Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Budget And Governance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City Council approves labor contracts, housing incentives and multiple grants in unanimous votes
Summary
Cincinnati City Council unanimously passed a package of emergency ordinances and grant authorizations including two labor agreements, a $2 million pro-housing initiative, FEMA and EPA grant applications, and several park donations and transit grants.
Cincinnati City Council moved quickly through its business agenda after public comment, unanimously approving multiple emergency ordinances and grant actions covering labor contracts, housing incentives and grants for public-safety, parks and transit.
Major approvals included:
- A labor-management agreement authorizing the city manager to implement a contract with the Cincinnati Organized and Dedicated Employees (emergency ordinance approved). Council members and speakers thanked Code employees for negotiations.
- A separate emergency ordinance approving a collective bargaining agreement with the Cincinnati Building Trades Council.
- An emergency "Pro Housing 2024" ordinance authorizing $2,000,000 to incentivize development on vacant lots and prototypes for middle housing, with council members citing prior zoning reforms and a federal grant that made the package possible.
- Grants and applications including: authorization to apply for and appropriate up to $250,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to support the city's Green Bank; authorization to apply for up to $2,082,000 from FEMA's Urban Area Security Initiative; and acceptance of a $36,080 Ohio Department of Transportation transit grant for streetcar preventative maintenance.
- Several parks-related donations and transfers were accepted, including $1,131,037 from the Cincinnati Park Board Commissioners Fund and smaller gifts from the Cincinnati Parks Foundation and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation to support horticultural supplies, riverfront park funds and Bicentennial Commons at Sawyer Point.
Council also advanced a multi-step petition creating a convention-district community authority that ACM Weber said would allow 29 voluntarily participating food-and-beverage establishments to assess a 1% surcharge that is expected to raise an estimated $1.2 million a year to support hotel-bond debt service as part of financing for a convention-center-related hotel. The petition was found to comply with state law and a public hearing will follow as required by statute.
All items on the business agenda were approved on roll call; there were no recorded 'no' votes on the items taken up during this session.
