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Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley says a proposal to merge the city with neighboring East Cleveland is "a non-starter" as long as it comes attached to a list of conditions from the impoverished suburb.

(Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley has rejected a proposal from the East Cleveland City Council for a merger of the two cities, calling it a "non-starter" as long as it is tied to a list of conditions that even the suburb's mayor has criticized as "unrealistic, impractical and illegal, in some cases."

In an interview Thursday, Kelley said he has not closed the door to the possibility of annexing Cleveland's impoverished East Side neighbor.

"But what was presented to us - this is not a starting point," Kelley said.

The list of demands was made in a memorandum of understanding between East Cleveland City Council members and their three newly appointed commissioners, empaneled last month to negotiate with representatives from Cleveland the terms of a potential annexation.

Among the most controversial provisions of East Cleveland's memorandum is that council members want to continue receiving their salaries as members of an "advisory council" with control over a community development corporation and all of the publicly owned land in the new ward.

East Cleveland wishes to continue operating its own municipal court and maintain its red-light camera program -- despite the fact that voters banned the cameras in Cleveland in 2014.

Council members also want their residents to pay less in income tax than the rest of Cleveland. The memorandum demands a 1 percent tax credit for East Cleveland residents.

And the city wants to maintain control over its parks -- though it wishes to delegate maintenance responsibilities to the Cleveland Metro Park System.

Cleveland now has 30 days to decide if it will make appointments to the commission. After that, the panel would have 120 days to hammer out the terms for annexation. If East Cleveland voters approve the proposal, Cleveland City Council members would either vote to adopt it or send the issue to the ballot.

If Cleveland City Council lets the 30-day deadline lapse, however, the annexation process goes back to square one, with a new petition and the collection of voter signatures.

East Cleveland Mayor Gary Norton said in an interview Thursday that he tried to discourage council members from issuing the list of conditions.

"I certainly don't subscribe to it," he said. "To me, this entire process has been about putting the people's interest above my own. And I think the document that you have is reflective of City Council's perspective."

Norton went on to say that the only items missing from the list of demands are "a moat, a drawbridge and a fire-breathing dragon" to keep intruders at bay.