Council convened in Council Chamber at 6:00 p.m., Mayor Mallory Presiding. Present were Councilmembers Berding, Bortz, Cole, Cranley, Crowley, Ghiz, Monzel, Qualls and Thomas (9)

Also in attendance were City Manager Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Solicitor Rita McNeil and Clerk of Council Melissa Autry

Council observed a moment of silent prayer and recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

There being no objection, Minutes of the previous session Council were ordered Filed.

Items on the Council Calendar and items presented by-leave were disposed of as follows:

APPOINTMENT, dated 11/19/2007 submitted by Mayor Mallory, recommending the appointment of Deborah K. Gaines to the Civil Service Commission. Ms. Gaines is a practitioner of law with a professional career of adjudication in the Cincinnati legal system. Ms. Gaines will replace the vacancy created by the expiration of the term held by Ms. Margaret Allen. Ms. Gaines will serve a six-year term that ends on December 31, 2013.

COMMUNICATION, dated 11/20/2007 submitted by Councilmembers Cole and Qualls, from Tim Jeckering President, Northside Community Council, P.O. Box 23324, Cincinnati, Ohio 45223 regarding the Chase School Site.

ORDINANCE (EMERGENCY) submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 12/05/2007, approving payment in the amount of $12,000.00 to Pleasant Ridge Community Council for technical consulting fees incurred in the monitoring of the Hilton Davis environmental remediation site.

ORDINANCE (EMERGENCY) submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 12/5/2007, authorizing the City Manager to apply and accept a grant from the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service through the State of Ohio Historic Preservation Office for Federal Fiscal Year 2008 Certified Local Government Subgrant funds in the amount of $29,072.50 to conduct an educational project on the barriers and opportunities associated with environmentally sensitive redevelopment historic properties, using examples in the Over-the-Rhine community of the City of Cincinnati.

ORDINANCE (EMERGENCY) submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 12/5/2007, authorizing the City Manager to apply for and accept a grant from the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service through the State of Ohio Historic Preservation Office of Federal Fiscal Year 2008 Certified Local Government Subgrant funds in the amount of $10,000 for the restoration of the George Hatch House in the West End community of the City of Cincinnati.

ORDINANCE submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 12/5/2007, authorizing the sale of Burke Avenue, south of Fairfax Avenue to Ray Courtney, Katherine B. Alley, J. Franklin Hall and Suzanne M. Hall, which real property is no longer needed for any municipal purpose.

ORDINANCE (EMERGENCY) submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 12/5/20007, authorizing the City Manager to apply for and accept a grant in the amount of approximately $27,020.00 from the Ohio Department of Youth Services for the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant for the purpose of enforcing curfew, including the use of home visits to address repeat offenders.

ORDINANCE (EMERGENCY) submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager on 12/5/2007, amending Ordinance No. 182-2007 [Community Reinvestment Area - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ["LEED"], to more clearly define the eligibility requirements and the nature and length of real property tax exemptions of the assessed property value of newly constructed or rehabilitated industrial, commercial or residential properties, if the property is constructed or rehabilitated to LEED Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum standards, as defined and certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

ORDINANCE (EMERGENCY) submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 12/5/2007, authorizing the transfer of the sum of $5,000.00 within General Fund 050 for the purpose of adjusting the office budget of Councilmember John Cranley.

ORDINANCE (EMERGENCY) submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 12/5/2007, authorizing the transfer of the sum of $1,486,850 within the General Fund from and to various operating accounts for the purpose of appropriating the 2007 contractual lump sum payments for employees belonging to AFSCME Ohio Council 8 and its six constituent local unions (AFSCME).

ORDINANCE (EMERGENCY) submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 12/5/2007, authorizing the transfer of the sum of $1,192,070 from various restricted fund accounts to other restricted fund accounts for the purpose of appropriating the 2007 contractual lump sum payments for employees belonging to AFSCME Ohio Council 8 and its six constituent local unions (AFSCME), and APPROPRIATING certain amounts from the Unappropriated Surplus for this same purpose.

ORDINANCE, (EMERGENCY) dated 12/5/2007 submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, AUTHORIZING the transfer of the sum of $10,000.00 within the General Fund 050 for the purpose of adjusting the office budget of Councilmember Roxanne Qualls.

RESOLUTION submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 12/5/2007, declaring the necessity of assessing for various types of special street lighting for three years, beginning August 1, 2007, on numerous streets within the City of Cincinnati.

RESOLUTION submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 12/5/2007, designating specific City personnel to request advances from the Auditor of Hamilton County as required by Section 321.34 of the Ohio Revised Code and requesting that the Auditor of Hamilton County draw, and the Treasurer of Hamilton County pay on such draft to the Treasurer of the City of Cincinnati weekly beginning January 2, 2008, funds derived from taxes which may be in the county treasury to the account of the City of Cincinnati.

ORDINANCE, dated 11/30/2007 submitted by Charles C. Graves III, Director of City Planning, APPROVING and adopting the Kennedy Heights Neighborhood Business District Urban Design Plan (the "Plan") as the City's planning guide for the Kennedy Heights Neighborhood Business District. (APPROVED BY CITY PLANNING COMMISSION 10/19/2007)(HEARING TO BE HELD BEFORE THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2007 AT 12:00 P.M.)

