Thank you so much.

We will start with ordinance fourteen forty twenty twenty-five by council as well, Terris and Agrippa department request emergency ordinance.

A project declared that's three to conduct speciality.

Project divided with assessment of the cost of such special energy from the district.

Authorized directory coming energy project cooperative agreement.

Uh this is a financing tool for uh clean energy and energy efficient upgrades to buildings uh allowed here in the state of Ohio.

Uh so this is financing on a properties uh tax assessment.

Uh this is over and above their property taxes uh rather than uh through like a traditional bank note.

Uh some of the improvements include uh energy efficient HVAC, uh windows and doors, roofing, uh water conservation, uh, and things above uh normal standards.

So the project, Erie View Tower Hotel.

Uh so uh the Erie View Tower uh redevelopment uh has been brought uh before council for a variety of things.

Uh this item is for the pace financing just for the hotel component, which I believe is floors nine through 15.

And so the hotel, it will be a 210 key W branded hotel.

Uh this project is led by the building owner, Elias Kasouf.

Uh and the pace financing will be provided through Greenworks Lending LLC.

Uh this will be up to 43 million uh 881 864 uh financing over 28 years.

And so uh that financing will be paid back on the property tax bill over and above those existing property taxes.

Uh so the lending term is uh is expected to end in 2055.

Uh again, uh this financing covers improvements like HVAC controls, building envelope, uh water heating and light fixtures that exceed uh energy standards uh that make the building uh efficient, green, and resilient.

Uh and the special assessment, uh it has been approved by the advanced energy district uh before coming before city council.

Uh this assessment will secure a loan uh with a semi-annual payment of just under two million dollars.

Uh with that, happy to uh answer any questions.

All right.

Thank you for the uh presentation.

We're all familiar with the review tower uh project.

We saw this three, four times along the uh along the way, even more.

Um the you mentioned that the um the pace is only going to be subject to the W hotel section on the property.

That is correct, yes.

And that you said floors nine through.

That's the bottom level, right?

Uh so the I've got uh a spread here.

So uh the hotel will be floors four through twelve.

Uh it will also have a a restaurant and a bar on uh levels thirty-eight and forty-one.

Gotcha.

Just out of curiosity, any reason why we didn't put the not we, but you all didn't put the um uh hotel rooms further up for the view.

I'm just curious about that.

Maybe to Mr.

Moorehouse.

Sure, yeah.

Um thank you.

To the chair.

The um hotel use is uh deemed to be an inferior use, I guess.

Uh you have more transient occupancy, and so therefore, you know, we want to put the more transient occupants on the lower floors and let the folks that would stay there longer, like office users and um apartment renters take advantage of the views, you know, up on the upper floors.

We would just get more value doing that, essentially.

And I still looking at the the color, the green is kind of the middle.

So that view is a pretty good view from that uh that middle green floor versus the renovated offices.

Now we all most of us toured this place.

That the blue and red man.

Talk about an airshield view.

That's amazing up there.

Um I'm just curious, you know, but you explained that to me, so uh no that makes sense.

Okay.

Uh is there any questions from the uh committee?

All right.

You know, we're familiar with pace.

We've seen this several times over.

We were familiar with the project, and so um we we thank you for the presentation, Cindy, for the questions, orders number 1440.

Actually, no, we have uh councilman, if you will review that.

Mr.

Chair, I'd like to proctor an amendment.

Yes, sir.

Um Mr.

Chair, in section three in the first paragraph at line nine, strike quote and previously reported to council and are now on the file of the offices of the clerk of council and the director of finance set forth in the project petition is adopted and confirmed, and at the maximum of special assessment and levied assessment on the property, end quote.

And in the second paragraph at line six, strike quote the semi-annual installment of this special assessment shall be collected in each calendar year equal to a maximum semi-annual amount of the special assessment as shown in the project petition, end quote.

In the third paragraph in line two and line and six, strike quote unquote aggregate and insert quote unquote maximum in both places.

In line eight, strike, quote unquote, certify a final and insert, quote, provide an amended.

End quote.

In line nine, strike, quote, which final end quote insert, quote, and the amended, end quote.

And in the fifth paragraph, line three, strike, quote unquote list and insert quote unquote schedule.

All right, thank you for the amendment.

Do we have uh the motion?

Do we have a second?

Have a motion and second.

Any discussion?

Signal discussion.

All in favor.

Aye.

All opposed.

Ours have it.

All right.

Further additional questions.

Uh orders number 1440-2025 as admitted stands approved.

Thank you so much.

All right.

All right, excuse me.

Yes, sir.

There you go.

All right, orders number 1321-2025 by Councilmember Slife.

An emergency ordinance designating old John Marshall High School building as a Cleveland landmark.

I shouldn't say that.

Okay.

Too soon.

Good morning.

How are you?

Good.

How are you?

Yeah, I'm doing great.

All right.

I'm Jessica Beam, the Cleveland Landmarks Commission.

Yes.

I'm here today to present our old John Marshall High School Building.

Located at 15 or 15149 Lorraine Avenue.

Proposes ordinance 1321-2025.

Designation is presented at the request of Ward 17 Council Member Slife.

It's located at the corner of Lorraine Avenue in today's West 152nd.

Brief background of West the neighborhood West Park is needed to kind of describe this impactful building.

In 1807 Township number seven, range 14, sold to land developers.

And in 1819, the name Rockport Township was coined.

As the area developed, significant stagecoach, rail, and streetcar lines went through along crossing Lorraine Avenue.

As future cities incorporated around it, the Rockport Special School District construct constructed district school number one by 1867, located just west of today's Trisket Road.

High school classes were held on the second floor along with municipal offices located in the building.

By 1880, there were four primary schools in the general West Park area, but no separate secondary school.

District School No.

And a new town hall was built in the 1910s in that same location.

In today's West Park neighborhood, on the corn, the area we're focusing on was organized as Rockport Hamlet in 1892.

A new secondary school was called Central High School, constructed in 1899.

This is the start of our landmark building.

This uh was a four-room two-story masonry structure built in the popular Victorian and Gothic architectural elements.

Cost schools around $8,000, which would have been a little over $300,000 today.

Uh the Rockport Special School District did not have a set district architect.

That's crazy.

That just the cost of build?

Yes.

Wow, okay.

All right for the four-room two-story masonry building.

Yeah.

Only 300,000 today.

Yeah.

Steal.

Yeah.

Sorry, there you're good.

Um so they didn't have a set architect.

Um, they hired out local firms.

Um the school plans for this building were announced to be found in the office of E.J.

Shellentrager, um, but is not clear if his architectural firm, Century Architectural Company was involved.

Um, that firm was well known in the Cleveland area for their residential construction.

They had books produced um like this one that goes into their beautiful residential designs.

Not so much schools either, but maybe they designed a school.

Um so this 1899 building is still standing, although not easily recognizable with the various additions added over time.

Um pictured side view of today's old John Marshall High School building.

We'll show the additions over time as we move through the presentation.

The remaining elements of that first school can still be seen in the middle section of the current building with clear changes as they added more windows, door openings, as the needs for the school changed over time.

Um the name of the school was changed to Lincoln High School, sometime on 1905, and then Rockport Village High School is also used.

Uh the area itself switched back between the names of Rockport Village and the village of West Park a few times in the early 1900s.

In 1910, a rear edition was added.

Um, designed by Cleveland Architectural Firm Bonnet and Parson.

They added in the same style as the original.

New firescapes were added to the sides of the building for additional emergency exits.

And the school is also renamed West Park High School or West Park Lincoln High School.

And additional land was purchased behind the school for further expansion.

At this time, the village of West Park continued expanding, and the city of West Park was established in 1921.

So still continued on.

A bit about the architects for two of the additions.

William A.

Bonard and Raymond Parson were principals of the architecture firm Bonnet and Parson.

They were loosely connected to the Century Architectural Company that designed the first part of the school.

And their particular firm was active between 1905 and 1932.

They were located on Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland.

They both architects left their mark on Cleveland, wider, you know, Northeast Ohio communities.

In West Park, they also designed the replacement town hall, known as the first district police station in the 1910s, which was demolished in the early 2000s.

And a Cleveland landmark, Fellowship Baptist Church of Christ, or Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, located on East 55th Street, was designed by that firm.

West Park High School's numbers began to hit the double digits in the 19 teens.

That coincided with additional building expansions.

So they added on to the front of the building in 1916.

The addition may have been designed by the same firm that designed the rear edition, but it had classical architectural elements like a bell tower, pedimented entry, dental molding and the cordons, and rider wider rounded arch windows.

In 1919, a separate gymnasium in the rear was constructed with a covered archway connecting it to the main building.

And even with the additions, the school did not have enough space.

Population West Park continued to grow, and so the athletic field by 1922 was taken over by the addition of portable classrooms.

Portable classrooms were not intended for permit use, but ended up on the same on the property being used by the school for another decade.

1923 was a busy year.

The city of West Park was annexed into the city of Cleveland in 1923, and West Park High School was renamed John Marshall High School to fit the naming tradition of Cleveland schools.

The central bell tower was removed from the building and new roof was put on.

They added a library for the first time in the building, as well as exterior fire alarm boxes.

The library was then removed a few years later to add space for classrooms and offices.

In that case, the students, the students would walk to the new West Park Library, which was finished in 1925, which was a bit of a closer walk than the half mile they would walk to the athletic fields, which were located down Lorraine behind Washington School.

They added even more additional classrooms to the rear of the site between 1929 and 1931.

And due to the overcrowding and expansion of the neighborhood use of the school, they announced a new school located on West 140th Street.

The new John Marshall High School began construction in 1930.

It opened in 1932.

It was designated as a Cleveland Landmark in 2005, but demolished in 2013 for the construction of a new John Marshall campus, which was completed in 2015.

Still standing.

So this is the now known old John Marshall High School.

It was permanently closed as a school in 1932.

The portable classrooms on the back of the property were auctioned off, some of them going for 150 to 200.

Today's money that'd be about $4,000 for those little portable classrooms.

Newspapers in 1930s discussed the possible use as housing, storage, anything else they could use the property for.

Initially they planned to renovate the building, but instead sold it to build their new building, just a block or so away, which happened in 1946, and so their new building was designated in 1957.

Following the sale, a new use was put into old John Marshall High School with the introduction of Leopold's furniture.

So Leopold Brothers Furniture or Leopold's Fine Furnishings, as it's known today, began in 1859 with Henry Leopold establishing his first store at Lorraine Avenue in West 33rd, the Ohio City neighborhood.

He made furniture for Cleveland shipbuilders, homes, and businesses, and caskets.

He moved twice to other locations along the rain and eventually moved to what was once deemed the largest furniture store in Cleveland by 1906.

In the 1940s, the family business decided to move west.

So they purchased this building, turned it into Leopold's.

So Leopold's did not need the back of the property, and so that area was split off, and new housing ideas were proposed in the 40s and 50s.

There was a lot split done with separate zoning of retail along the rain, residential down less 152nd, and four new apartment buildings were built in the late 1950s where the original gym and athletic fields were.

Those are still standing today.

As Leopolds changed and life changed in Cleveland, they wanted to make their building fit with their new business needs.

So they added an additional 5,000 square feet to the front of the building with a one-story addition as well as additional parking on the front.

This is kind of that change of car-centered architecture that we see in the 1950s and 60s.

1986, they closed the Cleveland location and are still in the Brexville location today.

And so once closed, they sold the site to Bill Lake Buick.

Between 1986 and 2013, the site was primarily used for car sales or affiliated with car dealerships, just an auxiliary parking or storage for cars.

The main building was closed up, boarded, and became overgrown with Ivy, and any leftover lawn was just turned into parking.

In 2013, however, the building sold again, and the front edition was reopened as Glassblock headquarters.

The new owners began to take care of the building, replace some windows, or they introduced glass block into many of the original window openings.

Updates and maintenance was taken on the building once again.

2019, it was reopened as the wash house and cafe, with a small addition added to the east side of the 1961 edition for accessibility.

Building site improvements have been made over the past decade, and many of the window openings have new windows installed.

There's also been minimal changes to the historic school building footprint and exterior beyond just window and door additions.

So old John Marshall High School building has been nominated under the criteria that it exemplifies the heritage of Cleveland and West Park in particular, and the location and building represent a familiar and long-standing feature in the neighborhood.

The school editions are representative of typical institutional architecture of the time.

And its most recent large addition is representative of the shift to more car-focused architecture and adaptations to the building as it evolves with the owner's needs.

It is particularly significant as one of the last remaining municipal or educational buildings that predates the annexation and the city of West Park is being established.

The development of growth of the school building is a study in the growth and development of this corner of Cleveland that we know now as the West Park Camps Corners neighborhood, and designated the building as a Cleveland landmark will solidify and preserve the wide-ranging history of the building that's continued to provide resources to the neighborhood first as a school for 30 plus years, and then on to a home for local businesses to adapt and grow for over 40 years and counting, telling the story of the development of the West Park neighborhood.

So that might be the last slide.

No.

The Cleveland Landmarks Commission nominated the building in twenty in January of this year, held and they held a public hearing regarding the designation on August 14th, along with Councilman's Life support.

A representative from the West Park Historical Society spoke on the significance and history of the building, supporting the designation.

At that time, the owner and an owner's representative both spoke at the about the effort and work put into the building and concerns about a possible burden created by landmarking, and they were in opposition to the nomination.

After hearing comments and support and opposition, uh the Cleveland Landmarks Commission moved to continue the designation process and went through the City Planning Commission on November 7th.

And so here we are.

Happy to answer any questions.

All right, thank you.

Again, another very thorough presentation by you and your team.

Uh always uh you know.

We haven't seen Carl much.

What's going on with that?

All right.

Not that we let that we don't like you.

We'll change it up a little bit.

Absolutely.

I'm just gonna see him soon.

You'll see it very soon.

Absolutely.

You'll see him very soon.

Thank you, thank you.

No, yeah.

You say who was opposed to the uh designation?

The owner.

The owner of okay, okay.

All right.

Sounds good.

Um Councilman's life.

Uh yes.

So uh first of all, thank you for uh the thorough presentation.

Uh there are only two landmarks in Ward 17 to date, so uh it's been a joint goal of the neighborhood's historical society and me to increase that number.

Uh we have not gone through the work I think we maybe should have to honor the neighborhood's history and uh I think we're thought of as maybe a newer part of the city.

Um so maybe it's just time to start realizing that this is an opportunity.

Uh one to just honor the history of the neighborhood, but also as we start looking for uh ways to encourage property owners to continue to invest in their properties, uh introducing the opportunity for state historic tax credits is something that comes with the landmarks designation, and I think that's valuable.

I really want to I am very grateful to the property owner as you can see from the progression of the pictures.

The property did start to go the wrong direction for a number of years, and I think credit is owed to them for having restored it.

