Several members of Cleveland City Council have been paying close attention to the help wanted ads. They are not looking for new jobs, but they are looking out for people who are. 

Council Members Charles Slife and Rebecca Maurer complained recently to Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration about its ad for summer park maintenance and landscape jobs, which promise to pay $13 to $14 an hour. 

The problem, they argued, is that council passed legislation in 2023 that’s supposed to ensure temporary workers are paid a minimum of $15.33 an hour.  

In recent years, Cleveland paid at least $17 million to contractors to clean up city lots, fill potholes and provide park maintenance. Most of these seasonal workers were recruited and paid through the staffing firm Snider-Blake Personnel, which offered as little as $13 an hour.

But that changed last year with the new wage legislation sponsored by Council Members Sliffe, Maurer, Danny Kelly and Council President Blaine Griffin. 

After being questioned about the ad, City Hall quickly responded to the council members. 

“As you might suspect, there was miscommunication on this first round of hiring following the passage of the new wage ordinance,” Austin Davis, a senior policy advisor to the mayor, wrote. “The ad has been corrected, and the workers will be paid the corrected wages.”

Davis included a copy of the new ad, which says workers will be paid between $15.33 and $16.33 an hour. 

“Council has been very passionate about Cleveland underpaying Clevelanders and not providing a living wage, so we are happy they corrected it quickly,” Slife told Signal Cleveland.