Valarie McCall

Valarie McCall, born Valarie J. McCall, is the Chief of Communications, Government & International Affairs for the City of Cleveland, Ohio. She is perhaps best known for being the youngest City Clerk and Clerk of Council in the history of the city of Cleveland.

Early life

McCall was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She grew up in the Glenville neighborhood. She was raised by her grandmother on E. 105th St.

McCall initially envisioned a life in law, and attended the Martin Luther King Law and Public Service Magnet High School in the Hough neighborhood.

Personal life

In 1995, McCall worked at McDonald's to pay her tuition.

On 12 May 2012, McCall received an Honorary Doctorate Degree,

In 2006, McCall became the first person to be named the Chief of Government & International Affairs for the City of Cleveland. McCall also serves on the boards of several organizations, including Opera Cleveland and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum; represents the mayor on such boards as the Northeast Ohio Mayors & Managers Association.

McCall also serves as the Mayor's representative to the Ohio Municipal League's Board, the Board of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (Five County Metropolitan Planning Organization), and Cuyahoga County Mayor's and Managers Association and the Northeast Ohio Mayors & Managers Association, the Executive Committees of both the Cuyahoga County & Ohio Democratic Parties, with a recent appointment to the Democratic National Committee. In addition, McCall serves on the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs Visiting Committee, the Government Affairs Committees of the United Way of Cleveland and the Center for Families & Children and has previously served as a member of the advisory board of Cleveland State University's Center for Nonprofit Policy & Practice.

McCall served as Chair of the City of Cleveland's RNC 2016 Special Events Committee and board member of Cleveland 2016 Inc., the host committee for the 2016 Republican National Convention. As a result, Republican mayor of Westlake Dennis M. Clogh ran unopposed and secured the nomination with a vote of 8–0.

Controversies Gay Games

McCall had been instrumental in bringing the Gay Games to Cleveland. She was part of a delegation from Cleveland that attended the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne, Germany.

In 2009, the Cleveland Synergy Foundation (CSF) had been awarded the Gay Games IX license by the Federation of Gay Games (FGG). In 2010, the FGG terminated the license, claiming that the CSF failed to document the requisite information in a timely manner, and designated the Cleveland Special Events Corporation as the new host. In September 2010, the CSF sued several of the entities involved, and Valarie McCall, to retain the rights to the events. CSF alleged that McCall "two-faced Synergy" by sitting on its board while colluding with FGG to undermine CSF to get the local group removed from the project. The lawsuit also alleged that McCall attempted to "terminate the license agreement without proper notice and/or legal and factual justification."

The City of Cleveland agreed to pay the Cleveland Synergy Foundation $475,000.00.

Title

On 12 May 2012, McCall received an Honorary Doctorate degree,

RTA payments

On 8 June 2018, an article was published to Cleveland.com detailing a payment dispute between Valarie McCall and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. The dispute originated when McCall requested compensation from the RTA in 2014. According to RTA bylaws, "board members are entitled to a $400 a month stipend for their service"; however, when appointed by the Mayor, Jackson instructed the RTA that McCall was not to be compensated. In the 2014 request, McCall requested she receive compensation for the work she put in at the RTA (an amount she has received to date in excess of $56,400.00), and to be paid retroactively for the years of back pay she declined, which amounted to $35,600.00 before taxes. Because McCall is a public employee who was not elected to her position, she was one of the two RTA board members who stopped receiving payments; the RTA planned to withhold these two members' stipends "until the matter is resolved".

On 9 November 2018, an article published to Cleveland.com reported that the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office served subpoenas to the RTA to obtain records on former high-level officials and one of the current board members. A subpoena served on 7 September 2018 requested records related McCall's request to be compensated as other board members on the RTA board.