Hey everybody. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. N. N. Heat up here. It's a tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle. Wow. Heat. Hey, Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Just All right, welcome to your budget and finance committee. Joining us from the administration are solicitors swim web and Dr. Dudes, who's been ush here throughout the budget process. On my right is Scotty Johnson, Anna Alby's, Mark Jeff, and V vice mayor Jam Michelle Lemon Kernney wearing her powers suit. Green Evan Nolan is the vice chair of the committee. Council member Mika Owens, Seth Walsh, and Ryan James. Rebecca Luckenoff is our cler is our clerk, excuse me. So today is a uh step another step in our budget process. Uh by way of agenda as we get towards that step we will start off with public comment. There will be one speaker. Uh after that we will go through the regular agenda. After that we will proceed to the uh policy budget priorities which is where council gives its direction to the city manager. There is a draft motion in front of my colleagues. Uh the nine communications from my colleagues are also on the agenda. So when we get to this point, I will say a few words about the process and the draft motion. I will then turn it over to my colleagues who will talk about the draft motion and of course in conjunction with that your communications, what is in the uh budget party that you think is good uh what you think is missing and and other items uh from your communications. uh if we are in a position uh to have a vote uh on that document, we will proceed and pass it today. Uh if it is apparent that there are ongoing communications uh things that should be edit be added. Uh I think we'd all prefer not to be making a multitude of motions from the floor. So if if it becomes apparent that we're not in a position to uh pass the priority budget today, we will reconvene on Wednesday morning at a special meeting uh at that morning. I presumably we will have uh the priority budget and any motions in writing that people feel like they need to bring. So that's where we are if we're not in position to vote today. Uh I'm going to go to speakers um speakers business and and I'll give have opportunities for the process when we get to it from my colleagues. So all right one speaker David Whitehead. Welcome to council. >> Thank you. >> The floor is yours. You have two minutes. Thank you, Chair uh Kmany. I've uh come down here today because there is uh the allocation finally of the cannabis money that's going to be sent to the city of Cincinnati. Uh the estimates are $3.4 million based upon the studies that are coming out of the Columbus uh finance office. So, what I'm asking at this point is that the funds, even though Senate Bill 56 allow you to have flexibility, I'm asking this council to be as diligent as the Columbus City Council and making sure that these funds are restricted and restricted to the people that have already been adversely impacted by cannabis and the criminalization and the overcriminalization in the African-American community. for sure. So, we were 3.4 times more likely to be criminalized for the use of cannabis. Uh, and we want to make sure that we have the opportunity to see those funds allocated to things that would be beneficial to them. I know we're having problems with the youth. So, we're looking for funding for the youth jobs. And we're not asking to have anything done special other than that utilize some of the program structures you have already in place where you have an independent body that is made up based on title and not name to oversee how those funds are allocated opposed to being put back into the general fund. So, we're as a community person, we are asking for this council to see it fit to make sure that those funds are put into a restricted fund. So, even when you're not in office, it still goes towards the people that were damaged. It goes towards the communities that are damaged. It's easy to determine those because you have a 15 community plan that's already been talked about. You have the red lining. You know, the red lining has have long-term effects. I know I only got six seconds, but I'm going to get it in quick. Those that information is already available. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Uh this takes us to the regular items on the agenda. Starting with uh a motion. Uh in 2015, city council voted to ban uh to ban conversion therapy in the city of Cincinnati. Uh these were attempts to change a person's sexual orientation or gender. Uh it has been widely discredited and proving harmful. uh other jurisdictions throughout the country uh adopted uh similar measures as did the city of Cincinnati. Uh on March 31st of 2026, a case was brought to the Supreme Court uh out of Colorado, Charles versus Salazar which struck down bans like those in place in the city of Cincinnati. uh it did not strike down all bands and there are possible changes that could protect the core the intent of what a previous council tried to do. So this motion asks the law department to look at that decision uh look at options and see what we can do as a city to while we of course must and will comport with the salad decision can see what we can do to protect all of our residents and make them feel a full part of the city of Cincinnati. >> I'll comment it. >> Council member Albby followed by the vice mayor. Uh thank you and thank you council member Kramering for for pulling this together and teeing it up. It is so important uh this city this council h has really made it clear that that we support our trans residents here and and that looks like everything from raising the trans visibility flag um for the trans day of visibility to uh vice mayor's work uh helping create the the first ever LGBTQ commission here in the state of Ohio. So, I'm fully supportive. Whatever we can do uh to make sure we continue to support and our protect our trans and LGBTQ community is so important. So, thank you for this motion and thank you to our law department ahead of time um and actually currently I know there's been some research done already uh to see how we can strengthen these protections. >> Vice Mayor followed by Council Member Jeff. >> And thank you so much um Council Member uh Cranbering for for bringing this motion. Um this is um you know conversion therapy is very harmful. The American Medical Association has already said how harmful it is. The American Psychological Association also has said conversion therapy is harmful. And so uh for the US Supreme Court to make the decision that they did in the trials versus Salazar case is really unbelievable. Uh the vote was 8 to1 and I'm I'm proud of Justice Katanji Brown Jackson who voted no. She desented in this case and she read her descent uh right right there on the stand and so I was uh really proud of her. But thank you for bringing this. I look forward to our our law department helping us so that um we don't have conversion therapy back in Cincinnati. >> Council member Jeff. >> Thank you Mr. Chair for offering this. Um, just to add on to my colleagueu's point, we do know that people who go through conversion therapy are twice as more likely to attempt suicide. That is a fact. Uh, before this was banned, there were 700,000 people who went through it, mostly adolescence. So, this is about safety. It's about the principle of just