Oh, What Fun At Finance Committee

Leslie Ghiz was mad. Council allotted $2.7 million last year for the police department to spend specifically on high-visibility overtime (walking patrols, mostly, council thought). And the department didn't spend it all.

She started the conversation in Monday's finance committee talking about the committee meeting from the week before, when she learned the money hadn't been spent. "To say that I was upset is putting it mildly."

Then she went farther, saying had she known when she took part in City Manager Milton Dohoney's evaluation this summer that the money wasn't being spent, she "wouldn't have been so kind." And later: "The number 1 thing we wanted done wasn't done."


Dohoney, as usual, stayed calm. Police Chief Tom Streicher? Not so much.


The chief told Ghiz that for every complaint she said she got from residents in Avondale, North Avondale, Westwood, Price Hill and other neighborhoods, he had 10 compliments, or maybe even 100.


"Am I saying to you I won't do it? No, I'm not," Streicher said. "There is no intention to defy you."


One City Hall aide did the math and pointed out that with $2.7 million, every one of Cincinnati's approximately 1,100 officers would have had had to work more than $2,400 worth of overtime. That would be on top of the overtime for court that's mandatory and on top of any other overtime they have to do when they get involved in an incident that extends beyond quitting time. And on top of any extra hours they spend working uniformed details for private-paying customers, like Kroger.


Dohoney let the exchange go on about 10 minutes before jumping in with: "The administration needs to respond differently to your directive. And we will do that."


So now, how much money should council give the department for 2008, given that Streicher said he didn't need this much? All nine council members were re-elected last month after campaigns that focused much attention on how much they'd tried to fight crime.