Mayor Recall

We need to remove Seren from office as soon as possible to protect our city from further damage, get our city operations back on track, and begin the process of restoring trust in our local governance.

Our city is in crisis.

Under Mayor Seren, the Cleveland Heights City Hall has become a place of scandal, paranoia, and dysfunction, and our city’s employees must work in a culture of fear, retribution, and retaliation. Staff morale is shattered, turnover is high, and we cannot keep critical leadership roles that our city’s operations depend on. 

Without the continuity of a city administrator and departmental leadership, we see our city services declining, our infrastructure and facilities crumbling, and residents can’t get responses to their concerns or help when they need it.

Meanwhile, lawsuits are piling up, taxpayer dollars are being drained on outside lawyers instead of community needs, and our city’s mayor is the focus of criminal investigations and increasingly shocking scandals.

We must act now to stop the harm, restore stability and trust in government, and ensure a smooth transition to our city’s future. 

Enough is enough.

We need to come together

to save our city.

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Heights Citizens for Democracy is working with an ever-growing and diverse group of Cleveland Heights residents to recall the current mayor of Cleveland Heights, Kahlil Seren.

Every day that Seren remains in office, our city is at risk of harm. While there are many egregious actions and behaviors that concern residents and reflect badly on our city, we are particularly alarmed by those that result in immediate harm to Cleveland Heights.

During Seren’s time as mayor:

  • The City has failed to submit financial audits to the State of Ohio in a timely manner, missing deadlines and then missing extensions of deadlines. This results in risk of compounding fees and penalties; we also risk being placed on the State’s Unauditable List, which may result in legal action from the State.

  • The City has seen extremely high staff turnover, particularly at the director level and notably the hire and resignation of three City Administrators in as many years. In particular, the position of the City Administrator, which is required by our City Charter, is currently unfilled. These vacancies result in inconsistent and diminishing quality of city services.

  • He submitted an incomplete budget for 2025, lacking required information for Council review, as required by the City Charter. Rather than working with Council toward solutions, Seren became adversarial, publicly mischaracterizing the actions of Council and maligning Council for acting responsibly in the face of poor financial management.

  • There is a growing collection of employee reports of a hostile workplace, Human Resources complaints, and at least one EEOC complaint. These not only make it difficult for the City to attract needed staff and retain talent, but it also places our City at risk of costly lawsuits and litigation.

We have no confidence in Seren’s ability or willingness to conduct City business, lead City Hall, and execute the mayor’s duties in accordance with the City Charter.

Many people of Cleveland Heights feel frustrated and want to do something to change the current trajectory of our City. For this reason, we are seeking a democratic solution, granted by our City Charter: We seek to recall the mayor so our City can begin to recover and heal.

Frequently asked questions

  • No. The recall will not be held as a special election (which would cost money). It will simply be added to the ballot of an election already happening. The cost is already incurred.

  • tl;dr: To get Seren out sooner.

    It is our position that the city is being harmed and put at risk each day Seren continues to hold office. We hold that the sooner we can get him to vacate City Hall, the better.

    In particular, in light of the 2025 budget process debacle that began in December 2024, combined with Seren’s track record of refusing to cooperate and collaborate, we do not want him to oversee the creation of the 2026 budget, which will greatly impact the incoming mayor’s ability to put their vision into action.

    What’s more, when we get the needed signatures and they are certified by the Board of Elections, Seren will have 5 days to either resign or allow the recall to go to the ballot (City Charter, Article IV, Section 11). And a resignation is better for him than a recall.

    So, if we achieve our goal and get the needed signatures quickly, he will either resign shortly thereafter, or the voters get to decide whether to remove him from office as early as September.

    If that passes, he would be removed from office as soon as the election results are certified by the Board of Elections.

  • In Article IV, Section 10 of the City Charter, it says that if the office becomes vacant, “the President of Council shall become Mayor, and shall cease to be a member of Council. If the President of Council is unable to assume the duties of Mayor, the Vice President of Council shall become Mayor, and shall cease to be a member of Council. If the President and Vice President are unable to assume the duties of Mayor, Council shall elect from its members a Mayor, who will cease to be a member of Council. If none of the members of Council are able to assume the duties of Mayor, the Council shall appoint a Mayor.”

    This interim mayor would hold office until a mayoral candidate is elected by the voters and subsequently sworn in.

  • Thank you for stepping up! You can DONATE HERE and sign up to VOLUNTEER HERE..

“The power of the people is stronger than the people in power.”

Wael Ghonim