letting people live their life as they will. And so we want to be a city that embraces everyone, welcomes them, let them be who they are, and that's what this is about. >> Council member James, >> sorry, >> I'll be brief here, but just wanted to um continue to pile on the thanks. Thank you so much, Council Member Kramerine, um for leading this effort and drawing attention to this issue. Thank you so much to the vice mayor and council member Jeff as well for the work that you've done in the previous months. Um, not many folks know this, but Ohio is one of the top five states in the United States um, for for practicing um, conversion therapy. So, I think Cincinnati is not only a leader here at the Ohio level, but also a leader here nationally. Um, so excited to continue these conversations as they happen and um, thank you for your commitment to this work. >> Uh, Vice Chair Nolan, >> thank you. Uh, and thank you to the the co-sponsors for bringing this forward. This feels like yet another instance of where we on on the local level uh who who I I feel are most in touch with the community are fighting the federal government on something on something again because they refuse to accept the the science uh behind the issue. And so for something as as harmful as as conversion therapy is, I think we have to do whatever we can uh to protect our community members despite what the federal government again has to say. So appreciate the support. >> Council Owns. >> Yes. Thank you to my colleagues for highlighting and raising this. Um, I just want to say in addition to the other comments, not only is this a a a place where we are making the city more inclusive and welcoming uh and as personal decisions uh that people make with families, it's also one where we see people making decisions across this nation about where they can access service uh is how they determine where they're going to live. And so if we're going to be a stronger city, a stronger state, uh I think it's uh steps like this uh that help to echo uh what our values are. Thank you all. We'll put item number one, the motion on for passage. We'll hold item number two for the moment. Uh skip item number two, I should say. Dr. Dudis, item number three. >> Uh to the chair. Item number three uh is an ordinance to modify chapter 307 uh of the Cincinnati Municipal Code, which is CH uh classified compensation schedules. Uh this ordinance would establish a new classification uh title and salary range for the chief of staff uh for the city manager. >> Any comments on item number three? I see none. We'll put item number three on for passage. uh to the chair. Item number four is a moral obligation payment ordinance uh for the Department of Public Services. Uh it authorizes a total payment of $33,000 uh split across two uh different sources um of uh permanent improvement programs. Uh the payment is to uh RARig uh Pacific Company uh who provided 695galon envir Guard rollout carts um for neighborhood operations division of public services. >> Put item number four on for passage >> uh to the chair. Item number five is a grant ordinance for the department of transportation and engineering uh specifically for uh Lan Airport. Uh this is a Federal Aviation Administration uh grant through the airport improvement program. Uh this would um uh be for $294,000. Um and the funds are designated uh for the design of taxiway D uh reconstruction uh as well as the design of an obstruction removal project uh adjacent to runway 7. Uh the obstruction is uh hangar three. >> We'll put item number five on for passage >> uh to the chair. Item number six is a grant ordinance uh also for the Department of Transportation and Engineering. This is an apply for grant uh to the Ohio Department of Transportation's Safe Routes to School program. Uh this is a grant of up to $1 million uh for uh pedestrian and bicycle uh safety projects um uh related to students um of local schools uh ensuring they have uh safe routes to their schools. >> Council member Albi, >> thank you. Um and and I'm really excited to see this on the agenda as it happens tonight at our joint meeting, Youth and Human Services and CPS. We're going to be talking about pedestrian safety uh in and around school zones. And uh that was on the calendar before I got a phone call from a friend this weekend whose high school student was hit by a car uh just last week uh in front of uh Schroeder in Madisonville. So this is truly just an urgent topic. Uh, so I'm grateful for the administration for applying for this and looking forward to tonight's conversation to see what more we can do as a city and as a school board to really make sure our students are safe going to and from school because it is just inexcusable for for kids to being plowed down by cars in front of their schools. >> Thank you, Council Member Albi. We'll put item number six on for passage >> uh to the chair. Item number seven is a grant ordinance uh for the department of transportation and engineering. Uh we would ask that it be indefinitely postponed uh in lie of a B version uh which is uh number eight on the agenda. >> Item number seven is indefinitely postponed. >> Thank you. Uh item number eight is the B version of that uh grant ordinance. Uh this is a uh grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation uh through the Highway Safety Improvement Program. Uh is a total of $670,230. Uh the B version is necessitated because uh we were notified last week of a uh of a supplemental award for this project. Um so the uh dollar amount increased by approximately $61,000 uh which also uh increases the calculated grant match. Uh the funds are designated to be uh used for improving pedestrian safety along Duck Creek Road from Crane Avenue to Dana Avenue. Uh this is uh the boundary of uh Evston and Hyde Park uh in terms of neighborhoods. Uh so this ordinance would set up the capital uh improvement program project account uh authorize the deposit of the resources uh and also enter in a local public agency uh with ODOT to complete the project. >> Council member Jeffers. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh as Dr. Judas mentioned, so this is from along Duck Creek from Crane Avenue to Dana. If you remember about two years ago, there was a 87y old woman, Beverly Kenny, who was killed there on the corner of Dana and Duck Creek. Uh so this this whole section and intersection in particular is problematic, and this grant uh will um help to solve some of those issues. >> Thank you, Council Member Jeff. We'll put item number eight on for passage. All right. This takes us to item number two, the motion and the communications items 9 through 16. So, I just wanted to talk about the budget process and where we sit. Of course, this is the priority budget motion where this council uh gives direction to the city manager on what her city budget should look like. So, what this budget is certainly not is a list of winners and losers. uh if an organization is not mentioned or a cause is not listed that of course does not mean it's not going to be in the manager's budget. This is just our general priorities and you know as we all know this year is going to be challenging economically. Uh the intent of the motion was try to be cognizant of that, but there's a lot in there and and the city manager is still going to have a very difficult task trying to meet a lot of these priorities and I think