In our Finance Committee meeting Council and the Administration discussed completing the 2022 budget in the final months of 2021 instead of waiting until next year to complete it. Overall, Council supported the idea of completing the budget prior to the year end, and the administration stated it can be done either way, that the budget would have to be slightly more conservative without having the full prior year, but that with flexibility, it can be done. Our budget process in the City has always required that we have flexibility, as things change, we have to make adjustments to ensure we maintain a balanced budget. Completing the budget before end of the year allows for earlier bidding of projects such as stormwater and the annual road program. It also allows us to purchase approved capital items earlier, such as vehicles and equipment, that often have longer lead times. I support moving the budget process into the prior year and look forward to seeing that process take place in the fall.
Council also approved the hiring of a new police officer. This will be an increase to our headcount in the police department and will be to back fill the re-opening of a detective position in the police department. This addition will be partially funded and have a portion of their time dedicated to a new Human Trafficking Task Force in Summit County. This new task force is being created out of a federal grant from the US Department of Justice. As a former administrative coordinator of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force (a federally funded task force) from 2004 to 2007, I have seen firsthand how having a collaborative federal task force can work together to provide additional resources to our local police departments. I look forward to hearing the accomplishments of this new task force.
Council also continued to discuss the Council rule updates I proposed last meeting, we moved one item onto the Council Agenda after including several amendments recommended by the law department. The remaining 3 pieces of legislation are still up for discussion and hopefully as other Council members review, we will find a version that will be acceptable to everyone. I have stated numerous times, the point of these updates is to better define the framework around the legislative process in Council.
Council also had a discussion under new business on Thursday about the recent online behavior of Councilwoman Christina Shaw. This behavior occurred on Sunday June 13, 2021 after Ms. Shaw apparently received a text message from an individual who did not support Ms. Shaw. This is part of public service, being able to take the comments from those who also disagree with you. Instead of moving on with her day, Ms. Shaw chose to post a screen shot of this message on Facebook with the telephone number shown and encouraged her friends to “Give this “brave person” a call today and wish them happy Sunday !”. This type of behavior of a public official encouraging someone to commit telephone harassment is not acceptable. It created an online mob mentality to attack this person, try to determine who the person was, and to hurt their business. This is NOT OK and no public official should treat any individual this way regardless of their viewpoint. Ms. Shaw also posted several news articles that day related to some recent Council actions where majority of Council did not agree with her requested amendment and implied Council members were racists because we did not agree with her. Later that same day, another individual took a photo from my personal Facebook page of my family, posted it on Facebook, tagging Ms. Shaw and asked if he “had the right one”. This a veiled threat against my family, including my minor child. It is NOT ok to bring minor children into political issues and especially not in a way where it seems your intent could be to bring harm to myself or my family. I asked Ms. Shaw personally to remove this post and she stated she could not that it would be a violation of the first amendment, and she did not want to be sued. Even if this is the stance Ms. Shaw felt she had to take, she also could have denounced this type of action of using someone’s child and potentially putting them in harm’s way, but she did not. The individual who made the post also refused to remove it after a request. I filed a police report on this issue and have been in contact with Facebook to remove the post.
These actions, all taking place in the same 24-hour period, made it clear to me that Ms. Shaw does not understand the implications of her statements online. I made a statement at Council to put this behavior on the record of Council as it was relating to her duties as a public official. I was not the only councilperson bothered by these actions, Mr. Hailer, Mr. McIntire, Mr. Fiocca, and Mr. Altieri also made statements that they were bothered by Ms. Shaw’s actions, and further, I was also discouraged that not once did Ms. Shaw apologize for any of her online behavior. I truly hope that going forward Ms. Shaw understands the importance of her role and that actions like this online deteriorates the trust of the public when they feel their communication could be used in a way to create a mob against them, their family and/or their business. I am moving forward from this topic and hope that it does not have to come up again.
Our next meeting will be July 8, 2021 in Council Chambers, Committee meetings will start at 5:30 PM and the Council meeting will follow.