A Cleveland City Council Finance, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee on Sept. 29 approved an emergency ordinance to extend the lease for the Cleveland Community Police Commission’s office for one additional year at 3631 Irving Avenue.
The committee approved Ordinance No. 1166-2025 as amended. The amendment corrected the ordinance text to refer to the “Community Police Commission” rather than “Cleveland Police Commission.” Louis Smoot III, assistant director of law, filed a legal memorandum stating there was no legal objection to the amendment.
The ordinance’s sponsor, introduced by departmental request and Council Member Griffin, authorizes the director of finance to amend lease agreement number 2017-20-023 to add a one-year term. Alex Norday, interim executive director of the Cleveland Community Police Commission, told the committee the current lease term ends Oct. 25 and the extra year would give the commission time to explore other spaces.
Committee discussion included a request to pursue city-owned space where feasible. Councilman Pulisic asked whether the commission had sought space in city buildings; Norday said the commission and administration have conducted space studies and hope to relocate some leased offices back to city facilities in time. A committee member asked the commission to follow up with Council offices on outstanding questions unrelated to the lease—specifically about the commission’s certification process for police commanders.
Action: Ordinance No. 1166-2025 as amended was approved by the committee; the transcript records the chair saying, “ordinance number 11 66 dash 20 25 as amended stands approved. Please sign off.” The record does not show a roll-call vote or a mover/second on the floor of the committee.
The ordinance extends an existing lease for one year and does not itself relocate the commission; Norday said the extension is intended to allow time to “begin exploring additional spaces” during the added year.
The committee corrected the ordinance text at the table, per the assistant law director’s memo, to change occurrences of “Cleveland” to “Community” in the title and first whereas clause.