Making an In-Person Public Comment at An Upcoming Council Meeting

Council welcomes public comments at each regularly scheduled Monday evening Council meeting. 

If you are interested in speaking at a Cleveland City Council, please read the revised rules and procedures for public comments and fill out the online form below. 

Submitting a Registration to Speak

Anyone who is interested in addressing Cleveland City Council at a public meeting must register with City Council prior to that meeting.

Registrations may be submitted:

  • By using the online form below
  • In person at Cleveland City Hall, Room 220, 601 Lakeside Avenue NE. Paper forms are available to register.
  • By downloading this form, filling it out, and emailing it to publiccomment@clevelandcitycouncil.gov or dropping it off at Council offices.

Registration Periods

Registrations will ONLY be accepted between Noon on Wednesday and 2:00 pm on the same day as a regularly scheduled Monday evening Council Meeting.

Council allows no more than 10 people to comment at its regularly scheduled Monday night meetings. Registration will close as soon as the first 10 people sign up. Each registrant will be allotted 3 minutes to speak.

Registrations will only be accepted for making comments at the next regular meeting; registrations for any future meeting will not be accepted until the Wednesday before the meeting. Early, incomplete, or false registrations will be rejected.

Notice of Registration

If your registration is successful, you will be notified by email or phone.

Accommodations

If you need assistance due to a language barrier or disability, please let us know at least three (3) days in advance by going here to make a request.

Attending Council Meetings

Cleveland City Council meetings are held in the Council Chamber on the second floor of Cleveland City Hall, 601 Lakeside Avenue, East.

Visitors may park for free at the upper lot behind City Hall after 5:00 pm on days when Council is meeting.

Public Record

Please remember that all registration information and public comments are public records and can be subject to public record requests.

Decorum

Cleveland City Council must maintain orderly, efficient, and productive meetings to ensure the important business of city government is completed. Council has developed a set of rules and procedures that allow the public to be heard in a fair and orderly manner. These rules and procedures apply to all speakers, and Council does not discriminate based on the speaker's identity or viewpoint or the content of the speech. Please read Council's revised rules and procedures for public comments before you register and before you appear before City Council.

Please note: Anyone attending a Cleveland City Council meeting is prohibited from engaging in any action or behavior that substantially interrupts, delays, or disturbs the due conduct of the proceedings of the Council; such conduct includes but is not limited to: handclapping, stomping of feet, whistling, making other loud noises, yelling, or similar demonstrations.  Any person who violates any of the above may be immediately removed from the Council Chamber.

Rules for Speakers
  • Speakers may not yield their time to other speakers.
  • Speakers shall only address the topic they registered to speak about.
  • Speakers' comments shall not be frivolous or repetitive.
  • Speakers shall not use language that is obscene or likely to produce imminent unlawful action. 
  • Speakers shall address all comments to the presiding officer.
Prohibited Items
  • Signs, posters, banners, placards, or similar items
  • Food and drink

 

To sign up to comment in person or online, please scroll down.

Make a Comment In Person at a Council Meeting

To sign up to speak during the registration period (Noon Wednesday through 2:00 pm Monday before Council Meetings) click this button.

You will be notified by email or phone if you are one of the ten people who will speak.


Make a Comment Online

If you would rather submit your comments in writing, please fill out the form below. 

Written public comments will be published on this page and delivered to all Councilmembers before the next full Council Meeting after they have been submitted.


Public Comments

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Palestine Ceasefire Resolution
I have lived in Ward 15 since 2013. It is appalling to me that council will not even call a vote on the proposed ceasefire resolution. Council clearly does not shy away from making politically-expedient resolutions related to global affairs (such as that supporting Israel after October 7 or that supporting Ukraine's resistance to the Russian invasion), but when making such a resolution requires even the smallest amount of bravery or fortitude, there seem to be endless excuses - even when council's sole Jewish member, Ward 12 Councilwoman Rebecca Maurer, is herself in favor of the resolution. This is a geographically distant conflict, but it is one that has direct implications for many members of the Cleveland community - to say nothing of the clear humanitarian crisis well underway that should make any living human ashamed.

At this point, even US Vice President Kamala Harris is publicly pushing for a "6-week" ceasefire in her meeting with Israeli cabinet member Benny Gantz, and numerous other prominent US cities have passed resolutions themselves, including Detroit, MI and Akron, OH.

It is disappointing and disheartening that my own representatives in the city I've called home for over a decade don't even have the courage to go on record with a full council vote. I thank councilwoman Maurer for her courage in standing up to council and verbally supporting the resolution, and I urge council as a whole to follow her lead and support the resolution, as well.
Joshua Goran
Ceasefire
Ceasefire now
Corey Farrow
Ceasefire resolution
There needed to be a ceasefire 5 months ago. Israel is an apartheid state that cannot claim self-defense when they illegally occupied Palestine. Israel has been killing innocent civilians before October 7th and continue to escalate the killing every day. They are bombing, shooting, starving and torturing innocent civilians. We are all complicit in this genocide and Cleveland needs to pass this resolution. Passing a ceasefire resolution is the bare minimum, we are asking for innocent families to not be murdered, is that such a hard thing to ask for?
cole kaufhold
Palestine
CEASE FIRE NOW- END THE OCCUPATION AND GENOCIDE- FREE PALESTINE-FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA.
sarah schonhiutt
Council's Inhuman Refusal to Denounce Israeli Crimes
Many have already stated what I believe. Your refusal to acknowledge the overwhelming views of your constituents by passing a declaration of outrage against the death and destruction rained upon Palestinian civilians is reprehensible. Not all of us can afford to visit Washington D.C. to express our indignation, so you, as our local office holders, must acknowledge the horror we all feel.
Brian Houlehan
Ceasefire for Palestine
I am urging Cleveland city council to pass a ceasefire resolution for Gaza, immediately. End the genocide, permanently. Palestinians deserve freedom and peace and to live, as the bare minimum!
Christina T
Palestine Ceasefire Resolution
It is incredibly concerning that the representatives of the Cleveland community have attempted to claim an uneducated position on the illegal occupation in Palestine. As representatives of the law in Cleveland I would have assumed you would be somewhat familiar with international laws, specifically in the legality of illegal settlements by immigrants. Pass a ceasefire resolution immediately and demand an end to genocide.
Sage Patterson
Palestine
The position of city council that genocide of Palestinians is none of their concern, even when their constituents repeatedly speak up about how important it is to them personally, is deeply wrong.
Keith Wilson
People’s Ceasefire Resolution
I am writing to support Cleveland’s ceasefire resolution and support of Gaza during this ongoing genocide.
Nicole Smyk
Disappointment in Cleveland City Council (except R. Maurer & J. Spencer)
I have watched Cleveland City Council meetings on TV 20's for the past many months and every week, I see the lack of humanity and inaction by most of the council to act when as residents, we are begging your to act!!!

Well this weekend marked annual remembrance of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. Our Vice President was in attendance and she stated unequivocally:
"So, before I begin today, I must address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza...As I have said many times, too many innocent Palestinians have been killed...People in Gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane. And our common humanity compels us to act...And given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire" You can read the entire transcript at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/03/03/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-commemorating-the-59th-anniversary-of-bloody-sunday-selma-al/ and view it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRRm_q3uBS8

It is my position as a resident of Cleveland that City Council's relentless attacks on the Palestinian community MUST STOP, and its beyond time to pass a resolution for a cease fire! I thank Rebecca Maurer and Jenny Spencer for being in support of this, but I implore the rest of Council to take the wise advice of VP Harris and call for a ceasefire. I will remember this at election time!
Pam Moore