Lead Safety Certificate Program (1244-2026)

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions and a speech-to-text transcript; names and details may be misheard and outcomes incomplete.

What: Ordinance 1244-2026 (Councilmember Conwell and Council President Griffin, by departmental request) creates a lead safety certificate program with civil penalties by adding new Codified Ordinance sections and repealing older ones, including a section of Ordinance 747-2019.
Where it stands: heard and passed by the Health, Human Services and the Arts Committee on 2026-10-19 (roll call; tally unclear in the transcript). It is the first major update to the lead ordinance in seven years.
Next: full Council vote; the effective date discussed was February 2027.

Read by the clerk with no debate; sponsors are Councilmember Conwell and Griffin.
The captions give the new sections as 365.01 through .10 and 240.5 through .8 (numbers approximate).

Presented by the mayor's senior advisor for lead accountability and the Director of Public Health, with the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition supporting.
Longer certificates reward fixing the main lead sources: old windows first, then exterior doors and porches (up to 10 years), with up to 20 years for the strongest work; newer buildings and unbroken streaks of passing certificates earn more years.
Adds a local risk assessor license and clearer inspection standards; adopts HUD's non-target housing definition (for example dormitories and senior housing with no children); exempts properties shown lead-free by an XRF scan; creates an XRF lending program.
Strengthens tenant protections against retaliation, oversight of relocation assistance and the role of the lead safe board. A Lead Safe ombudsman was hired about a month earlier.
Joseph Jones asked how many homes were assessed after about $35 million spent on lead work and requested a flow chart or process analysis of accountability; staff said landlords pay for assessments, about 31,000 units are in compliance, and a slide and process document would follow for the Finance Committee. Nikki Hudson asked about testing children who lose Medicaid coverage.
Voted by roll call and passed committee.

About 1 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-10-12 - City Council	1

2026-10-19 - Health, Human Services and the Arts Committee - Committee hearing; presented, questions on accountability and Medicaid testing; passed committee.
2026-10-12 - City Council - First reading and referral to committee; no discussion.