OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Cleveland Municipal Service and Property Committee Meeting - September 15, 2025

City Council MeetingsMonday, September 15, 2025
BodyCleveland, Ohio
SessionCity Council Meetings
DateMonday, September 15, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:49:19

Transcript — Verbatim
1:25:22

And they are having parts.

1:25:24

Where would those um employees, how would they be affected by this third party when they're coming in and losing the office of two chairs?

1:25:32

They would not be affected.

1:25:33

Their roles might change a little bit, but as far as what the day operation would be, but they would still be involved with the parts of distribution and management of those parts.

1:25:49

Okay.

1:25:50

And director, so the uh the our urban AI has uh done some process acting with other departments to kind of help them do their processes uh and try to find uh better ways to work more efficiently.

1:26:05

Have you worked with uh the urban AI department any kind of way to to uh kind of talk about this whole process or get any help with this process?

1:26:14

So uh to the chair now with everybody as we work with them on the other projects, um, but because of the extent, um the amount of time that we dealt with this and the at least the current experience that we had, um we we just find this at the right time to necessity would know we have not been currently specifically on this project.

1:26:39

Okay, all right, director, also can you talk about can you get a little bit more specific on the cost that it would have to the city uh any kind of cost more forward or more annual basis?

1:26:51

Any kind of savings that we with the processing on this project uh to the chair.

1:26:57

We would be able to really look at those services based on it after we go to our PR, but with the cost savings is going to come into the the management of costly capacity parts.

1:27:12

That is gonna be huge.

1:27:13

Uh just we have no outlet to get rid of house and cost other than to just oxen.

1:27:22

And by the time we have the terminal process, they they almost have no line.

1:27:28

And just so the whole management of the the parts and time, what's coming in and what's going out is really this is key, plus the fact of getting you know the qualified technicians back out to the door in making those labor hours uh uh reduced our increase of efficiency over here right now.

1:27:50

Okay.

1:27:50

All right, we'll go to council.

1:27:54

Thank you, Mr.

1:27:55

Chairman.

1:27:56

Mr.

1:27:56

Chairman to uh to the director of commissioner um a little bit by this piece of legislation uh in your own admittance in your presentation uh in slide two.

1:28:10

Um you indicated that there's 15 people by landing up right 15 people who are um in charge of doing the jobs that we want to outsource.

1:28:20

Um then you tell us that um we're gonna outsource this, but that nobody's gonna lose their jobs, um, although we're replacing 15 jobs.

1:28:30

Um so either one or two things is going on.

1:28:33

Um either um we have the option of not believing that somebody's not gonna lose their job, or you're admitting that for the last 20 years or so you have not been running an efficient shop um over there, right?

1:28:49

And I don't want to believe the second part because I overnight seen everything.

1:28:54

Um but something doesn't add up for those with this with this legislation, right?

1:28:59

It looks like we're trying to outsource something that we've been doing, but that nobody's gonna lose a job, right?

1:29:10

We're not here um I believe to uh be in the role of passing legislation to put people out.

1:29:18

Right?

1:29:19

So either something has not been functioning over there as effective as it should be, or people are gonna lose their job.

1:29:29

Absolutely.

1:29:30

No, that to the chair to the council and that is a fairly concerned, and that's why we're gonna make sure they're in the layouts.

1:29:37

Again, one of the things I mentioned is we have four or so mechanics that are doing no booty.

1:29:43

In fact, you know, when I get to the finance system, there's an end that I would see hundreds of times, which is actually the candidate.

1:29:54

But these processing inputs.

1:29:56

As opposed to being that one for, you know, so we've got like four still candidates that are going to go through.

1:30:01

That's one thing.

1:30:03

Also, to your point, yes, we're not at the level that we should be in that way.

1:30:08

A piece like this will help us actually better be here and be more efficient.

1:30:13

So no, there won't be any layoffs because uh again, that one post the window in our business throughout our happens.

