Council redirects over $5 million in funds to ‘deter violent crime’

Public Comment

Public comment for the Wednesday, Sept. 17 council meeting began at 1:30 p.m. Council members and city officials arrived gradually before public comment began. The full city council meeting began at 2 p.m.

At least four public commenters spoke in support of the proposed ordinance to limit hookah bar hours., They were concerned their patrons pose a public safety threat during early morning hours.

Four public commenters spoke on the ongoing War in Gaza. Commenter Jonathon Nolan referenced the recent United Nations report finding Israel guilty of committing genocide. Another commenter (whose name was not easily audible) said many weapons used in warfare are manufactured in the United States – including in southern Ohio.

Other commenters spoke on concerns related to the accessibility and transparency of city council.

Stephan Pryor, who is running for city council this fall, also gave public comment.

“The tax abatement proposal is nothing but [inaudible] racist, segregating the community, and it’s hurting the schools,” Pryor said. He referenced a recent sale of a property at 1648 Vine St. in Over-the-Rhine for $247,500. (According to the Hamilton County auditor,  a $1,381.17 tax has been paid on the property.)

“It’s a pattern of these developers fishing on black homeowners property, land, and then getting an invoice,” Pryor said.

Cincinnati City Council reformed the tax abatement program in 2023 to lower tax abatement incentives in wealthier neighborhoods, and increase them in low-income neighborhoods.

Todd Zinser, another public commenter, criticized the 2023 police district restructuring that eliminated District 5. He said that he would like to see a “righteous evaluation” of the restructuring. 

“When Mr. Mayor and the working people on this council decided not to build a District 5 headquarters, you were essentially disinvesting in the police to the tune of almost $20 million,” he said.

Call to Order

After public comment, Mayor Aftab Pureval called the meeting to order with the following in attendance:

• Mayor Aftab Pureval
• Vice Mayor Jan Michele-Kearney (council member)
• Anna Albi (council member)
• Jeff Cramerding (council member)
• Mark Jeffreys (council member)
• Scotty Johnson (council member)
• Evan Nolan (council member)
• Meeka Owens (council member)
• Seth Walsh (council member)
• President Pro Tem Victoria Parks (council member)

Item 3: Passed unanimously

Pureval moved directly to Item 3, a resolution Council Member Mark Jeffreys submitted to recognize and express appreciation for “the Mill Creek Alliance’s 30 years of dedicated service” to restoring and protecting the Mill Creek habitat. The resolution passed unanimously.

Item 4: Passed unanimously

Council Member Meeka Owens presented Item 4, a resolution she submitted to recognize members of the Human Services Advisory Committee (HSAC). The committee provides recommendations for funding human services nonprofits.  HSAC this year reviewed 141 programs and recommended 70 of them for funding, Owens said. The Human Services Fund makes up about 1.5% of the city budget. The resolution passed unanimously.

Items 1, 2, and 5 were moved to relevant committees without discussion.

Item 6: Passed unanimously

Clerk of Council Melissa Autry will retire on Oct. 31 following 30 years of service. , Council moved to appoint Anthony Covington as the clerk of council-designate. He will begin training to assume Autry’s role.

Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney said Covington was selected from a pool of 122 applicants.

Items 7 to 14 were moved to relevant committees without discussion.

Item 15: Passed unanimously

The city will allocate $35,000 from the reserve for weather events, other emergencies, and one-time needs to support Build Cincy. 

Build Cincy is an annual conference that aims to increase the number of women and minority developers in Cincinnati, according to the agenda.

Kearney said former Council Member Reggie Harris started Build Cincy along with the former president of the Real Estate Association.” 

The Build Cincy 2025 conference takes place this weekend, Sept. 18 and 19 It is free to attend.

Item 16: Passed (6-3)

Council members had a tense discussion before passing an ordinance to authorize the transfer of $5.42 million  from the general fund reserve for weather-related events, other emergency and one-time needs, to “fund police safety measures and deter violent crime in the Central Business District and other crime hot spots in the city.”

According to the ordinance, the funds would cover:

• Additional 3CDC ambassadors in Downtown and Over-the-Rhine.
• Youth outreach workers and curfew centers.
• Police overtime for increased visibility.
• Expediting and expanding police recruitment efforts.
• Bond and sentencing project.
• Specialized training for the Place Based Investigations of Violent Offender Territories (PIVOT) program.
• Surveillance: technology upgrades, license plate readers, street lighting, security cameras.
• Expansion of West End camera program
• Findlay Market safety improvements
• Drone program expansion, FUSUS, mobile safety camera trailers, and “other measures identified by the Cincinnati Police Department to improve public safety and deter violent crime.”

The ordinance was sponsored by Owens and Council Member Jeff Cramerding.

