South Euclid City Council split, 3-3, its vote on who should become its next president, Councilwoman at-large and Council President Pro Tem Susan Hardy, or Councilman at-large Justin Tisdale. Meanwhile, council is accepting, through May 23, applications from Ward 1 residents wishing to be that ward's next council representative.
Updated: May. 13, 2025, 2:07 a.m.South Euclid City Council will try once more to elect its new council president at its May 28 meeting.SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio -- After City Council attempted to elect a new president to replace the recently retired Ruth Gray, the news from Monday’s meeting was that there was no news.
At least, no new elected council president. Taking two votes, council members split each time, 3-3, between the two nominees, at-large Council representatives Justin Tisdale and Susan Hardy. With Gray gone following her April 30 departure, there was no seventh vote to break the tie. Nominated by Councilwoman Chanell Elston, Tisdale received votes from Ward 2 Councilman Len Calabrese, Elston and from himself. Hardy, nominated by Ward 3 Councilwoman Sara Continenza, also voted for herself, and received votes from Continenza and Ward 4 Councilman John Fahsbender. Hardy has served as council president pro tem during Gray’s presidency and presided over Monday’s meeting Prior to the votes, Tisdale and Hardy addressed council with prepared statements that told of their credentials to serve as president. “My commitment to South Euclid is not a campaign, it’s a calling,” Tisdale told his council colleagues. Tisdale recounted his work fighting in court to save Notre Dame College, which closed nearly a year ago; helping Elston to organize the city’s now-annual Juneteenth celebration; and organizing a peaceful march after the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. He told of his work as a teacher and of coaching basketball for 20 years, and of how he is raising a family in South Euclid. “I currently serve on the boards of the Hillcrest YMCA and the newly formed Community Advisory Board of South Euclid-Lyndhurst City Schools, where I continue to advocate for wellness, equity, opportunity and education,” Tisdale said.Hardy said that upon being married, she and her husband bought a home, when she was 21, in 2006, in South Euclid to start a family. “It was within the first year of home ownership that I decided that within 20 years I was going to run for City Council: she said. ”I wanted to use my education in a meaningful way to help the community. Thirteen years later, I accomplished that goal.”In 2021, she became PTA president at Adrian Elementary School, a position she still holds.In voting for Hardy, Continenza and Fahsbender spoke of her experience as pro tem, running past meetings in Gray’s absence, and her knowledge of legislation. Both also told of their respect for Tisdale. Calabrese said he backs Tisdale because of his actions in “standing up for justice” and his work on behalf of Notre Dame’s viability, which he said is “very close to my heart, very important to this community.”After the second vote resulted in a deadlock council had the choice of waiting until its first meeting in June, when it will have its seventh member, to again take a vote, or to put the election of a council president on the agenda for its next meeting, to be held Wednesday, May 28. Council voted, 6-0, to place the council president election on its May 28 ballot, which gives it the option of voting again on that date, or deciding to push the vote back to the first June meeting.Council is accepting, through May 23, applications from residents of Ward 1 interested in serving on council. In addition to serving as council president, Ruth Gray was also the Ward 1 representative. Hardy said candidates will be interviewed for the job on May 28. Council will select candidates to be interviewed at its discretion.Director of Planning and Development Michael Love said the city has been “serving as a glorified landscaping service” in recent years because the city is charging $60 to mow the lawns at properties where such maintenance is not taking place.“At this point, when we’re not cutting until seven inches, it’s actually cheaper for people to utilize the city as their landscape contractor than to hire their own private contractor,” he said. Legislation before council on Monday, but then sent to council’s Legislative Committee for further discussion, would institute an escalating scale in charges for those who continually rely on the city to cut their grass. Under that escalating scale, the city would charge $60 for mowing a lawn on each of the first two occasions, both of which would be accompanied by a notice that the charge will go up for further cuts. The third time a city cuts a property owner’s grass, the charge would increase to $250; a fourth time, $500; and a fifth time, $750. Each cut would, again, come with a notice of the next, higher cost. Love said that if a property owner has an extenuating circumstance, the city will listen and act accordingly. In addition, the ordinance to be reviewed would also make separate building and housing code nuisance violations, such as not cutting grass, from criminal nuisances, that might include police responding several times to the same address for disturbances. When both types of nuisances are combined, fees are charged and add up. The police/city can charge nuisance abatement fees for repeated calls for assistance or maintenance made from the same address.Also on Monday, council elected by 6-0 votes to extend by six more months moratoriums now in placeimpacts the granting of building permits or certificates of occupancy for any building, structure, use or change of use that would enable such a store to operate in South Euclid.If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.
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