they all are priorities while still balancing the budget as required by law. So I am going to uh just read through some highlights on what the uh policy budget contains. uh as my colleagues know and I hope strongly believe uh I just really try to aggregate this and try to come up with where a majority of council was uh you know once we get into the budget process my role changes you know I don't know how that'll play out but I I will be voting and participating and be much more active but right now just trying to provide as much guidance uh to the managers possible uh in the past some budget chairs have came up with a very very long list of council priorities uh what uh some have referred to as the Christmas tree. Uh everything got on it. Uh it's always been my thought that we should provide as much specific direction to Cheryl as possible where five of us are so that attempts to do this. Uh after I uh walk through the budget, I'll turn over to my colleagues. Uh we're starting with council member Nolan and then we'll go to everybody who will be talking about their policy budget, what's in there, what's not, what should be in there. Of course, in doing that, you'll be talking about your individual communications. uh things that are in your communications that you feel passionate about that aren't in the policy budget. Uh things that that uh you know, however the policy budget works out, whether it passes today or not, you will continue to advocate. Uh if we are in a position to get five votes to to support this uh today, and that's pretty clear there are five votes around this item, we will pass it. Uh I would like to uh avoid a situation where we're making multiple amendments from the floor. If it becomes clear that as I said previously uh if we need to come back on Wednesday morning, if people want time to compose a written motion, an addition, a change, uh we will do that. If we don't think we've got consensus, whatever that looks like at the end of this u at the uh end of of today's committee hearing. So, with that, any questions for my colleagues on the process? Seeing none, I'm going to read through the uh what I think are the highlights of the priority budget motion uh this year. It starts with police and fire, prioritizing public safety. Obviously, a lot of a lot of conversation. Both chiefs came in. I think we are all very impressed with Chief Henny, the strides he made, the fact that he is redoing his metrics very fast. I think that there is a a lot of confidence in that and and it's we've said repeatedly that public safety is a priority and to that ends we're asking the city manager to avoid cuts and retain the proposed recruit classes so we continue on schedule. Uh I as I also point out this is a priority. I heard it I think from everybody. If you're doing that to the two largest departments 60% that makes the rest of our job more difficult but it is a priority and uh that's why it's in there. Same with public services. Director Riley had a great season of winter operations. He's talked about a lot of exciting plans when it comes to potholes and trash removal. Uh we want to see that continue uh and and not have cuts to public services, but as I said that the we now are trying to take our three largest departments off off the chopping block. So that makes the rest of the budget even more difficult. But I do think it is this council's priority. It is important and it's something I support. Uh moving down under again under public services, continue to invest in the priorities outlined in the 2023 Green Cincinnati plan. Uh obviously a lot of work has gone onto it since many of us have been on council and we need to keep uh that progress going. Housing and economic development uh funding the office of teacher growth. This is a priority that came out of the futures commission. My colleague Vice Chair Nolan's done a lot of work on it. He can talk about what that looks like and what success looks like. On number six, I I believe that housing has been our collective priority. We've talked about it in lots of different ways. Uh and this is to create uh a fund of flexible dollars that can create as much housing and development going as quickly as possible in neighborhoods where that development is not occurring. And we know where that is and again we've all identified that in various ways. Um uh continuing on um public infrastructure, public services infrastructure um oh sorry I I see I was corrected I missed two under public service infrastructure uh extending the residential sidewalk repair man repair program and prioritizing repairing city on sidewalks. Um and then the uh the regional safety complex. This is, you know, the uh the uh shooting range which my colleague the vice mayor's led a lot of works on. There are some cost overruns. I think it's been a successful partnership. The county is asking us to uh put forth some additional dollars. This is a partnership. Uh I think that this should continue. I talked about the office of strategic growth housing and a housing fund in neighborhoods where there is no development. Um and of course continuing the affordable housing leverage fund uh which is a priority violence reduction critically important uh continuing investment and implementation of act Cincinnati maintained funding for boots boots on the ground and safe and clean programs. These are uh count these are all programs that were started by this council and have been very effective really getting the money out at the low level where it's needed. maintain funding for ARC. A ark critically important. Um this has been a tremendous success and something I know that we've continued to build upon in each budget. Uh 13. Fund the installation of additional lights and cameras inside city-owned parks. Obviously, we want our citizens to be safe everywhere, but all the more all the more important in city-owned properties where children go to recreate and play. human services uh maintain funding for the human services at 1.5% critical program this is in the second year of it uh maintaining that level of funding uh invest in the city's access to council program uh I could go on a lot as an attorney about this I think I will defer to my colleague council member Owens uh who can talk about the success of this program and why it's been a tremendous success and why we need to build on it wreck at night also critically uh important talk of expanding it, working with our partners, Cincinnati public schools to keep all of our kids engaged so they're off the streets uh where they are safe. Economic inclusion, investing in mortar, one of our consistent partners, deploying funding for represent represents Cincy, also an important partner with a critical mission. Uh increasing investments in lead abatement and uh funding for our our new door department, which came out of strategic growth. the other half which will focus on uh you know opportunity, resident services, human services, critically important economic development. Uh the motion specifically calls out uh fund Cincinnati centrafuse ready the port the Cincinnati Sports Commission all to create and attract jobs. Continuing to invest in red bikes strengthen sustain plans and supporting the Finley Market Capital campaign. Youth first youth workforce development expand and streamline the city's youth workforce development programs. Uh you know this is obviously in the umbrella of