi-weekly meetings.

We have a lot on our plate this year—ARPA contracts, Noble Station development (Part II), reviewing the Charter Review Commission’s findings, reviewing economic development contracts—and then there’s the 2025 budget this fall.

Most of all, our city government needs to deliver the best possible city services to you, the residents. Although that task largely falls on the administration, council leadership will always be there to advocate for you.

Please stay tuned!