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Meeting coverage by Cleveland Documenters | Compiled by Signal Cleveland’s Doug Breehl-Pitorak | Edited by Rachel Dissell and Mary Ellen Huesken
Here’s what happened last week in local public government meetings covered by Cleveland Documenters.
Cleveland Public Meetings Report – The week of Feb. 20
Council kicked things off last Tuesday by discussing the proposed 2023 budget for the Department of Law. The department is requesting $18,623,670. The budget would cover 85 employees. Law Director Mark Griffin named the following priorities and goals for the department:
- Making progress on the federal consent decree and police reform
- Stepping up housing code enforcement
- Lead safety and nuisance abatement
- Increasing staffing
- Renewing multi-year lease for airlines at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
- Negotiating the acquisition and development of the new Cleveland police headquarters
Griffin also highlighted the department’s litigation successes, including recouping more than $850,000 to date as part of a national lawsuit against prescribers of opiates. In a September 2022 council committee meeting, Director of Public Health Dr. David Margolius discussed opioid addiction in Cleveland. Documenter Kathryn Johnson has more on that meeting.
Council spent half a day digging into the proposed 2023 budget for the Department of Public Works and its divisions, with a budget request of about $89.5 million. Here are a few highlights.
Division of Recreation
Recreation Commissioner Sam Gissentaner discussed the division’s proposed $15,890,854 budget. He highlighted a lingering dip in attendance at Cleveland’s 21 rec centers compared to pre-COVID attendance.
Annual Cleveland rec center admittance, according to a presentation from the Division of Recreation.
Council members asked about programming at rec centers. He said residents can take programming ideas to their rec centers’ directors and the division. Check this list for rec center contact info.
While reviewing the $2,561,665 proposed budget for the Department of Community Development, council drilled down into the city’s Exterior Paint Program. In 2022 Cleveland Documenters reported on the program, which aims to provide residents with vouchers for free paint and supplies to paint the outside of their homes. Only 36 percent of the more than 1,000 approved applicants in 2020 and 2021 finished painting their homes. Residents cited the high costs and the physical demands of painting as challenges to completing the program.
In May 2022, council amended the program to also provide labor in “limited circumstances.” Despite the change, Commissioner of Neighborhood Services Louise Jackson said in the budget hearing that only 78 homes were painted last year, good for about 27 percent of 286 approved applicants.
Maurer criticized the program, budgeted for $521,232 plus any unspent funds from previous years. She also critiqued officials for presenting 78 completed homes as a success.
The department has five painting vendors lined up for 2023, according to Director of Community Development Alyssa Hernandez.
Department of Public Health
Council discussed the roughly $14 million budget proposed for the Department of Public Health in 2023. Here are some topics officials discussed:
Spanish-speaking employees
The Division of Health, asking for about $6 million for 2023, will be using two mobile health units. The division wants to offer reproductive health services and tests for chronic issues such as diabetes and high cholesterol through its mobile units, according to Commissioner Frances Mills. The city has not hired staff for the units yet.
Department of Economic Development
While discussing the proposed $1.9 million budget for the Department of Economic Development, Director Tessa Jackson told council members she had concerns about the city’s use of tax increment financing (TIF).
Jackson called TIFs complicated, and she said the incentives the department has provided in the last 15 years – totaling about half a billion dollars and touching four or five wards – have not had the impact on Clevelanders that they should.
“When you look at historic poverty rates, historic unemployment rates, that money really hasn’t moved the bar,” Jackson said. “You can’t spend half a billion dollars on economic development and not move the bar for anybody, for the people in this community.”
For more on Community Development, Public Health, and Economic Development, check out live-tweet threads by Documenters Gennifer Harding-Gosnell and Daniel McLaughlin. Take a closer look with notes by Documenter Sarah Tan. Abbey Marshall has more.
Curious about other quotable moments from last week’s budget hearings? Signal Cleveland captured some interesting outtakes.
- 12 p.m. – Caucus meeting, Cleveland City Council (in person)
- 2 p.m. – Finance, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee Meeting, Cleveland City Council (livestream)
- 7 p.m. – Cleveland City Council (livestream)
- 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. – CDGB budget hearings (livestream)