A Cleveland City Council Finance, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee on Sept. 29 advanced a package of companion emergency ordinances to authorize a slate of capital projects and related financing and to update a vehicle acquisition list.
The ordinances discussed include Nos. 846-2025, 847-2025, 848-2025, 852-2025 and 853-2025. Collectively they authorize methods of making public improvements — for facilities, recreation, road and bridge projects — and permit the director(s) to enter into public improvement and professional services contracts, accept grants and gifts, and employ necessary labor. The committee also approved amendments to clarify funding language (change references to “available bond funds” to “available bond or note funds”) in multiple companion ordinances.
Administration staff reviewed the 2025 CIP request and a three-year plan. The presentation described criteria for capital projects (useful life of at least 10 years) and four bond categories the city uses: recreation, facilities, roads/bridges, and cemetery. The 2025 carryover projects and those the administration said can be encumbered this year include recreation center upgrades (e.g., Lonnie Burton rec center, fire-alarm work at Alexander Hamilton), facility items (EMS furniture, police ballistic vests, furniture/security for police headquarters), roadway resurfacing, tree-damage sidewalk recovery, and trail projects including Morgana Run/Booth Avenue extension and the North Marginal Connector Trail. The administration presented a detailed vehicle acquisition spreadsheet and requested an in-meeting amendment replacing the vehicle lists in ordinances 852-2025 and 853-2025 with the updated list.
Council members pressed several operational and policy points. Members asked for clarity about how the new process will uncouple project approval from bond issuance so projects can begin at the start of the calendar year and avoid the city issuing bonds too early and paying interest while funds sit unused. Administration officials told the committee the new scheduling should let projects hit the construction season faster and reduce interest costs by borrowing closer to when contracts are encumbered. Questions were raised about park security camera funding, the timeline to finish the tree-damage sidewalk recovery program (administration said contracts are underway with two wards this year and completion expected next year), and why some divisions request light pickups versus heavier-duty trucks; staff said state-term pricing is used and heavier-duty vehicles may last longer for certain workloads.
Action: The committee approved the package as amended; amendments included clarifying bond/note language and substituting the updated vehicle lists into the related ordinances. The transcript shows the chair announcing that ordinances 846, 847, 848, 852 and 853 as amended “stand approved” and asks staff to sign on. Specific roll-call vote tallies were not recorded in the committee transcript excerpt provided.
Next steps: The administration said it will return in January with a final project slate for the 2026 CIP and that finance will seek bond/note authorization once projects are ready, borrowing amounts closer to contract bids to reduce carrying costs.