Cleveland Heights committee advances ordinances to restrict city email and social media use and add council veto over mayor property decisions

Cleveland Heights — An Administrative Services Committee report to the Cleveland Heights City Council Committee of the Whole on June 30 outlined a package of proposed ordinances to tighten rules on city email and social media use and to add a council veto over certain mayoral actions concerning city property.

The proposal as described to the committee would amend Chapter 105 by adding Section 105.03 (rules for city emails), add Section 105.04 to prohibit review or access of city email accounts of employees or elected officials “without consent or lawful approval pursuant to the Ohio Public Records Law,” and add Section 105.05 to limit city social media and email systems to official informational uses and bar political messaging. The package also includes an amendment to Chapter 121.05 that would give city council, by a vote of five members, a veto over mayoral uses or changes in the care, control or use of city property.

Councilmember (Administrative Services Committee chair) said the committee reviewed earlier legislation proposed by the mayor, revised it to broaden coverage to include city employees and contractors, and circulated proposed changes to council and the law director. “I made a few non substantive changes to what had been proposed, and I will get those to the — I already sent a law director a copy of my proposed changes,” the councilmember said.

At the committee meeting, members voted unanimously, 3-0, to move the proposed ordinances forward to the full council for further consideration. The councilmember said the law director has copies and will be asked to review the drafts "as to form." The committee discussed the possibility of introducing some measures as emergency legislation at the July 7 council meeting if legal review is complete.

Council members asked procedural questions during the Committee of the Whole about timing and next steps. One member noted a statutory timeline for when legislation takes effect without a signature; the committee discussed contingency planning in the event of a mayoral veto and potential follow-up meetings to respond to any vetoes.

No final council votes on the ordinances were taken at the Committee of the Whole meeting; the committee vote referenced above was an internal committee vote to forward the drafts. The law director’s review and any subsequent formal introduction and council vote will determine whether and when the changes become law.

The proposals cite the Ohio Public Records Law as the governing standard for lawful access to email accounts; the committee planned to seek the law director’s formal opinion on the drafts before moving them onto the council agenda.