Cincinnati’s Clerk of Council is a small office tasked with many important jobs, including telling the public when City Council meetings are scheduled and publishing an agenda for each meeting.
All items must be filed with the Clerk of Council, who publishes it on Legistar. You can browse items that have been officially filed on the “Search Agenda Items” tab (even if the item has not been put on an agenda yet).
The mayor decides which committee should consider each item, placing them on the agenda for referral. You can find agendas for each meeting on Legistar under the “Meeting Calendar” tab.
Meeting notices are published on Legistar; you can also contact the Clerk of Council (clerkofcouncil@cincinnati-oh.gov) to request email notifications for each agenda and meeting notifications.
Ordinance vs. motion vs. resolution
City Council votes on legislation (ordinances) that sets law within the city of Cincinnati, and decides how taxpayer dollars are spent. Council also votes on other items, including motions and resolutions. Here’s the difference between the three.
Ordinance: An ordinance is a law. If passed, it becomes part of Cincinnati’s Municipal Code of ordinances. An ordinance can only include one subject matter, and it can be introduced by a City Council member, the mayor or city administration.
An ordinance must pass through a committee vote before going up for a full City Council vote. Passage in committee requires majority support from members of that committee, not a majority of the full council.
At City Council, most ordinances need a simple majority to pass – five of nine votes. Some types of ordinances require a six-vote majority, including:
- to put a charter amendment on the ballot for voter consideration
- to pass an emergency measure (see below)
- to pass a zoning-related ordinance IF the Cincinnati Planning Commission did not recommend passage
A seven-vote majority is required in a handful of circumstances, including:
- to create, combine, abolish or decrease the powers of any department, division or board
- suspending a council member who is under indictment for a felony that relates to the performance of council duties
Once an ordinance has passed, it goes to the mayor to be signed into law.
If the mayor does not sign an ordinance within five days, it goes into effect anyway; if the mayor vetoes an ordinance, it goes back to City Council, which can override the veto with six affirmative votes. Vetos are rare in recent history.
Most ordinances go into effect 30 days after being signed by the mayor; some ordinances are written to go into effect after a longer period of time, and some ordinances are passed with an “emergency” clause that lets it go into effect immediately.
Motion: A motion is used to direct city administration on policy or to otherwise initiate action.
Council often passes a motion directing the administration to research and prepare a report on a specific topic; that report may eventually result in a change to city law via an ordinance, or it may not.
A motion may indicate Council’s intention to allocate funding for a specific purpose. This prompts the city’s law department to draft an ordinance with all the required legal language that actually appropriates the funding.
A motion must pass through a committee before going before full City Council for a vote.
You’ll hear the word “motion” used in other contexts, as well – like when a member makes a motion to amend legislation, or makes a motion to delay a vote on legislation.
Resolution: A simple resolution is a public statement expressing an opinion. Common simple resolutions include honoring a person or organization for their work to benefit Cincinnati, typically during a period like Black History Month or Pride Month.
Council sometimes passes a simple resolution opposing action or legislation at the state or federal level.
Simple resolutions are not legally binding and do not need to go through a committee. They are usually heard for the first time at a City Council meeting just before the vote.
A legislative resolution may be required by state law for routine actions, like certifying property tax millage for each calendar year, formally notifying the county auditor. A legislative resolution must pass through a committee before going before full City Council for a vote.
How to read a City Council agenda
Committee agendas are pretty straight-forward – you’ll often see a presentation listed, along with the name and title of the people presenting that information.
You’ll also see a list of items for consideration. Some don’t require a vote, like a report from the administration.
Items like motions and ordinances must get an affirmative vote from a majority of committee members before it can go before full City Council. Sometimes that will be a roll-call vote, where each member can say “yes” or “no.” For most routine items, the committee chair will say, “Without objection, we’ll put item number XX on for passage.” Unless another member asks for a roll-call vote at that point, the item will move forward to full Council.
The agenda for full City Council is a bit more confusing. Each item on the agenda is numbered and includes the following elements:
- A unique number (this is a clickable link that takes you to a page where you can download all documents associated with this item)
- A summary description of the item
- A recommendation – this indicates what will happen with each item
- The sponsor(s) of the item
The most common confusion about the City Council agenda is that council will not discuss many of the items listed. That’s because a lot of the items are simply on the agenda to be referred to a committee.
Near the beginning of each City Council meeting, the mayor will say something along the lines of, “Items one through XX as indicated,” referring to the “recommendation” for each item.
For an ordinance, motion or legislative resolution, the recommendation may list a committee where the item is being referred. If it already has passed a committee vote, the recommendation may be “PASS” or “PASS EMERGENCY,” indicating it will be called for a discussion and a vote.
Items like special event permit applications do not require a City Council vote, but appear on the agenda with “FILE” listed under recommendation; this is essentially an FYI for Council and the public.
Why does Council vote on the same item more than once?
You might hear City Council vote on a single ordinance two or three times – and a council member might even vote yes the first time, then vote no.
Most ordinances will have at least two votes (one for suspension, one for passage - always in that order) and some will have a third vote (for emergency, always last).
You can understand what’s going on by listening for the specific vote the mayor calls for.
'Roll call on suspension'
The city charter requires that an ordinance be “fully and distinctly read on three different days.”
Council nearly always suspends that rule with a vote; it requires at least seven votes, but typically it is unanimous.
An important note: Suspending the three readings rule does not mean that an ordinance can be introduced and passed on the same day without public notice. By this point in the process, an ordinance will already have appeared on the agenda for referral one or two weeks earlier, then been discussed and voted on in committee.
The mayor will introduce each ordinance on the agenda by saying, “item number XX first reading, please.” That prompts the Clerk of Council to read the summary of that ordinance (also written out in the agenda).
Immediately after the first reading, the mayor will ask the clerk for a “roll call on suspension.” At least seven members must vote yes. Only after council has voted to suspend the three readings rule can they discuss, debate and ultimately vote on passage.
'Roll call on passage'
This is the primary vote and it determines whether or not the ordinance passes.
It’s not uncommon for a council member to vote in favor of suspension even if they are opposed to the ordinance itself; that’s why the votes don’t always match.
'Roll call on emergency'
As explained above, an ordinance passed by City Council generally goes into effect 30 days after being signed by the mayor, unless it’s written to go into effect after a longer period of time.
City Council can pass an ordinance with an “emergency” clause to allow it to go into effect as soon as the mayor signs it. It requires a majority of six of nine votes in favor of the emergency.
If an ordinance gets the required majority during the passage vote, but fails to get six votes in favor of the emergency clause, the ordinance still passes but will go into effect according to the usual rules.
The charter doesn’t define what constitutes an emergency, but the ordinance must list the reason for the emergency. Common reasons include:
- Meeting a deadline for a grant application
- Accepting donated items and using them immediately
- Avoiding delays in development
An emergency ordinance cannot be repealed by voters in the way a non-emergency ordinance can.
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