In-person public comments canceled for summer
Cleveland City Council staff told Signal Cleveland last week that council will not hold in-person public comments at its two summer meetings on Wednesday, July 10, and Wednesday, Aug. 7, a change in plans from an earlier conversation with council staff about summer plans.
City Council has not held in-person public comment at its summer meetings since making it a staple of its regular meetings in 2021.
Council Communications Director Darryle Torbert said the change is because the summer meeting schedule is unpredictable. Full council meetings, where public comment is a regular feature, will immediately follow Committee of the Whole meetings. Without knowing when the committee meeting will end, council can’t determine an exact start time for the later meetings, he said.
Council’s regular schedule of weekly meetings ends Monday, June 3, and starts again Monday, Sept. 9.
Torbert said council will continue to accept written public comments on its website all summer.
Residents speak up to Cleveland government
Public comment has become a mainstay of Cleveland City Council meetings following its reinstatement in 2021 after a 90-year absence.
Then-Council President Kevin Kelley introduced a proposed change to council’s rules to allow for public comment after pressure from residents and the advocacy group Clevelanders for Public Comment. Council approved the rule on Aug. 18, 2021.
Since Oct. 4, 2021, regular council meetings have included a public comment period. Ten pre-registered members of the public can speak for no more than three minutes each.
In public comment’s first year back, Cleveland City Council heard 183 in-person comments.
Speakers have addressed a wide range of topics from individual neighborhood concerns like violence and preserving city parks to support for a ceasefire across the world in Gaza.
Watch the full public comments or read transcripts edited by Documenter Gennifer Harding-Gosnell on the Public Comment CLE website created by Ohio City resident Angelo Trivisonno.