There's a successful business in there.

I believe there's you know an opportunity for even some housing in the old school building.

It is already in a design review district, so I don't view this as burdensome beyond what we already have for the property.

Additionally, and I'm only saying this that we all know this, but saying this for the record, uh, this designation does not compel any action for the property owner to change anything about the building.

Uh it is uh merely uh an alternate version of the design review district it's already in that allows them to have access to uh historic tax credits while also recognizing that this building, while it may not be recognizable from its earliest stages in the 18 in 1899, uh does uh speak to the neighborhood's history.

And I'll just close by saying it's been interesting throughout this because every time we say the old John Marshall chairman, people react as you did of thinking about John Marshall on 140th, uh lack of even recognition in the neighborhood that this is in fact at 152nd, the original John Marshall, and that that's a story of West Park for us to continue to tell.

Um so uh thank you for the opportunity to speak on the legislation.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Councilman.

Uh, any questions or comments from the committee?

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I just have a question.

Uh I feel like we're looking at the ship of these here.

Like um on page twenty.

I'm gonna bounce back and forth between 21 and 20.

Um, and so here's the question.

The 1899 construction, which is the second from the bottom when you look overhead on page 20.

Right.

Uh yeah, no, no, no, you're going.

Oh, you you were real close.

You were only one away at the beginning.

Keep going.

Down, down.

Up, up, okay, right there.

Yeah.

The 1899.

Yeah.

Okay.

That's the original building.

Yes.

Is the original face of that building facing up and east or down and west?

Um, through the chair councilman, it is facing Lorraine.

So it originally faced on the rain with the beatable front line.

Yeah.

So when they added the additions, they sh they added the additions to the side of the building.

So in the 1899 photo, if you go down one slide.

Okay, there it is in the on the left side, right?

And that's facing Lorraine.

So when they added on, if you go back up to the previous slide, that's the original building in the middle, right there.

And in sort of the middle of those three clear constructions.

I'm just trying to figure this out, right?

Where the flat roof is?

This is the original building right here.

Yes.

And that was the face of the building.

Which is no, that picture's taken from um West 152nd.

Oh, this is the side.

Yeah.

Okay, so the front of the building is here.

No, the front of the building is not in the left picture.

Well, now it is.

Yeah.

That's always where the front's been faced.

Yeah.

We're looking this way here and this way in the second picture.

Uh what's the front voting look like today?

Which one is it?

The bottom right.

Yeah.

Okay.

With the addition on okay, okay.

Oh a couple additions.

Okay, but that's not facing the rain.

Oh, is that oh, that is?

Oh, oh, okay, okay.

Now I get it.

I was I was 90 degrees off the entire time, and now I see it.

That's all.

Thanks, Mr.

Chair.

For indulging my confusion.

Oh, no problem.

Makes sense.

Listen, we appreciate it.

Uh thank you, Councilman Harris.

Any other questions from the committee?

Center for the questions 1321-2025 uh stands approved.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Yeah, book back.

Oh, yeah.

I was thinking about building one of my houses like that.

I'll book upstairs.

All right.

Uh ordinance number 1226-2025 by Council members Harrison and Griffin by departmental requests and emergency ordinance to rename the Department of Economic Development to the Department of Development by adding the title to Chapter 144 and various codified ordinances to amends sections 144.02 as amended by orders number 1655-80, passed July 31st, 1980, relating to the director's duties to enact new section 144.021 to establish a new office to amend 18.021 as amended by ordinance number 837-2017.

Passed August 16th, 2017, relating to the land reutilization programs to establish a new special revenue fund and to authorize the hiring of an additional employee.

Chief Director, your team.

Good morning.

Good morning, uh Chairman, uh members of the committee uh here today to discuss with you what I think is one of the more meaningful pieces of legislation that I've been a part of in my time here in City Hall.

Uh very excited about and so uh have uh uh number of us here with us this morning, uh including Taylor Jones from my office, uh Joe Rose Bordeaux Small, Director of Economic Development, uh David Lucas, who's the deputy director for business growth in the Department of Economic Development, uh, Jennifer Scheel, who is the executive for business attraction in the Department of Economic Development, as well as Trudy Andreweski, uh, who is the current uh Bureau Chief for Neighborhood Revitalization uh in the Department of Community Development, and here today to talk about a reorganization uh within the integrated development cluster that would create uh new department of development.

So I want to start roughly with kind of an overview of what we're talking about here.

Uh obviously we're gonna get into the details of this quite a bit.

Uh, you know, but what this would do.

Why is this the most recent?

That's okay.

We'll keep rolling.

I think it's close.

Uh this will uh change uh the name of the Department of Economic Development to the Department of Development.

Uh this will amend director powers within both that new department as well as uh in community development.

That is largely related to uh uh the fact that in the Department of Community Development there are multiple land banks, right?

The land bank within community development is authorized through that director, right?

So we need to clean that up.

Uh there will be uh the ability for blanket transfer of all surplus land into the appropriate land bank, and I think that is important to note uh in that there are multiple land banks within the city of Cleveland, right?

The city land bank, quote unquote, uh is primarily residential parcels.

Uh there is an industrial commercial land bank uh in the Department of Economic Development.

Uh and by state law, you actually have to kept those keep those things secret separate, right?

So there will not be kind of a massive combined land bank, uh, and it allows us to start transferring uh properties into the appropriate one there.

Uh this will uh allow the transfer of 18 existing staff uh positions from community development uh into that new department of development using their existing federal funding sources, right?

So we're trying to minimize impact uh on the general fund budget.

So uh if an employee is federally funded today, they'll be federally funded tomorrow.

Uh uh, and then this will create uh a new headcount for a deputy director of land strategy within that department.

Uh that is uh important because um we think it is vitally important to begin to market that position now, right?

We all know it'll take a few months to hire somebody, so that does have kind of one new head count on the 2025 budget, which allows us to start that process.

Uh the other additions that we'll talk about uh are funded through uh uh the 2026 budget.

Um also very important to know what this legislation does not do.

This does not change land bank policy, right?

This does not change uh uh council oversight or authority related to land bank policy, uh, and want to make clear that that is not a conversation that we're we're looking to have today, right?

Uh this is just talking about where certain functions are administered from.

Uh and we'll come back to the budget later on in this.

But uh I I want to note that this didn't come out of thin air, right?

Uh this was really an outgrowth of the 10-year operational strategic plan uh that the city of Cleveland went into.

Uh, I think it is important to note that there were a variety of options under consideration uh as they went through that process that was led by Ernst and Young, right?

There was a lot uh of process around that, including engagement with members of council, uh focus groups, right?

A lot went into the formation of that plan.

Uh they explored all kinds of different options surrounding this, including uh, you know, models like the Boston Planning Area and Development Agency, where they combine planning economic development, community development.

Uh some of you may know that the Department of Economic Development was actually spun out of the Department of Community Development.

I believe that was done in 1987 under the Voynovich administration.

So uh obviously looking at just a recombining those two departments and whole uh and and what they ended up landing on was the idea uh that you can see the kind of consolidates real estate functions into a singular department, uh which ultimately leaves us then, you know.

I think I with a pretty uh manageable 40-ish person department uh of City Planning Commission, uh a roughly 50-ish person department of development, uh, and then a roughly 50 or 60 person department and community development, which we can talk about going in.

So uh a lot of thought went behind that.

Uh and then I I I want to, you know, Taylor Jones, who's here with us, um, that you know, did just an astronomical amount of work, I think, over the past year or so and really kind of helping pull a lot of this together.

So I want to give her some space to talk about that process that we went through and kind of how we ended up with the structure that you will see in a little bit.

Thanks, Chief.

Good morning, everybody.

So I want to spend a little bit of time building off of that Ernst and Young presentation and that operational strategic plan that included this recommendation to consolidate all of our real estate functions and talk about how we manage the decision to move forward with this initiative with staff and attempted to find ways to meaningfully involve them.

When that operational strategic plan dropped, I feel that it was pretty jarring for many of the impacted staff members to see it presented in that way and to learn about the potential for this course of action in a very broad document without a lot of formal engagement.

And so when I got involved with this process about a year ago, it was really really critically important for all of us to figure out a way to have staff be engaged and involved with the organizational structure that we were seeking to build.

And there were a couple of different buckets that we engage staff.

So the first one was this bucket about strategic direction.

So in September of 2024, we had a strategic planning workshop that involved not just managers that were touching real estate disposition acquisition and dealing with development, but also leadership, so chiefs and directors.

And it was really important in that meeting for us to define priorities, our values for land, an early strategic direction.

And the guiding principle of that was like what do our neighborhoods need that meaningful development in our assets in real estate can provide.

And this also gave insight to the structure that we were looking to build because it allowed us to see that we had a lot of alignment about why we're doing what we're doing, how we should be doing it, but there was still this gap of like who has capacity to drive these initiatives forward and who should be empowered to drive these initiatives forward.

And as a springboard off of that, we continue to have these engagements with managers that were touching development in any way from the Department of Economic Development, from community development, and from MOCAP, who were meeting bi-weekly in this real estate working group that allowed us to kind of surface pain points, surface opportunities for more intentional process improvement, for collaboration across silos, et cetera.

And it also kind of began to provide this proof of concept of what it would look like if all of these people were able to work together intentionally and not try to navigate a system where they were trying to find ways to partner their projects in a system that was not designed to allow them to do that.

And as the shape of this organizational restructure kind of came into play, we also wanted the perspectives of the staff that were kind of in the weeds doing the work every day to shape how we wanted to organize these new department of development.

So we had eight focus groups with impacted staff, primarily staff from the Department of Community Development, and have also had these ongoing one-on-ones where we talk about and have discussed the work that people are doing now, where they see the most challenges in their work in a perfect ideal world, how they would organize the work that they do, how they would interact with other departments.

And I think that this not only allowed us to solicit meaningful and very important feedback, but also was able to kind of course-correct that jarring feeling that most people had when this idea first was brought to the table and kind of supported morale as we deal with a lot of transition.

The last thing is this bucket about process improvements.

So that real estate working group, like I said, was really, really critical in surfacing challenges and opportunity, and a part of that was figuring out where there were gaps in our technical capacity to do good work.

Um so staff input really allowed us to inform the scoping of the CRM requirements and the technology build that we're engaged in now with Salesforce.

Um we continue to do process improvement workshops in collaboration with Urban AI, where we're able to map current workflows and also ideal future state workflows that have all really been super super powerful inputs as we have thought about the ultimate organizational structure.

And so even though all of those conversations, all of that feedback, all of that planning was super helpful.

As I mentioned earlier, it still identified that there were a lot of gaps in our ability to do get work.

And it signaled the importance of finding more meaningful ways for us not to just technically be better, um, but also to collaborate more effectively.

And we needed to build a foundation to do that.

Um so we've made a lot of really significant investments in our technological ecosystem by getting Salesforce.

Um, like I said, that's really foundational.

Something that has kind of been a guiding principle is that we are a multi-billion dollar enterprise that was trying to do business on spreadsheets, which is not the most effective thing for us to do.

So Salesforce is going to lay that foundation with the supplement of our seller upgrades with the supplements of DocuSign for us to just be a modern city and to be more approachable when it comes to doing business.

However, the thing that we've seen is that still Salesforce can only be optimized to the extent that we give it a process and a structure and a backbone that really maximizes our shared strategy.

It allows us to really optimize a lot of resources, and in the absence of that, we are going to continue to leave value on the table.

We're not going to provide the service that we seek to provide, and most importantly, we're not going to be able to achieve the growth that we need.

We're not going to be able to stabilize our neighborhoods, and we're not going to be able to build the thriving communities that we all seek to see.

Okay.

So why are we looking at doing this?

I think point blank system is not working, right?

I think everyone here knows that.

I've had so many conversations with you over the course of times where it's like, why is it so hard for us to accomplish A, B or C?

Uh why does it take so long to get these things done right?

And there was a moment when they brought the directors of the six, because there are six different departments that touch real estate into a room to talk about that Ernst and Young strategic plan.

I I think I'd been at City Hall for all of about three weeks, right?

Uh, and they said, here's what we're looking to do, and we want to consolidate this and we want to put it in economic development.

And everyone just kind of turned and looked at me, which was super comfortable, uh, right.

And uh I said, you know, listen, I think ultimately, you know, this is an opportunity for us to, you know, this isn't about losing something, this is about creating something that I think can be more impactful.

Uh, and as somebody who worked outside of this building for nearly 15 years, kind of helping to move a lot of these things around, you know, if you burnt this place to the ground, there's a negative 400% chance that you would set it up the way that it's set up today.

That has happened over the course of decades, right?

But if you look at it, right, we all know this.

It's like uh the land, the incentives, the approval, it goes across too many different departments, it's six of them all together.

Uh those processes are disconnected, uh, overlapping context, it shuffle people all over City Hall, and there's no unified way to manage all of those incentives, right?

This position is different in community development, that is different from how it happens in the mayor's office of capital project, that is different than the way it happens in economic development, which creates massive amounts of confusion, right?

Uh so again, that makes it difficult both outside of City Hall, but it also makes it difficult inside of City Hall.

Uh, it makes it difficult for council as well.

Uh this is what that starts to look like in a chart, right?

So you actually have two separate chief structures, you have two different land banks, you have three different departments that are doing acquisition and disposition, uh, right.

It is um it gets it very hard to like uh even get to a quick no.

Uh right.

There was one project that I was involved in that had been going on for six months before I got here that lasted another year before there could be a final decision on how to handle things.

That's what happens when you have things in multiple decision-making trees, so to speak.

So uh, you know, how do we find a way uh to streamline a lot of this stuff?

And so uh what are our goals and objectives here uh that we are trying to move forward?

So, one making a more clear front door.

So for people that are looking for land and incentives from the city of Cleveland, right?

You now have a singular place where you're going to move those forward, uh, increased accountability, uh, like I said, creating something with a singular decision-making tree.

Um, you know, to me, this is ultimately about comprehensive neighborhood revitalization, uh, right.

And so by putting all of these tools in one place, uh, right, like and and this is I I've talked to several of you.

It's like think about like a commercial main street in your ward, pick an intersection on that.

You will now have in one place the ability to say, all right, we want to take a look at these buildings over here.

Maybe we want to use a storefront renovation program to build bring a couple of these back.

We now also have the tools in one place to go incentivize or help some small businesses in that area.

There might be some vacant land on that commercial corridor that you want to uh uh acquire and look for, making a part of a larger RFP, but you'll also now be able to look at the residential streets that surround that, look at those residential lands, draw a quarter mile radii around it, and have the project management in-house to kind of handle all of that, right?

Like that is very powerful, and I think that gets to the point uh of actually employ empowering employees to do this type of meaningful work.

Uh, you know, too often I feel like people like my job is to check this box, you don't see how it all fits together, right?