citizens committee on youth what that organization did. Uh we're doing a lot of good stuff, but we need to build upon that. And and three things that were identified from several of my colleagues were connecting youth to jobs year round, working with external partners for job placement, which is not happening as we would like. Um and acting as a one-stop shop. So, you know, we've got various different uh jobs, programs, but it's important that for a young person that they can go to one stop and be sent in the right place that fits their needs. So, that is critically important. I would say that this is a we've conducted a lot of this work, but I would say this is really taking it to the next level, elevating it, coordinating it, uh hopefully with Dora, making it an important part of the city's mission. internal city investments uh continuing to fund the city's pensions at 19.25%. We are legally obligated to do this, but it's important we have the policy budget motion for our employees and retirees to continually know that that is a priority for us. Uh no budget cuts to personnel outside of vacancy savings. Uh as we've said multiple times, our uh city employees are our most important assets. Uh and for them to know that uh and for the manager to know that she does know that as she is composing her uh budget, providing funding to the farmer music center as directed by prior council resolution. Uh I committed to my colleagues if they had five votes on the resolution, it would go in this. I know that's uh there's been additional conversation about that. Uh I appreciate that. There will be additional conversation about this, but that was a commitment I made. Uh it is in there. There are five votes on a resolution. Therefore, I think it is a priority of this council at this juncture. Revenue generators and efficiencies. Thanks to all my colleagues that um we're looking for revenue. That's, you know, sometimes harder than creating new spending programs. uh optimize parking revenue through new enforcement and enforcement citywide. I think this was from council member Jeff. We've certainly revamped our parking structure downtown to the extent a camo revenue generator. That could be great. Um creating a voluntary parking enforcement unit of Cincinnatians with disabilities. Thanks to Kevin Flynn who raised this possibility. It's allowed by state law. I know he's worked with the vice mayor on maybe if this is something that could be pushed forward. looking at higher fees for non- city residents for city services such as park rentals, summer camps, and golf fees. This is one that that many of my colleagues touched on. So, this is definitely an area that there was consensus on. 31, continue to expand the building inspector training program uh which again fees are covered are projected to cover 100% of the needed program. Uh consolidated landscaping facility maintenance for CRC parks. Again, this was recommended in the futures commission. This is started. We heard from the parks about this. Again, this is uh a number of my colleagues touched upon this and probably at some point we'll want to hear from parks and wreck to hear an an update as far as where this is. And finally, last but not least, pursuing reimbursements from the Ohio Patrol for crash responses and the Ohio Department of Transportation for snow removal and litter removal on state routes. So, that is it. Thank you to my colleagues. This is the one of the busiest parts of the year. Thank you to the council staff. They do a lot of the work for getting me this information. Uh I did my best to put this in one document that will have support. Uh and now we will turn it over to you uh for comments. Um I'll start with the vice chair. As I said, uh council member James, as the newest council member, please pick a number from one to seven. >> Got to go with lucky number seven. >> All right. Uh so we will go in alphabetical order starting with council member Walsh. Um so uh we can't go in alphabetical order every time because Seth always goes last. So through the luck of the draw, Seth will be first and we'll go through alphabetical order. Let's start with Council Member Nolan and we will go to Council Member Walsh and then through the uh through the order. >> All right. Thank you, Chair, for bravely leading us through this process. Um would also like to extend thanks to our many community partners who have spent hours um working with us to help educate us on the issues and the funding opportunities that are present in our city. Um only so much can be communicated in two minutes of public comment and so I know a number of our partners sit down with all of us and spend a lot of time educating us. So I appreciate that. also want to thank the administration for the hours that they have spent uh working with us on council to help us understand how the the city does business and and can do business more efficiently. Um and I I also want to thank our our colleagues. Um everyone has clearly taken the time and effort uh into this exercise to do what we all believe is in the best interest of the city. Um I know we all come to this from a unique perspective with a variety of different life experiences and and recent meetings. Um but overall I feel like from reviewing these communications we are very much on the same page when it comes down to individual line items. We may have different way of doing things but um I I think we all want to see the city move in the same direction. And and for me uh and the way that I that I have captured that particularly on the campaign trail was growing the city and growing the city more equitably. Uh for me that uh takes shape in my budget priority communication. Uh to to grow the city, we must be intentional. We need to recommmit ourselves to investing out in the neighborhoods across the city. Over the past 25 years, we've seen tremendous progress in the urban core, downtown, at the banks, uh, and over the rine. We need to see that level of growth out in our neighborhoods. Our neighborhood business districts are hollowing out, and we are falling well behind our peer cities when it comes to the development of new housing. Uh in in my communication, you will see I'm advocating for a strategic restructuring and consolidation of our neighborhood capital investment funds. We need to provide more certainty, more flexibility, and more efficiency when it comes to getting those development dollars out the door. Secondly, to grow the city more equitably, we must expand the investments in the financial freedom blueprint recommendations like access to council, children's savings accounts, and overall with the development of these two new departments. We need to make sure we dedicate sufficient resources to the office of strategic growth and the department of opportunity and resident services. I know the chair has has already highlighted the need for funding with public safety and with public services, public services, but if we are going to be serious about growing our city and growing it more equitably, we have to make sure that the money is there for the office of strategic growth and the department of opportunity and resident services. So, I appreciate the inclusion of those items in the omnibus motion that has been presented and for those reasons I will be supporting it. >> Council member Walsh. