University Heights mayor plans to take over strategic planning from subcommittee - cleveland.com

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Vice Mayor Michele Weiss held a brief meeting Tuesday (May 25) of the Strategic Planning Subcommittee of City Council’s Finance Committee. The subcommittee -- consisting of five residents, with invitations to attend meetings going out to all council members and the administration -- was formalized at the meeting.

This was significant, in that it was the subcommittee’s first meeting to be held since Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan released a May 11 memo detailing his lack of confidence in the subcommittee to do its work “meaningfully, thoroughly or timely.”

Brennan’s memo begins by noting that, under the city’s charter, administrative and executive powers to operate University Heights’ affairs -- including strategic planning -- are ultimately those of the administration, of which Brennan serves as chief executive.

Despite that, Brennan pointed out, Weiss formed the subcommittee in 2020 and began holding meetings in the fall of that year.

“As (strategic planning) is an administrative function, this memo is to inform all stakeholders that the city administration has taken back the strategic planning process of the city,” Brennan wrote.

The memo stated Brennan’s intention to not take part in the subcommittee’s May 12 meeting. He also did not take part in the May 25 meeting.

“To date, the output of the subcommittee has been uneven,” the memo continued. Brennan credited the subcommittee with approving of the administration’s proposal for a municipal facilities study, but went on to state several things with which he was not pleased.

He told of a “breakdown of communication” between Weiss, as subcommittee chairperson, and the administration, specifically in preparing for meetings and subject matter of meetings.

Also, Brennan wrote, “The subcommittee has not followed through with agenda items once noticed (stated on agendas).”

The mayor said the subcommittee has also not followed through with subjects such as determining compensation scales and benefits for employees, or on the unresolved issues of garbage pickup from residents’ homes.

The method of garbage pickup, Brennan stated, impacts decisions as to what equipment the city would need to purchase to replace its current failing equipment.

During a March 16 meeting, Brennan further stated that Weiss had “shut down attempted discussion by a citizen subcommittee member who raised a concern over” the issue of garbage pickup.

Brennan was also critical in the memo of City Council’s failure to act after he reported to them during the April 19 council meeting that the internet and phones at the City Hall annex weren’t working.

“City Council declined to do the work (of approving replacement equipment because) the switches were not yet broken,” Brennan wrote in the memo. He said the decision to delay getting new equipment until the old equipment breaks has caused disruption.

“When the subcommittee chair (Weiss) maintains the position that we should continue to wait till equipment fails before making replacements, that isn’t strategic planning.”

Weiss, when contacted Wednesday (May 26), said the subcommittee has done good things.

“We beefed up the internal controls of the city,” she said when asked about the subcommittee’s accomplishments. “We have an organizational chart, we have job descriptions for everybody, we have pay scales that have been updated.

“We presented the policy manual on first reading, and we brought in the company that’s going to do the facilities assessment. And that’s just the beginning.”

Weiss said the now-formalized subcommittee will continue to meet.

“There’s still some internal things that we want to discuss,” she said, “like performance outcomes to make sure each department is utilizing their resources effectively. I do not want to say that they’re not using them effectively right now, but (plans for documentation) would actually show you the data.

“There’s a way to, when these are studied properly, you actually see data that’s helpful. So that’s something that we want to explore. It may not even be that we put it into practice, but it’s something that the committee wants to explore,” Weiss said.

“And (the subcommittee) wants to be involved in the facilities review. So any time there’s a discussion about that, I’d very much like to see us invited.”

Weiss said plans call for the subcommittee to make its recommendations known to the administration.

“The administration has purview on whether they want to act on something or not,” she acknowledged. “If it’s good work, I hope that the administration looks at it.”

In his memo, Brennan stated that the administration will consider subcommittee suggestions. He said that, if the subcommittee continues on in an advisory capacity, “it is reminded to take care to follow open meeting laws, properly notice the public with meaningfully descriptive agendas, record the meetings on Zoom and produce minutes.”

In the memo, Brennan said the subcommittee’s failure to provide descriptive meeting agendas is not transparent, “does not promote meaningful preparation and does not serve the public interest.”

Brennan closed his three-page memo by stating, “Further strategic planning matters will be addressed by city administration, presented from time to time to City Council and/or an appropriate standing committee, and to the public.”

He thanked the subcommittee members, particularly its resident members.

When asked about the meeting Weiss conducted Tuesday, Brennan said his memo offered all he had to say on the subject.

Censure language revised

City Council voted May 3 to censure Brennan for remarks he made during a phone call with a resident in April. The censure language was revised twice from the original posted language. Both revisions were approved by Weiss, who sponsored the legislation.

The original resolution language told of Brennan’s “profane and vulgar” comments. The actual resolution that was passed by council read, instead, “inflammatory language” and “offensively coarse, unwarranted and inappropriate” language.

A portion that originally read, “the mayor’s profane outbursts have been belligerent and disrespectful towards members of council and towards the citizens of University Heights” was revised when passed to state, “whereas the mayor’s offensively coarse outbursts have been highly disrespectful towards members of council and toward the citizens of University Heights.”

Also, a part that stated that Brennan “arrogantly refused to apologize” was revised, when approved, to state, “whereas the mayor’s failure, when given the opportunity during public meetings, to acknowledge and apologize for his misconduct reveals poor judgment and a troubling lack of self-awareness.”

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