Council approves public-safety grants and two city property leases

Cleveland City Council’s finance committee approved six pieces of legislation in one session, authorizing multiple public-safety grants and two leases of city-owned property.

The grants included a U.S. Department of Justice local Byrne-equivalent award to make the City of Cleveland the fiscal agent for a regional policing assistance package (ordinance 1350-2024), state traffic-enforcement and impaired-driving grants (ordinance 1351-2024), a multi-agency drug task force grant (ordinance 1355-2024) and three Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) awards for domestic-violence, sexual-assault and prosecution programs (ordinance 1357-2024). Committee members described many of the grants as routine annual awards; several members pressed for clarity on timelines and how federal or state conditions might affect local enforcement.

Assistant Director Dawn Hartzong told the committee the Byrne-equivalent award stays "fairly similar" from year to year: "The amount stays fairly similar. It goes up and down by maybe a few $1,000, but fairly constant," she said, speaking about the recurring nature of federal local-soliciation grants.

Key grant details approved in committee: - Ordinance 1350-2024 (U.S. Department of Justice/Bureau of Justice Assistance): $630,689 total; City of Cleveland portion $465,500 to cover personnel (four fingerprint examiners and two intelligence analysts) and training; grant ends Sept. 30, 2027; no local match. - Ordinance 1351-2024 (Ohio Department of Public Safety IDEP/STEP): $67,822.66 total to reimburse targeted overtime and educational materials for impaired-driving and speed enforcement; grant period Oct. 1, 2024–Sept. 30, 2025; no local match. - Ordinance 1355-2024 (Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services, Ohio Drug Law Enforcement Fund): $136,875.79 award with a $45,625.26 cash match for a total project budget of $182,501.05 to support a multi-agency drug-task force; budget items included overtime, partner contracts, travel, supplies and confidential funds for investigative costs. - Ordinance 1357-2024 (VAWA grants): Three related awards to support the Cleveland Domestic Violence Unit, a sexual-assault victim-advocate assignment with a local crisis center, and prosecution staff; total project budgets reported in committee were $153,201.79 (domestic-violence unit), roughly $62,575 (sexual-assault advocate contract) and $244,849.76 (prosecution); each award included partial federal funding with local matches as described in committee testimony.

Members asked questions about the timing of some awards. For the fiscal-year-2023 drug grant, staff said state-level delays had postponed award paperwork; the office of criminal justice services has given the city until Dec. 31, 2025 to expend those funds. Council members also sought assurance that federal enforcement grants would not be used to pursue immigration enforcement; the Cleveland Division of Police leadership said the grants at issue were drug and traffic focused and not intended for immigration enforcement.

Committee members also raised a separate budget-administration issue: several council members said district commanders have had difficulty spending small, council-allocated discretionary funds (for example, $10,000 per district that council earmarked for local events). Commander Kincaid said a purchasing-and-guidelines process exists for those expenditures and that the department would follow up with council and the purchasing commissioner to simplify procedures where possible. "There was a system put in place, by Deputy Chief Faye, with guidelines of how and to request the money," Kincaid said.

The committee also approved two short-term leases of city land: - Ordinance 1199-2024: a three-year lease of remnant land north of I‑90 near Waterloo Marginal Road to Meadow City LLC for a native-plant nursery at an appraised annual rate of $900; the land is landlocked and will be harvested on foot; the lessee will maintain the property. - Ordinance 1200-2024: a five-year lease with one five-year option under the Superior Viaduct (arc number 6) to John G. Johnson Construction Company for parking and material storage at a market rate of $11.65 per square foot (as appraised); the lease will prohibit hazardous storage and preserves city access for bridge maintenance.

All listed ordinances were approved by the committee on voice votes.