Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Development Planning Sustainability Committee convened on October 22, 2026, to hear the Community Development Department's presentation on the Program Year 2026 budget, the five-year Consolidated Plan (2026–2030), and proposed changes to grant administration. The meeting, chaired by Councilwoman Santana, lasted from approximately 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM. A second day of hearings was scheduled for October 23, 2026, at 9:30 AM. The department is administering approximately $28.1 million in federal HUD grants, including $19.656 million from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). The presentation and discussion focused on HUD compliance issues, the need for improved citizen participation, a restructuring of how Council-directed funds are allocated, and ongoing challenges with contract processing and monitoring.
Good afternoon, everyone. We are convening development planning sustainability today's October 2nd. Thank you for all the years today. I will say that please define before we have a hard slide before four thirty. So once the presentation is complete, if members uh want to ask the question, if they could please limit it to ten minutes, um, so we can make sure everyone has a chance to participate. Yeah. Um, yes, go ahead. Uh so uh, Madam Chair, I'd thank you for a brief moment. I just want to uh do a little table setting for anybody following along at home. Um the CDBG hearings uh were a matter of uh sort of routine uh behavior for decades in the city of Cleveland, and the last couple of years they've come into a real um uh frenzied state. And I just want to uh you know, let people know why that might be the second year of the Trump administration has once again seen a record delay in communication from the federal government. We still don't know what the CDBG uh full award amount is. We learned today. Well, that's how common convenient for us to wait to the last minute to hold this because the federal government waits to the last minute to tell us anything. Um I also just want to, you know, point out that um uh the director here today uh is I believe going to do her very best. The previous director had rearranged the department into two sectors and promoted two assistant directors, both of whom left uh before the previous director was dismissed or left. Um, and so I believe that we had a beleaguered department for many years, but I think we are trying to rebuild and put back together, and uh none of that should be taken at the expense of the folks at this table today. I think we are working with what is uh available to us uh on the timeline that the federal government has uh terribly interpreted for us. So while if you have been watching CDBG hearings for decades, you're used to one set of one thing, you're not probably gonna see that thing today. Um, we're going to go for four hours today, um, and then I will be cleaning up anything that doesn't get handled today tomorrow. Uh speaking at nine thirty. So I just wanted to set that table for anybody who tunes in to CDBG annually and is going to be asking in an hour or two. Why is this not going the way it used to always go? That is the answer. Thank you, Vice Chair, Director. Thank you very much. Uh, thank you, Chairwoman Santana, members of City Council, and everyone joining us today. Thank you for the opportunity to present the community developments Department of Community Developments Program Year 2026 Budget and Programs Report to discuss the city's consolidated and annual action plan. These documents represent more than a budget. They establish how we will invest federal resources in Cleveland's neighborhoods, which needs we will prioritize, and how we will measure our progress, and how we will ensure that these investments produce meaningful, meaningful results for our residents. I'm joined today by assistant directors Melissa Levinger and Dr. Andrew Koontz, who will introduce themselves and talk a bit about their roles in the department. Hi, my name's Melissa Levinger, and I'm the assistant director that's overseeing the Bureau of Program Operations and Community Programming, in addition to some cross-cutting focus on program design and process improvements. Good morning, everyone. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Dr. Nedrew Koontz. I oversee the Bureau of Residential Improvement and Enterprise Office, which includes accounting, finance, and data analyst. Also joining me, thank you. Also joining me at the table today is Jeff Kacharski in his role as budget manager. He also serves as our Bureau Chief for Enterprise Operations. Behind me in the audience, I have Bureau Chief Danette Davis, who directs our residential improvement work, Bureau Chief Takisha Ruffin, who has just joined the department as the new Bureau Chief for Community Programming, and Joy Anderson in her last community development block grant hearing as Bureau Chief for Program Operations before her retirement next week. So as you know, I am new to this role, but I would really like to take a moment to first applaud the dedication and expertise of the staff of that department. They're often misaligned, they are criticized, but they still manage to be thoughtful and kind and carry the best interests of our residents at heart, all while being terribly underresourced.