ORDINANCE, dated 11/30/2007 submitted by Charles C. Graves, III, Director, Department of City Planning, Establishing Urban Design Overlay District (UD) No. 14 Kennedy Heights Business District, as an overlay district, pursuant to Chapter 1437, Urban Design Overlay District, of the Cincinnati Zoning Code. (APPROVED BY THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION 10/19/2007) (PUBLIC HEARING TO BE HELD BEFORE THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2007 AT 12:00 P.M.)

MEMO, dated 11/27/2007 submitted by the Clerk of Council, from Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, regarding Absence or Disability of City Manager.

MOTION, dated 11/15/2007, submitted by Vice-Mayor Crowley and Councilmembers Qualls, Berding, Cranley, Bortz, Thomas, Cole and Ghiz, that City Council establish a Task Force to make recommendations to the City Council to insure the long-term solvency of the Cincinnati Retirement System (CRS). This Task Force should examine the actuarial assumptions underlying projections of the financial condition of the CRS, the impact of current and future retiree health care benefits on the CRS, and the impact of any changes in health care benefits on the solvency of the CRS. This Task Force should recommend to the Mayor and the City Council (BALANCE OF MOTION ON FILE) (STATEMENT ATTACHED)

ORDINANCE submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 10/24/2007, approving and authorizing the execution of a Community Reinvestment Area Tax Exemption Agreement with KMS Realty, LTD, thereby authorizing real property tax exemption for a period of fifteen years in connection with construction of a restaurant building located at 1216 East McMillan Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45206, at an estimated cost of $1,300,000.00 in the City of Cincinnati Community Reinvestment Area.

ORDINANCE (EMERGENCY) submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 11/7/2007 authorizing the transfer of the sum of $50,000.00 from existing HOME project account 411x162x19080, Homeowner Infill and Rehab Program to existing HOME project account 411x162x79500, American Dream Down Payment Initiative; and further authorizing the transfer of the sum of $200,000.00 from existing HOME project account 411x162x79007, Rental Rehab, to existing HOME project account 411x162x79500, American Dream Down Payment Initiative, both for the purpose of providing for down payment and closing cost assistance to individuals and families whose household income does not exceed 80% of the area median income.

ORDINANCE submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 11/28/2007, to levy special assessments on property for the total cost of securing unsafe buildings and demolishing condemned buildings pursuant to R.C. 715.261.

ORDINANCE (EMERGENCY) submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 11/28/2007, authorizing the City Manager to apply for and accept a grant in the approximate amount of $150,000.00 from the Ohio Department of Transportation, Office of Aviation, under the FY-2008 Ohio Airport Grant Program, for the purpose of funding the reconstruction of taxiway "D" at Cincinnati Municipal Airport - Lunken Field.

ORDINANCE submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 11/28/2007, authorizing the City Manager to execute a release of mortgage on property located on 509 East Thirteenth Street.

ORDINANCE (EMERGENCY) submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 11/28/2007, authorizing the City Manager to apply for and accept a grant of approximately $55,000.00 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency ("FEMA") through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program for the purpose of providing funding for training to firefighters and the purchase of fire safety equipment to aid in the Cincinnati Fire Department's ongoing efforts to protect low-income families from fire hazards and to educate the community about fire safety.

ORDINANCE (EMERGENCY) submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 11/28/2007, amending Ordinance No. 385-2002, which established Fund 377, "Citizen Safety Fund," for the purpose of renaming the fund the "Safe and Clean Fund" to be funded by the City's billboard leases with Lamar and Norton and expanding the permissible uses of Fund 377; and further authorizing the annual deposit of $50,000 from the revenues generated by the City's billboard leases with Lamar and Norton into Fund 377 for the duration of the leases.

REPORT, dated 11/28/2007, submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, regarding the Department of Finance reports for the month ended October 31, 2007. (REPORT ON FILE IN CLERK'S OFFICE)

ORDINANCE submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 11/28/2007, authorizing the donation by the Cincinnati Police Department ("CPD") of equipment specifically two 40 millimeter foam guns, determined by the City Manager to be no longer needed for municipal purposes, to the Hamilton County Police Association.

ORDINANCE submitted by Milton Dohoney, Jr., City Manager, on 11/28/2007, modifying the provisions of Cincinnati Municipal Code Chapter 717, "Registration of Convicted Persons" by amending existing Section 717-1, "Registration by Persons Convicted of Certain Crimes," Section 717-2, "Registration of Persons Convicted of Violent Personal Crimes," Section 717-3, "Photograph and Fingerprints," Section 717-11, "Failure to Furnish Information Unlawful" and Section 717-16 "Neighborhood Notification"; and further repealing Section 717-15, "Records not to be Public," in order to reflect changes to Ohio Revised Code the Cincinnati Police Department's organizational structure for consistency purposes.

COMMUNICATION, 11/26/2007 submitted by Councilmember Qualls, from David White, President, Pendleton Neighborhood Council, 1326 Broadway, #1, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 regarding saving the community green space, Pendleton Park.

RESOLUTION, dated 12/4/2007 submitted by Councilmember Qualls, CELEBRATING THE LIFE of Helen Hinckley, who passed away November 30, 2007, and expressing City Council's condolences to her family and to the community.