Voters passed two charter amendments in Cincinnati by a 3 to 1 margin.

Issue 1 requires the city solicitor to hire a special prosecutor to consider removal of the council member indicted for a crime to eliminate potential conflicts of interest.

Issue 2, introduced by Councilwoman Betsy Sundermann permits removal of an indicted council member with a vote by seven of their fellow council members, and if convicted, five council members can vote to remove within 10 days of the conviction.

A council member who is convicted or pleads guilty automatically forfeits his or her seat.

Issue 2 also makes ethics training mandatory for all council members.

There was previously no process for removal in the Cincinnati Charter and four of the nine council members have been indicted for crimes in the last year.

As soon as the election results were announced, Sundermann called for Councilman Wendell Young to be suspended.

The vote to remove him cannot happen until the Hamilton County Board of Elections certifies the election in about two weeks.

City Council incumbents and Charter amendments fared well in this year’s March city elections.

Five incumbent City Council members retained their seats by receiving over 50 percent of the vote, but a May runoff will be necessary in the 4^th District to replace termed-out Councilman Tom LaBonge.

Voters passed Charter amendments intended to increase voter turnout by moving city and school board elections to even-numbered years when presidential and gubernatorial races are held, beginning in 2020.

Photo of the Los Angeles skyline by Nserrano on Wikimedia Commons.