Councilman Joe Jones Repeatedly Made Inappropriate Comments to Women, Prompting Misconduct Investigation

Ward 1 Councilman Joe Jones at a City Council meeting in early 2024. Credit: Mark Oprea

Ward 1 Cleveland City Councilman Joe Jones was the subject of an investigation of misconduct allegations, as Scene and others reported.

City Council President Blaine Griffin initially opted to attempt to try and shield Jones’ identity but confirmed to reporters this week that complaints from multiple accusers led Council to hire an external law firm to conduct an investigation and make recommendations. Griffin also eventually relented and acknowledged Jones was the subject of the probe.

Among those accusers was an artist who had applied for Destination Cleveland’s “Murals Across The City” project. The meeting at Council Chambers on May 31 was, records show, intended to fine-tune the artist’s vision for the building wall in Jones’ ward.

But Jones didn’t stay on topic, a copy of the complaint sent to Council President Blaine Griffin showed. Especially when Jones seemed to realize the artist sitting in front of him—and four others in the room—was the brain behind the mural design.

Your face, Jones told the artist, should be on it.

“When some of the attendees in the meeting giggled (assuming he was joking), he said, ‘No, really,” the artist wrote.

“The Councilman proceeded to speak about my looks in an uncomfortable manner,” she added. “He spoke about how beautiful I was, and details of my face, and all these attributes that I have that he and his neighborhood would want to see and pay attention to the mural.”

“At this point, I disassociated in order to just get through the meeting, as I was extremely uncomfortable.”

Hannah Belsito, Destination Cleveland’s chief experience officer was there in the room with Jones and told Griffin in the complaint email she was mortified.

“[I] was both embarrassed and disappointed to have invited a prominent local artist into a space where she was treated this way,” Belsito wrote. “We hope that through your awareness of the experience and your leadership, you can ensure it doesn’t happen again to a guest of Cleveland City Council.”

Griffin expressed remorse after the complaint was filed in a mesage to Destination Cleveland.

“This is completely unacceptable and I offer my most sincere regrets that this happened,” he wrote. “The fact that you and your team experienced this is regrettable, and we will definitely look into what options we have to address this.”

This isn’t the first instance of uncomfortable comments and behavior from Jones, records show.

Last February, Jones was accused of grazing a staff member’s breast, which he claimed to Griffin was accidental, the Plain Dealer first reported. And in 2022, two staff members cited his “disrespectful” verbiage while yelling at them for what he felt was botching a deadline for casino funds spending.

Jones “acted and behaved like a sexist bully,” one staff member recounted, “and I can only hope I never have to have any interactions with him.”

Council has paid at least $8,120 so far to a law firm hired to handle the issue, which included making recommendations for both Jones and Council as a whole — Council Clerk Patricia Britt has been assigned to tag along meetings, for instance.

On Friday, Jones announced he was stepping down as chair of the Mayor’s Appointments Committee, Signal Cleveland reported. The committee had not met since the investigation began last year. Jones did not respond to a request for comment from Scene this week.

As he told the Plain Dealer, Griffin seems to have no plan to release Council’s probe into Jones, contending that the report is not a public record in line with state law.