But when you pull these tools together, like you're actually giving meaningful work for people to help move forward, which I think is incredibly powerful.

Uh and then this really does allow us to start strategically looking at land use in the city of Cleveland, right?

So uh reminded all the time uh that this isn't about Charlie Slife uh selling a singular piece of property for maximum value.

It's like what is driving civic value?

How do we start looking at land differently?

Uh and this gives us the ability to really start doing that.

You know, if you look at impact that we're looking for, and this is directly out of that strategic plan, uh efficient resource utilization.

So again, it's about taking those shared resources and expertise to create that operational efficiency, right?

That is a combining of those tools together, uh, but then also uh that enhanced efficiency and transaction-related uh activities.

That's what we're talking about, streamlining all real estate processes uh so that it's all the same and there's only one way of doing things.

Um, you know, and then this is you know, when we think about the uh uh departments that fall under the integrated development uh uh cluster that exists here, you know, to me, this is thinking about how we rebalance and re-envision the work that those folks do.

Uh, you know, so obviously you've got your department of building and housing that is primarily focused on the regulation, preservation, right?

There through code enforcement, uh building preservation that goes on, planning, which kind of controls your overarching vision, you know, community development, and I have had this conversation uh quite a bit with uh uh members of the community development team up there.

You know, I think that there are a lot of changes that are going on within that department, you know, and I continue to kind of send the message like that department is critically important.

They do very meaningful and important work for the city of Cleveland, that doesn't change, right?

Uh, you know, I spent nearly 15 years, I come out of the city, City of Cleveland's economic development ecosystem.

I spent nearly 15 years doing that kind of neighborhood revitalization work, and I would always say that like Ohio City was the overnight success story, 60 years in the making, right?

This is a this is a department that I think is really focused on those neighborhood stabilization activities and home repair, uh, wealth building, wealth empowerment, uh, land trust, right?

There's a lot of policy things that I feel like this body wants to get involved in, and I feel like they can be a great partner working through uh other partner organizations to move it forward, and you know, ultimately, I think we've also talked so much because HUD dollars all fell into that department, it meant that they were doing everything, uh, right.

And so I think this gives a real opportunity to work with the team and community development to focus work in ways that they can do something really well and kind of remove these kind of building pieces out of it, um, which then leaves a department of development that is truly focused on implementation.

Uh and if I think about that uh in like the little kid terms of things, it's like if we have a coloring book that is going on here, it's like you have your planning and community development that are almost like drawing the lines that one gets to color in.

Uh, you get uh department of uh development that kind of fills in the colors in those lines, uh, and then building and housing can say nope, you have to stay within the lines, right?

So that you know, again, it is a way to distribute power uh throughout these four different departments and really get them uh and force them to work together in ways that hasn't been done in a long time, um, which I think can work exceptionally well.

Um, and with that, um, you know, as we kind of go uh into the meat of what this department looks like again, uh just synopsis of what we're doing here.

Essentially, we are just taking the housing development office, the land bank office, and the asset redevelopment office uh out of the department of community development, bringing them into economic development to create this new department of development.

Uh within there, uh, there'll be a new Office of Land Strategy, uh, which you'll see how that is articulated.

Um, and we are taking the function of excess property disposition out of the mayor's office of capital project, uh, right.

We are not taking staff out of there because uh we do not intend for the department of development whatsoever to manage existing city assets, right?

Uh that will function as it does today.

Uh again, this is a more strategic approach.

Um, that's 18 staff positions that are involved in that, 14 are currently filled.

Uh, and then there are five new positions that are being created within this department of development that we think will drive it more efficiently.

Um, but uh to kind of walk you through what this department uh looks like.

Uh, you know, Director Bordo Small was actually my first hire in the Department of Economic Development who came on board and helped me think through uh quite a bit what uh a restructured department of economic development would look like uh to help become more efficient, help drive more growth into neighborhoods, uh, and was a big thought partner as well as thinking about how as we create a department of development, how that can dovetail into what's been happening in ED and give her the space to talk through that.

Thank you.

Um yeah, this slide represents something that I'm actually very, very proud of.

Um, when Director McNair walked in to the department, I think there were eight um eight people focused on major projects, business attraction, incentives, small business support, neighborhood revitalization.

That's just not enough folks.

Um so we you know, it was a it the team was operating with heart, but there was a serious lack of capacity, um, and and also a lack of structure to really you know serve the city.

And so our first re-org, as you see here, it was very intentional.

It was set up to establish establish clear structure, special specialization, accountability, and clear lines of responsibility.

So you have the neighborhood revitalization team, you have the leadership team, the major projects team, the business growth and site development team, and then the administration, administrative and operations team that kind of supports all those teams to make sure that they're working cohesively.

So you know, this first re-org it allowed us to grow from eight to 28 members.

And I think that that kind of led us and really affirmed the work that we're presenting today.

So this slide captures our evolution into the department of development.

So we've assigned aligned the six pillars, right?

Neighborhood revitalization, major projects, operations, business growth, land strategy, and leadership, which were all essentially fragmented across multiple departments.

We're bringing them together to create a single clear pathway for development, going from land to incentives to project execution and compliance.

So for the first time, we'll have a land strategy, we'll have land strategy, business growth, major projects under one team, and that alignment allows for predictability, clarity, and speed, all things that our residents are our businesses, our developers, you know, and our partner organizations need to succeed.

So what you see here is the leadership structure that we've put together that really allows the department to function effectively.

So we've built a bench of deputy directors responsible for major projects, business growth, neighborhood revitalization, land strategy, which ensures that you know the decision making that Chief McNair was talking about, right?

That it moves quickly, that issues surface early, and that you know, every portfolio has a dedicated executive you know oversight.

So the deputy director of land strategy is the new role that will be, and it's in red because to indicate that that's the new role that's being created as a part of this legislation.

Um we also work, what's highlighted there as well is um the two roles in green, um Rhonda Brown and Marvin Owens who work in the mayor's office who we collaborate with a lot, um, and then is East Stewart in Communications who helps us with our marketing efforts and our marketing strategy that we're currently working on to help kind of spread the word on the things that we're doing with the with the department and essentially allow for access to our resources and and and um and awareness.

Um also highlighted there, and I'll actually go through those two other um roles in future slides, but the contracts and compliance manager is a role that I'm really excited about that kind of really help create more efficiencies within the team, and again I'll talk about that a little bit later.

And then the special projects manager and that role is really to help us be more flexible and really kind of put a stamp on collaboration within the multiple departments in the in the building.

So the operations team historically our project managers handled projects from cradle to grave, right?

They handled the leads, um, they walked them all the way through, they handled the closings, they handled disbursements, they handled payments, they they right, and so it wasn't an efficient effective process.

It allowed for a lot of errors.

Um what we decided to do was to separate the the kind of stages of a project out.

Um and that led to the creation of this uh what I call the post-closing team, but the contracts and compliance team.

Um they are there, they're the backbone of our department, they're there to manage fiscal stewardship, regulatory compliance, contracting, loan administration, and tip management.

Um the two roles in red.

Um that is really a function of like adding capacity to this team as we're bringing on the land strategy team.

And then the compliance inspector that's indicated in that light blue is light blue because it will actually be funded by federal dollars, so it's not general um fund dollars.

It's one of the eight.

Sorry?

That's one of the eighteen.

Yes, it's one of the eighteen.

Um our neighborhood revitalization team.

Um this team, again, a team that I'm really proud of.

Uh this team operates as our front door.

There are six neighborhood investment managers that are assigned to a region of the city.

Um, they are boots on the ground, they're you know, responsible for building relationships with business owners, really um uh becoming intimately familiar with the commercial corridors in their neighborhood to help kind of bring that feedback and that insight that we need to better serve the businesses and the neighborhoods right to our department.

Um we also, as a part of this team, have the storefront renovation program that was recently moved from CD to ED from CDBG dollars to general fund dollars to allow for more flexibility and to be a more effective tool.

Um a year ago in 2024, uh we were able to serve 49 small businesses, and in just a year of this structure being in place, we've been able to triple that that amount.

We've served and been able to provide incentives to 152 small businesses in this past year.

And I will actually hand this over to Trudy to kind of talk about why this is why the structure works.

Awesome.

Thanks, Director.

Um I'll frame and thank you, Council, nice to see everyone.

Um, I'll frame a little bit of my perspective as one of the you know team members and leaders transitioning by just sharing a little bit about how much I look forward to this opportunity to build capacity and also efficiency around taking generally what I consider a much more proactive approach to our work in land activation, land disposition, and overall land use in action, that implementation piece of how we put policy on the ground.

Um so just a little bit of framing that um to start with the land strategy piece.

We do envision strong collaboration with our cluster partners and planning NCD to inform what that land activation looks like and really ensure that land is being put into productive reuse that first is better defined, and secondly, actually advances our broader city goals.

And I think about those as you know, supporting our existing residents, creating attainable neighborhood housing.

Um, it's also around that business piece of increasing um the number of Cleveland job jobs that provide family sustaining wages and around climate resiliency.

Um, and using our land more effectively, I really believe can help us make great strides in supporting and creating the Cleveland that we and our neighbors want to see.

So I look forward to how this can help us really get there.

Um, the land strategy office will include two offices that I've had the opportunity to lead over the past year and a half, which is the land bank office and the asset redevelopment office, and it also adds critical capacity to enable us to better serve residents as well as business and nonprofit entities.

Um I'll walk through this org chart for the land strategy team from left to right.

So, starting with our legacy land bank office, which is a way that I get to interact with most of you on a regular basis.

So we'll formally have a land bank manager in place, which has been missing for um quite a while now, and before that was very much in flux.

Um, so looking forward to that.

We'll also expand the existing team from three team members to five.

Uh, this land bank office will remain our critical front door to direct work with residents and partners who are looking to invest in their neighborhoods through land transactions.

Um, with increased capacity, we'll be able to do more than keeping the wheels turning, like we have been.

Um, we'll we're already drafting new program areas focused on matters like neighborhood stable uh neighborhood stewardship.

I think of that as you know, a resident who lives on the same block, Councilwoman Santana.

I know we've talked about this a few times, who may not be the adjacent owner, but really want to activate a land or steward the land that's a few doors down.

We'll re-evaluate opportunities to promote owner-occupied housing development in a way that we haven't historically.

And then we'll also be making our bread and butter transactions just flat out easier.

So the ability to really add capacity to that team can't overstate how excited I am about it.

We'll have a real estate attorney dedicated specifically to our work.

As you know, every real estate transaction we do requires a legal instrument to be prepared, notarized, recorded.

So having an attorney as part of our team will dramatically assist our efficiency, but also I think our resourcefulness in enabling even the more nuanced transactions to cross the finish line, which is something that has been tricky when something's a little bit more out of the box.

I'm also thinking big picture about this role, how the attorney can support our interest in more deeply exploring pricing models, um, and also thinking about state policy around land disposition.

So I'm excited for that one.

Um just quickly the last two.

We'll have a data and mapping team that guides our site assembly functions and is a direct conduit to those partners in planning and community development to really put that policy into place that I mentioned before.

Um this will include mapping where our land holdings are, you know, we already know where our TOD zones are, but how can we visualize that in a way that helps us strategize around broader neighborhood investments, um commercial corridors, et cetera.

And I think it's it really is important to visualize our work both from a strategy perspective and from a communication and storytelling perspective.

Um, and so this team will be our lead in that realm.

And then lastly, the head of urban redevelopment strategy will lead what we now know as the current asset redevelopment office.

This is the work around redevelopment RFPs, RFQs, open bids, things like that that we've had the opportunity to work with many council members on.

Um we'll grow from one full-time staff member in that office to four team, a leader with four team members who are creating those proactive real estate development opportunities in neighborhoods.

Um we'll add a real estate analyst, um, and this team member will help us with things like market valuations and importantly be our lead on tracking forfeitures, um, properties that are kind of in limbo and see what we can do as far as incorporating those into our uh more impactful projects.

Um I wanted to wrap just really quickly to take an opportunity to say it's been such an honor to work with the existing land bank and asset redevelopment teams, and I am really energized by the opportunity that we can kind of realize all the potential that this could unlock.

Um expanding both capacity, expanding skill sets to help us do our work better, um, especially in areas where we've seen gaps, and then also being amongst a broader team who can collaborate and um implement alongside us.

So thank you.

Thank you, Judy.

Um this slide really represents um the heart of Cleveland's economic competitiveness.

Um this slide represents a combination of the major projects team and the um business growth team.

Um they combined, manage both our largest, most complex real estate projects and our business attraction retention and expansion strategy.

Um and so we've all the positions in light blue are positions that we are adding to the major projects team.

The thought is that this team will not only serve um as project managers for commercial projects, but also for residential projects.

So they will be cross-trained to be able to provide um service for both.

I mean, I can't emphasize enough the importance of this team and the collaboration between both the the major projects team and business growth.

Uh to my right, um, David Lucas and Jennifer Scheel have been brought on to the team to really really uh help attract investment and protect and grow our job base and to ensure that we have predictable systems for companies to look to build and expand and to to relocate here in Cleveland.

And so I will have um David and Jennifer kind of expand on that.

Thank you, Director.

Um morning, everybody.

Morning, everybody.

So we wanted to just share a little bit about our business growth strategy.

That's a tie-in, it's not it's not part of the legislation before you all today, but it's a tie-in to the re-org that we think it's worthy of just providing the update.

So I focus on business retention and expansion.

That's where we feel our business growth strategy should begin, is with the companies that are already here.

And the way we'll go about that is by focusing on uh targeted and proactive relationship management with our city's biggest employers as well as mid-market companies.

Um and I'll define that for you all.

So mid-market companies, we can uh I guess loosely defined as uh revenues between 10 million and 100 million or about 30 to 300 employees.

The reason why we're gonna target that uh that segment with our proactive uh efforts uh is because that's where a bulk of job growth occurs, uh, and that's where the economic development ecosystem can have the biggest influence.

The larger firms tend to just they're not as driven by public policy or public incentives uh as mid-market companies are.

Uh and I I want to highlight proactive uh in this part of the strategy because we've never the city of Cleveland has never uh really gone on offense with retaining our companies.

Um I I guess what that could look like is just because meetings, sitting down with our largest companies, uh, meeting them where they are, finding out what's going well, what's what's uh maybe what are some opportunities that we can add value to the company that might promote them uh to want to stay in Cleveland or to expand in the city.

Uh the core objectives of our BRE program uh are aligned with a statewide standard.

This is nothing novel, but it's important to note that we are sort of adopting a proven statewide model with how we're going about this.

Uh, and I'll run through the the core objectives quickly.

Uh number one, uncover opportunities for growth.

That's where we can generate leads and projects for the city.

Uh but the second part of that is uh identifying risk of closure or relocation as well.

