by Chuck Hoven

     (Plain Press December 2024) A November 22^nd article in The Plain Dealer by Kaitlin Durbin and Courtney Astolfi titled “Surprise state election has council in a holiday rush”, says that City Council will have to reduce the number of Council Wards to 15 and draw new ward boundaries by January 6^th. The City Charter sets the deadline for April 1, 2025, so the wards could be in place for June 11th filing date for the September 2025 City Council Primary elections. However, the State of Ohio decided to have a statewide election in May to ask voters to extend the State’s capital improvement program. The Plain Dealer article says rules governing the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections require periods of time before and after the May election when it must lock down its voter files. Because of these requirements, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections says it would be impossible to have time to allocate Cleveland voters to their new wards and precincts in time for the June 11 filling date for City Council candidates – a process it says will take about six weeks. Hence City Council will have to speed up the process of drawing new ward boundaries and have them to the Board of Elections by early January.

NEWS ANALYSIS

     In October of this year, consultants hired by Cleveland City Council held three public meetings to gather citizen input on the redistricting of Cleveland City Council Wards. The City of Cleveland Charter calls for the use of the United States Census data on the City of Cleveland to determine the size of City Council.

     A statement from Cleveland City Council in October explained how the City Charter determines how many members City Council is allowed to have. The Cleveland City Charter calls for the City Council to lose two City Council seats every time the population drops by to a certain threshold. The current seventeen-member City Council is based on the City’s population as measured by the 2010 Census. In 2010 the Census said Cleveland’s population was 396.810 people. According to the City Charter, if the City’s population was 425, 000 or less but more than 375,000, the size of City Council would be seventeen members.

     The 2020 Census measured Cleveland’s population at 372,624. The Charter requires that if the City of Cleveland’s population is 375,000 or less, but more than 325,000 the number of City Council Wards should be fifteen. The Charter calls for reducing the number of Council members so each Council member would represent roughly 25,000 people.

     The statement from City Council says, “Cleveland has a population of 372,624 people, compared to 396,815 people in the 2010 US Census – a 6.10% decline over ten years. Having just fallen under the 375,000-population threshold, per US Census reports, the City Charter mandates that the Council be comprised of 15 members – two less than the current member count of 17.”

     The consultants Cleveland City Council hired to help with the redistricting process are Bob Dykes of the Triad Research Group; Mark Salling, a prominent demographer who for years headed up Northern Ohio Data Information Services (NODIS) at Cleveland State University’s College of Urban Affairs; and Kent Whitley, an urban planner, political consultant, and community organizer.

     According to the statement from Cleveland City Council, the October meetings were designed “to share redistricting goals, collect community feedback, and ask residents to share their maps.” The City Council statement said, “It is believed this is the first Cleveland City Council to seek public feedback on the reapportionment process.”

     City Council promised additional meetings to review the maps. Due to the change in the deadline for drawing new wards, public input will have to be compressed into a shorter timeline. In the November 22 Plain Dealer article, Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin vowed that Cleveland residents would still have an opportunity to see the maps before City Council votes on them at its January 6^th meeting.