The news from City Hall

Cincinnati city council narrowly supported Issue 2, which would raise Ohio’s minimum wage and allow for yearly cost-of-living increases, with a mostly meaningless vote Wednesday afternoon.

With a 5-4 vote, council threw its political support behind the issue. Council has no say over the minimum wage, but often voices its support, or lack thereof, for certain issues through such votes.

Council members Leslie Ghiz, Chris Monzel, Jeff Berding and Chris Bortz voted against supporting the measure.

If approved by voters Tuesday, Issue 2 will raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $6.85 – the first increase since 1997.

There were only five action items on the agenda today, but there still managed to be a few interesting moments:

Joint meeting: Cincinnati city council will hold a joint meeting with the Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education Nov. 14.

The joint meetings have been tried twice before, in 2002 and 2004, but were largely ceremonial. This meeting will be different, and will be the first of more to come, said council member Chris Monzel.

“One of the goals of council and the mayor is to develop a real, true working relationship with Cincinnati public schools,” Monzel said. “This is the kickoff to how we will define the relationship, the times we’ll meet, how often we’ll meet and the issues we’ll be attacking.”

Those issues include how the two legislative bodies can work together to reduce truancy and increase school safety. They’ll also be talking about Metro busing patterns, which often leave kids dropped off at Government Square downtown, rather than close to their homes.

This will be the first time the two bodies meet at City Hall. The meeting starts at 4 p.m.

Boundaries, what boundaries?: Council member Laketa Cole, who asked the city administration to report on the defined boundaries of the city’s 52 neighborhoods, didn’t like the answer she was given and sent it back to the administration for more work.

The city reported to council that it has no say over neighborhood boundaries.

“Historically, Community Councils have been adamant about defining their own boundaries and unwilling to compromise,” the report says. “For this reason, the city has historically played a supportive role and identified any boundary overlaps as `contested areas.’”

The report goes on to say that because community councils are independently incorporated entities governed by the state, the city can’t define those boundaries.

Cole said the administration missed the point.

“It doesn’t make sense that the city can’t define its neighborhoods,” Cole said. “Community councils can define their boundaries anyway they want. I’m not talking about community councils. What community councils do independently is separate.”

Night Owls: A proposal to hold one of council’s weekly meeting every month at night passed out of the Rules Committee Monday, but was not placed on Wednesday’s agenda by Mayor Mark Mallory.

Mallory said he wanted to give council members a week to think about it, and to consider expanding the idea to include night time committee meetings.

“The meat is cooked in the committees, it’s served here,” Mallory said. “If we want to give the public the best chance to have an effect on policy, if we’re trying to give them more opportunity for input, then we ought to hold committee meetings at night.

“It doesn’t make any difference to me. I don’t have another job.”

Trash Talkin’: Most people around City Hall know council member Leslie Ghiz is a huge West Virginia University sports fan and that City Manager Milton Dohoney, Jr. is an equally large fan of the University of Louisville.

Ghiz issued a public bet to Dohoney Wednesday. The two football teams, both nationally ranked, play Thursday night.

“When the Mountaineers win I was thinking you could fly a Mountaineers flag on your office door for about a week, and I’ll do the same.”

After a comment out of range of the microphone, Ghiz laughed and said: “Yeah, if Louisville wins I’ll fly a Mountaineer flag on my door.”

Dohoney was game, and threw some smack back in Ghiz’s direction: “The manager humbly accepts, and in addition to the flag I’ll give you a box of Kleenex to dry your tears as you come to grips with how has the real team.”