Supporters of police chief pack city council meeting

 Notes

Public Comment

Public commenters spoke on policing, government accountability and transparency and equity. Among other topics, speakers weighed on an investigation into Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge regarding the effectiveness of her leadership, and threats to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and WIC benefits due to the federal government shutdown.. Nearly all 15 speakers, several of whom comment regularly, criticized council members for their silence and lack of responsiveness on their respective concerns.

In addition to public commenters, a small crowd donning T-shirts and carrying “I stand with Police Chief Theetge” signs attended the meeting. Members of the police chief’s family were among the group.

Mayor Aftab Pureval strictly enforced the two-minute time limit for public comment. Several commenters reacted with frustration as Pureval cut their microphones mid-sentence.

Kaytlynd Lainhart, vice president of external relations for St. Vincent de Paul of Cincinnati, was the first to comment. She spoke in support of the council’s proposed resolution to urge Governor Mike DeWine to release funds for food assistance. According to Lainhart, organizations like St. Vincent de Paul have been “scrapping through” with tight budgets.

“Just last week, within four days, we spent our entire budget that would normally last us a week,” Lainhart said. “We’ve been stepping up, we’ve been serving numbers that we didn’t think we could possibly serve with less and less money.”

Commenter Stanford Poole compared the primarily Democratic council to President Trump. “When it comes to Black and brown people here in Cincinnati, we’re just as worse with y’all as (what) Trump is doing,” he said.

Jonathan Nortmann, who has been commenting weekly for months regarding the genocide of Palestinians, connected the lapse of SNAP benefits to funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and global concerns in Palestine, Sudan and Venezuela.

“It’s been another week of the U.S. government demonstrating that the people of the United States are not their priority,” Nortmann said. “As 42 million prepare for food stamps to run out during this government shutdown, feeding our citizens falls far behind feeding endless death and destruction.”

Commenter Amber Kessem, who attended in person after commenting for several weeks over Zoom, spoke with a raised voice on complaints of “selective service, no accountability, and no quality control measures” within CPD. Kessem said that a recent sexual assault of a minor in Price Hill (likely this one) was the result of selective service, on which Kessem has spoken previously.

Kessem noted that the investigation into Theetge cost the city $40,000. “You’re paying consultants $40,000 to tell you what’s wrong with policy and procedure, and they hand you another report, meanwhile residents and volunteers like me have told you the same thing for free over and over again, and we’re ignored,” Kessem said.

Anthony Theetge, the police chief’s son, was the first to speak on her behalf. Noting the absence of several city council members during public comment, Anthony criticized the council’s leadership in contrast with the police chief, suggesting that they had been ignorant of her work.

“Unfortunately, while nobody was watching, there were leadership decisions being made, there were partnerships being made all over this county to make the city safer and make the county safer,” he said. “Unfortunately while nobody was watching, it turned into a $40,000 mistake on the taxpayers’ dime … Your silence, each and every one of you, is absolutely deafening.”

Mike Neville, the first of the police chief’s brothers to speak, praised her collaboration with council member Scotty Johnson as “marked by respect and transparency and results.”

The chief has also fought for better recruitment pipelines, modern equipment, and sustainable overtime budgets so officers can do their jobs safely and effectively, he said. “She understands both the human and operational sides of policing because she’s lived it.”

Commenter Jaydrian Harper said Chief Theetge had been instrumental in the relocation of the police gun range in Lincoln Heights, following more than 50 years of residents’ activism in the historically Black community.

“Chief Theetge and her staff worked tirelessly and closely with federal, state, and county partners to not only bring together a state of the art training facility for advanced officer training, which benefits not only the officers but the public they serve, she was the only chief to take on this task with laser focus for the betterment of the communities,” Harper said.

Rob Neville, another of Chief Theetge’s brothers, praised the chief’s collaboration with council member Mark Jeffreys – who was absent Wednesday – on “improving traffic safety and pedestrian safety throughout Cincinnati.” He also said Chief Theetge was committed to mentorship and collaboration by coaching and training young officers. 

“These are not headline-grabbing efforts. These are smaller items that go unnoticed, but they save lives every day,” Rob Neville said.

