Contractual Documents and Invoices re: Cincinnati’s Public Safety Consultant Iris Roley

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VENDOR TRANSACTION HISTORY

VEND_TRAN_HIST__4_- Excell spreadsheet for Iris Roley listing 36 invoices and  payments totalling $382,194.97 for the period 4.7.22 through 12.30.24 

 

CONTRACTS

11.6.25 Iris-Roley-contract third amendment

 

Current:   Iris_Roley_PSC_101_35X051_Second_Amendment_-_FINAL   (May 1, 2024 through April 2027)

 

11.8.24 PSC_101_35X051_-_First_Amendement_-_Iris_Roley_-_FINAL (amends the contract to provide funding for the “Government Square Intiative.”)

 

5.4.23 Iris Roley contract for 2 year period May 2023 through April 2025  PSC_101_35X051_-_FINAL

 

2.15.22 Acting City Manager Memo re Iris Roley contract 2.15.22

 

2.7.22 Iris Roley Contract intial contract for the 9 month  period February 2022 – October 2022 PSC_101_25x075_-_FINAL

 

INVOICES

The city’s contracts with Iris Roley LLC required “detailed timekeeping” and “activity logs” submitted monthly.

The records provided in response to my records requests included  34 invoices covering parts of 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025  and the Gov’t Sq. Initiative for 2024 totalling $297,386

2022 Iris Roley LLC Invoices

2023 Iris Roley LLC Invoices

2024 Iris Roley LLC Invoices

2025 Iris Roley LLC Invoices

Govt Square Initiative Invoices for 2024

 

Class Action Lawsuit – 2020 Cincinnati Riots

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These documents include a copy of the original complaint filed against the city in the U.S. Distruct Court for Southern Ohio; the settlement agreement; and the proposed ordinance approving the $8.1 million payout for the settlement. The proposed ordinance will be voted upon at the city council meeting on December 10, 2025.

 

Cincinnati Riot Lawsuit_ Original Complaint

Cincinnati Riot Lawsuit Settlement Agreement

Cincinnati Riot Settlement_Ordinance

 

Assorted Financial Disclosure Reports for Cincinnati Officials

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As the examination of an official’s public disclosure reports seems relevant, they will be posted here. Information about how to obtain disclosure reports directly from the Ohio Commission on Ethics can be found at: https://ethics.ohio.gov/fds/index.html

Mayor Pureval

Pureval, Aftab 2022  Pureval, Aftab 2023  Pureval, Aftab 2024

Cincinnati Administrative Regulations – Watchdog Edition (November 2025)

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/13_pHCFlOsW6mGV1AhlguYjJSGx2AtQv5/view?usp=sharing

 

The Administrative Regulations of the City of Cincinnati establish the internal operating policies, procedures, and standards that guide municipal governance. Despite their significance, these
regulations have not been broadly accessible to the public in a unified format. This Watchdog Edition consolidates all Administrative Regulations provided by the City in response to a public records request fulfilled on November 20, 2025. Its purpose is to offer a clear, searchable reference that enhances transparency, supports public understanding, and assists anyone seeking insight into the City’s administrative framework. As additional regulations are released or amended, future editions may be prepared to reflect updates. This publication is provided as a public service by The Cincinnati Oversight Project.

Navigation Note:

This is the first public release of the complete Administrative Regulations of the City of Cincinnati. In a future update, we plan to add bookmarks and other internal navigation tools to make the document easier to move through. For now, this Watchdog Edition provides the full set of regulations, organized, indexed, and optimized for public access

Reports from Cincinnati’s Internal Auditor

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There have been a couple of good reports that the city’s Internal Audit Manager has issued. One of the early podcasts is about the city’s internal audit function for the city where I talk about the overall operation from what I could see, including a discussion of the reports.

When I come across audit reports of interest, they will be posted here.

 

REDI Cincinnati Contract Compliance Audit (1)

 

Vehicle Purchase and Replacement Audit (1)

 

Lead Service Line Replacement Program Audit

 

The WIC Program Audit 

 

 

 

 

Open Records Laws and Regulations in Ohio and Cincinnati

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This folder will collect information about the laws, rules, and regulations for making requests for public records in Ohio and Cincinnati. The collection will begin with the Ohio Attorney General’s 2025 Manual on Ohio Sunshine Laws.

