A Cleveland board, created more than two decades ago, with such duties as ensuring employers with city contracts pay the living wage, is on the verge of operating for the first time.

Members were appointed to the Fair Employment Wage Board when it was formed in 2001, said Marie Zickefoose, a spokeswoman for Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration.

But, she wrote in an email, “[W]e have no records of the board ever actually meeting.” 

Council is expected Monday to approve three members to the seven-member board, said Council President Blaine Griffin. He said council is on track to approve the remaining members in the coming weeks. The full board cannot be seated without another council committee hearing, Zickefoose said. 

Griffin said the board will definitely meet this time. He said there is much work to be done, especially since council last year updated Cleveland’s Fair Employment Law. The city now has a wage theft law, which bars the city from doing business with companies found to be shortchanging workers’ pay.

The law also prevents the city from doing business with companies that engage in payroll fraud, a form of embezzlement. Such fraud includes companies having fictitious employees on the payroll, in which their “pay” is diverted to the embezzler. The board’s duties will include reviewing and monitoring both. It will do the same relating to the law’s requirement that employers with city contracts pay at least Cleveland’s living wage, which is currently $15.33 an hour. 

“In light of the new legislation that we passed for wage theft and payroll fraud, we actually need a board that can hold these businesses accountable to make sure that they’re not trying to skirt the rules,” Griffin said. “It’s my understanding that wage theft and payroll fraud are more prevalent than most people would think.”

The board is required to be composed of: Two members from organized labor, two from business, one from a community group, one from the mayor’s administration and one representing council. The mayor appoints six board members and council appoints one. Council must approve the board members.

The Bibb administration nominated six members in September 2023, Zickefoose said. Since then one has moved away, and the administration is in the process of getting a  replacement. Council hopes to have a representative soon, Griffin said.

These are the five members the Bibb administration nominated:

• John Hodge, business representative for Plumbers Local 55. (Representative from a labor organization.) 

• Melissa Khoury, owner of Saucisson Cleveland. (Representative from the business community.)

• Camilo Villa, feld representative for Service Employees International Union Local 1. (Representative from labor.)

• Bishop Eugene Ward Jr., executive pastor and CEO, Greater Love Baptist Church. (Representative from a community group.) 

• Kate Warren, special assistant to the chief of integrated development. (Representative of the Bibb administration.)

Council is expected to approve Villa, Ward and Warren Monday night.  

“It’s really good to see that the sunshine is coming back on this board,” said Griffin, who, as a community organizer, lobbied for legislation establishing the board. “We’ve always wanted this board to really be kind of the advocate of City Hall for poor people and disenfranchised people.”

Villa said he looks forward to serving on the board, and not just for what he calls its “watchdog function.” 

“There’s an education component in this mandate,” he said of the board’s duties.” It is very important to educate employers as to what their responsibilities are and what the expectations from our community are for the employers who work in the city and seek business with the city. 

“We want to empower responsible employers, and we want the city to do business with responsible employers,” he said. “If we can help businesses get there, that’s very positive.”