Um, connect uh companies to our partners like Greater Cleveland Works, Jobs Ohio, the county, Team NEO.

So we're driving we're driving value for our partners as well by connecting companies uh to those resources that they may not understand uh how to navigate or even know exist.

Uh number three, uh we're gonna target our proactive efforts based on our highest performing uh industries.

Uh I've I've listed them there, but uh uh but we kind of identify those as food and beverage, uh, aerospace, defense, polymers, life science, and then generally advanced manufacturing.

That's where we feel Cleveland has a competitive advantage for the foreseeable future, and part of our our BRE efforts are going to be to first of all ensure that those remain our our um high performing industries, but also the insight uh from the companies as to why they are our higher high performing industries will help inform our attraction efforts, which will continue to sort of strengthen uh those those clusters.

And I know Jennifer Sheel is going to talk a little bit more about that side of things.

And then finally, uh with our BRE program, it's always about collaboration, and by that I mean inviting our partners to the table when we're out meeting with these companies uh like the county, like jobs Ohio and andor Team Neo and our workforce partners as well.

Um it it promotes a good ecosystem.

It sends a good signal to the companies that we are all aligned uh and and um you know we're a high functioning eco uh ecosystem.

Uh and then to kind of wrap it up, the the benefit that this brings that this sort of outreach brings to the business community uh is of course we can bring uh solutions, resources, and even partnerships that were previously unknown to the company.

It's kind of we see it as our job to understand how to navigate this complex network of resources, not the companies, and we're able to help make that happen.

Um secondly, we will be the clear entry point into City Hall for any future related uh city issues.

So oftentimes there's an issue, a company doesn't know where to begin.

We're we'll make it clear when we when we engage with the company, we're always where they can begin.

Uh and then finally, we are meeting them where they are.

We're seeing how their operations work in person, uh, which gives us uh better problem solving and customized support by just simply seeing them and meeting them where they are.

The benefits to the city are many.

Um first and foremost, these meetings represent early warning systems that help mitigate or even eliminate the impact of a relocation, downsizing, or closures.

So we're often made aware of an issue that might become uh you know to the forefront two years down the road.

We have now that that knowledge, and we can start to work to build the case or or even eliminate that issue when it comes time to either uh make a decision on a lease renewal or an expansion.

Uh we are uh uh facilitate, we we can we can help comp uh companies facilitate capital investment by providing incentives.

Maybe there's an expansion that's happening that we can flip it over the edge uh through public intervention.

Um of course I mentioned generating referrals for our technical assistance and ecosystem partners.

So we always want to drive value to the nonprofits and partners that work in this in this world.

Um and then the direct insights that we gain from our business community are going to help not only strengthen our climate but also improve our business attraction.

Um and then last but not least, uh the data that we will gather will allow us to just have better benchmark our local economy uh with state and national trends, uh not to mention the the cross department coordination.

Uh I when they bring an issue to me related to permitting utilities, it gives me an opportunity to engage with other sections of the city and promote a better kind of internal process.

So that's um uh that's kind of uh the high level uh of our BRE strategy, and then uh Jennifer Sheel is gonna talk more about how our uh business attraction strategy ronds out our business growth.

Thanks, David.

Um hi, I'm Jennifer Sheel.

It's nice to meet you all for the first time.

Um I'm really excited to have this new executive attraction officer role and talk to you a little bit about why uh we're doing it.

So, you know, I'm really glad David has hit home a couple times that you know, core to our business growth strategy, which includes retention, expansion, and attraction is making sure the businesses that are already here are doing well.

Um, and why do we want more them to be doing well?

Why do we want new business just as a core objective that we all probably understand, but um it's sort of a touchstone for us is that more employee uh withholdings means more revenue for us.

So that's um about 63% of the city's revenue comes from employer withholdings.

Um they also offer more good jobs.

So this is being defined with Greater Cleveland works, um, but also you know, really leveraging those that we want to model after.

So, you know, you think of those jurgons who have second chance uh hiring and things, those practices that we're proactively looking for in the attraction strategy, but also looking to highlight in our current business base.

Um it also provides a resilient tax base, um, innovative partnerships.

So, of course, looking at where can we leverage some RD resources as an attractive asset to a business that we want to you know come complement a business in Cleveland.

And then you know, rising visibility of our you know, our services, right?

Attracting the highest talent, being able to execute on our infrastructure, on our um objectives as a city.

Um and why now?

So we know why we're doing it and why now it's because this is the moment to play offense.

We really understand we've spent time understanding what our competitive advantage is and where we are competitive.

So the industries that we talked about are places, our industries that um we really feel like we have uh a competitive advantage in.

And and by feel I mean we have a data-based uh structure.

We've looked at, you know, this the sub the supply chain, we've looked at several supply chains, all the assets that we have to offer and and what we do really well here.

And then we've benched that benchmark that against cities that are competitors in those industries.

Um against those, we have a lower CapEx and OpEx.

Um we have incredible talent and RD powerhouses, stable business operations, both both because of um climate, but because of that lower opex.

Um, and then I'm gonna end with sites.

Uh one because we actually have sites now, but also because now we have the ability through this legislation to kind of see how a site activation from a business might fit in to our strategic plan as a city.

Um and is that the highest and best use there, or is there another offering?

Um and what's great is that we can actually make that choice now.

Um and this has been this has been um building up for um a period of uh about over a year now of building a pipeline first.

Um so we mentioned food and beverage manufacturing, also tech, and then under advanced manufacturing, that's where you'll see your aerospace and defense, your polymers, composites.

Um, so that's sort of the umbrella that we have all those industries underneath.

Um, and then building partnerships with uh local economic development organizations, but primarily with the businesses through this outreach proactive um business retention and expansion effort, we're meeting them together and sometimes separately to understand what is their supply chain, what's helping them make um what's helping make them more successful, and then modernizing the messaging.

And part of that is just knowing what you are going to sell, uh quote unquote.

And I'll stop there.

You'll hear me say that sometimes.

We are not salespeople.

Business development is matching a need with a solution, and we believe that certain companies will find their solution in Cleveland.

Um so we're tailoring messaging that's been sort of out, you know, maybe by Team NEO or GCP, um, several of our partners and tailoring it for Cleveland.

What what is the Cleveland advantage?

And then integrating things themes from talent and tourism, you know, a partnership with Destination Cleveland, and then develop uh delivering customized pitches to the company that we're speaking to and and providing the solution for.

And then, like I said, preparing the solution.

So gathering the assets of our um ecosystem, developing a predictable process, and then building the team in order to uh execute with excellence.

And I want to kind of pause there on building the team.

You know, that includes me and David, but it also includes you'll you'll see those senior project managers and and Joe Vro's really hit home that importance of the major projects and business growth being integrated.

The reason for that is they really want to see uh we really want to have an umbrella over the businesses as they come through City Hall.

Uh, this concierge service of having one project manager who knows really well how we get through City Hall, um, but also has a great uh relationship with all the other um economic development organizations and the asset holders, so you know, the sites, the um state incentives, et cetera, so that we can layer these all as a single package so that they sing our praises, right?

Because part of the business development process is this executing with excellence, right?

And the ongoing relationship management, that's our B RE practice, which is so important for our long-term positioning, right?

It feeds back into Cleveland is an excellent city to work with.

They're open for business, um, and that starts to feed our lead identification, and then um as I identify leads with David, we go through a gate stage process.

So um there's about three gates and three stages that we looked as we vet a company for attracting to Cleveland or for executing one of our incentives.

Um what that looks like initially is you know, David gave some metrics on what kind of businesses we're looking for, the 10 to 100 million, or you know, even the early tens to the later um hundreds, that order of magnitude is hard to um get to, that growth, and so that's really where they're primed, like David said, for growth and incentives.

So there are those metrics that kind of get us our first set, right?

And then we start to look at some other growth indicators, but also what I call community enablers, so it's almost that pre-vetting of the CBA.

Well, I want to see from them maybe some voluntary ESG, voluntary um philanthropy.

I want to see resident workforce hiring.

That's what we're really focused on.

Um, and then as we go as we develop a warmer uh relationship with them, then we sort of walk down what it would look like for them to land in Cleveland and how they would benefit our current business base and our residents, and then to capture, and again, I'm just gonna hit home here.

That's where that uh program manager, um, that senior project manager really uh comes into play here is getting them through City Hall and executing with excellence that that concierge service.

And I think I'm the end there.

No.

One more slide.

One more slide.

Did I sorry about that?

Right on.

So that is a pretty holistic uh look at the new department of development, right?

And I think it's important and not loss on me, right?

This isn't binary, right?

We do have the ability to both uh reinvest in our neighborhoods and work to attract companies to the city of Cleveland.

Putting all those tools in one place allows us to maximize the ability of all of them and truly unlock potential.

Um, you know, I think uh important as we go through this again, we just want to hit like what is this legislation do, right?

Like ultimately uh renames department of economic development into a department of development.

Uh it does amend those powers of directors, which really is a land bank functionary uh that sits on here.

Uh it allows for transfer of land into the right land bank as it moves forward.

Um it it allows for the transfer of these 18 positions with their federal funding sources, right?

So we're minimizing impact to the budget, um, and it creates that new head count today so that we can start marketing for uh the land strategy uh deputy director.

Um again, what this does not do, uh, right?

This does not change land bank uh policy.

This does not change uh or remove council oversight or authority on any of those issues.

All we're doing is picking up employees from one location today, putting them next to employees that do similar job functions, which both create some efficiency, but also really unlocks the power uh of what they're able to do together.

Um again from a sheer budgetary uh uh standpoint.

Um you've got those five new general fund positions that are coming that end up being about a 700,000 dollar impact on the budget for whatever it's worth, uh, Ms.

Um end up being about a seven hundred thousand dollar impact on the budget for whatever it's worth, uh Ms.

Andreweski, uh, how much did uh land bank generate last year?

Uh last year, I don't think sorry, Chief.

I have those numbers I don't remember last year, but right now we're on track for uh generating six hundred thousand dollars.

So again, I uh again, this is all we're doing.

We're picking up like employees, we're putting them next to each other in a way to really be able to drive things forward.

Uh welcome any questions you guys have here for anyone in the team.

I know this is a big change, but it's one that we feel is the right thing to do and something we think can be incredibly meaningful.

I'm sure you do.

Sorry.

That's my guy there.

We are good, man.

Uh um thank you, Director.

Thank you, Chief.

Sorry.

Thank you, Chief.

Thank you, Director and your team for your presentation.

Um this morning.

Uh a lot of information.

As you know, we we've been having many conversations around this um this um topic here into the committee.

Uh uh, Mr.

Titran has uh previously emailed out to everybody a list of questions that were were posed and responses.

So everyone should have received that, include additional information uh he sent to you.

We also included it in your calendar invite so that way it wouldn't be missed uh if it was not um uh seen in your in your email.

So we want to make sure you had the information um ahead of time so that way you can be prepared for your questions and your and your thoughts, all right.

Um uh for me before we go to the committee, um one of the things you talked about and we've had discussions about has been around making sure council is uh involved in the um and helping to flush out some of the policy issue sides, right?

You know, obviously this body can uh put forth its own policy uh directives to uh passage of ordinances and and and resolutions.

Uh but what I think because of the change, it would be great, you know, as I've done in the past and other members have done in the past is really worked with members of the administration to um to co-develop, you know, um uh um uh uh policy and that can uh address some of the issues that we have seen over the past and issues that you know I'm sure is gonna come up or thoughts are gonna come up uh as we uh uh go through this presentation today.

Um and council again is is and administration have have worked well together on many on many issues.

And I think this is one where we we absolutely must come together uh to uh work with each other again to flush out policy issues and concerns and really uh in and and I think this can really strengthen the council and administration's partnership, right?

You know, with this with this work that's being um that you're asking us to consider uh today.

So uh just my couple comments.

So Chief, you know, my my ask is and to you, Director, that that this body has the commitment of you, Chief, and director and your team to really roll up the sleeves and work with this body uh to to further uh develop policies related to the changes that you're asking us to make today because this is a lot of this is this is a lot.

Yes.

You know, and you and I went around on this, uh staff has gone around on this, and I I think that not everything that we won't be able to anticipate everything through the work that we that we've the policy the the presentation that you um you've outlined today.

There may be questions that come after this between now and finance of next week.

Uh but really having that commitment from your side uh to work with this body uh and this body to work with you all uh to uh create and develop you know policy that will help you know make this uh transition uh the best that it can be.

Yeah.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh one thousand percent you have that commitment.

Uh we have had some really good dialogue uh with Mr.

Titran uh throughout the course of this process, right?

And I know that uh he has a whole whiteboard kind of filled, particularly with like housing policy and things, and and I do think that that is an important part of this, right?

Like that that housing policy piece lives in the Department of Community Development, you know, right?

And that's kind of part of the check and balance, right?

There's a lot of things that we need to do that we make sure are working for, uh empowering and and improving lives of existing residents, uh, right, and that this department of development can kind of carry forward.

Um but again, we absolutely want to be partners with city council and making sure the right policy is getting passed there.

All right, sounds good.

Uh because you know, oftentimes, you know, one side or the other can put forward you know, ordinance or you know, create policy that may or may not be um the best, right?

But I think if we come together jointly and work on some of this stuff, I think it would be great for not only uh for us but for you all uh as well, which ultimately is the best for the city of Cleveland.

Um we talked a little bit about metrics as well along the way, you know, in in measuring success and you know, you know, what are we working towards, right?

And I think that is going to be as we move along through this process as well.

That's gonna be that's gonna be a big part of this work, right?

In in helping us to uh I wanna say feel better about it, but uh but but really you know um understanding where we're where we're trying to go, you know, get the presentation speaks to some of that, but really having a very clear uh path, right?

And having having metrics set, you know, a conversation that we've had with you and your team also council staff has had with you and your team as well, and so I think it's gonna be very important.

I'm sure that's gonna come up during the conversation here today, but I wanted to put that out there now, those three points so that way is it is absolutely clear about what this body is is looking um is looking for as we move forward, okay?

All right, thank you.

Uh first we have Councilwoman House Jones and then Councilman Harsh.

Uh thank you.

Um through the chair to the team here.

Um I just had a couple of questions.

Uh first I will start with the land bank.

Um so you know, I've had this consistent challenge in trying to really think through how are we going to work on equitably selling, partnering with community members as a just relates to some of the pricing issues within the land bank, so that is not covered in here.

That will be for another day and time.

So through the chair to Councilman House Jones, yes, that that is correct.

Today we are not talking about changing land bank policy, uh, right, just where it is administered out of.

But I do think that this gives us a tremendous opportunity, and I know your frustration on this a great deal, but one of the parts that we covered earlier uh when we went through this was the fact that as you look at it today, uh property acquisition and disposition actually happens in three different places.

Yep, obviously you're I think it's three different ways of going through it.

