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CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has found a federal group will keep overseeing Cleveland police, but now it will cost you a lot less.
Members of the Cleveland Police Monitoring Team had been earning up to $750 an hour. Now, we’ve found a big drop in the cost to taxpayers.
But, no end in sight for how long the group will oversee Cleveland police for the federal court.
This week, the I-Team caught up with members of the monitoring team going to answer questions for Cleveland City Council.
“At what point is enough, enough? That’s the question,” councilman Mike Polensek said.
Though in the hallway, the new leader of the monitoring team would not answer questions for the I-Team, saying, “we’re not permitted by the court to speak to the press.”
Members of the group went before council to give the first update since the monitoring team underwent big changes.
The former lead monitor recently resigned. He stepped down months after he was involved in a run-in with Cleveland police downtown at the casino.
Now with a change in leadership, the city tells us of a big change in the cost. Members of this group had made headlines earning up to $750 an hour in taxpayer dollars.
The city said it has renegotiated the rate. So now, no members of the monitoring team will earn $750 an hour. The city said most will be earning $270 an hour. Two members will collect $370 an hour.
“We promise and commit to be good stewards of your money,” new lead monitor Christine Cole told council members.
The monitoring team told council that Cleveland police are making progress with widespread reforms. But, council did not get any firm prediction for when the oversight will end. In fact, we heard the same kinds of answers about that which we’ve heard for years.
Councilman Polensek pointed out that the city has already spent $10 million on this oversight.
“For every dollar we spend on the monitoring like this, it’s a dollar that could have been spent on promoting public safety directly or indirectly,” councilman Charles Slife said.
Plus, Cleveland City Hall has filed more complaints about some of the billing by the monitoring group, which is also something we’ve reported on before. This time, raising issues over the cost of expensive hotel rooms and more.
So, you see why we keep asking questions.
The city tells us the new, lower rates for the federal monitoring team are expected to be in place for at least the next six months.
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Ed Gallek
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