CLEVELAND — Cleveland City Council held a special virtual meeting on Wednesday morning, but Council President Blaine Griffin said it was not the right time or place to vote on whether to censure Ward 1 Councilman Joe Jones over workplace safety violations.
"We want to be fair," he said. "We want to be fair to the councilman. We want to make sure that the colleagues are not rushed and ... many of the colleagues asked for time in order to deliberate."
Griffin said the special meeting was held to vote on an ordinance for Downtown Cleveland Incorporated's Special Improvement District. He said the ordinance needed to be passed before Sept. 8, or the organization would lose nearly $6 million in funding.
Jones is on the ballot for the Sept. 9 primary election, where he faces four challengers. Griffin said he received a letter from "a lot of people that are often their critics" to hold the censure vote before the election.
"This is about personnel, not politics," Griffin said. "This is not about trying to acquiesce to the loud voices of people that, quite frankly, have an opinion about everything that city hall does."
He said the censure vote should take place in person and all council members should be present. The censure is a formal, public reprimand expressing disapproval for misconduct, Griffin said. It does not remove a member from office or impose other penalties or discipline.
The vote to censure Jones is scheduled for the council's Sept. 15 meeting.
It requires 12 votes to be adopted.
According to the city council's archives, the council has only attempted to censure members three other times. The last time was in 1976.
What happened?
The accusations against Jones stem from two incidents that both occurred on May 19, according to an investigation by an independent law firm.
Jones allegedly said "I'll f___ing kill you" three times during a meeting with a longtime council staff member.
The last time, Jones said, "I'll f___ing kill you on your motorcycle," according to an email the staff sent to colleagues.
Then, later that day, Jones was recorded on camera during a city council meeting, sitting in the seat next to a woman who had previously accused him of bullying her, even though he had been ordered to have no contact with her.
The law firm investigated both incidents and determined both witnesses were credible, according to a letter Griffin released last month about the investigation's findings.
Jones was also ordered to undergo one-on-one workplace conduct and threat awareness training.
Jones was removed from his committee assignments in January after a separate investigation into six incidents involving complaints of bullying and harassment.
Joe Jones response
News 5 Investigators reached out to Jones.
He declined our interview requests.
During an interview with The Outlaws Radio Show, Jones acknowledged making the comments. He said, "He [the employee] was working on my password, so I told him, 'Hey man, don't give my password out or I'll blow you up on your motorcycle.'"
He said his comments towards the staff were a joke, not a death threat.
"I meant no harm, I don't understand how he took it as that, and I was shocked that he took it that way," he said.
Jones said he had had a friendly relationship with the employee before the incident.