And so I think this does give us the opportunity to kind of create that commonality.

Okay.

Um, as a follow-up through the chair uh to the team here, um we I know there's a uh uh a section that discussed this business development.

I guess I'm gonna ask the question what does that look like specifically for um businesses that operate in the night at the night and nighttime time?

What does that look like?

Um I've had a conversation specifically about economic development um comparatively to other uh cities that have a thriving nighttime economy.

Um many times I know our city doesn't have the strong relationships that is necessary specifically um at the during the nighttime, and so I really want to hear because I have didn't hear it about what does that look like within this new vision um through the chair to the councilwoman.

I know that that is something that um is important to you and it's certainly important to the team as well.

Right now, um the neighborhood investment managers are um you know building relationships with business owners, um, you know across the across the city and across the region um and are dedicating to supporting um that group of businesses at this time.

Um but I am very open to um figuring out how to establish um a dedicated person to that um and um addressing that okay through the team through the chair to the team here, what does that look like?

I hear it in words, but what does that look like?

Because again, this has been years, and so I'm I'm just what does it look like?

What is the timeline?

Because again, many times I'ma just say that.

What is the timeline?

What does that look like?

Um, well, so I mean what it looks like to date is just you know, active engagement.

Um in terms of timeline, um, you know, I I think in the in the next year, um, you know, I yeah, I'm special.

Okay, yeah, so that's true.

I will follow up with this through the chair to the team here, based on this, um, and as you're talking about the neighborhood investment um managers, what is the actual um profile um or over assessment of our nighttime economy in the city of Cleveland?

Those entities that are up and running, um, you know, property owners versus management.

Um what's the overall assessment of it?

So uh through through Chair Councilwoman House Jones, and I know that we have had this conversation.

So part of there is a position that exists on that org chart that is uh uh like a strategic projects manager that I think that we want to have really start to dive into this.

This has also been, and I know as we kind of have this conversation, this is a large part of why establishing a system like Salesforce is very useful for us because as it stands today, there is no database of all the businesses that whether they're small business or major corporation that we are talking to, their issues or challenges, all those sorts of things.

And so when Salesforce is fully implemented and put in, which we expect to be done by the spring, uh, right, then that gives opportunities for uh and and by the way, this is something that when you look at it, I'm not sure that there is another city in the country that is looking at kind of the we'll call business retention expansion at the main street level, uh, right?

But it gives these neighborhood investment managers when they're having a conversation with somebody to start playing through all those issues.

Uh I think that we have had conversations with you in the past about potentially having a full-time person that is dedicated to the nighttime economy because I fully appreciate and understand that there are issues directly surrounding that at times when people are not in City Hall.

There is not a full-time person for that today, right?

Um but but again, I think we are starting to compile information from other cities that have done things like this, and what are the benefits and uh how can we make that a reality here?

Okay.

Okay.

And I I guess I will just lift up um the idea, at least that I that I offered, I am not even saying that it is the right thing or the correct thing.

What I'm saying is we need to address it.

It is a problem.

Yeah.

And again, for the administration after three years not to actually have and be like, oh no, we're gonna get to it.

And I'm just I just need to know when so I can level set my expectations.

With the consistent, there's always things going on in the hours of like 11 p.m.

to 4 a.m.

Consistently.

And I'm not talking about public safety, is actually economically of how do you work businesses so that we can be preventative and have the things not just in downtown but throughout the city of Cleveland.

And for the administration in this whole reorganization to not have a thought to say, oh, it'll be a strategic partner.

I just think it's a failure from my perspective.

Um, because it's always again, as council members have discussed, it's always the priority of what the administration is when this is supposed to be a partnership when it's not.

So I'm gonna leave that there.

Um the other question that I do have is in regards to just overall, um, one thing I have yet to see, and this is something as we go into the budget, I will be asking every department and having real expectations that we will be able to deliver.

What is the establishment of work performance and evaluation standards when it comes to this new department?

Yes, no, absolutely.

We have spent um a considerable amount of time developing KPIs for the team.

Um it was um, you know, built by the entire team, and so you know, I think that that's a good way to establish real accountability and set real expectations.

Um we worked with urban AI to identify those.

We're looking to um incorporate those into sales the Salesforce platform so that we're able to track it um in real time um and be able to really track um our performance.

Um through the chair to the team here, use the acronym KPI for people who do not know what acronyms are, what exactly is that?

Sorry.

Key performance indicators.

Thank you for that.

And again, you said they are there, where are they?

Where can people see and how do you how can I be a be a person to objectively look at those things?

Um, because again, like I said, in the city of Cleveland, Cleveland City Council included, we all need to actually get to a place of work performance and evaluation for every single person that works with the city of Cleveland.

Because through the chair to the councilwoman, that is transparency is um incredibly important to me.

Um currently they are in spreadsheets.

Um, but they will soon become reports um that we will be glad to present to you and um with and in collaboration with Izzy, who's on our comms team will be able to really deliver the message on on you know our performance and and how we're serving the residents.

They're the chairs to the team here, and so what is the timeline to actually get to those things?

I hear it's in spreadsheets, I hear it's gonna be translated into reports.

What does that mean in the context this year, next year, yeah, 2028?

Yep, next year.

Um we there are a lot of moving parts.

I think um this restructure Salesforce, we're currently my team is meeting um with IT and Salesforce reps um three times a week uh uh for about you know for like two hours at a time.

Um and so we're really building that out.

Um there will be um dashboards that track that um for visibility internally.

Um and so really my my goal is to have that completed by next year.

Okay.

Through the chair to the team.

Next year when I'm at being very quarter one, quarter two, three, four.

Win.

Um I think right now we're likely looking Q2, Q3.

And I say that because Salesforce that process is um, you know, it's a very um we're really trying to make sure that we cover all the grounds with Salesforce and we're moving as quickly as possible.

And a lot of the things that we're currently being put, we're putting together to implement into Salesforce are things that you know we have to develop from scratch, and um, you know the team is you know put in the hours to be able to accomplish that um with the timeline that we that we have projected.

All right, so through the chair to the team here.

So realistically, we will not actually have um a real gauge of work performance and evaluation standards that can be fully implemented for our work first here in the city of Cleveland until 2027.

I just want to be clear because if you're still working on something, um it's hard to evaluate what's going on um here in the city of Cleveland, and I just based on this new implementation that we're going through.

So well, through the chair to the councilman, I think that what Director Bordo Small has said is our target.

Um and it's true that the Salesforce build out requires a lot of additional work that we can't necessarily estimate.

I think the second thing that's important to note too, as it relates to the reorganization and the restructure, is that the combination of the restructure and Salesforce gives us an opportunity to level set again the metrics that we want to measure staff against.

If we think about this as an analogy, if we have a multivariable equation, we gotta solve for X before we know what Y is, and we have both things in place.

We can say that staff now have all the tools that they need to be successful.

So these are the North stars that we want to hold them accountable against.

Um so for the Salesforce build out, yes, the goal is to have that ready by Q3 of next year.

But when we think about the restructure and allowing that to have the time to settle, um, and have staff have all the things that they need to excel in their roles, it might be um a bit of a longer timeline to reset those KPIs.

All right, and then just my final question um through the chair to the team here, as we are looking at this reorganization for economic development department, um what and how is the vision of community development in this?

And that was the one thing I know I was um when I've had these conversations.

I'm like, I we have to do both things at the same time.

So um, as there has been so much work that has talked um been put into this reorganization of what is proposed as the director, the department of development.

I'm very curious as to what is a vision of community development where all things are not I'm I'm not talking about equal, but equitable at to actually have a vision to have energy in a place in an organization, I'm gonna say in the city of Cleveland overall, where um I don't think this is the optimal work environment.

So I'm just gonna be quite frank when it comes to city of Cleveland.

So how how does community development um play into that?

So through the chair to councilwoman House Jones, I'm happy to start that uh and then open it up to other members of the team that uh I know Miss Andrewski, right?

Um I said a little bit of this earlier.

It is hard for me to fully articulate how much I care about community development in Cleveland, uh, right?

It's a you know, I am somebody I have lived in the city of Cleveland uh for most of my adult life.

Uh I live in the city's Buckeye neighborhood.

I spent almost the entirety of my adult life working in neighborhood development work.

Um, and again, I care deeply about that.

I have had about a whopping seven weeks to dive into that side of the equation and working with that team to let them know just that, that the work that they're doing is critically important.

Um, you know, there is a lot of really good stuff going on there, and I feel like there is a huge opportunity in this, what we're doing right now, right?

By by taking some of these bricks and sticks pieces out uh and allowing them to sit in development, really focusing in on that neighborhood stabilization aspect, uh getting home focusing in on things that can work, whether that is home repair.

I think some of that work that Aaron Miller Tate uh is doing that uh is going to be so impactful, and I think that gets to a lot of the policy side that you guys are talking about, uh, you know, whether that is financial empowerment for residents, uh, you know, wealth building through home ownership, uh, the ability to focus on kind of land trust work, that housing policy side, I feel like fits uh really well into this and provides a nice check and balance in there.

So uh again, I I I can only tell you that right now my conversations with that team are focused on the fact that like there is an opportunity.

I feel like we are going to work very hard and we're gonna make sure that that rises to the occasion uh and that we really deliver.

I don't know, Trudy, if you want to add something to that.

Yeah, I will say so through the team through here, care in words versus care and action are two totally different things.

And my observation that uh the action behind the words is missing.

And so I and I I'll just leave here because we are where we are.

Um there is something to be spaked, which again as we Laura Wayne in 2026, um, specifically working on like stress management, wellness as an organization.

Yeah, um I believe sincerely that the city of Cleveland is not getting um optimum deliverum for the team members that work for the city of Cleveland, due to the amount of stress, the City of Cleveland not prioritizing wellness in a very real way.

Um it is not just about fluff and deaf, is actually real practices, and I think uniquely positioned the Department of Community Development has been in a realm of flux stress, uncertainty that we as a city of Cleveland has not taken seriously, nor put in real practices to alleviate that, and in a context where there is no vision.

That is my perspective.

People can say something differently.

Um again, just my final question through the um chair here, has there actually been a um uh a level of like stress management for the people within the community development or economic development.

So through the chair to councilwoman House Jones, first of which uh I I would say that um I have always tried to practice more than caring words, and I think that if you look at the body of work that I've accomplished through the Department of Economic Development, there's been a lot of caring action in terms of building a team that is supportive of each other that has a high quality culture, uh, and I welcome you to have those conversations with anyone in that team.

That is the way I've handled every organization that I have ever been a part of uh in my brief time in this role.

I have tried to meet with the full team of community development on a consistent basis.

I have tried to let them know that we are going to figure out a way to work through this.

I don't know what they have and have not done in the past.

I do know that what you described is accurate, and we are talking about a department that goes back years of a lot of constant churn change, um, short straws drawn, right?

I am keenly aware of that.

Um and as I have told them uh I care about this in ways that are hard to fully communicate, and I am going to do everything I can do humanly capable to like actually find a way to find the right direction and move that forward and empower them to do that meaningful work, right?

So I cannot answer for the way things have been happened in the past.

I can only look at how we view things moving forward, uh, and this is a huge focus of mine, as I have said at other committee tables, right?

Like, I actually view this as my primary job.

I did not take this job to be the top economic development project manager of the city of Cleveland.

I did it because I care about these departments and I want to empower them to do meaningful work, and we are gonna leave no stone unturned in finding ways to support the people in the Department of Community Development, as well as this new department of development, as well as the Department of Building and Housing and those in the planning commission.

This is hard work.

Everyone who does public servant, whether you're an elected official in council or you serve on a daily basis, right?

It's tough.

I get and I understand that, and we are gonna find ways to support our employees.

All right, thank you.

Yes.

Thank you, Councilwoman.

Uh Councilman Harsh.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I'm gonna uh start at the bottom of my questions and work my way to the top.

And we'll end with the big one and we'll get the little ones out of the way.

Um on page 23.

I think CapEx and OpEx is capital expenditures and operational expenditures.

Am I correct through the chair?

Through the chair to the council person, yes.

All right, cool.

So by having low CapEx and OPEX, we're basically saying that Cleveland is a uh cheap place to do business with a low cost of living.

Uh, through the chair to the council person, yes, but I think also it's a um the way we describe it too is also catch this while you can because we're growing.

Um and so it's uh it's a it's an invitation to move quickly, uh, and we will too.

Okay.

Um uh the council president just had a uh a uh op-ed in the paper this weekend talking about the sort of contradictory nature of being the most affordable place with the highest poverty, right?

Um we've got this weird sort of uh bookend problem where we on the national international scale, we're one of the most affordable places to do business in the whole planet.

Um, but we've also still got struggling with with our with our population and getting people um past the uh the the poverty benchmark into working working class territory.

So um it's it's interesting position to be in for economic development.

My next question through the chair, uh Miss uh Andrew Zewski, I thought you were the uh land bank uh head right now.

I've clearly mistaken about that.

What is through the chair too, Councilman Harsh?

I'm the uh Bureau Chief of Neighborhood Revitalization, which oversees both the land bank office and the asset redevelopment office.

And so through the chair, have we had a director of the land bank itself since Mr.

Giuliano left?

No.

Uh Linda Al Hinton has served as the interim manager.

Okay.

Um through the chair of the chief director.

Um is it still the intention to have a director for the land bank, or is this position now just sort of being folded in as a departmental function, or uh are we are basically downgrading that position or just incorporating it, or what is oh, I'm sorry, that's okay.

Through the chair and to the councilman, we are going to have a land bank manager, but the deputy director of land strategy will um be responsible for both land bank and asset redevelopment.

Okay, okay.

Um and so then I guess my main question comes down to this.

So it's it's you know it shouldn't be lost on anybody in the room.

Uh community development is without a director right now.

It is sort of a shipped adrift.

Uh there's about 80 people that work on the floor above us, hello up there, um, who don't have a director, don't have a boss, and I believe you will be the person looking to fill uh to find somebody to fill that role, correct?

Through the chair to the yes, okay.

Um so it kind of feels like we're raiding the kitchen while mom's out, right?

Like, you know, there's nobody in the house, we're gonna go grab what we want, there's nobody there, we're gonna should bring it over here, we're gonna put these folks where we want them because there's nobody there to say no.

Um it kind of feels like you know, we're sort of raiding the pantry.

And and I mean, I'm not I can't ask a community development director what they think about this because we don't have one.

So I'm not sure.

Like the community, the previous community development director came down uh stairs to this room a couple years ago and said she had a good new redesign reorg for that department, um, and then lost both those directors, those citizen directors, and then uh is gone herself.

So, through the chair, how do you feel like this impacts the future work of the Department of Community Development specifically uh since they're not here to speak for themselves?

So uh through the chair to councilman Harsh, uh I would say that one, this is not a decision that was made overnight, right?