As I noted in a recent Facebook post, I will need to make a public records request for Cincinnati’s Administrative Regulation No. 32, “Public Records Request,” and will include the regulation in this folder, if/when I obtain a copy.

 

2025-Sunshine-Law-Manual_WEB

Cleveland study finds no systemic bias in police searches

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City Hires Independent Firm, Led by Nationally-Renowned Harvard Economist, Who Finds No Evidence of Systemic Racial Bias in Police Searches _ City of Cleveland Ohio

Collaborative Agreement and Refresh

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The Collaborative Agreement was the result of the settlement of a federal complaint against the City of Cincinnati by the ACLU and the Cincinnati Black United Front. It was agreed to in April 2002 for a 5 year period. The complaint concerned allegations against the Cincinnati Police stemming from the 2001 riots in Cincinnati. The Collaborative Agreement has governed the relationship between the police and the community since then based on the city’s desire to maintain community policing.

Episode 27 includes a discussion of the Collaborative and the city’s “Collaborative Agreement Sustainability Initiatives Consultant.”  As documents related to Collaborative Agreement come to my attention, they will be posted here.

Collaborative-Agreement

Collaborative Agreement Timeline

Memo re Iris Roley contract 2.15.22

Contact Us – Police

Collaborative Agreement Sustainability Agreement Mananger selection 9.5.18

collaborative path forward memo 2.12.19

collaborative refresh memo and Saul Green contract June 2, 2017

collaborative refresh plan update 2019

Lead Service Line Replacement Program Audit (August 2025)

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Lead Service Line Replacement Program Audit

 

It looks like the city’s Internal Audit Manager is on a hot streak. I wrote earlier this year about her last audit involving the Regional Economic Development Initiative (REDI).  One of the findings in that audit was that REDI could not account for $14,000 in unsupported claims.

Now, in August, the auditor reported that a GCWW (Greater Cincinnati Water Works) employee “misappropriated’ the lead pipes that were scrapped in the Lead Service Line Replacement Program, “for personal gain.”

The only thing we know for sure is that the “in-house lead crew,” was “dismantled and disciplined.” The report does not indicate how many employees were involved, how long the scheme continued, how it was detected, an estimate of the “misappropriation,” whether the matter was referred to law enforcement, etc.

The members of the “in-house lead crew” refused to be interviewed!

Unfortunately, the Internal Audit Manager’s audits and reports are not hard-hitting.  They tend to lack a lot of important details about the story.  As a result, the reports, knowingly or unknowingly,  contribute to what seems to be the city manager’s interest in keeping a lid on problems. That is the exact opposite of what the city manager should be doing. She should be ferreting out the problems in the city’s operations, not downplaying them to the public. In this case as well as the REDI case, the audit reports are just scratching the surface.

 

A Couple of Data Points about CPD Staffing

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CPD Staffing projections 2026-2027

I am posting page 44 from the city’s 2026-2027 Biennial Budget and page 306 from the city’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, which is the most current ACFR.

First, the biennial budget was passed by the city council in June 2025. It includes a table on page 44 with staffing “projections” for sworn police officers for July 2025, July 2026, and July 2027.

As you can see, even though the mayor, city manager and city council members are all now saying that they have been increasing the number of sworn police officers, the 2026-2027 budget tells a different story.

The 2026-2027 budget that the city council just passed a couple of months ago in June 2025, “projects” a decline of 33 sworn officers between July 2025 and June 2027. Obviously, the mayor and city council were satisfied with that projected reduction in the number of sworn police officers. At least that is how it looks to me.

 

CPD Staffing 2024 ACFR

Second, unfortunately, there is a lengthy lag time before the ACFR is certified by the State Auditor every year. So, the June 2024 report is the most current financial report available.

Schedule 2 of the ACFR got my attention. For the police, Schedule 2 provides data about the number of Service Calls, Arrests, and Reports Filed for the past ten years.

Check out the steep reduction (39%) in the number of arrests in 2021 and another steep reduction (38%) in arrests in 2022. For 2023 and 2024 the number of arrests has stayed relatively constant below 9000 arrests.

According to Schedule 2, CPD made 20,130 fewer arrests in 2024 compared to 2015.  There are, of course, a number of factors that must be identified to explain the steep reductions in arrests over the past several years.  But perhaps the reason for Cincinnati’s crime problem is simply because CPD is not making as many arrests every year as it used to.