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the things that I just want to make sure we call out and and give some voice to here is as we talk budget deficits, we talked budget deficits last year as well. Um, we need to make sure that as a council and as administration, we are not uh finding our revenues to be projected lower for reasons that could be foreseen at this stage. Uh, I raised this concern because last year we had a $10 million deficit and as of the last budget monitoring report, we had a $13 million surplus. That's not to say anything nefarious happened last year, but it's hard to sit through these presentations and hear 5% cuts when we consistently have a surplus. Um, and so I want to make sure that is said and something that we keep in mind as we go through this budget process to make sure that our revenue projections are accurate and as accurate as they possibly can be because I believe that the way for the city of Cincinnati to move forward is to invest within ourselves. Um, invest in our economic development and invest as we move and grow. Um, ultimately I'm supportive of the omnibus motion that you've put forward. A couple things I want to call out from my policy motion that I put out there. Uh, one, I want to make sure that we continue to look at the authorized strength for the Society Fire Department. Um, given the overtime that is consistently a noose around our neck, hiring more firefighters is going to help navigate that. U, I appreciate the line in there about no budget cuts to offices that are exclusively personnel. We heard our finance uh, chair director earlier talk about how they are exclusively personnel, and I don't want our staff to take the brunt as we try to navigate this budget. Um to Council Member Nolan's point around economic development buckets, there's a number that I think are really critical for us to support um that will help us get some really critical developments like the North Side Gateway and the Town Hall Flats out of the ground that can ultimately help grow our tax base here. And then I want to lift up uh one thing that we've invested in the last two years is Cincinnati Sports Commission. Uh which I think we're seeing the the rewards for, but I also think we're going to have to invest in capital side to the Cincinnati Sports Commission to build up the infrastructure for our city to be competitive. And so I think it's a both and to make sure we're supporting them operating wise as well as building out the necessary capital uh pots that we'll need for whatever that looks like whether it's more youth soccer fields or involving ourselves in some larger national scale events. Um but I think it's a a testament to the investment we've already made that these are possible. So uh thank you Mr. Chair and I'll yield back my time. >> All right. Got to make sure I got my alphabetical order right. It caused problems last time. I know. Thank you. I'm told that A is next in the alphabet. Council member Alvi, >> A is next if you loop back around to the start. Um, thank you and thank you to to my colleagues for their remarks so far. I'm going to try not to repeat too much of what's been said already, but but I did want to start by just kind of placing us in a time I I firmly believe Cincinnati is in a critical moment. I sometimes call it the Queen City Renaissance because I think we're in a moment where first time in a generation our city is growing. uh and we're growing in in in in good ways and this council has continued to make investments to really provide for basic needs uh while also investing in that future growth and this budget uh mo priority motion mine and as well as I think the omnibus reflects that um how we are thinking about balancing those two two things we need to do both right we need to pro we need to provide for what's happening today the residents today get those basic services provide for public safety while also thinking about the future what does Cincinnati in the future look like what can we do uh to make Cincinnati the best city it can be now and ongoing. So with that, I also want to acknowledge there is a lot of uncertainty right now, right? We we heard it over and over in presentations from our budget directors. There are some really uh strong headwinds uh at the federal and in the national and international level. So this is going to be a tough budget. Uh and so I'm really grateful for the budget chair's uh leadership here and pulling together what I think is a strong omnibus and really reflects uh you know our collective vision at the moment. I'm going to highlight inside the violence reduction bucket here uh making sure that we are investing in acts for cincy that's our uh blueprint for gun violence prevention and violence reduction here in the city. We'll be uh presenting this evening too at the joint meeting. This is my second plug of the day if you want to stay hang till 5:30. uh and making sure we're supporting that work. Uh continuing to invest into our community partners through the boots on the ground funding and the safe and uh clean grant programs as well as our human services funding. Uh and then within our team structure, making sure our community responders, community responders, victim assistance liaison unit uh and all those other violence reduction partnerships, we continue to fund them. And then also we as a council have really made it a priority to think about uh how we use lights and cameras to support uh safety in our neighborhoods across the city. So I'm I'm glad to see that included in this violence reduction bucket as well. And then the last piece just highlighting that future growth piece uh I believe firmly uh not only investing into housing which we know is important into small businesses but also our alts arts and culture economy. And you know, there's two items in this omnibus, Finley Market and Farmers Music, which I think really displays that value. And again, what does it look like for Cincinnati to be a city where people want to live, work, and play now and in the future. So, really grateful for that. And then I'll give one little plug for the sidewalks. We had amazing u success with our pilot program for the residential sidewalk repair program. uh we repaired uh 58 uh properties uh and the cost uh roughly for each was over $1,700 and those repairs were made in the communities of East Westwood, South Cummingsville, North Fairmont, South Fairmont and Milville. So really excited to keep that program going because we know from the resident survey sidewalks and roads uh were two very very uh high priorities for our residents. So thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Albi. Council member James, lucky number seven. All right. This budget is a grounded in simple reality. Too many Cincinnati families are being asked to do too much with too little. Housing costs have risen significantly faster than incomes in recent years. And nearly half of our renters are cost burdened, spending more than 30% of their income just to stay housed. That's why the budget priorities, my budget prioritizes three things: safety, stability, and economic opportunity for our residents. We fully fund the police and fire while investing in prevention because cities that uh pair enforcement with intervention strategies see stronger long-term reductions in violence. We establish a $1 million affordability funds to help provide immediate relief for our residents facing harm due to this affordability