This is a conversation that has been going on for the better part of two years for the last year plus intensely, and there were many people, and and again, I think Miss Jones did nice job of outlining all the work that went into talking to many of the employees in the Department of Community Development.

I don't pretend to say that there was universal alignment when this idea was generated that some everyone thought, oh, this is great.

And you know, as I look at that, sometimes it is very hard when you are giving up things that you care about to not see the whole of what you're actually creating on the other end of it.

Uh right.

But what I would say in the conversations that I have had uh with the leadership team in community development, much of like I said, I think that there is a tremendous opportunity in this.

I think that by kind of detangling itself from uh right now that department is focused on almost everything, uh, right?

That is because it is largely tied to the entirety of a funding source.

Um and I think this gives us an opportunity to really focus in on things that you know, again, it's like that neighborhood revitalization piece without it, like we're not building anything in any neighborhood.

So let me let me change my question then.

And I don't mean to interrupt, but let me let me just get back to this sort of question at hand.

Um through the chair, when you hire the director of community development, what tasks are they going to have?

What is their job?

Yes.

So uh through the chair to councilman Harsh, right?

As I've said, that I believe that this is a department that will be f now, uh I think huge caveat here, and I think this is the importance of finding the right person come in and lead that.

Uh in 2026, we were going through the new five-year plan uh for HUD, right, and the matrix codes of what you can spend the money on.

So I think that we are at a point where somebody is going to come in and help determine that future vision.

And I am very intentional of not stepping all over that, right?

But undoubtedly, what we know and the way that we are marketing this position right now, right?

Uh, this is a position that is going to be focusing on neighborhood revitalization work that is going to have home repair at its center.

It is going to have a lot of the work around financial empowership, homeownership, uh, land trust work, housing policy, and again, that is so critically important because uh, you know, again, this is how do we set how do we set the table for what this department of development is actually doing?

Um so again, I think that there is a lot in there.

You look at all the different partner organizations uh that are doing work in our neighborhoods.

Uh I think that there is a way to empower the employees that are kind of uh essentially acting as program officers in that space.

So um I think that there is incredibly meaningful work for that person to do.

But again, my focus has always been finding the right person to lead that work and then giving them the freedom and the flexibility of working with that team to build off some of the things that community development is already doing.

So uh, Mr.

Chair, earlier this year, uh the entire Department of Community Development got the scare of uh of a lifetime when the federal government decided to wait until the last day legally allowable on the calendar to determine whether or not to even fund them.

Um and since 1975 or something like that, for a little bit longer than I've been alive, um, the federal government has uh distributed community development block grant funds, CDBG money um to urban areas in Cleveland has received that money consistently regularly every year for 50 years until this year when they decided to hold off until the last minute possible.

And there was a lot of speculation, a lot of concern, and a lot of fear that that money would actually be withheld, part of doge cuts or whatever.

Um which is really difficult uh environment in which to run a department when what 90 percent of your staff is funded through that one uh federal source.

It's really hard to keep.

I mean, we had a problem at CDCs, Mr.

Chair, uh all throughout the summer where CDC personnel were wondering if they should go find other jobs and like just gut the whole industry because their funds also come from the same source, right?

Um it's not lost on me how difficult that was on everybody involved, um, especially as I work with a CDC to try to do a major development in the neighborhood.

Um, and you've got staff wondering if they've got a uh a job.

Uh of course, uh we all know that on at the 11th hour, the federal government did decide to go ahead and reallocate CDBG funding uh for the entire nation.

Um it seems that that means that the uh the the forecasters who said CDBG is too integral to rural and Republican interests for them to ever cut it nationally, might have been the ones who won the argument, right?

The people that said that there's just too much money involved in this program that actually affects Republican interests uh throughout America for them to even cut their own, you know, it'd be cutting off their nose, right?

Um and and they won't actually do that in Congress.

It seems like those people got the argument right.

Um so maybe we can expect them to be right again next year.

Uh and and hopefully not wait to the 11th hour, but if they do it, at least we we've had a run through on how that works.

So um I I'm I'm asking this, Mr.

Chair, because I'm trying to understand like what it looks like uh when we get a new director of community development, and through the chair to to the chief uh how does this interact?

There is uh uh a proposed ordinance sitting in the box somewhere.

The box, I guess, is over there now.

Yeah.

Um, to completely swap C D BG funding and to change the entire funding environment uh for the City of Cleveland.

How do you see this change to community development uh impacting that proposal that still might see uh the table again uh in the future?

Yes.

Uh so through the chair to Councilman Harsh, um, I guess that's a two-part question, right?

And so the one I I would say I will tell you the same thing that I told the Department of Community Development the first time I went down to introduce myself, and I did think it was important that uh when I took the job to go down and introduce myself to the totality of that department.

Um I know what it's like to live in fear of that funding source going away.

Councilman Spencer knows it, you know it.

Uh it's not super fun.

But for 51 years, that has proven to be a very resilient funding source, right?

It has gone down over the course of years, regardless of whether there's a Democrat in office or a Republican office, and those are realities that we all have to deal with.

Um but it has proven to be resilient for I think a lot of the reasons that you explained.

Um I think that over the course of time it's gonna be a very difficult funding stream to eliminate.

As I already told, as I also told the members of that department, let's be very clear.

If 28 and a half million dollars eliminates itself from the City of Cleveland's budget, there's going to be pain, right?

There will be job losses, not just in that department, but probably in other departments throughout the city.

That eliminates funding that you guys have for projects in your ward.

Like there will be pain, it will be distributed, but that will not mean the wholesale elimination of a department.

Why?

Because there is critical and important work that that department does that is used to move neighborhoods forward, and that is not going to change, right?

We're all going to have to have a very uncomfortable conversation if 30 million dollars goes away.

Um, but we'll figure that out.

Um, you know, so so with that, again, I I think it changes nothing because I don't anticipate that funding source going away, and that's not the way I live my life, uh, right.

And you know, again, if catastrophic events happen, we'll all figure out a way to deal with that.

But that does not mean that those jobs are not important and that we won't like make sure that we're doing some of that work.

Um the second part of your question related to budgetary swaps.

Um, I can tell you that prior to joining the administration uh is somebody who is very involved in a lot of that conversation.

Uh it is easy for us to sit down and look and say that we're a 2.1 billion dollar year co corporation and we have roughly um nine-ish million dollars between council and administration that goes into funding uh the small organizations that are out there, and that should be very easy to swap, right?

Theoretically speaking, uh I think that's the way we look at it.

And and I understand why we want to do that.

It's the same reason that when we move the department uh or when we move the storefront renovation program from community development down into economic development, we didn't use CDPG dollars because using CDBG dollars for these very small organizations and all the rules and things that is extraordinarily challenging.

Through through the chair, how much CDBG dollars is is spent in the Department of Community Development now.

Yeah, uh yeah, the total budget is 28 point, yeah, roughly 30 million dollars, right?

Which flows through the department.

Oh no, there are currently there are no uh community development block markets.

Correct, that was my understanding, right?

So under this new organization, how much CDBG money goes to ED?

Uh through the chair.

Through the chair, that'd be about 1.8 million dollars roughly.

Okay.

So economic development currently uses no CDBG funds, but under this, it will get about 1.8 million and CDBG will be redirected to economic development for the things being moved.

Okay.

And then um so that there is a proposal, Mr.

Uh Chair, to swap out CDBG money um with general fund to um loosen restrictions on the community development uh environment, CDC environment throughout Cleveland, to allow them to do more direct service-oriented work uh to their neighborhoods without being hemmed in by the CDBG um uh restrictions, uh which you know a lot of people say are self-imposed, right?

A lot of people say the city is the one actually creating those restrictions that that that corner people into very small uh opportunities.

Um but uh the proposal to swap still uh brings merit.

And I guess my question is um if it's all within the Department of Development and ED and CD are two sides of the Department of Development.

Is that how we'll look at this through the Chair?

So uh through the Chair to Councilman Harsh.

No, there will be a Department of Development, and there will still be a Department of Community Development.

Okay.

So okay.

All right, I guess we'll cross that bridge later.

Um I do have one last issue.

Through the chair, Councilman Hars.

I do I do want to say that it is already today that the Department of Community Development administers CDBG funds that are going into other departments, right?

Cleveland Department of Public, like that is not unique, right?

Correct.

That that is something that currently does happen.

So okay, so my last question then, Mr.

Chair is about uh directly about money.

Um section five A, paragraph eight, um the direct uh which reads it's it's underlined on on our tablet because it's an amendment.

Um so it reads that the director of developments authorized the deposit the proceeds from the sale of any property from the residential land bank property into special fund 17 SF 964.

Um which will be used for costs associated with acquisition, maintenance, remediation and disposition of residential land bank property, including costs for insurance and the activities related to the recovery of costs incurred on these properties.

Um further funds received by the City of Cleveland from direct insurance claim settlements, cost recovery efforts initiated by the land reutilization program for residential property.

Demolition or remediation actions as a result of the program and grants, donations or any other source pledged to the program shall be deposited into that same fund.

So through the chair to the uh director, chief director, what explain this to me.

Um what is the reason for wanting to keep land bank revenue separate from the rest of the general fund in SF 964?

So through the chair, Councilman Harsh, uh I'm happy to start to answer this, but also uh I'm gonna give it to Ms.

Andreweski, who has been living this uh for quite some time.

Uh part of my understanding of this is that this is an anomaly uh that UD actually hit us against because currently those land bank proceeds are going into uh a CDBG fund, right?

Which you can't do.

Uh if you look at the Department of Economic Development's land bank, uh again, proceeds of sales of land that do go back into the fund.

Uh, you know, again, those can be used for things like phase one, phase two environmental work associated with making that land ready to go so that you can market it uh and again lead to neighborhood transformation.

Uh and I think at the same time can go towards paying staff that are working on those things, which becomes kind of a self-fulfilling fund source.

So uh with that, Ms.

Andreeski, I'll turn it over to you.

Thank you, Chief.

And through the chair to Councilman Harsh, um, I would echo a lot of what Chief McNair said.

We are receiving a lot of requests from residents who transact through the land bank for support on things like surveys, for support on things like assistance with um uh uh site work to uh create more affordable housing development opportunities, and we have access to no funds to be able to think creatively on how our land bank proceeds can then help further you know our our broader city goals of activating that currently vacant underutilized property.

Um again, it it essentially mirrors the subfund that the industrial commercial land bank has and allows us to utilize um those proceeds to further advance uh land activation.

So I'm I'm sorry, so so this sort of like butts up against the head of like buyer beware.

We're talking about selling empty land.

Uh they buy it or they don't buy it.

What is the what is the cost associated with selling it?

So through the chair.

Through the chair to Councilman, I I think this is uh honestly, this is a large point of what we're trying to accomplish here.

I think that largely the way that we have acted with our land bank is kind of buyer beware, here's a random piece of land.

If anyone wants it, there you go.

What we're doing is creating a team of people that is strategically looking at land that is finding ways to get it clean, so like preparing it for fucking for moving it along.

So that was not you guys know me fairly well.

Uh right.

Uh but again, I I think that's a large part of this.

That is a large part of what we are trying to accomplish here, right?

Is looking at land more strategically instead of just saying, yeah, uh we can't on one hand continuously say things like we have over 18,000 vacant parcels of land, right?

Oh, what a great opportunity.

We can't move them.

Oh, by the way, this costs us so much money in mowing, right?

Like what we're trying to do is figure out ways that we can actually um move this land in ways that like moves our neighborhoods forward.

Yeah, I understand that, but I mean, uh the we don't have a problem with getting rid of land, we have a problem with people wanting it.

Right?

I mean, like the selling of the land is easy.

Sign up, here's the cost, write a check, it's yours.

Like the problem is finding people that actually want the land.

I don't understand how this separation of like, okay, so we sell some land, we put the money off here to the side in this special fund, and that helps us sell more land.

Yes, I think that preparing land for development absolutely helps ease the process of transactions and and marketability.

100%.

And I think I can paint another just very uh uh small example.

I guess like um neighborhood level example is um for residents looking for a yard expansion, for example.

We often have residents on both sides of a lot looking to purchase the same property.

And this example, a resident, both homeowners are responsible for all the costs associated with um splitting the lot, uh recording that plat and then consolidating the lot with their property on top of the uh cost of the parcel.

So that's just another example of a way that it could be used.

The fund could be used to support um uh ex uh existing homeowners.

And through the chair, could uh uh or could could somebody give me an example too of where departments sequesters the revenue from their activity into a because I know like building in housing doesn't get their money back, right?

Building housing raises like buku bucks, it all goes into the general fund and pays for everything else.

Like can you give me an example of where a department gets to take the revenue from their activity and put it into a separate subfund that only they have access to the chair?

I mean, one uh there are multitude of enterprise funds throughout the city, right?

But like I think it's also important to note that we're not talking about substantial amounts of money, right, that come through here.

It's actually relatively small dollar amount.

And I think this gets partially to, you know, a councilwoman uh House Jones's commentary of some of this stuff earlier.

Like, you know, to me, the correct answer if somebody wants to invest in building a house in Huff is thank you.

Uh right.

Uh and so not being as constrictive, but like you actually need dollars to prep and make those things available.

So uh again, this is relatively small amounts of money that helps self-circulate and leads to better outcomes.

Well, uh I I so did that doesn't answer the question.

So uh through the chair, I can I can also tell you that actually, yes, the Department of Economic Development, right?

Like uh in a variety of funds that exist in there, whether they are loans that are going in out the door and coming back in when we reclaim funds, they go back into those pots, like um we make money on those that goes into a fees fund, like, you know, ultimately, again, I always say if you strip that department down, it's kind of like a broke civic bank, uh, right.

But and and that this is in a similar manner.

The the goal is not to make and amass money, the goal is to actually improve outcomes in the community.

Um and that is very challenging to do without without being able to recapture, you know, relatively small amounts of money associated with this work.

Okay.

And then through the chair, could you explain the direct insurance claim settlements portion of this?

Uh to through the uh chair to the councilman, I actually don't have an example of when that has been um something that we've gone through in the past year and a half that I've been with land bank.

I don't know if okay.

Um and uh it seems like somebody wrote this very intentionally, Mr.

Chair, and they're not quite here to explain it.

Like it's it is a mind-boggling paragraph.

Further, the funds received by the city of Cleveland from direct insurance claim settlements, cost recovery efforts initiated by the land realisation program for residential property, demolition or remediation actions as a result of the program, and grants donations or any other sources pledged to the program shall be deposited into special revenue fund.

Like that somebody had a clear intended goal of what that paragraph meant.

And I just wish they could explain it to me.

I think part of it is uh just through conversations.

Um for example, when the work we do in West Reserve Land Conservancy, and they are taking vacant lots and they're doing work with them as well, right?

