East Cleveland City Council has approved a new councilmember to fill the vacant ward three seat. This is the second time council has filled the seat this month.
East Cleveland City Council previously announced that it picked Lateek Shabazz to fill the seat. Shabazz is an East Cleveland native active in local politics. However, Councilmember Nathaniel Martin was not present at that meeting. Afterwards he threatened legal action if the meeting wasn’t redone, Councilmember Pat Blochowiak said. According to Blochowiak, Martin claimed the meeting wasn't valid, because he wasn't served papers about the meeting at his home. Email service is considered a legally valid form of notification, Blochowiak said, and the meeting was called by two members of council, per the charter.
Council met Tuesday night and again tapped Shabazz to fill the seat. Martin was once again not present, Blochowiak said, although he was delivered a notice of the meeting. She alleges Martin has been trying to hold up the process. If council didn't fill the seat by Dec. 28, Blochowiak said, Martin acting as council president would have been able to chose who fills the seat himself. She's worried Martin will again try to invalidate Shabazz's seat on council.
Martin did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
The seat has been vacant since November, when voters recalled former Councilmember Ernest Smith over allegations of misusing city property and improperly reporting income.
Shabazz worked as a real estate investor and operated a retail business in Chicago before returning to live in East Cleveland several years ago. More recently, he helped organize the failed effort to recall East Cleveland Mayor Brandon King. Blochowiak said she's heard support from the community about Shabazz serving on council.
At the meeting last night, council also voted unanimously to elect Councilmember Korean Stevenson as council president. They previously had elected her as president last week when they tapped Shabazz to be on council. Stevenson previously served as council president from Sept. 2020 to Dec. 2021. Martin has been president in the interim.
Earlier this month Blochowiak and Stevenson filed suit against Martin and clerk of council Tracy Udrija-Peters alleging they were acting without the consent of council in regard to filling the ward three seat. The court found the suit moot, Blochowiak said.