1:30:20

So we're trying to get to a place no different than how we have tractors and make the properties because we have a we have a blind spot.

1:30:29

Again, we talk about Austin Pless, you know, say good as your parts, those kind of things.

1:30:34

We are really behind the law.

1:30:36

Sometimes when we come here and actual vehicle acquisition is not a part of this, because you all know that sometimes we tell you there's probably a uh you know two-year lead time to do it um uh vehicles.

1:30:47

We'll say we have the parts, and if you're not gonna count on the park to be able to make those um um acquisitions quickly, then you're buying equals.

1:30:55

So this is not about laying folks off.

1:30:57

If we're up to the I'd like to have more folks, I still have enough, but we have to do what we have to work what we have.

1:31:04

But in this case, this contract is really going to act and it's what we do.

1:31:09

And then Mr.

1:31:10

Chairman's the director, I guess with that explain, should I have to be like the second portion of Michael Week was the one that we're paying toward because we shouldn't have um mechanics doing the ordering, like you said, it's just it's it's not efficient.

1:31:26

So as opposed to outsourcing um this portion, why can't we just employ somebody um who's um so that the mechanics can come back to doing the mechanics work, and we have somebody who's actually um employed by the city of Cleveland who knows our procurement process and everything, um, and just hire them to run the stores officially.

1:31:53

For just for clarification, there are not 15 people with Robin's operator, it's a total set.

1:31:58

So there's our there out of those seven store books that we operate, four of those are operated by storekeepers and the certificate storekeeper.

1:32:07

Three of them are staffed by technicians.

1:32:09

So there's not 50 of them certainly clarify that the update uh in with this model, the only people that would be impacted would be those four those three storekeepers in the one certain storekeeper.

1:32:25

But as I said, they would be integrating into this process, which would actually you know overall reduce the overall cost of what this program would be because we have a vendor additional personnel to week, you'll utilize personnel that we don't have.

1:32:42

So, Mr.

1:32:43

Chairman, to the commissioner, you're saying for 4.9 million dollars, correct?

1:32:49

If I'm reading it, the 4.9 million to the church on the 4.9 million dollars is what we are already spending on the process, our annual parts spend across those seven stores of your spending four point million.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procurement█████████████████████████████████████████████65%
Public Engagement█████████████19%
Technology and Innovation███████████16%
Summary of Proceedings

Cleveland Municipal Service and Property Committee Meeting - September 15, 2025

The Municipal Service and Property Committee considered legislation (821-2025) to outsource the city's vehicle fleet parts management to a third-party vendor. Council members raised concerns about the impact on union employees, the lack of prior consultation with labor representatives, and the optics of outsourcing city work. After discussion, the committee voted to hold the legislation pending formal input from the affected unions.

Discussion Items

  • The director presented a proposal to contract with a vendor for parts acquisition and inventory management across seven city fleet stores. The city currently spends approximately $4.9 million annually on parts; the proposed contract would cost $1.2 million per year for three years ($3.6 million total). Expected savings would come from improved efficiency, reduced vehicle downtime, and better sourcing capabilities (accessing multiple vendors rather than single-contract restrictions).
  • Councilmember Casey questioned why outsourcing was necessary rather than hiring additional city staff to manage parts. The director explained that only four employees – three storekeepers and one certified storekeeper – would see their roles shift within their job classifications, and no layoffs would occur. Four other store locations are staffed by technicians who would be unaffected. The director acknowledged current inefficiencies (mechanics performing ordering duties) and said the vendor would bring specialized expertise.
  • Councilmember Moore noted that the union representing storekeepers (Local 100) had not been given the opportunity to review the proposal. She stated she would vote against the legislation unless the union was consulted. Councilmember Kelly echoed concerns about the impact on workers and asked for clarification on oversight roles. Councilmember Jones also stressed the need for union involvement before a decision.
  • The director confirmed that no formal conversations had occurred with union leadership, but that affected employees would remain city employees and their duties would stay within existing classification descriptions.

