CLEVELAND HEIGHTS — Calls for the resignation of Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren are growing louder.
Friday afternoon, a special council committee of the whole met for the purposes of discussing the mayor’s “whereabouts, presence, accessibility, and ability to perform the duties of mayor.”
Seren was in attendance.
“This council by no means is my overseer. And I am not your negro,” Seren said in response to comments from council members that he was missing in action all day Tuesday and Wednesday despite inquiries.
“In this moment, it became clear that the mayor chose not to communicate to indicate he was okay,” said Councilwoman Gail Larson. “Instead, he chose to remain inaccessible. This is not the behavior of a good leader.”
The special meeting occurred in the wake of Monday’s protest and council meeting, where revelations of a civil rights complaint were discussed.
“The mayor continues to support his wife’s bigotry and hate speech,” Larson said.
Concerns raised in civil rights complaint
A former city worker, Patrick Costigan, raised concerns that resulted in Sobel, Wade & Mapley, LLC filing a complaint against the City of Cleveland Heights with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission on May 14.
The complaint alleges the mayor’s wife, Natalie McDaniel, made antisemitic remarks about city staff, former employees, and residents.
The complaint included a screenshot of an alleged text message thread that included the mayor, in which his wife described Cleveland Heights Planning Commission Chair Jessica Cohen, who is Jewish, as a “bloodmare,” which, according to the complaint, is a coded reference to the number of children in Orthodox Jewish families.
RELATED: Cleveland Heights mayor’s wife accused of antisemitic remarks in civil rights complaint
Mayor's online statement
Wednesday night, Seren posted a video on Facebook.
“It is in our shared belief that anti-Jewish hatred and anti-Semitism, as described in the IHRA working definition, has no place in our community or any other,” Seren said in the video.
He defended his wife, claiming Cohen had used offensive language toward him in the past.
RELATED: Cleveland Heights Mayor finally responds to allegations of his wife making anti-Jewish remarks
“Jessica Cohen has exhibited behaviors toward me that, in my view, invoke the racist trope of the Mandingo,” Seren said in the video. “A reduction of a Black man to physicality without intellect, erasing his qualifications, experience, intelligence, and accomplishments. That has been my experience with this person. My wife doled out a creative shorthand for her in private conversation, assigning the corresponding term broodmare to Miss Cohen to reframe that power dynamic and help reduce the negative impact of that experience on me.”
The mayor went on to say in the video, “This private, personal characterization was in response to Miss Cohen's actions and was never a statement about Jewish people, Orthodox or otherwise, and was never intended to be shared or to embarrass Miss Cohen publicly.”
Council members speak out
Larson said the mayor’s statement does nothing to provide healing.
“The mayor’s apparent lack of concern for the city staff and residents disqualifies him as our mayor,” Larson said, as several residents in the audience clapped.
Councilman Craig Cobb said, “The city is tearing itself apart. We’ve become the laughingstock of every other suburb. The residents have lost faith in their government and their mayor. Employees, I believe, the mayor has lost their respect. How can we go forward for the next seven months? We can’t, and it’s up to the mayor, if he loves this city, to decide if he truly loves this city and what he needs to do.”
Earlier in the meeting, Seren said the special meeting was an “exercise in electoral politics.”
There’s a mayoral election in November. It’s unknown if Seren will seek re-election.
Council President Tony Cuda abruptly ended the meeting after people started speaking over each other.
Right before that happened, Cobb, referring to Seren, said, “This council didn’t put us here in this moment. You put us in this moment.”
What's ahead?
After the meeting ended, I asked Seren how he felt about it.
“There’s a sense among the majority of this council that they’re the supervisors of the administration and of me,” Seren said. “And it’s been that way since the onset. It is regrettable. It’s caused a great deal of problem throughout the city."
Seren went on to say, “For every organization, public or private, there is an obligation to investigate any complaint that takes place. We have an obligation to take it through a formal process so we can end the process with a result that has validity, instead of what’s taken place here in the creation of a circus.”
Charlotte Wilson, a longtime resident, attended the meeting. She wants the mayor to step down.
“I feel like there’s a lack of caring about the community,” Wilson said. “In the meantime, while all the focus is on this, things are not getting done. City services are being left by the wayside.”
I asked her if the mayor apologized if it would change her thoughts.
“At this point, no,” Wilson said. “I feel like too many things have been said. And I feel like everything is in defense of him. It’s not in defense of the community.”
Seren said he cares about the community and will keep working.
When asked if he would apologize or resign, Seren said, “I’m going to be done for now,” as he walked away.
After the meeting, Cobb told me the council is limited in what it can do regarding the mayor.
"Somehow we’ve got to continue to do our job and keep this city functioning," Cobb said. "But he’s got seven months left in office. It’s going to be a challenge to try and keep this government functioning for seven months."
Cobb would like to see the mayor resign.
"From his behavior today, it's pretty apparent that he's not going to make the right decision," Cobb said.
He noted that the mayor has gone through three city administrators during his three-and-a-half years in office, along with nearly a dozen high-level directors.
"This is an unusually high amount of turnover," Cobb said. "Things aren’t getting done because we don’t have employees. We’ve been unable to not only retain good employees but also to attract new ones. Who would want to come and work here right now given this situation? Certainly, if I were Jewish, I wouldn’t want to work for him."
The next city council meeting is June 2.
