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Office of Capital Projects requests staff increases, outlines $8 million tree-damaged sidewalk recovery plan
Summary
Director James DeRosa said the Office of Capital Projects (MOCAP) is budgeting to restore staffing levels cut in earlier years, plans three new positions, and is moving to clear an estimated backlog of tree-damaged sidewalk (TDS) work with an $8 million contract and expanded project management capacity.
Cleveland — James DeRosa, director of the Office of Capital Projects (MOCAP), told the council committee the department seeks to restore staffing lost in prior cutbacks and to increase project-management capacity as the city ramps up capital work this year.
DeRosa said MOCAP’s 2025 budget reflects a planned head count increase from an unaudited 61 employees at the end of 2024 to a budgeted 71 in 2025. The requested additions include three new budgeted positions to replace roles lost in earlier years and several project coordinators to manage a growing slate of projects. Reimbursements for bond-funded work are expected to rise in 2025 as billing catches up to prior years.
On sidewalks and neighborhood infrastructure, DeRosa outlined a multi-part approach: (1) the city restructured the sidewalk program and added a construction project manager dedicated to sidewalks; (2) the department moved certain sidewalk work into construction to improve delivery; and (3) MOCAP issued a procurement to address a backlog of tree-damaged sidewalks. DeRosa told the committee the department bid a program he described as an approximately $8,000,000 TDS recovery project to clear longstanding locations, and that the work should be under contract and begin as spring weather permits with the aim to complete the work during 2025.
DeRosa said MOCAP is also increasing training and travel funds to raise project-management skills across staff and anticipates using a mix of in-house and contracted inspectors to handle specialized or surge needs. He told council members the department had engaged consultants for on-call inspection support in 2024 to supplement staff during spike in demand and large projects such as Bedrock-related infrastructure work.
Council members pressed for clarity about where third-party inspection payments and developer-funded inspection accounts appear in the city’s accounts; DeRosa said those funds flow through separate capital accounts rather than the MOCAP operating budget and promised to provide more detailed accounting on request. He also said the department would deliver an annual report and a public-facing project-status dataset that will list capital project activity and status.
DeRosa said the staffing and reimbursement changes are intended to restore MOCAP to capacity and avoid previous backlogs that delayed neighborhood-level capital work.
