CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Ohio Ethics Commission is investigating Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman's involvement in city contracts awarded to the non-profit design firm LAND Studio, where his wife is the senior project director.
The Northeast Ohio Media Group has obtained a copy of a subpoena, signed by commission chairman Merom Brachman and sent in March to the community development corporation Ohio City Inc., which has partnered with LAND Studio on a number of city projects. (See subpoena in document viewer below.)
The subpoena orders Ohio City Inc. to produce copies of its correspondence dating back to 2002 with Cimperman and his staff related to projects or services rendered to the city by LAND Studio, its predecessor ParkWorks, LAND Studio Executive Director Ann Zoller or Cimperman's wife, Nora Romanoff.
Cimperman, who has served on council since 1997, stopped responding to a reporter's text messages Monday after learning that the ethics investigation was the reason for an interview request.
In October 2013, NEOMG published a story revealing that Cimperman had both sponsored and voted for legislation granting a city contract worth $200,000 to LAND Studio. And twice in recent years Cimperman sponsored resolutions supporting the firm's applications for about $2 million in state grants to acquire land for the Lake Link Trail project on the West Bank of the Flats.
State law prohibits public officials from using their authority or influence to secure public contracts in which the official, a family member or business associate has an interest. Doing so could amount to a fourth-degree felony, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 or as many as 18 months in prison.
Romanoff has worked for either LAND Studio or its predecessor, ParkWorks, since 1996. She and Cimperman were married in 2006.
Thomas McNair, executive director of Ohio City Inc., said in an interview Monday that his organization complied with the commission's demands by hiring an IT firm to search the agency's internet server and turning over four emails in May that met the subpoena's criteria.
"On our end we had absolutely nothing to hide," McNair said. "This was not about us, so to speak. But my understanding is that (the commission) considers us to have fully complied."
McNair added that the emails contained "absolutely nothing inappropriate," and that LAND Studio has been a good partner on a number of large-scale projects.
In 2013, Cimperman said in his defense that many of the projects involving his wife's firm were initiated long before their marriage. Since then, the councilman said, he has abstained from voting on most contracts involving ParkWorks or LAND Studio and cast other votes only with the blessing of the city's law department.
However, in 2011, Cimperman both sponsored and voted for legislation authorizing the director of city planning to enter into the $200,000 contract with ParkWorks to provide detailed design and engineering plans for Malls B and C, related to the medical mart and Convention Center project, NEOMG reported.
The councilman abstained in 2013 from voting on legislation that expanded the project area to include Mall A, Public Square and North Coast Harbor.
Cimperman also penned two resolutions in 2008 and 2009 that championed ParkWorks' applications for about $2 million in grants through the Clean Ohio Fund. The company sought the grants to acquire two parcels and a portion of a former railway to build a trail and green corridor connecting the Towpath Trail to the Lake Erie shoreline at Whiskey Island.
ParkWorks eventually obtained $1.3 million in grant money.
Other legislative records show Cimperman toggling between casting a vote and recusal on matters related to ParkWorks or LAND Studio, without clear reasoning behind his decisions.
Cimperman sponsored and voted for two ordinances introduced in 2007 to accept gifts from ParkWorks in the form of improvements to city parks. That same year, however, he abstained from voting to accept a cash donation from the firm for improvements to the Gunning Park football field.
Then, in 2013, Cimperman voted to accept a $5,000 grant from LAND Studio to rehab the Lake Avenue and West 76th Street pedestrian tunnels.
But he later declined to vote on a contract with LAND Studio to manage the city's public art program, citing City Council's Rule 19, requiring members to abstain from voting on matters in which they have a personal or financial interest.
Cimperman also did not vote in 2010 on legislation to award federal grant dollars to ParkWorks and Ohio State University to provide materials and supplies to build fences and sheds and plant trees on vacant city land.
Neither Romanoff nor Zoller returned calls for comment this week.
City Council President Kevin Kelley also did not return a call, and a council spokeswoman said that no one on council has received subpoenas related to the case.
Former Ohio City Inc. Executive Director Eric Wobser, who left the agency last year to become the city manager of Sandusky, said in an interview Monday that although he did not receive a subpoena, an ethics commission investigator dropped by his office in April.
Wobser said the investigator asked him whether Cimperman had ever pressured Ohio City Inc. to do business with ParkWorks or LAND Studio. He told them no.
"We sought out ParkWorks because they are really good at what they do, and they make projects happen," Wobser said. "They helped us come up with great ideas, and they worked with foundations to get them funded."
For that reason, Wobser said, he did not think the firm needed Cimperman's sponsorship on legislation to get city work.
"All of those projects were legitimate and had support without him," Wobser said. "If he did something technically wrong, that's for lawyers to decide.