Community Needs Survey(s) for the HUD Consolidation Plan

The sequence of events that led to the taxpayers not only paying for the salaries of Logan Cobbs and her entire Community Development staff, we have paid $207K to NY city-based National Council for Community Development dba Grow America.

This is a HUD "Consolidated Plan" that's done every 5 years. In 2019, Shannon Meadows was the Community Development Director, so this would have been her responsibility. In 2025, it fell to Logan Cobbs, who, I keep saying it, can't find her own mailbox after work.

The 2025-2029 work is here: https://springfieldohio.gov/2025-consolidated-planning/

September 9, 2024: The Agreement
Agreement with Grow America
RFP put out (supposedly)
Lowest and "best" (meaning?) proposal from Grow America for $132,600 for Sep 2024 - Sep 2026 with the option to renew annually for 3 additional years
Cost (link to picture of the cost table is at the bottom of this page): $132,600
Scope of work: (link to picture of the list is at the bottom of this page)
*Most information is straight from Wikipedia and AI searches.

April 1, 2025: The Amendment
Amendment to Sept 9, 2024 Agreement
Additional Cost: $75,000
Scope change says: "shall be expanded to include the preparation and submission of the Five-Year HUD Consolidated Plan and related deliverables". Additional services (link to picture of the list is at the bottom of this page) 1) Mostly to conduct and summarize results of the Community Needs Survey ($15K charge, 589 responses) and facilitate public hearings (they announced how many?) and add results to the Plan.*
*So page 6 explains that HUD requires a Citizen Participation Plan (CPP). I guess the City/Logan nor Grow America knew this when they signed the first agreement?

This meant 4 phases:
Phase 1 Kickoff and Planning $7500 (everything listed was already included in original agreement, but to mention: a Zoom call with the city, a high-level analysis of local data)
Phase 2 Public Engagement $15,000
Phase 3 Draft Deliverables $41,250
Phase 4 Final Deliverables $11,250

Total outsource cost $207,600.
How much are we paying the Community Development Director and her department:
Shannon Meadows before leaving in 2023: $148,530. Logan Cobbs in 2024: we don't know yet, but I assume it's at least $140K.
Deputy Community Development Director in 2023 at $118K.
Community Development Coordinators in 2023 at ~$67K.
Community Development Specialists in 2023 at ~$53K.

Monies spent on surveys from August 2024 to October 2025:

-ETC for the Fall 2024 mailed (to 400) Survey paid August 2024 $16K
-Consolidated Plan Community Needs Survey Summer 2025: $15K
-Springfield Foundation for Project 2051 September 2025 Survey $50K

For a grand total in ONE year (13 months) - ON SURVEYS ALONE - $81K (one of which was needed for Fed paperwork)

You get the picture....

May 6, 2025: Announcement of the Community Needs Survey
Estrop announced in the Commission meeting: This is the Kickoff of a 5-year plan to engage the community in how the City invests federal resources and support the vulnerable. In the coming months, they will be engaging lots of people to hear all voices. Committed to transparency and meaningful public involvement. Barring any federal cuts over the next 5 years, they receive $11 million in federal funds to support community development opportunities (i.e., HOME investment program. Emergency Solutions Grant program, community-led planning program.)

May 6-June 6, 2025: Survey Open
The community survey was only open May 6 to June 6,. They received 587 responses. This was all announced on Facebook where emoji interaction rarely exceeds 100 people and no comments are allowed. They held two town hall meetings - one in May and one in June - to educate the public on what can be funded under each program. Public notices were placed in the Springfield News Sun, but during the Commission meeting, Bryan Heck wasn't sure where - maybe the classifieds section?

June 9 and 30, 2025: The Publishing of the Summary, then the Plan
The Draft version of the Consolidated Plan (Summary) published on the website to allow for public comment for 30 days (visit the office or send written comments to their mailing address. If you think Logan Cobbs' department answers mail, ask anyone trying to get a permit. Final version published September 15, 2025.

Notes:

• This final version is full of 226 pages of information easily obtained via Wikipedia and AI.

• The HUD Exchange is full of instructions and templates: https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/consolidated-plan/guides/#consolidated-plan-template-in-idis

• Pages 16-23 have the results of the Community Survey (and meetings - but not much talk about that). The topics of concern aren't news, of course, but it is odd to see it broken down into single-digit "mentions". For example, something like "streets" and "7 mentions".

Surrounded by Surveys, but No Comments Allowed!

Fall 2024:
A "fall 2024 community survey" was conducted for one reason only. The national spotlight was on the city, so Heck announced in the September 24, 2024 City Commission meeting that they were conducting a survey so that "citizens' voices could be heard".

