Last year, after a Destination Cleveland executive complained that City Council Member Joe Jones made “uncomfortable” comments to a local artist about her physical appearance, council hired a law firm to investigate.
Destination Cleveland Chief Experience Officer Hannah Belsito shared the artist’s account of the meeting in a July 19, 2024, email to Council President Blaine Griffin. Signal Cleveland obtained a copy of the email Thursday.
Griffin said in an interview Thursday that the law firm, McDonald Hopkins, examined multiple complaints about Jones’ behavior.
The investigation also included complaints from city employees about inappropriate behavior by Jones, according to a person familiar with the matter. Signal Cleveland is not naming the person to protect their identity.
Jones has not yet responded to messages seeking comment.
Griffin said he “had several conversations” with Jones about complaints about his behavior even before hiring the firm. The council president made sure that Council Clerk Patricia Britt was present at meetings between Jones and others, he said.
“We also did other things to try to deal with this, but it didn’t work,” Griffin said. “And that’s one of the reasons why we had to make a bigger deep dive to this in order to get something that had more teeth.”
No other council member was the subject of the complaints, but policy changes are in the works to hold all council members accountable for how they conduct themselves, Griffin said. Those changes would include sensitivity training for council members.
“The problem was that this was a duly elected official that we did not have any statutory ability to discipline or to deal with in any meaningful way,” Griffin said. “So that’s the reason why we decided to go external.”
The City of Cleveland’s human resources department “provided guidance” to the council clerk and staff about addressing the complaints and hiring a law firm, according to a City Hall spokesperson.
Suggested Reading
Destination Cleveland flags complaint about Jones’ comments
The comments that sparked the Destination Cleveland email happened May 31, 2024, at a meeting about a mural the artist designed that was to be installed in Jones’ neighborhood, the email said. At the meeting, Jones told the artist that her face should be on the mural, according to the email.
“The councilman proceeded to speak about my looks in an uncomfortable manner,” the artist is quoted as saying in the email. “He spoke about how beautiful I was and details of my face and all these attributes that I have that he and his neighborhood would want to see and pay attention to the mural.”
Jones asked her what she was doing that weekend, said to take his number and said they could spend the weekend discussing the mural, according to the email.
“Upon leaving the meeting everyone that was in attendance apologized to me, and I was instructed never to be alone with [t]his councilman and never give him my contact information,” the artist said in the email.
The email did not name the artist but said the meeting included two representatives from the Cleveland City Planning Commission and two from Destination Cleveland. Signal Cleveland has reached out to the artist for comment.
“I attended this meeting and was both embarrassed and disappointed to have invited a prominent local artist into a space where she was treated this way,” Belsito, the Destination Cleveland executive, wrote.
Copied on the email were Destination Cleveland CEO David Gilbert and Bradford Davy, who is Mayor Justin Bibb’s chief of staff and a Destination Cleveland board member.
Griffin replied to Belsito later that day and apologized. He asked Destination Cleveland to include Britt in future meetings with Jones.
“This is Completely Unacceptable and I offer my most sincere regrets that this happened,” he wrote. The email continued: “I am also going to ask Councilman Jones to give his interpretation of the meeting. However, the fact that you and your team experienced this is regrettable and we will definitely look into what options we have to address this.”
A spokesperson for Destination Cleveland, which markets the city to tourists, said in an email Thursday that the organization cooperated with the investigation.
“We reported the experience through the appropriate channels after ensuring those most affected (by the comments) knew the report would become public record,” the statement read. “Our report was acknowledged upon receipt, and we complied with requests received as part of the subsequent investigation.”
In February 2023, Griffin publicly admonished Jones for the way he spoke to a top city official. During city council budget hearings, Jones invited then-City Planning Director Joyce Huang to visit his ward.
“I need you to come right on over in Ward 1, all nice and sweet like, and help me rebuild my neighborhood up,” Jones told her.
A few minutes later, Griffin apologized to Huang and chided Jones.
“You probably did not intend it to be a certain way, but I do want to caution you, and actually the rest of this body, to please refrain from making statements like, ‘nice and sweet like’ and things like that,” the council president said, “because several people have just contacted me and have been very, felt that those comments were offensive.”
An influential council committee stalled
Jones, who represents the far southeast side of Cleveland, has served two stints on City Council. He resigned in 2005 after pleading guilty to federal mail fraud charges and won election to the seat again in 2017 after having his conviction expunged.
He chairs the Mayor’s Appointments Committee, which reviews appointments to numerous boards and commissions. The committee has not met since April of last year, according to council’s online calendar.
Griffin said the investigation “may be one of many reasons” that the committee is not meeting.
Last week, Griffin said that council had hired a third party to investigate allegations about a council member. At the time, the council president did not identify that member. He said the investigation included recommendations about changes to workplace policies that council would put in place.
Signal Cleveland has requested a copy of the investigation, its recommendations and Jones’ personnel file over the last week.
Cleveland has paid $8,119.50 to McDonald Hopkins so far for the investigation, according to a City Hall spokesperson.