In May, a city employee sent an email to Cleveland City Council leaders that opened with these words: “Hello, on Monday Joe Jones threatened to kill me.” 

The employee wrote that Jones had told him “I’ll f—ing kill you” three times, according to a letter that Council President Blaine Griffin’s assistant sent to City Council members on Thursday. 

Now the Ward 1 council member is barred from speaking and asking questions during council committee meetings. In September, his colleagues will consider whether to take the rare step of censuring him — a formal statement of disapproval. 

In an interview with a law firm investigator this week, Jones denied saying that he would kill the employee. He admitted that he may have said, “I’ll blow you up on your motorcycle” — a comment he characterized as a joke without malicious intent, according to the letter. 

Griffin found the comment to be threatening, the letter said. Council last year had hired a law firm to investigate earlier employee complaints about Jones. 

“It is frustrating to all involved that you continue your unacceptable behavior even after the corrective and disciplinary actions taken following the prior investigation,” Griffin and Council Clerk Patricia Britt wrote in the letter to Jones, which is dated Aug. 14. 

“You should know that, but for the fact that you are an elected official, in any other workplace setting you would likely be let go,” the letter continued. 

Reached by phone Thursday morning, Jones said he was taken aback by news of Griffin’s letter and asked for time to gather his thoughts.

“I haven’t even seen the report,” Jones said, “or what he’s talking about. This is shocking to me.”

On Thursday afternoon, Jones wrote in a Facebook post, “I will not let falsehoods and smear tactics distract me from serving Ward 1.”

The letter, which council shared with Signal Cleveland, summarized two different employee complaints from May and informed Jones of the upcoming censure vote. 

Included with the letter was a copy of the May 22 email that the first employee sent to Britt, Griffin, the deputy clerk and one of council’s lawyers. The name of the employee is redacted. 

The employee wrote that he wanted to take the comment as “a sick joke,” but that he “had to consider the possibility that he wasn’t joking.” He wrote that he spoke with an FBI agent about the remark. He declined to file a police report, the letter said. 

Months later, Jones agreed to sit down with an outside law firm investigator to discuss the complaint, the letter said. The interview occurred Aug. 11. 

The packet released by council included one more new complaint. This one came from a second employee who had previously said that Jones yelled at her and pounded a table during a meeting. The new complaint is dated May 21.

Although Jones had been told not to have contact with that employee, he sat directly next to her for several minutes at a council meeting, she wrote. He did not speak to her, but the moment left her feeling “intimidated and fearful,” she wrote. 

That day and the next, Jones’ assistant repeatedly called her about a project, she wrote. 

“As I have stated many times, I am afraid of Mr. Jones and fear for my safety when he is in the immediate area,” the employee wrote. 

Jones told the law firm that he did not believe it was a violation of the no-contact directive to sit next to the employee. He and his assistant said they did not recall multiple phone calls to the employee. 

The lack of intent mitigated his actions at the council meeting, the letter said. But given the history of complaints about Jones, the episode showed “a complete disregard” for the discipline he faced after the first investigation, the letter said. 

Both of the employees who filed complaints in May have sought mental health support through the city, and neither wants to have contact with Jones, according to the letter. 

Last year, council hired McDonald Hopkins to investigate complaints that Jones mistreated staff and made unwanted comments to an artist who was working on a mural in his neighborhood about her physical appearance. 

The firm found that Jones “likely violated” council’s workplace policies, according to documents that council released in January. Jones lost his committee assignments and had to receive one-on-one coaching from a workplace behavior specialist. He released a statement apologizing in late January.

In 2022, the city brought in a special prosecutor to investigate a report that Jones had pushed a woman who was handing out flyers opposing his election. The prosecutor did not bring charges, writing that there was insufficient evidence. 

Jones, along with other council members, is up for reelection this year. He faces several opponents. This month he won the endorsement of Ward 1 leaders in the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.

This story has been updated with a social media post from Joe Jones.