In the meeting, he mentioned a Facebook post with a QR code. But there was no post and he had already signed the agreement on August 5, 2024, to outsource the mailing and analyzing of 400 surveys (he even knew how many he would mail) to ETC institute, a company out of Olathe, Kansas, for $16,000.

On December 13, 2024, they put out quite the spin of a press release on the City website. *Note - the press release was signed by Karen Graves. I doubt she wrote it, but she did sign it as Communications Director (so there's some evidence of some work besides her weekly podcast and monthly newsletter). The release directs readers to the springfieldohio.gov website - not a link to anything in particular, just the home page. And we know how easy things are to find on their website. Can we all say intentionally buried together?

Six days before Christmas, on December 19, 2024, the Springfield News-Sun published a report on the results. In case that disappears, use the PDF here. It actually had some numbers.

(Not so) fun facts to know and tell:

Total number of respondents: 434

• The 2024 survey did not ask about the city’s ongoing adjustment to the arrival of thousands of Haitian immigrants.

• While only 23% were satisfied with the city “as a place to live,” 41% said they were satisfied with the quality of life in their neighborhood.

• 10% were satisfied with the condition of streets, pavement, and sidewalks

• 8% were happy with “enforcement of city codes and ordinances”

• 19% liked the effectiveness of city communication with the public

• In 9 out of 10 categories (quality of life in your neighborhood, quality of services provided by the city, city as a place to live, quality of life in the city, quality of new development in the city, feeling of safety in the city, city as a place to do business, as a place to raise a family, as a place to retire, and value received for city taxes and fees) the percentage of respondents who were dissatisfied was at least double the percentage that was satisfied.

And as I type this in October 2025, not one thing has been addressed or changed or really even talked about.

June-August, 2025:
Project 2051 funding kicks off. The city gave $50K (they say) to the Springfield Foundation for this farce. They like to say they have nothing to do with it now, but they advertise it and have presentations on it CONSTANTLY. Survey announced September. Future IQ's goal is 1,000 surveys. In a town of 58K citizens, 88K if you count the others. More about this fraud here.

What about the 2019-2024 HUD Consolidation Plan?

All this overpaying and outsourcing, which I firmly believe is because Logan Cobbs can't handle it, where maybe Shannon Meadows could, made me want to ask about the 2019-2024 Plan. Was it outsourced? If so, what was the cost?

So, I asked in yet another (I think I'm at 11 or 12 now) reply email to City Clerk, Regina Jeffers, who had responded to my initial question on the Talk to Us form on the City website (it's buried; you have to really hunt). The SOP is obviously to answer one part of a question at a time, hoping you'll go away in frustration.

My Question: The 2019-2024 5-year Consolidated Plan - was it also outsourced? To Grow America? I don't need the details. I just wanted to know if it was also outsourced in 2019. Shannon Meadows was the Community Development Director during this time. I wondered if she handled in-house or also had to outsource her job?

Her Answer: The 2019–2024 Consolidated Plan was completed in-house by our Community Development Department. At that time, the department had several more staff members, which allowed us to conduct all of the necessary research and preparation internally. Currently, with a much smaller team, we required outside assistance to gather the data and information needed to compile the 2025–2029 Consolidated Plan.

My Reply Request: In my research, I haven't found less employees in Logan Cobbs department than were in Shannon Meadows'. In fact, I've noticed a few recent job postings and there's a newly created position currently on the site. It definitely would be nice to hear if it were the case, especially with all the outsourcing and automating of late. So, I have to ask: Please send an org chart for all positions who reported to the Community Development Director in 2019 (Shannon Meadows) and the same for those who report to the Community Development Director (Logan Cobbs) now in 2025 (vacant and new and existing). Thank you!

Her Reply: Attached are organizational charts for Shannon Meadows tenure and now Logan Cobbs. You will see there were 23 employees under Mrs. Meadows and 19 under Ms. Cobbs with 3 of which are currently vacant.

Org Chart Logan Cobbs

Org Chart Shannon Meadows

My Trying to Figure it Out:
I did a side-by-side comparison. The 2020-2024 Consolidation Plan was completed in-house by Jackie Sudhoff who was Development Programs Administrator at the time. After completing it, she moved on to Grants Admin and then left in 2022, I believe. There were 2 other "admin" or "secretary" roles at the time, which I'm sure helped with the report.

Shannon Meadows had a Housing Division with 3 jobs with "housing" in the job titles.

In 2021, Meadows promoted Stephen Thompson from Planning and Zoning Admin to Community Development Deputy Director at $99K. By 2023, he was making $118K.

