Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Under Speed Vehicles Ordinance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee holds 'under-speed' vehicle ordinance for rewrite after extensive amendments
Summary
Council safety committee held Ordinance 808-2025, which would define and regulate under-speed vehicles, and asked the administration to refile a substitute with all amendments incorporated for clarity.
Ordinance 808-2025, an emergency ordinance to add definitions and new sections relating to under-speed vehicles, was held by the Cleveland City Council Safety Committee after members said the substituted amendments made the bill hard to follow.
The ordinance was introduced July 9, 2025, and staff presented a set of amendments during committee. Director of City Planning Cali Merceman told the committee staff and law had coordinated and chose to move forward via amendments rather than reintroduce a single substitute. Merceman said, however, that local businesses are “eager to get operating under this ordinance if council should approve it.”
Several council members said the amendments substantially changed the original text and recommended that the administration file a clean substitute that incorporates the amendments into a single document. One councilmember said, “I would recommend that you hold it and make and put that come back with as as a legitimate field piece of legislation and not an amended piece,” and other councilmembers agreed.
Council members also noted the measure had passed to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and was ultimately approved by the director of public safety on Sept. 17, 2025, but they still preferred a substitute to improve readability and to ensure the council fully understands the operational details and suspension/appeal processes added in the amendments.
The chair said the ordinance would be held and the administration was asked to return with a substitute at the next meeting. The committee’s stated rationale was to avoid delaying a potentially beneficial ordinance while ensuring council has a coherent, consolidated bill to review.
No formal vote to adopt the ordinance as written was recorded in the committee transcript; the action recorded is a hold pending reintroduction as a substitute.
