Councilwoman Melody Joy Hart Announces for Mayor

 
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Councilwoman Melody Joy Hart is running for Mayor of Cleveland Heights. The top vote-getter in the last election for Council, Hart has served one year and attended Council meetings for 4+ years prior to her election. “I bring a strong financial background and management skills to city leadership, together with progressive values. I will run an effective, transparent and responsive city government.”

“We are all neighbors” is Hart’s longtime campaign slogan, and she intends to continue listening to and connecting with residents as the cornerstone of her mayoral leadership.

With extensive experience as an executive, Hart is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Treasury Professional, and is certified in Financial Planning & Analysis.  Relationship management was a key component, dealing with banks, rating agencies, vendors, and investors, retaining relationships to develop win-win solutions for all parties. She has broken glass ceilings in Fortune 1000 companies including being Vice President and Treasurer of a multi-national corporation.  

Prior to her city council election, Hart was a member of the Greater Cleveland Congregations’ Cleveland Heights Housing Committee advocating for the foreclosure bond ordinance and ensuring banks and landlords kept their properties up to code.

On Council Hart has;

  • arranged for a unanimous vote for the financing of Top of the Hill, negotiating with the developer to increase the number of jobs paid by ‘prevailing wage’ and getting commitments to hire locally; and

  • co-authored Racial Justice Task Force legislation with Mike Ungar and Davida Russell

  • spearheaded changes to the foreclosure bond; and 

  • spearheaded changes to the “out of county” ownership ordinance; and

  • held open finance committee meetings as Chair of the committee; and

  • established a system to refer citizen complaints to the appropriate department and asking that department to report to Council about progress made; and

  • sponsored a forum with a committee of concerned citizens about the transition to a Mayor form of government with three Mayors from nearby cities discussing what it takes to be a Mayor, and 

  • sponsored a forum with a committee of citizens featuring Mayor DaSilva of East Providence, Rhode Island and that city’s attorney regarding the challenges of transition from City Manager to Mayor form of government that they faced.

Hart will work on housing stock preservation; racial equity; Police reform; economic development; more transparency. She will implement a single number for citizens to contact for all complaints and a software system to track citizen complaints, requiring a prompt response from City Hall.  


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Pam Turos