The meeting is being live-streamed: youtube.com/user/Cleveland…

Folks are still taking their seats, but it looks like we'll get started here in a minute.

The first piece of legislation up for discussion is Ord. 94-2022. This ordinance amends a previous ordinance by increasing pay bands (a positions salary range). https://t.co/6aE4O6ua2R

Kazy asks if the pay band increases proposed in the ordinance are included in the 2022 budget. No, says the CFO.

Kazy "Just wanted to make sure we weren't putting the cart before the horse."

Kazy asked another question about a section of the amendment that absorbs the Dept. of Special Events back in the Dept. of Public Works. Kazy "Is what I'm reading correct?"

Me: Didn't council just approve the creation of this department late last year? It was discussed for weeks over multiple meetings before finally being approved. 😦🤔

According to city administrators, the Board of Control did not officially establish that new division last year. This means that despite being approved, it wasn't constituted.

Hmmm So it's dead in the water?☠️ Me: Are we sure about that, folks? 🤔

Both Council and the City Administrators decide to hold the legislation until there's more clarification.

Ord. 1059-2021 and Ord. 92-2022 are both approved as read. https://t.co/TFUQkcn5SW

92-2022, which funds training programs for police, brought up related policing questions about what kind of training officers received, how often the programming was updated, and what the turnover rate of instructors is.

Police Chief says- Training is updated every year. Instructors are a "good mix" of long time instructors and recent additions.

Joe Jones asked about how officers were evaluated when joining the police force or transferring in from other districts. Are there psych evaluations? Yes, officers are always evaluated by a committee for temperature and job suitability prior to hiring.

Ord. 95-2022 allows for the acceptance of a new COPS grant, which funds 6-person neighborhood response groups. It was approved as read. https://t.co/nZQLIirH8K

Ord. 96-2022 allows for the acceptance of the Women's Act grant, a 3-part grant that funds police enforcement, prosecution and victim assistance for crimes involving sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking. Last year, 3,109 cases benefited from this grant. Ord. Approved. https://t.co/ODcmpu6p0M

Ordinances 99-2022, 148-2022, and 173-2021 were approved as read. https://t.co/ur4xj6BVwm

Rebecca Mauer spoke on behalf of Ord. 219-2019. This ordinance strongly deposes the County's choice of sites for the new county jail. Mauer said Council was "blind-sided" by the revelation, which she heard about via a Plain Dealer article. https://t.co/9Z7gBGp24r

The site in ward 3 has been deemed the more suitable for the jail. (Ward 3 Council member McCormack nods in agreement).

the other proposed site, in Slavic village, is planned as a secondary choice, as well as a "swap-site", meaning the container storage facility that currently resides in the ward 3 location would be moved to the Slavic Village site location.

Mauer listed off a multitude of organizations that opposed the purchase of the Slavic Village site, as well as the major reasons against using it as a jail location or swap site. 219-2022 was approved as read.

*forgive me, that is Council member Maurer, not Mauer. Apologies.

The rest of the meeting was devoted to the reconciliation of the 2022 budget. Almost every member spoke. Instead of a play-by-play, here are the collected bullet points:

#1 Council supports the new Mayor.

Council's collectively voiced support was underscored. "We're committed to helping Mayor Bibb succeed". Underlying the heavy criticism of the 2022 budget was a sincere desire for co-operation and a commitment of support.

#2 Council is impressed with the new CFO, Ahmed Abonamah.

Spencer: "Your personal engagement has gone a long way in fostering trust." Also noted- He alone submitted a green sheet with reductions to his department's administration.

#3 The reconciliation process was rushed.

Spencer: "Time was not on our side". New Council President Griffin: "3 days for budget reconciliation is inadequate". Changes to the budget process are promised for next year- earlier presentation, with more time for reconciliation.

#4 The 2022 budget is not structurally sound.

The administration, City Council and the Mayor himself acknowledge that the 2022 budget is not sustainable. There is a 61 mil budget gap in the 2022 budget, which is 5.8 mil more than the first proposal.😓

Most of the gap spending is on positions at the top: special assistants to the major, executive assistants, etc. The plan is to spend up front on talent that can "look under the hood" and "straighten things out".

President Griffin voiced his discomfort with telling the folks of Cleveland to tighten their purse strings, while spending million on new, high-paying positions to the Mayors office.

Adding "we serve a city of predominantly poor people."

#5 There are a lot of unknowns.

Recent instabilities caused by Covid, Ukraine, and the local police & fire pension negotiations have called into question the fiscal responsibility of Council to avoid risk.

Griffin: "We don't want to hire people only to have to lay them off."

The two council members who voted no on the budget, Kazy and Polensek, implied that the budget was a nice pipe dream, but not grounded in financial reality.

Kazy: "This isn't Corporate money. This is money coming from blue collar, hardworking people who get up every morning and go 9-5. They want their streets cleaned, their trash picked up, and their potholes fixed. That's what they want. They don't want ideology."

#6 Council disagreed on who should have put the effort into closing the budget gap.

Council President mentioned Kazy, Howse, Slife, Spencer, Maurer had submitted suggestions for lessening the 61 mil gap. Council pointed out that only the finance department summited reductions.

Polensek "I would feel a lot better if I saw some movement on the other side of the table."

Howse, however, disagreed with the criticism aimed at the administration's lack of action- It's our job to legislate, not theirs. We're the ones that need to make the budget work.

Despite a lot of misgivings, the budget passed 7-2.

Griffin - yes
Conwell - yes
McCormack - yes
Hairston -yes
Bishop - yes
Kazy- no
Polensek - no
Santana - yes
Spencer - yes

That's it folks! Meeting wrapped at 4:30.

Have questions? Think we got something wrong? Send any inquiries on the meeting or these tweets to
@cledocumenters

Or email us at documenters@neighborhoodgrants.org

P.S.
as the meeting was about to wrap, Council President Griffin made a reference to the somewhat comical issue of rampant groundhogs terrorizing local neighborhoods.

So, instead of a bunny to end the night with, here's Trudy, local yard beast and neighborhood terror. 😈 https://t.co/XnU9BjWhhJ