The mayor and the city manager are talking about shaking up City Hall.

        It's less than 12 hours after Charlie Luken's election as Cincinnati's first strong mayor in 76 years — and he has a plan. He lays it out in John Shirey's office. Abolish some city departments; restructure others; increase mayoral powers.

Shirey

        The meeting is casual, low-key; the mayor is tieless, dressed for vacation. Mr. Shirey agrees with most of what the mayor says. In fact, he's made the same recommendations in the past. Says after the mayor gets back from Florida, maybe they can put a plan together, make an announcement.

        Mr. Luken leans forward. “Oh, I already made the announcement. I had a press conference 10 minutes ago.”

        Mr. Shirey says he was too stunned to react.

Luken

        “I thought we were just sharing ideas,” he says.

        In a city that for months has been besieged with political uncertainty, maybe it is not surprising that Cincinnati's new mayor wouldn't involve the outgoing chief executive in discussions about where the city is headed.

        Community leaders and business executives say it's more than that. They say the city has been stuck in neutral for months. Meanwhile, development in other pockets of the Tristate — particularly, Northern Kentucky's riverfront — has boomed.

        It's an inertia they see caused by a complete change of management at City Hall — from an outgoing city manager to a new mayor — that has left departments without permanent directors and staff members in an anxious wait-and-see mode.

        And while Mr. Shirey struck a deal in May to resign Dec. 1 in order to avoid being fired, a new city manager hasn't been selected and the uncertainty will likely continue into the new year.

        All this comes at a critical time: The city is still recovering from its worst civil unrest in 30 years while facing next year's anticipated budget deficit of $25 million.

        While some say the city is about to rebound with Mr. Luken picking up the reins, others aren't so sure.

        “Over the last six months there has been a loss of confidence in the city,” says Ken Schuermann, senior vice president of Duke Realty, Cincinnati's largest commercial real estate developer. ""There seems to be an overall lack of accountability. An inability for decisions to be made.”

WHO'S OUT

Key Cincinnati government positions vacated in the last six months     Since April, four supervisors in some of the most critical departments have left City Hall.     • Less than a week after the April riots erupted, Public Safety Director Kent Ryan stepped down for health reasons, although some lawmakers said he was being scapegoated for the city's response to the civil unrest.     • In June, Economic Development Director Evonne Kovach, who only seven months before had been recruited from her job as Lockland village administrator, resigned. She cited frustration with city bureaucracy.     • In June, City Manager John Shirey replaced Kimberlee Gray, the long-time acting supervisor of the Office of Municipal Investigations, after she accused the city manager of attempting to block probes into possible wrongdoing by other city officials.     Glenda Smith-Johnston, a lawyer with the Hamilton County Public Defender's office, was hired to run OMI but was replaced after four months on the job because of disagreements with Mr. Shirey.     • In September, Deputy City Manager Richard Mendes left the city for a job in San Diego. To replace Mr. Mendes, Finance Director Tim Riordan was named acting deputy city manager and his assistant was made acting finance director. Mr. Riordan has accepted Mayor Charlie Luken's offer to take over as interim city manager on Dec. 1 while the search for a permanent manager continues.

        That is particularly true of economic development, he says, which doesn't seem to have a clear direction.

        “I think it's at the bottom,” Mr. Schuermann says.“It has to get better; it can't get any worse.”

        The city's staff seems frozen in place, he says, and as a result, three or four projects have not made any progress. He wouldn't discuss specifics about the projects.

        “There just hasn't been the kind of cooperation that is needed,” he says.

Progress stalled

        Frank Hollister, president of the East Price Hill Improvement Association, agrees.

        He says the uncertainty can be measured in the way the city responds to its neighborhoods. Specifically, he points to the City Neighborhood Action Strategy, which was started several years ago as a way to address community concerns.

        “Nothing has happened in the last year,” he says. “We've had the same issues on the table for a year, and community attendance is down to about two people.”

        When the program was first started, Mr. Hollister says answers to community questions came back quickly and city departments were well-represented at meetings. Now, many departments don't bother attending.

        “It's so far afield, it is pathetic,” he says.

        Mr. Hollister is hopeful that Mr. Luken will help get the city back on track.

        And he doesn't think the city manager is responsible for where the city is right now.

        “John (Shirey) gave his heart and soul to this city and he definitely was not rewarded for it,” Mr. Hollister says. “In the last six months, department heads don't seem to be paying much attention to John.”

        Mr. Luken makes no bones about it: “There has been a malaise.”

        He says questions over Mr. Shirey's position and the transition to a strong mayor have prompted some officials to hold back.

        “John is a lame duck and he's been acting like it,” Mr. Luken says. “He has not physically been engaged in what is happening here.”

        Mr. Luken says he wasn't intentionally snubbing the city manager by leaving him out of the news conference.

        “That reflects the attitude I have that I will set the course for this city. It is the city manager's job to implement it,” he says. “There has been some uncertainty about who would be mayor. Now people know.”

        The mayor acknowledges that he must act in and out of City Hall.

Numerous changes

        The last six months have brought many personnel changes. Some can be linked directly to questions over who would assume control of the city and its 6,600 employees after Mr. Shirey leaves and Mr. Luken becomes responsible for selecting the next city manager.

        Since April, four key supervisors have left City Hall and five positions have been filled with interim directors.

        Those include positions in some of the most controversial and important areas within city management, including the Department of Public Safety, Office of Municipal Investigations, Economic Development and the city manager's office.

        The director of another key department — Neighborhood Services — was appointed in January to her first government post after years in the banking industry.

        The transition and turnover have been frustrating for Steve Schreiber, member and former president of Clifton Town Meeting.

        “The situation is pretty obvious. It's difficult when you have vacancies in various departments,” he says.

        He points to problems with a longtime neighborhood project involving the construction of a parking garage topped by a library.

        “We've gone through two (economic development) officers who worked with us on the project, who are no longer with the department.”

        Mr. Schreiber says he's optimistic that the city will rebound, but he's not sure whether Mr. Luken's new job will help or hinder.

        “I'm not sure it is so much about a person as it is a system,” he says. “The continuity factor is a problem, or lack of continuity.”

        Mr. Shirey says that is inevitable.

        “With the advent of a new government, there will be uncertainty for a while,” says Mr. Shirey, who in eight years as city manager was responsible for hiring nearly every city department head.

"There's no plan'

        But with all the other factors, S. Gregory Baker says, city employees have become anxious about their jobs.

        “There's no plan,” says Mr. Baker, who is now acting safety director, overseeing the police and fire divisions.

        That goes for his own office, which has been targeted by the mayor for elimination. While employees realize they won't be fired, Mr. Baker says, there has been little communication from the mayor about the transition.

        Mr. Baker says he will work in any direction to help bring the city out of its current state. There are just too many unknown quantities.

        Since Mr. Luken's news conference, Mr. Shirey says, he has become less of a manager and more of a counselor to employees afraid of losing their jobs.

        “Lots of people are asking me about their positions and what it will be like here after the (changes) take effect,” Mr. Shirey says.

        He has one piece of advice for employees: “Keep doing a good job and there will be a future for you.”

        But he disagrees that the city is suffering from a malaise or has become stagnant. He says the city is getting things done — the latest being the creation of a new city budget for 2002.

        “The so-called transition is very short,” Mr. Shirey says. “I am here making decisions every day. I will be making them until the day I leave.”
       
       

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