Key Outcomes

  • The committee decided to hold legislation 821-2025. The chair directed the director to formally reach out to union representatives (CE Local 1 and Local 100) to discuss the proposal and obtain feedback before moving forward. No vote was taken; the matter was tabled without a set date for reconsideration.

Meeting Transcript

And they are having parts. Where would those um employees, how would they be affected by this third party when they're coming in and losing the office of two chairs? They would not be affected. Their roles might change a little bit, but as far as what the day operation would be, but they would still be involved with the parts of distribution and management of those parts. Okay. And director, so the uh the our urban AI has uh done some process acting with other departments to kind of help them do their processes uh and try to find uh better ways to work more efficiently. Have you worked with uh the urban AI department any kind of way to to uh kind of talk about this whole process or get any help with this process? So uh to the chair now with everybody as we work with them on the other projects, um, but because of the extent, um the amount of time that we dealt with this and the at least the current experience that we had, um we we just find this at the right time to necessity would know we have not been currently specifically on this project. Okay, all right, director, also can you talk about can you get a little bit more specific on the cost that it would have to the city uh any kind of cost more forward or more annual basis? Any kind of savings that we with the processing on this project uh to the chair. We would be able to really look at those services based on it after we go to our PR, but with the cost savings is going to come into the the management of costly capacity parts. That is gonna be huge. Uh just we have no outlet to get rid of house and cost other than to just oxen. And by the time we have the terminal process, they they almost have no line. And just so the whole management of the the parts and time, what's coming in and what's going out is really this is key, plus the fact of getting you know the qualified technicians back out to the door in making those labor hours uh uh reduced our increase of efficiency over here right now. Okay. All right, we'll go to council. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman to uh to the director of commissioner um a little bit by this piece of legislation uh in your own admittance in your presentation uh in slide two. Um you indicated that there's 15 people by landing up right 15 people who are um in charge of doing the jobs that we want to outsource. Um then you tell us that um we're gonna outsource this, but that nobody's gonna lose their jobs, um, although we're replacing 15 jobs. Um so either one or two things is going on. Um either um we have the option of not believing that somebody's not gonna lose their job, or you're admitting that for the last 20 years or so you have not been running an efficient shop um over there, right? And I don't want to believe the second part because I overnight seen everything. Um but something doesn't add up for those with this with this legislation, right? It looks like we're trying to outsource something that we've been doing, but that nobody's gonna lose a job, right? We're not here um I believe to uh be in the role of passing legislation to put people out. Right? So either something has not been functioning over there as effective as it should be, or people are gonna lose their job. Absolutely. No, that to the chair to the council and that is a fairly concerned, and that's why we're gonna make sure they're in the layouts. Again, one of the things I mentioned is we have four or so mechanics that are doing no booty. In fact, you know, when I get to the finance system, there's an end that I would see hundreds of times, which is actually the candidate. But these processing inputs. As opposed to being that one for, you know, so we've got like four still candidates that are going to go through. That's one thing. Also, to your point, yes, we're not at the level that we should be in that way. A piece like this will help us actually better be here and be more efficient. So no, there won't be any layoffs because uh again, that one post the window in our business throughout our happens. So we're trying to get to a place no different than how we have tractors and make the properties because we have a we have a blind spot. Again, we talk about Austin Pless, you know, say good as your parts, those kind of things. We are really behind the law. Sometimes when we come here and actual vehicle acquisition is not a part of this, because you all know that sometimes we tell you there's probably a uh you know two-year lead time to do it um uh vehicles. We'll say we have the parts, and if you're not gonna count on the park to be able to make those um um acquisitions quickly, then you're buying equals. So this is not about laying folks off. If we're up to the I'd like to have more folks, I still have enough, but we have to do what we have to work what we have. But in this case, this contract is really going to act and it's what we do. And then Mr.

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