Uh uh groups like that or other groups go out and they raise money to do uh work on be on on these land bank lots, right?

You know, just like now we have to plu you have to council has to get the authority to accept any grants or donations or or or or anything of value, you know, for for but not with this paragraph.

We don't have to do that anymore.

Right.

They have the authority to just do it.

If it's if it's something related to a vacant uh a vacant lot, for example, if somebody wants to donate a bench to us, right?

Yeah.

Uh or or we had an organization, we get these corporations who come and say, hey, we want to come in, we want to fix up this lot, or we want to give the land bank um five thousand dollars because we're next door.

We don't want to do the work, but we're next door.

Here's five thousand dollars land bank.

Can you uh beautify this line so that it make our property or entrance look too bad, right?

So that gives the uh the department the land bank area the ability to kind of have those discussions, do those type of things um uh on the vacant lots that exist in the city.

Again, this does not give them the authority as relates to um anything that has a structure on it.

This is this is purely uh uh vacant lot.

This is also uh the same authority that the commercial land bank has as well.

Uh it mirrors the commercial land bank uh that already is in existence, so uh he can't well be she can, but before he could uh have the ability to um to uh do some of the work on those on those vacant commercial parcels, accept uh parceling to the land bank and also um make other decisions.

So this again, I believe that this through my conversations and and stab that this mirrors that uh uh commercial land bank uh uh piece.

Am I correct?

That's correct.

Through the chair, you're correct.

All right.

Um so you know, first glance had the same thought as I kept thinking.

I said, wait a minute, we we do this already with the commercial, and understanding kind of the work that that other entities are now coming to the city to help us do, uh it makes sense for uh uh for you know quick turnaround, small dollar uh um uh enhancements of of uh of vacant lots that uh in my opinion does not need to be a burden of this uh of this body.

Uh maybe we add some in there, you know, if there is any um uh uh uh gifts or grants or or or whatever that the council be notified in a particular ward councilman so that way at least we this body doesn't know if there's any awards that are made to the land bank uh as relates to beautification upkeep of uh these vacant lots.

Just my my thoughts.

Chief or director or Trudy, you want to add in?

I'm not gonna go pronounce your last name.

I always mess it up.

I always mess it up.

Uh I agree.

Yeah, through the chair.

The only thing I'll add is it really addresses our desire to be more proactive, right?

I think that um, you know, not doing anything and waiting for someone that wants it and not touching it will not allow us to really move the parcels in a strategic way.

And uh and if I if you mind if I could one of my thoughts on this too was you know, I I I know several different times in my own uh current ward where you had two seniors on one side of a lot, they both are good friends, they agree, but they don't fix incomes, right?

And they and they just couldn't afford to to make that happen.

Or they were able to come up with a third of the cost, but they they didn't have the funds to do that.

And the land bank was you know very sympathetic, but it's like councilman isn't really we have no authority, no ability, we just we don't have a way to do that, right?

Um and you know, those those situations are real, and that's just one example, right?

Uh I also would say that uh that's a great example, absolutely.

And so um even where we have um uh folks who are using you know, East Cleveland had put those those wood, those wood bollards all around their lots, right?

When they started doing a lot of demo work, demo work there.

And folks would say, you know, it you know, well, the folks if if it's a place where we have um, you know, I have one example where we we've had a high drug addictive between myself and Conwell's ward, right?

There were they're driving completely through the lots, right?

Completely through the lots, they're running from the police.

I mean, it's just it's all kind of everything going on, right?

And res all four residents who live on both streets on both sides of these lots, you know, it was nothing that we can do except for asking public works to come bring a uh uh a tree that has failed somewhere and put it in between the lot.

Now at that point it becomes unsightly, it becomes overgrown, right?

And it looks just a mess.

But there's ways that we can have resource do uh other interventions on some of these lots, and that's just looking at these small residential lots.

We're not talking about the uh larger lots that are developable, right?

You know, across the city that, you know, this this some funds that we generate can be uh used uh uh to support the uh enhancements of them in addition to other um other uh uh grants or awards that we receive, you know, uh through uh philanthropy or through other organizations across the city.

So just my my thoughts.

Uh this chair, I appreciate all that, and I do understand the value of making land attractive to uh new owners.

Um, you know, in the residential side of this, we deal with uh the cost that developers have to pay just to connect to city services and um it's something the city requires them to do and they put the cost uh 600,000 wouldn't really get very far in most of that, those discussions.

Um and uh through the chair to the to the uh chief.

Is the finance director okay with the increased budget request that the Department of Development is gonna have to make uh in the upcoming budget cycle to cover all of this?

Through the chair to councilman Harsh, yes, there have been extensive conversations.

Uh and this is again part of the citywide strategic plan, right?

And that is a primary reason.

Then I I'll just put out a bow on it this way, and let um through the chair to my colleagues, let you all decide how you want to proceed here.

I would suggest that we strike Section A, send the money to the general fund and then allocate the money back during the budget to the department for land use and reutilization in their department.

Um but that way we can monitor the amount that comes in every year, we can monitor the amount that they're spending every year and just make it part of their allocation for their budget for that department rather than create new subfunds that then become uh you know untouchable moving forward.

Uh if somebody wants to uh motion for that, I'll second, but if I'm on an island, I will happily stay on my island.

And and thank you, uh Councilman.

Um there that discussion has come up in the past with the law department and law department has given the opinion that uh based on ORC that the funds and process has to go to a separate designated fund and cannot be simply uh deposited to the general fund.

Um we have that that information here that uh Mr.

Berdovich from the law department had given us.

And again, when this came up, because it started as an issue with that.

But where does it go now?

Where does it go now if it has to go to a fund that hasn't been created yet?

So it th that's the creation of the the special what I don't know, what's the numbers?

Whatever the special revenue fund that has that's gonna be created and set up uh for the uh department.

We we as if it continues to sit in the operate the way it is in C D, we are continuing ourselves to be at risk uh with with the funding that we are receiving from HUD.

That is part of the reason why you know this is included, so that way we can know we can not have that that that uh that liability um uh exist that we currently have, which is again that's what led us here because of the hook saying you cannot continue to do this.

This is not allowable, and if you continue to do this, then we will come down on you.

Uh and so this to an effort so they don't come down on us, that we can be in compliance, you know, this this is the way that we uh this is the way that folks believe that we get you know into compliance, but getting into compliance also has another stipulation that does not allow us to simply add these to a general fund, that these be held in a separate designated fund uh uh specifically for uh land bank use, similar as we have with other special revenue funds or uh enterprise funds that is that is not simply rolled into the general funds budget.

Thank you.

That's the last line in that in that message that's that says specific uh the now we we can we can object, we can um disagree with the law department's opinion, but law department opinion the law department has given us given us that uh um opinion.

You are not alone on the island as it relates to why do we need to do that and why was that the case, right?

The question was asked, obviously, is it was very early on.

Yeah, back in May.

Yeah.

Yep.

Any other thoughts, Councilman?

No.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, uh Councilman Harsh, always great questions.

Uh Councilman uh Sliff?

Oh, I'm sorry.

You had me uh uh Slife and Dispenser.

I'm happy to let Councilman Spencer go first if you like.

I won't I don't think I'll be too terribly long.

And and uh not uh continue to beat the dead horse on the land bank.

Uh and I will acknowledge that I don't I have very few land bank lots, so I am kind of rusty on the day-to-day functioning of the land bank compared to where I was a number of years ago when I sat in directly on the disposition meetings.

Uh I'll only say that the land bank provides a a great opportunity for catalytic development and for large-scale projects.

Uh but arguably in limited scenarios given the scale of land that's within the land bank.

Most of it is a lot here, a lot there, maybe a couple lots, and it's not going to, or it's it's not in the right location for like a an apartment building, uh LITEC project, something like that.

I only say it because I I don't personally have any apprehension to proceeds staying within the land bank and making that office more durable.

I only would become concerned if the incentive to get that funding is such that we are failing to do what we have in the past, which is basically give the resident next door a 100 side yard because it's more cost-effective for us to just offload the property than to continue to spend money year over year mowing the lawn.

So so so I I so I I just want to make sure that we're not we're we're we're we're not overcorrecting and failing to dispose what is probably 90 percent of the land bank, which is that there is not currently development pressure in the neighborhood for a new home to be built, and it is not going to be an appealing site for anything other than a single family home, ergo.

Let's try to go for a side yard.

Um that that leaving that aside, you know, I uh through the chair, the director had indicated kind of the historic uh uh fact that ED was spun out of community development.

Building and housing was also spun out of community development, and the community development corporation network really came into being decades ago as a response to this building being unable to efficiently and effectively meet the hyperlocal community development needs of neighborhoods.

I want to be very clear that what I'm saying here, I'm not looking to uh insult or uh cast uh negative light on any person or department, other than to say that the evolution of community development over time has essentially gone from being community development in the broadest definition of the sense into being the department of community development block grant.

And my time with the city began in 2012 uh when I essentially had your role and uh and Trity followed uh a couple years after I did.

Um it always struck me that there seemed to be a lack of a uh cohesive mission statement for the community of uh the community development department merely because it was so tied to community development block grant that it was seeking to just achieve whatever we could achieve under community development block grant.

And I think that Councilman Harsh's questions about what the next steps for community development will be should this legislation move forward is very valid, and especially given the introduction of 854 2025, the legislation to move community development corporations away from block grant, which I support uh for a number of reasons.

There's a my question to the director is could you I guess it's not a question that's been asked, but could you just I I would like for you to expand more on what the role of community development is, especially since the I councilwoman, I have a joke about having like the Department of Development and the Department of Community Development is sort of like there being like Jones and House Jones, like it's like like people like like it um the other thing that I'll add is if you're two different worlds, two different worlds.

If we if 854 passes, we theoretically could use our community development block grant dollars to repair roads and sewers, which is not what we I think we think of as traditional community development work, but it's and we would still be a need for those contracts to be monitored.

So I'm trying to understand what will remain the ecosystem of community development work within the city of Cleveland.

And is the Department of Community Development the correct name for whatever that workload is going to be moving forward, or is it just confusing to have two departments that the layperson would think are accomplishing the same work?

One is developing the community and one is doing development in the community.

So through the chair to councilman's life.

Uh one, um, I had an interesting conversation with Linda Warren, who many of you know uh not that long ago when she was the director of the Department of Community Development, they had over 400 employees in that department, right?

Uh, and that is the totality of all those different things that you talked about.

Um for whatever it's worth, yes, I have um uh we've tried on for size some different names for that department, but again, I think to me the most important part of this is finding the right individual to come in and help lead a lot of that transformation work and for whatever it's worth uh you know, of the things that I really like about potential the budget swap.

And again, I I cannot say this enough.

Like that would require us actually identifying and finding ways to utilize those dollars in other places and make that swap work.

But I think it opens up a lot of interesting possibilities, and I can only say that through um you know the lens that I know well uh over the course of uh my time of using community development block grant dollars out in that ecosystem.

Uh I received 205,000 dollars from Councilman McCormack to support our work.

I received $5,000 from Councilwoman Spencer uh to support that work, right?

And if you look at the contract of the widgets that we produced and we would produce them, right?

But it was like a handful of portrait pairs and uh, you know, uh home repair projects and things of that nature.

Uh and nowhere in that contract did it say that we were running a youth rec league for over 1,800 kids throughout the community, 54% of which uh were receiving financial aid to move forward.

That financial aid was our organization doing that.

Uh nowhere did it really talk about the nine different block clubs that we supported on a consistent basis, did not talk about the work that we were uh playing a meaningful role in supporting of keeping uh uh you know a 23-acre uh Riverside Hillside from collapsing into the Cuyahoga River and turning it into a 23-acre waterfront park.

Uh all the technical assistance that we do.

That stuff wasn't really captured.

And I think that if we can figure that out, again, big if I think that opens up to a really fascinating possibility of uh these groups uh applying for for dollar allocations for operating support that says, here are all these things that I am doing to move your neighborhoods forward, right?

Like here's a way that we're competitively analyzing that.

Uh and again, I think that then kind of turns this department into more program officer type work uh for the neighborhoods of which they serve, which I think could be incredibly compelling, uh which is why I I continue to say there's already really great and impactful work happening in the Department of Community Development.

I view this as an opportunity uh to really start to think differently about how that works and try to break down this Department of HUD mentality that has existed up there for far too long.

Um so again, I I welcome that.

Uh and and right now it's the focus is on who is the right person to lead that work and work with the team in place up there.

Um thank you.

And you know, I know I know we're deviating beyond what the specific presentation is.

We're asking a lot of questions about the elephant in the room.

I will say I understand and am supportive of the streamlining of comparable work across the building into uh a more strategic system.

So my uh I you've you've you've got me philosophically, perhaps a little bit more information on CD, especially C D how what does C D do if 854 doesn't move forward?

What is CD do if 854 does move forward would be helpful to this body to make us understand what remains of CD and how can it be effective.

Um I'll end with the there's I and I I think the answer is that there aren't any concerns here, but I want to just it be stated openly and publicly.

How many employees would are how many employees would lose their role if this legislation moves forward?

How many would there be layoffs?

Are there are there jobs on the line?

So through through the chair to Councilman Slife, no.

And are there any collective bargaining consequences as you are saying I would assume what is currently economic development is inheriting people who are in bargaining units, which I don't think ED has any remailed, there's got to be some.

Through the chair, Councilman Slife, the answer that is no, which is uh, you know, kind of I think I think we tried to articulate that right uh in the one slide, right?

Where it's really we're taking the office of the housing development office, the asset redevelopment office, uh, and the land bank office, and we are essentially picking up and changing where they're administered from.

Okay.

That's it.

I'll I'll just close by saying my introduction into City Hall was through economic development with Dave Lucas.

And it was a fascinating place to learn where things are kept and how things work at City Hall.

And it is very unintuitive for a new employee to figure out what departments in control of a piece of property or how to dispose of real estate or so.

So that the level of confusion that people see externally is also faced internally.

Yes.

And I'm very optimistic that this can be a more effective way for us to meet the development needs of our community, especially those that are in neighborhoods like where most of us represent, uh, which are not seeing the large-scale development pressure, interest from outside players, and there's a lot of proactive work we need to do to foster that excitement to move neighborhoods forward.

So thank you.

Thanks.

Uh Councilman, and I also share it in Council Stab asked some of a similar questions.

Uh, and I would I will say that the folks who are coming from uh Trudy's uh shop and um uh the other division in C D will still interact with community development.

Uh it's not that it's just where they're housing a minister from to have uh I would I would for the lack of better term, you know, uh uh higher level oversight uh in engagement in support, you know, that maybe CD doesn't have anymore uh because of the uh maybe because of the exit of other folks who was there, right?

Because of the uh maybe because of the exit of other folks who was there, right?

And and but you do have some ex expertise and other folks who are in ED that can support uh those two divisions.

