The Committee of Finance, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion met on July 15, 2026, to discuss and vote on several financial ordinances, including a contract extension for financial advisory services, a designated outdoor refreshment area (DORA), and two tax increment financing (TIF) projects. The meeting began with a clarification on voting procedures in the committee of the whole.
Good morning. Today is Wednesday, July the 15th. This committee of finance diversity, equity, and inclusion is called to order. Madam Clerk, please call the role. Here. Thank you. We're gonna always start out with guests, but before we go to guests, I do want to make sure that I clarify a question that was asked at the last uh committee of the whole. And I want to make sure that this is uh clarified with all council members, if I could. And the question was in committee of the whole, do council members each get a vote on all the legislation or vote um taken by committee. Um after asking the attorneys to review this uh this question, the answer is council members signed the legislation by committee to record their recommendation of votes. Council members do not vote individually on all legislation. So under council rule sixteen, um, we called the meeting. Um I called the meeting as a whole for committee of the whole without objection for the purpose of conducting business generally with all committees present, and rule sixteen states that the rules of council shall be observed in the committee of the whole, and no roll call of yes or nays are taken. Council members sign legislation by committee to record their individual votes. So as usual, under Rule 15, a majority of council members of referred committees report on legislation by signing the back of any legislation recommended for passage. Council members may speak when acknowledged by the chair, but do not individually vote on every piece of legislation heard in committee of the whole. However, only the finance committee members will be the ones that will actually make the referral for the full floor vote, not all of the committee of the whole. Okay. Okay. So just wanted to make sure we clarify that so that I know that was a question that members had last time, and I did um want to make sure I reviewed that with everybody. Okay. That being said, I'm going to bring up uh first the finance uh director. And uh this is ordinance number six eight nine to six. And I believe you have a guest with you, and I'll read this into the record. Uh this is ordinance number six eight nine-2026 as amended by councilmember Griffin by departmental request. An emergency ordinance authorizing the director of finance to enter into one or more contracts with PFM financial advisors, LLC for as needed, financial advisory and consulting services for the Department of Finance for a period of one year, with two one-year options to renew exercisable by the director of finance. And the amendment states there is no legal objection to this legislation if amended as follows. One, in section two, at the end, insert the director of finance shall provide written notice to the clerk of council whenever any purchase is made through the cooperative process, which notice shall include the details of such cooperative purchase. This is dated 714 2026, signed by Vishnu Ganglani, uh assistant director of law. And uh director, you had the floor and you can introduce your guests. Okay. Uh through the chair to the committee, um we have uh Jeremy Needfeld with PFM today to answer any questions you may have. Um introduction to this bill, as you all will recall about a year ago I came to council with the idea to have a strategic advisor for the entire city instead of having each division uh contracting out a different advisor. Uh since then, PFM has become ingrained in several projects. They've helped us revamp our debt program. They were in an integral part of that. And again, keep kept helped us keep a $68 million liability off of our books uh this year. Uh we made an agreement with council that we would come back in one year um to see how things were going and request a contract extension since the original contract was for one year. Uh just a reminder, we did do a competitive process for this. We did a uh request for bids you know when we went out and and awarded the business to PFM. So now we are here asking um to enter into a contract with PFM for another year with two one-year options to renew. Okay, uh, I do have a few questions, and um I'll begin by asking why is this uh contract structured as a retainer? Um, how many hours of consultation did they uh receive and under the previous contract and why not structure it under billable hours as opposed to not to exceed amount? So to the chair, um it's more economical for the city. Uh so I've done a lot of business with PFM when I was in Jacksonville, and um, you know, the work that they have done well exceeds uh the retainer amount. So the retainer amount covers a span of services. If we had paid that individually and hourly, um it would have been much more expensive. Um and through the relationship with PFM, we were able to um you know negotiate a uh you know uh an arrangement or retainer that was beneficial to the city. Um also there was a deep desire by PFM to do business with the city of Cleveland. They've been trying to do business with the city of Cleveland for a long time.