crisis and we expand workforce development and small business support because access to well-paying jobs remains the clearest path to economic mobility. Um, this is responsible uh, this is a responsible people- centered budget that ensures Cincinnati's growth is shared um, at the level of every resident in Cincinnati. Um, I will say that um, thank you to our budget chair and um, vice chair. I know that you've put an enormous amount of effort into this work. Um, I know you had some late nights this weekend trying to um, uh, wrangle together all nine of us. Um, so thank you for your effort, but I will say I will be rejecting this budget priority motion. I think there's just not enough here um for working people. There's a few ideas that I think that can be taken further. I will say that um one that I will highlight in this moment as you know as we put the our nine of our heads together uh the last three months on city council has been an amazing experience is because so many of you have so many great ideas and expertise in areas that are out of my depth. But I am hardpressed to believe that when the nine of us put our heads together um and think about um priorities for us as a city council to serve as directive for the city manager that under arts, culture, and major events, our only directive that we can provide is to fund the farmer music center. I think that this is I was happy to support the project for the long-term intentions, but I think this is work that we can we we can do better. I'm excited to continue to chew chew on this. I'm excited to stay at the table. Um, but I um my directive at this point is that as a council we can put our heads together and we can build something better. >> Council member Jeff. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for your work and pulling this together. It's never easy to a bunch of kittens. Um, not that we're kids, but uh, wanted to also just reiterate this is the largest deficit that we have faced that yes, we have to make sure we're we're budgeting pretty tightly uh, since we have been here in office where we don't have federal help. An almost $30 million deficit is pretty significant. And yes, we're going to have we have even more headwinds inflation uh interest rates, etc. So on my budget priority, I do start with reinforcing what the manager has done and and appreciate her call for asking every department to just look at and identify the 5.1%. Uh for anyone in the private sector, as people know and when I was at PNG, we did this every single year. And the fact that CRC when they were here reinforced this. They identified several pools on Sunday where nobody showed up or very few people. they said, "Well, we're going to as a result reallocate that, maybe close those because there's no reason to keep a pool open if nobody is there and put it elsewhere." And so, I think just this exercise, I think, is helpful to do uh because we should always be looking for how we can deliver better services with less. It's just I think a helpful mindset. And I, as I point out, incidentally, in New York City, they're facing a big budget deficit. they identified 1.5 million 1.5% of their budget in savings um with through efficiencies. Ours is 1.7%. So I think you know that's a helpful exercise and other cities do show that you you can do it if we push. So uh I'm not going to reiterate everything agree on the the uh policy motion or the omnibus in terms of public safety, fire, fleet, police, um core trash. I'll call out a couple other things uh in mine. Uh one is as people know uh the the cannabis revenue I do believe that we should direct it and the omnibus one does include it some of that for uh for youth uh and then also uh lead uh lead abatement which I think we should have separately. We can work as a restricted fund in GCF and I call out for expungement of records as well. Um, a few other things that I call out and I think it would be helpful on the motion. Uh, on Cincon track, I do think on roads we should, uh, allocate the maximum amount that we can for street repaving. And talking to director Long, I think their current budget's about 21 million. Uh, they could go up to 30 or 35 million. Uh, obviously we have to make sure those dollars get out the door, but I think that needs to be a big priority. We we we know it from the surve survey. We know it from just talking to uh our residents. Uh we've got to get those dollars allocated and out the door. Uh and then I think you've highlighted a lot of the efficiencies or revenue generators I have um also in in my motion. Um and I do think we need to be mindful of uh anything that we can do. A lot of those are grounded in just issues of fairness. Uh, I don't think it's fair if other parts of the state have ODOT cleaning up trash on their state routes, but we pay for it on ours. Uh, that doesn't seem fair. Other parts of the state have ODOT clearing snow in their state routes, but we pay for ours. So, asking for the state to reimburse us on those, I think is fair. On the farmers, obviously, I'm in a different place than the majority on that. Um, you know, I would ask once it comes back that we allocate, we have a separate vote on that and just identify how we're going to how we're going to fund that. Uh, but I'm not going to let that hold me up from supporting this because on balance, I think this is uh the right um budget policy motion. >> Thank you, Council Member Jeff. Council member Johnson. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for your work, co-chair, my colleagues. Um um this is a very very difficult budget. Um to no surprise we're talking $30 million possibly deficit. That's something that we cannot shy away from. Uh difficult but it's something we have to do. We talk about priorities and I think everybody up here has talked about the priority of safety and housing. Um, I do not want to see any cuts to the Cincinnati Fire Department or Police Department. I want those recruit classes to move in time in which they have already projected. I don't want to see any delays in that whatsoever. But when we come to talk about housing, there's a possibility that 300 possible apartments in Aenddale may be delayed as a direct result of $8 million going for leisure. So people li people living versus leisure. leisure to possibly a pl cso that has a $400 million endowment. $400 million. I think the top two CEOs make 500,000 a year. The minimum salary for a new musician is $122 to $124,000 and we're getting ready to give them $8 million. But housing is a priority for this council where possibly 300 apartments in Aenddale are now may be delayed as a result of that. We talk about violence reduction. Uh we got to try something new. Advanced peace is there. Uh we got to do something different. We can't keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. So, uh, I would like to see advanced peace be considered. Youth work development, workforce development, CCY, and it's been talked about. I'm glad to see there's some talk about that to see that young people are employed year round, year round, and we consist we consistently make sure that they're engaged. Uh, expanding wreck at night. Um, I don't know if I don't know if we've got the bodies to be able to do that. It's a great idea. It sounds great, but expanding recognite, hopefully our partners at Cincinnati Public Schools would be willing to make sure they're true partners