Committee advances plan to rename Economic Development and consolidate land functions into new Department of Development

A Cleveland City Council committee voted to approve an amended ordinance that renames the Department of Economic Development as the Department of Development and reorganizes several land‑focused functions under a single administration.

Administration presenters explained the change would consolidate real estate functions that currently sit in multiple departments, transfer 18 staff positions (14 filled now) from Community Development into the new department, and create a new deputy director of land strategy and other targeted roles intended to increase capacity for site assembly, asset redevelopment, and neighborhood revitalization. The administration said those transfers will primarily use existing federal funding where appropriate and that five new general‑fund positions would add roughly $700,000 to the city budget in the initial year.

The presenters said the restructuring grew from a multi‑year strategic plan conducted with Ernst & Young and that staff engagement included focus groups, a real estate working group and eight focus sessions with impacted staff. They said the city is investing in Salesforce and modern tools to manage workflows and track KPIs, with a target to implement Salesforce build‑outs by Q2–Q3 next year and to move KPI reporting into dashboards by the following year.

Council members used the hearing to press several policy points: whether the reorganization reduces council oversight of land bank policy (administration said it does not), how CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funding is used and the risk of HUD compliance violations (administration and law staff said HUD rules require certain proceeds be held in a designated fund), how the land bank will use proceeds to prepare parcels for reuse, and whether the reorg will meaningfully support the nighttime economy and neighborhood priorities. Committee members repeatedly requested administration and council staff co‑develop policy guidance and KPIs.

Councilman Harsh proposed a multi‑part amendment that corrected special revenue fund numbering, added a new special revenue fund for residential land bank proceeds (designated 17SF964 in the amended language), authorized up to $450,000 to be transferred from Community Development to fund a home program via a memorandum of understanding, renumbered subsequent sections and set the ordinance effective date to Jan. 1, 2026. The committee adopted the amendments and approved Ordinance 1226 as amended. Councilwoman House Jones recorded a 'no' vote on the final ordinance. The ordinance will move to the Finance Committee for further review.

Administration said there will be no layoffs from the transfers, that collective‑bargaining impacts have been considered, and that the intent is to increase operational capacity for land activation, site preparation and neighborhood revitalization while preserving HUD compliance and council oversight where required.