Cramerding said: “This is a transfer from the city’s reserves for immediate public safety needs …  the next step is to make sure these resources are used in hot spots to really reduce crime.”

Owens said: “I am also excited for how we are leveraging technology to reduce crimes.”

Council Member Scotty Johnson said: “Of course we always want to make sure we prioritize safety, but I don’t think this is right.” He said he is all for the cameras and extra lighting, “but if we don’t have people in place to monitor the cameras, then we’re just responding after events take place.” 

Johnson said.

Of the $5.4 million transfer, the ordinance allocates $1.2 million (see agenda attachment) to CPD for officer visibility and overtime..

“I just don’t think $5.4 million dollars to the police, that can’t even fill the overtime … I don’t think that’s fiscally responsible,” Johnson said. “The police chief – the expert – told us all she needed was ($500,000),, we decided to up it by $700,000.”

Johnson said the move would be fiscally irresponsible.

“We didn’t even get a clear picture or a clear indication as to when we take this from the reserves, what type of condition that’s going to leave us in with other issues, so I’m a strong no,” he said. “Of course safety is priority No. 1 , but I don’t think we’re being responsible with $5.4 million.”

Council Member Anna Albi said “this is a step in the right direction,” noting a “spike in property crime” and praising the allocation of funds to youth outreach.

Kearney said public safety money could be allocated in other ways to support youth.

“We are losing some of our youth to this gun violence, more so this year than last year, and so I just cannot take this lightly … but we are not being responsible in really allocating our resources to stop those bullets,” Kearney said, adding “there are some things in here that I don’t disagree with,” but echoed Johnson’s concerns about fiscal responsibility.

“The (extra $700,000) to police could be better allocated to help with stopping this violence.$880,000 to walk people to their cars, we can better allocate that money. $360,000 for license plate readers so we can locate cars after they are stolen won’t stop them from getting stolen. We can better allocate that money. That’s over $1.9 million,” Kearney said. “Let’s talk about what we can really do to help our youth. How about putting $1 million into jobs for youth?”

Council Member Jeffreys said a perceived lack of safety could deter businesses from investing in Downtown, which would impact jobs.He criticized Kearney’s comment about 3CDC Ambassadors program.

“(Ambassadors) are cleaning up trash, they are cleaning up needles, they are cleaning up litter. You talk about community work, that is community work. They are doing the jobs we are paying them for, but we are also paying them health insurance. It is disrespectful to say they are just walking people to their cars,” Jeffreys said.

Kearney said she is not disrespecting anyone’s job, rather, talking about the need to attack violence now.

“Now I asked at budgeting committee, what is that $880,000 for? And they answered ‘it is for people to be walked to their cars.’ So that is the answer I was given by the administration and I have no reason to doubt them,” Kearney said. “But it’s not about the dignity of workers or disrespecting people. All jobs are dignified. Any kind of work is dignified. But we’re talking here about the best way to allocate dollars to stop violence.”

Kearney and council members Johnson and Victoria Parks voted against the ordinance.

Item 17: passed unanimously

Item 18: passed unanimously

Item 19: passed unanimously

Item 20: passed unanimously

Item 21: passed unanimously

Council authorized the transfer of $643,263 in the general fund,, including $250,000 from the Department of Economic Development’s account marked “housing development” (see “attachment”), to the city manager’s office, Finance Department, and Department of Public Services (DPS), as well as the non-departmental memberships and publications account.

The ordinance also authorized a transfer of $965,000 from the unappropriated surplus of the stormwater management fund to the Department of Law and the Department of Public Services, $2 million from the community health center activities fund  to the Cincinnati Health Department. The ordinance also approved the transfer of  unappropriated surplus from the Cincinnati Health Department Fund to “various Cincinnati Health Department non-personnel operating budget accounts.”

“This is a routine part of our business,” Cramerding said. “Things cost more than they expect so the transfer of money is basically adjusting the budget accordingly.”

“The CRC (Cincinnati Recreation Commission) was different. They were over their budget,” Cramerding said. “Either they were not aware of it, or they did not convey this information to the budget in a timely manner. CRC, as far as the general fund, they are $1 million over budget at the beginning of the year. They think they can absorb that (money) in cuts,” 

The CRC explained its overages earlier this week at the Finance Committee meeting.

“There is a concern about how they can absorb that without citizens seeing the impact of those cuts,” Cramerding said. “CRC is going to come back and issue a report so we will specifically know how citizens will or will not be impacted.”

Item 22: passed unanimously

Item 23: passed unanimously

The ordinance imposes new limits on the hours that hookah bars and smoking lounges can be open. Hookah bars and smoking establishments will be required to close at 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends.

These notes can be found on documenters.org.

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcincinnati.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.

Find more Documenters’ notes on Cincinnati City Council here.