in pitching in to make sure that happens. But when we talk about arts and culture, Artsville in Madisonville that has been doing marvelous work over the years, um I would like to see them considered the Cincinnati Music Festival for over 20 years. The biggest money m making weekend, the biggest money making weekend in the city. Measly $50,000. That's something we did not do. So um I think we've got some good stuff here. I think we've got some other stuff that we can do. Um but the we have to be responsible and I think it's completely irresponsible to even consider giving $8 million to cso when we're looking at a $30 million deficit. Um we can do a whole lot better as Mr. James said, um, the mobile food truck is something that needs to be considered. City gospel mission that is feeding people every day is something that can be considered. The um increase for NSP funds, we've got amazing community people there that are doing great work every day, volunteering. We need to make sure our communities are com are um people in the community that want to see Cincinnati advance are taken care of, too. The Boys and Girls Club of Aendale, they could double they could actually double their capacity with $350,000 from the city of Cincinnati. A lot of good stuff, but we can do a whole lot better. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Council Member Johnson. Uh, Vice Mayor Kernney, >> thank you. And again, thank you for your work and council member Nolan. It's a lot pulling people together, uh, nine of us. Um, so I have three pages of different organizations and funding I'd like to see. I won't really go through all of that. Uh, let me but they are there and they're very important. So, let me put that on the record. Um, let me say that I'm glad that we all agree that we cannot cut police, fire or public services and other council members have said the same thing. Um, I agree with our with my colleagues who say let's look look at efficiencies uh and money left on the table rather than cutting services that we just cannot sacrifice. And so and of course we don't want to see uh cutting uh and staff either. So, um I think we're all on the same page with that. One of my prior priorities is starting a new citizens committee on youth. Um going back several years when we talked about what can we do to to help our young people, um so many people across the city said we need to bring CCY back. Uh the city of Cincinnati started CCY in 1958 with $28,000. In 2016, the city put in 1.4 4 million and employed about 1,500 youth in jobs. In 2007, the funding dropped down to 150,000 and then the program ended. So, former council members Wendell Young, Greg Lansman, along with consultant Iris Roelly, and then council member Scotty Johnson and I u plus residents across the city advocated for a new CCY to help our youth. So, in addition to planning with our internal resources for youth work, such as Cincinnati Wreck, Career Pathways uh Initiative uh Council Member Johnson and I have met with the juvenile court, the Hamilton County officials, past administrators of CCY, former youth participants who now are grown and successful, and many others. The first step has always been, let's get money for jobs. We tried with that million-doll ask for money for youth jobs in August. It was voted down, brought it back in December. It was sunset, came back in January. That motion is still out there. So, here's a chance to really do that. Uh, and all of that is just to say thank you to my colleagues for it sounds like so many of you were pushing and are pushing for money for youth uh youth work, which is wonderful. And many of you mentioned CCY in your in your motions. Uh, Council Member Kramerding, Mr. Chair, mentioned CCY as well. I would like to see it put in the omnibus motion. I think the words need to be in there, but um, I'm really encouraged by that. Um, as we move forward together with the creation of a new CCY for our youth, we're asking the business community from our top Fortune 500 companies to our mom and pop restaurants and barber shops to offer jobs to our young people. I want to also add that the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative uh the We Mentor Cincy program uh and many other organizations have come forward to say that they would like to be mentors in this uh CCY program. And so there's a lot of support across the city for it and I'm really excited about that. Another priority is workforce development. You know, we have a high poverty rate here and uh we've we've got to make sure that people have the economic opportunity to rise up out of poverty. So, support for more jobs, expansion of build of the building futures program for good paying union jobs, uh more tech jobs, AI jobs, and support for our small businesses. Um really important and those things are in there. So, I'm happy about that. What I cannot support in the omnibus, uh, one of the things that just stands out, you know, we have a housing crisis and yet we're proposing to allocate $8 million to a music center without any prior financial analysis, without knowing if the $8 million is gap funding, but with knowing that this $8 million will take away from funds necessary for more housing, for home ownership, for vacant building renovation, ations for home repairs and for delinquent property tax relief to keep residents in their home. Also left out of the omnibus um money for home repairs, money to address code violations. That means putting more funding into the harbor fund. Um money to uh to re to put more money into the home safe program that helped a lot of residents with delinquent property taxes so they would not lose their home. We've got to put more money into that because we're going to have that same problem this year. And also an increase in NSP funds for our community councils. These are volunteers who do a ton of work and they're all saying they really need increased funding. Their insurance costs have gone up, so there's actually less money left for them to do the kind of work that they need. And I know um Council Member Ryan James has really pushed for that and I appreciate it. The most glaring omission in the omnibus for me and it's a deal breaker for me. It's community violence intervention. Um council member Johnson mentioned advanced peace which we've made into a Cincinnati program Cincy Safe. We do have funding for wraparound services. We have ACT for Cincy. We have hope and shield and our hospital trauma centers. Um, I know the ACT office is talking about to improve a program from Pittsburgh. All of these provide necessary connections to resources that attack the root causes of violence. So, yes to that. But in every city that has shown a significant reduction in gun violence, the strategy included not only wraparound services, but community violence intervention, CVI. CVI requires the involvement of individuals who are from the neighborhoods that they serve and who have the same lived experience as that small group of individuals who are actively involved in the majority of the of the retaliatory cycle of violence in our city. They're often referred to as credible messengers because they are known and they are respected in their neighborhoods. So wraparound services are indeed necessary. Let's fund them. Yes, but they are not sufficient to significantly reduce gun violence. Our gun violence elimination strategy must include