Commenter Rick (whose last name I could not decipher on the comment card, maybe Jones), attempted to elicit responses from Pureval and council members – all of whom remained silent –  as he spoke on Theetge’s work on “community safety and gun violence prevention.”

“At Council Member Albi’s request, Chief Theetge helped launch the be safe gun storage initiative – correct?” Rick said, pressing the council member on the Safe Storage Program. .  He praised her work on gun lock distribution events at libraries to make free safety locks available in every neighborhood.

Commenter Russ Neville, another of the police chief’s brothers, listed Theetge’s initiatives and took a caustic tone with City Council.

“The majority of what was shared were problem-solving efforts initiated specifically by council members seeking Chief Theetge’s support and partnership in achieving a common goal,” Russ said. “I find it interesting that Chief Theetge’s leadership has been questioned, not only to her detriment and the detriment of the members of the Cincinnati Police Department, but to all individuals of the community she has served for 35 years, as the very council members who sought her partnership sit predominantly silent. Silent. Pathetic.”

After Russ Neville’s microphone was cut at the end of the two-minute allotment, he continued to speak in an elevated tone (though his voice became inaudible on the CitiCable stream), despite multiple reminders from Pureval. When Neville did stand up and finish speaking, there was audible applause.

Commenter Stephan Pryor, who is currently running for City Council, used his allotted time to play a recording of Pureval saying in an interview that public safety “is not solely a law enforcement issue” and that “the cause of the violence we’re seeing across the country is poverty.” In the recording, Pureval said that programs focused on racial equity and economic development would reduce violent crime.

Call to Order

Pureval called the meeting to order with the following in attendance:

• Vice Mayor Jan Michele-Kearney (council member)
• Anna Albi (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)

Council Member Jeff Cramerding arrived late, during the discussion of the first item. Council Member Mark Jeffreys was absent and was excused from the meeting.

Item 1

Council unanimously passed a resolution, introduced by Kearney, to express appreciation for outgoing Clerk of Council Melissa Autry’s 31 years of service on the occasion of her retirement.

Council Victoria Member Parks, with tears in her eyes, said, “You have served the city with all your heart, because that is the way that you serve, and I thank you, madam.”

Pureval presented Autry with a key to the city. A reception for Autry followed the meeting.

Item 2

Council unanimously passed a resolution “EXPRESSING the concern of the Mayor and Council for the freeze on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) benefits due to the federal government shutdown; and URGING the Ohio State Legislature and Governor Mike DeWine to unlock state resources to address the lack of federal funding for food benefits for the month of November.”

Council Member Anna Albi, after reading the resolution, said she had spoken to former council member Reggie Harris for updates from the federal level.

“With the House being in recess, with the Speaker Johnson not calling anyone back, President Trump is traveling internationally, and it’s unlikely the Senate’s going to come to any resolution any time soon,” Albi said. “There is no aid come Saturday, Nov. 1, so this is something we need to deal with at the local level as our families are going to be hit hard.”

Council members Evan Nolan and Scotty Johnson also criticized the federal government. Johnson said he hoped that the lapse of SNAP and WIC benefits would be a “wakeup call” to respond to “sad” conditions that had been “a long time coming.”

.

“This has been forecasted for years. And the stronghold of hatred, the stronghold of racism, the stronghold of bigotry, the stronghold of all me and not you, the stronghold of greed, the stronghold of hypocrisy which this nation has been founded on, has been forecasted for years, and now we’re here,” Johnson said. “It’s even sadder that the millions of people that follow this type of ideology right here in this country. That’s a sadder commentary.”

Other items

Pureval moved items 3-15 forward without discussion.

Council Member Meeka Owens introduced Item 16, a motion to prepare a report based on four engagement sessions to recommend ideas for a Building and Performance Standards Policy for the City of Cincinnati. Owens said that the new policy would help to reduce building emissions to improve sustainability. Council unanimously adopted the motion.

Council unanimously passed items 17-25, which included lease agreements with Lunken Airport and 3CDC, authorizations to appropriate grants from state level agencies, and other agreements.

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.