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Cleveland Heights council planning to send letters seeking investigation
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio (WJW) – A Cleveland Heights council member told the Fox 8 I-Team that the council clerk will be sending letters to state officials and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office asking for an investigation of the mayor.
The I-Team previously reported Mayor Khalil Seren was caught on video going into the law department after hours. His laptop was found hidden in one room.
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Law Department officials told the Cleveland Heights Police Chief that they were concerned the mayor either recorded or tried to record private meetings between attorneys and some employees concerned about a hostile work environment.
On Friday, the city council passed a resolution calling for an investigation of the mayor.
Agents with the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation previously declined a request by the police chief to investigate the matter, but council members are hoping the agency will reconsider. The council president said he asked the clerk to send letters to the state and local agencies Monday morning.
The mayor declined to talk to the I-Team about the matter and has refused to answer our questions asking why he was in the law department after hours.
Seren later released the statement saying he is being targeted because of this race.
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'Like many Black mayors during the Trump era, I've been subjected to a political lynching – driven by those who have weaponized our community's unaddressed racist biases and hate for their own gain, manipulating fear and division to serve their interests,' part of the mayor's statement reads.
Several residents and council members disagree with him.
'From my personal system of values and regard for all humanity, I voted the way I did because we need to pursue the facts,' said Gail Larson, a Cleveland Heights Council member. 'My support of the legislation had nothing to do with the color of the Mayor's skin. Why was he in the law department 'after hours,' as the videos show? Why won't he answer you and your media colleagues when asked, 'Why were you there?'
Council President Tony Cuda also released a similar statement that said the council passed the resolution to protect city residents.
'The mayor's statement was nothing more than a gaslighting rant designed to divide our community,' Cuda stated. 'Yet another shameful act on the part of this mayor. There is no way the mayor should be using city resources to do his political bidding.'
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Many residents agree with the council, including James Bates, who is working with others to have the mayor recalled. Bates said the mayor's message is 'a shameful and manipulative attempt to distort reality and deflect from his own failures.'
'Let's be clear: no one is attacking Mayor Seren because he is Black,' Bates said. 'He is being held to account because of his behavior, his decisions, and his failure to lead with integrity. The community's concerns stem from troubling patterns of conduct, not from the color of his skin. To suggest otherwise is to falsely and dangerously paint Cleveland Heights residents—many of whom proudly support Black leadership—as bigots simply for daring to question their mayor.'
Council members have also asked the mayor to resign. The mayor has said he plans to stay in office and is seeking re-election.
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