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
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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Data centers need a vast amount of water for their cooling systems. Water demands from a data center impacts potable water, reuse, and wastewater infrastructure. The specific reason for concern is about the treatment capacity of the water treatment plants in the Cleveland area and impact on customer rates.
According to the news reports, the 150 MW facility will consume enough power 100,000 homes. Keep in mind that Slavic Village has an estimated population of 29,000. So the datacenter would already require four times the amount of water currently provided to the area, assuming the center consumes the water demand of 100,000 homes. Assuming each house consumes about 530 gallons per day, the datacenter would need is approximately 52.8 million gallons a day (mgd). Translating the anticipated demand into Cleveland infrastructure terms, this would fall into the average capacity range of any of the four water treatment plants, as the four plants treat anywhere from 45 to 70 mgd on average.
Of course there are options to meet the propose average demand: either a new plant be completely rebuilt within the city limits, upgrades to any or all plants must occur, or potable reuse system be implemented. A new plant would anywhere between $150 million and $750 million, equating to $3-5 million dollar per 15MGD. This cost estimation does not even consider the transportation costs, operations and staffing costs, and transmission infrastructure and replacement costs as well. All of this would outweigh the tax revenue if the City were to pay to have the drinking water needed for the data center.
To get a return on the investment, customer water rates would be escalated to upkeep the current water system in place, plus the cost of the new infrastructure. The more it would cost, the more rates increase. None of these rate increases would even account for the transmission system required to convey, but the rate would increase even further to install transmission lines to the datacenter. Tax returns could help offset the cost for the additional infrastructure, but the contribution would be minimal at best . Using the recently rejected Slavic Village site for example, the tax return to the city would be about $212,000 using effective tax rate of 2.65% if the $8 million assessed market value of the 32 acres using a unit price of $ 250,000 per acre. This does not account for tax breaks either.
Bringing a data center would cause the the water utilities to operate at a net cost, so I ask that a ban be put into place on datacenters. The costs to the residents all over the greater Cleveland area, and Cuyahoga County outweighs the economic benefit of having a datacenter brought into Cleveland.
Does the Mayor and City Council have proof that you are working toward legislation on datacenters? Frankly I am not entirely convinced something is truly being done. I appreciate the reassurance that something is being done from Deborah Gray. However, this would not be the first time that local government claims to be doing something in the best interest of their citizens and then completely drops the ball or worse, goes a completely different direction than the desires of the citizens.
Cleveland does not need more empty promises or false hope. Cleveland needs action.
Actions speak louder than words.
Submissions are accepted up to 5 hours before a hearing if time slots are available