Interim City Manager of Cincinnati, Ohio, John Curp, approved rules and regulations for the solicitation ban passed by City Council last year.

Ordinance 0415-2021 prohibits councilmembers from soliciting campaign contributions from developers who have an interest before council, created the Office of Ethics & Good Government, and authorized the city manager to establish rules and begin enforcement.

The new rules require all persons or entities who request or apply for city business to disclose financially interested persons by filing a form with the Office of Ethics & Good Government.

The office will maintain a City Business List and a Financially Interested Persons List on their website.

A financially interested person is a person or entity who has a financial interest in city business, including anyone who owns or controls 20% or more of the entity.

Campaigns are prohibited from accepting campaign contributions from a person on the temporary prohibition list.

The new rules and regulations will go into effect May 26.

Two training sessions for elected officials, business leaders, and the public are scheduled for May 20 at 1:30 p.m. and May 23 at 11 a.m. in Room 115 of City Hall.

The Cincinnati City Council voted unanimously to approve the first-ever code of conduct for council members and their staff.

All council members and their staff must sign a copy of the code of conduct and file it with the clerk.

Future council members and staff must sign the document within 45 days of taking office or starting the job.

Mayor Aftab Pureval was also required to create and sign a code of conduct, which he signed and released after the council vote.

It is nearly identical to the council version except the provisions regarding the city’s economic development.

The Office of City Solicitor chose Chris Liu, Chief Hearing Examiner, to be the city’s first head of the new Ethics and Good Government Division.

Two staff members have also been hired for the division, which is working to implement a new hotline for reporting ethics and fraud violations and to expand online resources for viewing campaign contributions.

Aftab Pureval defeated City Councilman David Mann to become the first Asian Pacific mayor in Cincinnati’s city history and the only one in the Midwest.

Pureval, a former refugee from New Delhi, is currently the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts.

Cincinnati City Council voted unanimously to approve two ordinances addressing corruption in city government.

Ordinance 0415-2021 prohibits City Council members from soliciting campaign contributions from developers who have an interest in any ordinance before the council.

The ordinance will be effective when council appropriates funding to establish the administrative staffing and enforcement needs imposed by the ordinance.

Emergency Ordinance 0413-2021 is effective immediately and establishes a new position of ethics and good government counselor within the Department of Law to support ethics, election, and campaign finance transparency.

The ordinance transferred $375,000 from the general reserve for weather-related events to fund the position and to buy software to implement a program to make campaign finance disclosures more transparent.

Cincinnati City Council failed to adopt an ordinance proposing additional campaign finance disclosure.

Ordinance 2021-01549 would have required the mayor and City Council members to report contributions above $200 within 48 hours.

Only Council Member Greg Landsman, who introduced the proposal, voted to adopt the ordinance.

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.

Two proposed charter amendments establishing procedures to handle council members indicted for crimes will be on the ballot for voter approval on May 4.

There is currently no process in the Cincinnati Charter and three of the nine council members were indicted on federal bribery charges last year.

Both proposals prohibit indicted council members from changing their successor designee.

Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman’s proposed amendment requires the city solicitor to hire a special prosecutor to consider removal of the council member to eliminate potential conflicts of interest.

A second amendment proposed 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.

If no vote is taken, the convicted council member automatically forfeits his or her seat on the 11th day.

Sundermann’s proposal also makes ethics training mandatory for all council members.

Hamilton County Probate Court Judge Ralph “Ted” Winkler appointed Liz Keating, a Republican, as interim replacement for Alexander “P.G.” Sittenfeld.

Sittenfeld is a Democrat who was indicted last month on six counts alleging honest services wire fraud, bribery, and attempted extortion by a government official.

This is the second appointment of a Republican by Judge Winkler in a year where three of the nine council members have been arrested.

Per Ohio statute, the Hamilton County Probate Court appoints a replacement when a council member is suspended.

If Sittenfeld is found guilty of the charges or resigns, four Democrats on Council named in his successor designation certificate would select his replacement.

Cincinnati City Councilwoman Betsy Sundermann proposed a charter amendment to the city charter.

The amendment would allow the city to suspend a council member upon the filing of an indictment or certain criminal charges, and to remove them if convicted.

There is currently no provision in the Cincinnati Charter addressing what happens in the event of public corruption allegations.

The proposed charter amendment also requires ethics training for new council members within 60 days of oath of office.

The amendment also prohibits council members from amending their successor designation certificate after being indicted.

If approved by council, the charter amendment would be submitted to the voters for approval in 2021.

Cincinnati City Councilman Alexander “P.G.” Sittenfeld is the second councilman suspended in a process initiated by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost after being arrested on federal bribery charges.

Sittenfeld voluntarily agreed to the temporary suspension without objection.

Additionally, Hamilton County Probate Court Judge Ralph “Ted” Winkler will appoint his temporary replacement next week.

Sittenfeld’s third term on council began in 2018 and ends at the end of 2021. 

Cincinnati City Councilman Jeff Pastor was suspended in a process initiated by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

Pastor’s suspension comes after he was arrested on federal bribery charges.

This is the first time the city of Cincinnati has used the process through the probate court.

Additionally, Pastor accepted the temporary suspension without objection.

As part of the process, Hamilton County Probate Court Judge Ralph “Ted” Winkler named Cincinnati attorney Steve Goodin as Pastor’s temporary replacement.

Interim Council Member Goodin’s term began immediately after the suspension.

Goodin will continue the term until Pastor’s court case is completed or he is removed from office.

Pastor’s four-year term began in 2018 and ends at the end of 2021.

Cincinnati City Councilman Alexander “P.G.” Sittenfeld was arrested on federal corruption charges.

He is the third council member to be arrested this year.

Sittenfeld denies the allegations of bribery and attempted extortion and does not plan to resign.

If he does resign, four members of the council will choose his successor by a majority vote.

Two Cincinnati Councilmembers, Greg Landsman and Betsy Sundermann held separate news conferences in front of City Hall today.

The two councilmembers announced a series of proposed reforms to restore the public’s trust in government after two members were charged with corruption just this year.

The proposed reforms include establishing an ethics commission, designating a chief ethics and good government officer, campaign finance reform, ongoing training, and a potential charter amendment that would allow for the recall of people in office.

At this time, there is no provision in the Cincinnati Charter addressing what happens in the event of public corruption allegations.

Tamaya Dennard resigned from council in February. Councilman Jeff Pastor, who was arrested Tuesday has not resigned despite calls for him to do so.

Cincinnati City Councilman Jeff Pastor was arrested Tuesday by FBI agents for leading a bribery scheme involving payoffs for city development projects.

Pastor is accused of bribery, money laundering, extortion, wire fraud, theft of honest services, and conspiracy.

If convicted, he could face more than 20 years in prison.

Additionally, Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and many council members have called for Pastor to resign.

Pastor is the second council member this year charged with taking bribes from developers.

Tamaya Dennard resigned from the council in February after her arrest on fraud and bribery charges in an unrelated case.

Finally, if Pastor resigns, Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman will select his replacement.