community violence intervention by credible messengers who are from our neighborhoods. The police are doing their job, but we are not doing ours. It is our duty to make sure that every neighborhood is safe. To turn hot spots for violence into hot spots for vibrancy. We have to look at the false narratives that have made us afraid to implement a community violence intervention strategy. There's a false narrative that CVI work means paying criminals to stop crime. That is the opposite of how positive reinforcement works. But those false headlines make for good media clickbait. Then there's a false narrative that outsiders are coming in to walk our streets when the truth is credible messengers have to be from our streets. They have to be from our neighborhoods. They have to be from the places that they are serving and known by the people that they are serving. So in closing, my message to you colleagues is we must have the courage to stand up against media clickbait. We must have the courage to stand up against false narratives. We must have the courage to stand up for the men, women, and children who are dying dying because we are afraid to stand up for the truth. And so because of that, my answer for this omnibus bill is no. >> Thank you, Vice Mayor. I appreciate your words. I just did want to make two points of clarification for people viewing at home. One, uh there were many uh organizations that were in in some of the communications which you can view. Uh I think the consensus was that we should not list that many individual organizations in the priority budget because that would create the perception that we're picking winners and losers and that's just not where we're at. So uh just because there's not an organization list people should not uh assume that they're out of the budget process. The budget process will continue. So continue your advocacy. Secondly uh I guess this is for th those watching at home. The Farmer Music Center is obviously still a point of disagreement among my colleagues, but but today's vote does not stop that. Uh this is saying uh that five of our colleagues, this is a priority. So that will go to the city manager. Uh we will see what the city manager does at any budget final budget votes will be made by this council in June on all issues including on the former musical center. Just so we know where that where that is and there's no misconceptions about that. uh one expenditure which is a bit of a lightning rod. Uh thank you. I just want to make that clear. Council member Owens. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um these are always the funnest times uh for members of council as we start the conversations of our budget, our most uh our highest responsibility, but at the same time they are very difficult uh considering the complexity of of the of just the budget in general uh but also the current challenges that we have. And so, yes, some of my colleagues have brought up uh we are challenged by a $30 million uh deficit and how we might balance that. Uh but I do want to recognize that, you know, all of those things aren't easy when our residents are hurting and when they're looking for government to to help. So, I also want to underscore that over the past uh years, the federal stimulus has certainly supported us in meeting the needs of our residents. Uh but now we're faced with continuing to ensure ensure a strong city delivering services while also being handicapped by the federal government and the state house through the underfunding of local government funds. I do believe that this omnibus communication is a good start for what will become the budget our residents want to see. We see large investments in public safety, improving technology through Fus and our drone program, investments in regional assets that will increase revenues and ensure that our public safety officers are the best in the country. Investments in neighborhoods that will ensure that we are not leaving any of our 52 neighborhoods behind. and continue promises to invest in the affordable housing leverage fund where we can see the creation the majority of creation of units built at 60 to 80% AMI and I also want to further underscore the investments to our human services fund uh not going below 1.5% uh the way that we empower uh our nonprofit organizations based on our priorities which violence intervention is one of them uh and how we invest in people. These are the things that uh there are some things that were in my personal budget communication that were not in this omnibus. And so I just want to highlight some of those like seeds of change program which has been wildly successful giving micro grants to organizations who are addressing the climate crisis at the neighborhood level. Uh direct support uh called out to the victim's liaison unit through CPD. And one that I'm very excited to continue to advocate for is cutting the cost to summertime child care for 125 families uh who would be participating at CRC if not absolutely making it free. It is my intention today to let uh to not let the perfect outweigh the good. I think this omnibus communication is a good start. And so I will continue to advocate for bringing the cost down for families. I will continue to advocate for investments to address the climate crisis and continue to advocate for funding that helps our residents uh be safer and healthier in the long term. There are many facets of this process that we can adjust for because as you pointed out, Mr. Chair, there is still a lot of work to be accomplished between now and when we ultimately pass this budget uh by the end of June. And so I think the groundwork has been laid uh and I am committed to uh that work uh and ultimately passing a budget that again residents will expect to see from us. And I just want to further underscore and echo that saying that you know show me your uh what are your priorities? Show me your budget. And I believe that our priorities come down to five areas and that is safer streets, more housing, stronger business, climate action and justice and supporting families. And so with that, I definitely support this omnibus. >> Thank you, Council Member Owens. Words from fitting words from Joe Biden, I believe, to close out uh the Are there any other comments? Seeing none, clerk, I will ask for a roll call. Council member Kramering, >> yes. >> Council member Nolan, >> yes. >> Council member Jeff, >> yes. >> Council member Johnson, >> no. >> Vice Mayor Kernney, >> no. >> Council member James, >> no. >> Council member Owens, >> yes. >> Council member Walsh, >> yes. >> Council member Albi, >> yes. >> All right. And thank you again to my colleagues. You know, I appreciate you all the time, but this is a trying time of the year. Thank you the colleagues, the council aids, the administrators that sat through countless presentations, importing information. Thank you to Director Webb, Dr. Dudis, and Sister Swim who are uh out here through all this. So, this will now be transmitted to the city manager. Uh city manager and Dr. Dudis and her team will begin the very hard work about drafting the city budget. Uh that budget will then go to the manager and then the mayor back to council uh for final approval, amendments and changes. Uh looking around, is there any Oh, I need to file the communications. Let's file. We'll file items 9 through 16. Seeing no other business, we are journed.