Uh but the intent, if I'm correct, Chief and Director, that this the new areas that you're bringing from CD will still interact with C D.

There wouldn't there will not be uh a separation complete separation, but merely about where they're housed and the oversight of uh the work that they're doing, correct?

Uh to the chair, yes.

I think you just effectively described integrated development.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Uh absolutely.

And in the other uh aspect around the funding, uh, there's an MOU sign between the the uh the departments that like we have with uh building the housing, department of aging, uh other other uh departments across the city, that the the work that these folks are doing will still be funded through uh through C D B G.

Um and uh there wouldn't be an additional cost to the department because the funding is will will still be coming from that that source.

Um and then um there's another discussion asked about uh the budget that's also partly uh I believe funds can be used from uh the land bank sales to support the staff of the land bank as well.

Uh so that is uh that is also um one thing to um uh to consider.

So I just wanted to add the two cents to that.

All right.

Thank you.

Um councilman.

Councilwoman uh Spencer Thank you, Chairman Hairston.

We have certainly had a wide-ranging discussion today, very in-depth.

Um appreciated the dialogue this morning.

So we've talked about the why, and we've talked about change management.

I mean, it is, I think from our side of the table.

You had a big CD reorg, you had the ED re-org, and now it's another shift.

So um I'm not in your shoes, but I just can only imagine that staff will need a lot of support, even though this is exciting, right?

You need the it change management is a thing.

So but I do understand the why.

And I want to get to my questions here.

Um, and apologies if any of this is repetitive.

Briefly, uh, can someone recap for me through the chair?

What are the five new budgetary positions that are funded from general fund?

I know one is the deputy director of land strategy.

What are the other four that are gener the new general fund asks there are uh through the chair councilwoman, right?

So uh there's the deputy director, there is a new GIS specialist that would join this mix.

There are two in the accounting side of things, uh, right, that come through there.

Um the real estate oh, and the and the treble property uh real estate analyst.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

And the red sorry, you should have said yes, look at the red boxes.

All right, cool.

But um, so then a follow-up question through the chair is uh the deputy director position is replacing director current former position, right?

The the new deputy director is the position that director small formerly held.

Is that accurate through the chair?

Myself, yeah.

No.

Um through the chair, um no.

Um the new deputy director of land strategy will um be responsible for the new land strategy team that's coming and being formed.

So they're they're going to be responsible for um land bank and um asset redevelopment, correct?

Can you go back through the chair to the other slide?

There was one that showed maybe it was assistant director.

I can look at my own tablet.

I'm sorry, y'all.

Yeah, it says deputy director.

Page 17.

Go back, maybe or go for the I think you want to go down there.

There you go.

So that red box deputy director, which role is oh, that is the deputy director of land strategy.

Okay, I'm back on board.

Got it.

All right.

Thank you for clarifying all of that.

Um and then through the chair, who is the current assistant director.

Um through the chair, I am.

I know.

Um I need to um hire a replacement.

All right, okay that clarified that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, um, and this is a relatively minor question, but I think it goes to my curiosity about the change management.

You all just ripped your offices apart there in ED.

You were orphans for in your in the ground level guard, are we calling it the garden level now?

For a long time.

Um, totally redid that space.

Spatially, how will this new team be situated and then all these synergies built from that point of view through the chair?

So through the chair to Councilman Spencer, yes, I have a lot of great memories of room six and the garden level.

It was really really nice.

Great accommodations.

So this is something we're having a lot of conversation about.

Obviously, we cannot fit uh all employees with this within room 10 to 10 on the second floor.

Uh and so, you know, having um a very engaged conversation uh with um uh chief TUN uh and the Office of Architectures we think through space needs uh and you know, obviously looking at uh opportunity here, uh you know the the third floor has needed reinvestment for some time anyway.

Um, you know, and so we're we're constantly or currently taking a look at like the best way to staff this.

Obviously, there are parts of the second floor that I think from a sheer functional perspective makes sense to have some staff there.

So we're looking at a handful of different options.

Okay, busy times.

Thank you for that response.

And I think uh Mr.

Chair, I really given all the discussion that's already happened this morning, uh, just had one more question, and it was actually directed to Miss Sheel through the chair.

Your brand new position, and what is your background and what brought you to this position through the chair thank you through the chair to the council person?

Um thanks for the question.

Um so my background, last 15 years, um I was in the private sector supporting defense and aerospace.

So um I provided professional services.

Um, my organizations that I worked with.

I started at uh a company called Booz Allen Hamilton and then worked my way into some some small businesses, um, but supporting uh the big five, so Boeing, Lockheed Martin, North of Grumman, and also NASA headquarters.

Um I chose to uh in 2023 redirect my career.

Um I took an executives fellowship um that matched uh executives from um the private sector with uh local governments with that had a need in their areas of expertise, and I took that um because I really was kind of sick of making people who are already millionaires more millions, um, and I wanted to look at um redirecting my expertise for Cleveland.

Um so when there was that need and I had that recruiting uh mechanism, I took it.

And I had a very challenging and very exciting and fun year when this uh position was offered to me.

Um, I was very excited to continue that work and actually be able to execute on some of the analysis that I did.

Thank you.

And through the chair, your position is called executive attraction officer.

That's correct.

And is this a brand new position that has not existed at the city before through the chair?

Through the chair and to the councilwoman, that's correct.

Okay, and so I'm affirming I appreciated the conversation uh Mr.

Lucas shared about retention and expansion of existing, and I know we've been doing that work.

Given that the attraction piece is new, how will it collaborate with other agencies or organizations that I believe are active in that space?

Um tell me more about that through the chair.

Um through the chair to the councilperson.

Um so uh other organizations in our ecosystem are newly doing business attraction prior to this um uh analysis and this um dedication to attraction.

There was only about a half of person in Cleveland dedicated to business attraction through what we like um through other economic development organizations.

They were primarily focused on business retention and expansion.

Now there is a renewed focus um throughout the ecosystem on business attraction, um, and I am we are aligned very closely.

So there was a slide earlier where um we talked about um building partnerships with that those EDOs, and part of my work during my fellowship was working on those relationships to build that practice and also earn some trust.

So, you know, David and I talk about not only just trying to be transactional with them, but then also you know, together layer um what we can do together with them and provide some early uh conversation so everyone can sort of ready their assets.

Okay, thank you.

And I'll just you know uh take a moment of privilege as an outgoing public servant, uh at least for now, you know.

We those of us who have it in our blood, we uh you know sometimes we come back in different ways to serve the public, but as an outgoing public servant, really just want to thank you all.

These are tough jobs.

Um change is challenging.

Um, and um thank you for your commitment to to the city, truly.

Thank you.

That's it, Mr.

Chair.

All right, thank you, thank you.

Uh Councilman, right back out.

Um the question from the committee?

All right, just as we look at these amendments, there's um law director can help us understand.

So oh no.

So Mr.

Chair, if I may.

Had us make the change here, then further change the change in the first amendment.

So in the first amendment says that section five is amended 183.02 B9, line seven after paid for by strike fund 17 SF 17 SF 965, and from an insert special revenue fund number 17 SF965.

But then the second one says in section seven, line one and in line five, strike 17 SF 965 and insert 17 SF964.

So is it 64 or 65?

Or is it both?

Or is it both?

And if it's both, what's the other?

Because nobody told me that.

It looks Mr.

Chair, like we're making fund SF seven, uh 965 a special revenue fund, an SRF fund.

But that's four, though.

So does 40 to be five?

What would I have the answer is four?

964 is 964 is what?

Through the chair.

964 is the uh industrial commercial land bank fund.

Okay.

Right.

And so 965 is the new special revenue fund.

So those are separate because again, they are legally have to keep separate entities for residents.

So it makes sense.

So the the the section eight that we insert on the land bank because is the the residential is six, they're taking out six four because is it six four references commercial replacing with six five?

All right, okay.

It makes sense.

And then in and we're striking six five and inserting six four because that's where we're transferring the money from.

Is that line four section three?

No, and so the commercial it references six five section uh references six five.

Six number five discussions five.

Yeah.

183 to B9.

Yeah.

It makes sense now, which is thank you for that.

I'm sorry, I mean a point at you.

Yeah.

B9.

It just looked odd, man.

You don't have a because it first has six four and then it further corrects it, so I think it's right now.

Uh through line seven.

One, two, three, six, seven.

And they're paid from so okay.

And section seven, line one.

Line five.

Transfer funds from fund number fourteen SF 50.

No.

SF 965.

Just for funds.

Okay, so we're transferring the funds from the industrial to the residential.

This is 64 instead of 65, right?

Because in in section seven, line five, it says transfer funds from fund 14 SF 50 into fund 17 SF965.

And we're saying instead transfer that into the industrial fund 964.

Mr.

Law Director.

Which seems like it's backwards.

It should go into the residential, not the industrial.

That's the industrial.

This is the residential.

Four is industrial, correct?

Four is industrial.

And five is residential.

But we want in section seven transfer funds from the industrial.

Is that like the intended goal here?

Mr.

Law Director, can you give us some guidance on this, please?

Because I'm lost with four or five.

Uh that is it's not intended to transfer um from the industrial to the residential.

Okay, so section seven reads that there is established special revenue fund 17 SF 965, right?

Which is the residential, subject to any approval required by law to be to voted to the process divisions of blah blah blah.

Um and as described in section three that this ordinance in this director of finances authorized to transfer funds from number 14 SF 50 into fund 17 SF 965, but you're saying make it 964.

No.

Right, right.

So I think the amendment here is wrong.

Somebody apologies.

Uh through the chair to Councilman Harsh, I misspoke earlier.

I'm looking at the original um copy.

Is the revenue fund that we are trying to establish?

And 965 is the industrial commercial land bank.

So if you flip those around, so 964 is the new one.

Taylor.

Yes.

965 is industrial.

Okay, okay.

Quick one.

No, you are good.

So strike 965 in section seven, make it 964.

Now we're giving it to the residential.

There we go.

Transferring funds from SF 50 into SF 964, the residential use.

Can you repeat that just so I make it?

Yeah, let's get it right.

Handle on this.

No, we're here to get it right.

Um we're in section seven.

Uh line five, the very last line of section seven.

Section seven starts off that there is established special revenue fund 17 SF 965.

Anyway, the last line transfer funds from number 14 SF50 into fund number 17 SF 965.

We're gonna make that 964.

Yep.

That's that's in a that's the correct change.

Correct.

Because that's what we're creating.

Okay.

It was just I had it, we had it mentally flipped that that's not true.

Okay, because if you look line B, and B is industrial commercial, so six five would be appropriate for that.

So it makes sense.

From working on it.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Let's see.

Okay.

Well, that's why it says from and pay for by that same number.

Yes, okay.

And it needs to read what?

Uh no, it is good the way it is.

Okay because they clarify 65 is the industrial 64 is what we're trying to create for residential.

So if you go one one, the first situation, item one is the uh amendment.

This this item section five, item B, line nine is strictly related to commercial, and this number matches up with commercial.

So now move on in section seven.

When you go to the last section here, it says in section seven, line one, which is here, six five.

What they did was they accidentally just used the special revenue fund for commercial, but it should be four, which is what we're trying to establish, which is residential.

So that makes sense.

Right.

All right.

I get it.

Yep.

Sounds good.

We're good now.

Okay.

And then the new section aid.

Um gives finance authorize a transfer and amount.

Not the director of development.

Right.

Because finance is going to keep up with the numbers, not the director of development.

Right.

Okay.

All right.

And then you just the other two are just re-right, right, right, right.

And then just cleaning up the language.

The section.

This is why people get bring me a clean ordinance.

That's right.

All right.

Do I need to read all that?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Well, given all that, since it's already Tuesday afternoon and we have nowhere to be.

Um Thank you, Chief.

Uh, through the chair, I'd like to uh propose the following amendments.

I got a turkey to put on, man.

You ready?

All right.

First one in section five, it amended section one eighty-three point zero two one B9 line seven after paid from strike, quote fund 17 SF 965 and from, end quote, and insert quote special revenue fund number 17 SF 965 and number two.

In section seven, line one, and in line five, strike quote unquote 17 SF965, and insert quote unquote 17 SF964 in both places, and in line four, strike quote unquote section three, and insert quote unquote section five.

Number three, insert new section eight to read as follows.

Quote section eight that the director of finances authorized to transfer an amount not to exceed 450,000 dollars from the Department of Community Development's fund number 15 SF 469 to the Department of Development or have a written memorandum of understanding from the Department of Community Development to fund the home program in an amount not to exceed 450,000 dollars, end quote.

Okay.

Number four, renumber existing sections eight, nine, ten, and eleven to new quote unquote section nine, quote unquote section ten, quote unquote section eleven, and quote unquote section twelve.

Right on.

Uh number five, insert new section thirteen to read as follows.

Quote section thirteen that this ordinance shall take effect and be in force on January 1st, 2026, end quote.

And number six, lastly, renumber existing section 12 to new section 14.

We good.

Okay.

All right.

We got a motion.

Do we have a second?

Second.

We have a motion and second.

Any uh discussion on the uh the uh motion seeing no discussion of the motion, all in favor?

Aye, all opposed.

All right, and going back to the ordinance.

Uh is it any additional questions, comments, or concerns relating the relating to the presentation ordinance on the ordinance that we are we have heard today.

All right.

Um Director, Chief.

Um Director, Chief, as you heard, we we expect you all to roll up your sleeves and work with council staff and this committee uh to uh work through policy issues, thoughts, and concerns as we move forward.

Um as you have given your commitment, uh you gave yours, and what about you, Director?

Committed.

All right, director and the chief both committed to working with this body uh to address policy issues and concerns uh jointly uh and not in the silo.

Um also work with each other to develop metrics, um, you know, um as we move forward with this uh reimagining of this or re-org, whatever you want to call it, uh of of the departments.

Uh understanding that the um uh uh asset redevelopment and major projects will continue to work uh together with uh community development uh as they move forward and not completely be removed from uh that space and the work that the community development is doing.

Uh very important that they have s you know continue to have some sort of synergy between the the the two you know as you move forward because uh that's the work that they've done all along.

Um I think that's all for me.

Uh if there's no further questions from the committee, uh ordinance number twelve twenty-six uh dash twenty twenty-five as amended stands approved.

Remember this will go to finance.

Yes.

Can you just mark me as a no, please?

Uh can't mark please mark councilwoman house jones as a no.

Uh but remember this will go to finance as well.

So there's there's additional time if there's any questions or concerns that come up between now and finance.

Uh please get those to uh myself, uh Chairman, uh uh President Griffin, uh, Vice Chair Santana and and Joe Titran uh to flush out uh any additional concerns or thoughts that you may you may have, okay?

All right, thank you all.

Uh DPS is adjourned.

Yes, yes, yes, yes.