Meadows left in 2023.

I assume Stephen Thompson was to become the Community Development Director, but in 2024, back came Logan Cobbs, who couldn't make it as Deputy City Manager in 2021, sniffing around Heck for another job.

Logan Cobbs also has 3 people in housing-related roles, but it's now referred to as "neighborhood". The Neighborhood Services Manager job has several line items in its job description about preparing and overseeing the HUD Consolidation Plan. The $89K job was posted in December 2024 and still open almost a year later.

Regina Jeffers referred to Cobbs' having 4 less roles in the department, 3 of which are vacant. BUT, only one is related to the Consolidation Plan and that's the Neighborhood Services Manager.

And, Cobbs has a Deputy Director, which Meadows never had in her 10+ years as Director.

• Neighborhood Services Manager (vacant and related)

• Federal Programs Specialist (unrelated - implements specific programs, working in the community)

• Electrical Inspector (unrelated)

• Code Enforcement Specialist (unrelated - role went away or turned into another role)

Comparing the 2020-2024 (Google found it) and 2025-2029 HUD Consolidation Plans, there are only subtle differences. Dates and numbers change, etc., but the template is boilerplate. The Grow America version is much cleaner with more efficient headings and less grammatical errors and typos, but the template is the same. Both are 366 pages.

My two questions (to which we already know the answers) are: 1) Do they intend on doing away with the Neighborhood Services Manager role now that they have Grow America or will they do away with Grow America once they fille the Manager role? I think we can all guess that answer. Why not both!?!? "Let's get them more resources!" Heck's favorite phrase. 2) Do they intend on keeping both a Director and a Deputy Director?

My conclusion is the usual:
In 2025, we paid $150K (low guess) to Director Cobbs, $130K (low guess) to Deputy Thompson, $207K to Grow America, $80K (I'm estimating since I don't have access to salaries for new roles yet) to a Neighborhood Development Specialist (who did nothing on the Plan). $350K in house, and they can't do a boilerplate Plan that they've done every 5 years since the beginning of time?!

Heck's outsourcing motives are nefarious. I firmly believe the reasons for the 2025-2029 Consolidation Plan outsourcing are two-fold: 1) Logan Cobbs is inept, and 2) Grow America markets itself as a "driver of inclusive growth for distressed cities" and could potentially get Springfield what's called New Markets Tax Credit Benefits. The NMTC Program incentivizes community development and economic growth through the use of tax credits that attract private investment to distressed communities. Trust me, spending money on Grow America isn't going away anytime soon.

So I sent a closing reply to Jeffers: Thank you for the information. This provided the evidence needed to confirm what we all know to be true about Logan Cobbs' ineptitude and the unnecessary money WE are being forced to spend to compensate for Heck's hiring of her.

On which she copied Logan Cobbs, who emailed me with: I’m glad the information helped clarify things for you. Should there be any actual questions about my work or decisions, I’m always open to a direct discussion-- one rooted in professionalism rather than assumptions.

And this is why I could never run for anything or speak in public (lol):

Logan,

I have no desire to communicate with you, and I have no questions. (You have answers? When did that start?) I have the information I need. No taxpayer in this city owes anything, much less professionalism, to anyone in the city's "gang". How dare you type to me about professionalism. I have no idea what you mean by "assumptions", since there is a slew of evidence about your incompetence in every job you've had with the city.

When asked, "What is the capacity of the Salvation Army's warming center?", your response was, "I don't know. But I do know they have a big gymnasium." In the two years Heck has said, "I'll have Logan Cobbs speak to that", I've counted 37 times you read from Google and said, "We're working on that". All about the very bare minimum basics of your job. So, no, no questions.

You couldn't hack it as Assistant TO the City Manager, you couldn't hack it as a Deputy City Manager, and now we're paying for you to actually have a Deputy Community Development Director working for you, so if you can't understand your own ineptitude, you're terribly self-unaware. I mean, how could you not know when the entire city does?!

I'm sure you have much more important Community Development things to do (if only you knew what they were), instead of answering emails within 10 minutes.

I usually close with thank you, but....

__________

Links and PDFs:

September 3, 2024 Agreement with Grow America for $132,600

April 3, 2025 Amendment 1 to Agreement for Additional $75,000

The June 9 DRAFT Summary of the 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan

The FINAL Sept 15 Consolidated Plan (results of the Survey section pages 16-23)

Grow America Agreement Scope of Work List

Grow America Agreement Cost Table

Grow America Amendment Scope of Work List (only difference is the Community Needs Survey)

Grow America Amendment Cost Table