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
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
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
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.
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 Timeline
Memo re Iris Roley contract 2.15.22
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
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.
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.
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.
In November 2023, the city “restructured” our police districts. District 5 was eliminated. The Cincinnati Police Department had been operating out of 5 Districts for 150 years. Mayor Purveal and the current city council (currently up for reelection) decided that they did not want to invest $20 million in a new HQ for District 5, which had been in the works for 7 years, so they came up with a “restructuring plan” for the police. The effective date of District 5’s elimination was November 12, 2023.
On 8.14.25, I submitted a public records request for any evaluation of the restructuring. On 8.18.25, I receved a response. Two powerpoint slide decks were provided as responsive documents. One was the 2024 “Year in Review,” for the police and the other was “Change in Response Times, Redistricting 90 Day Comparison.”
One unusual thing about the city’s responsive documents is that the “Comparison” slide deck is dated 8.18.25, which is after my public records request. So, it looks like they did do an analysis but never issued it publicly. What does that tell you?
The slide deck does its best to confuse the issue, but the fact is that a proper evaluation of the restructuring involves more than an analysis of response times. A lot more.
In episode 28 of “Citizen Watchdog with Todd Zinser,” I discuss how the elimination of District 5 is a prime example of how this mayor, this city council, and this city manager are disinvesting in public safety.
Cincinnati_Police_Department_-_Year_End_2024_Review (1)
Response_Time_Presentation_-_Wide_Screen (1)
Yahoo Mail – Follow up to public comments on 9.17.25 re District 5