CLEVELAND, Ohio – The man who once was in charge of building relationships between the community and Cleveland police will chair the Cleveland City Council panel that oversees the safety forces.
Council President Kevin Kelley has asked Councilman Blaine Griffin to take over chair of council’s Public Safety Committee. The seat previously was held Matt Zone, who resigned from City Council last week to take a post at the Western Reserve Land Conservancy.
“You need a steady voice at the top to present the council’s perspective,” Kelley said. “He [Griffin] understands the tone of the city. He understands the anger some people are feeling. But he also understands that the police have a job to do and the need to strike a balance.”
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Griffin has represented Ward 6 on the East Side since 2017, and previously was Mayor Frank Jackson’s executive director of the community relations board for more than a decade. That board’s role is to improve cross-culture relations throughout the city, including relations between the police department and citizens, and oversee youth initiatives.
That experience will serve him well, Kelley said.
Griffin had been chair of council’s Health and Human Services Committee. In that role he helped lead efforts to pass legislation to decriminalize marijuana in Cleveland, create a partnership between the city, nonprofit and private organizations to address lead poisoning and declare racism as a public health crisis.
Councilman Kerry McCormack, whose Ward 3 includes much of downtown, Ohio City and Tremont, will become chair of the Health and Services Committee.
The two committees are among City Council’s busiest.
Griffin and McCormack both sit on council’s Finance Committee, as did Zone. Ward 2 Councilman Kevin Bishop will fill Zone’s vacant chair on Finance, Kelley said.
Zone resigned his seat last week. At his recommendation, Cleveland City Council chose Jenny Spencer, the leader of Detroit Shoreway non-profit, to fill his seat.
Zone’s departure also eliminates a problem for council. The West Side councilman’s son serves on the police department, so Zone serving as chair of the committee overseeing the department constituted a conflict of interest that drew criticism.
While still on council, Zone declined to voluntarily relinquish the chair, and Kelley declined to unseat him, expressing confidence in his ability to handle the duties impartially.
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