100 years of charter government in Cincinnati

Dot ChristensonProject ChairCharter Committee of Gr. CincinnatiOne hundred years ago Cincinnati citizens rose up against political corruption and amended the City Charter to adopt a Council/City Manager form of government. The new 1924 Charter replaced a patronage and spoils system with a professional city manager, competitive bidding for city contracts, a civil service system instead of bribery and nepotism, candidate selection by petition, and proportional representation voting.  The result was dramatic: balanced representation on City Council, Council control of the budget, elimination of previously required city employee kickbacks, and bribery for contracts. Cincinnati went from its national reputation as the worst managed city in the country to the best managed over the next decade.ProvidedThanks to the new proportional representation (now called Ranked choice voting), the first African American, Frank A.B. Hall, was elected to Council in 1931. By 1935 the first woman was elected. Since 1924, 27 minority members have served on Council and five have been Mayor: Theodore Berry, Ken Blackwell, Dwight Tillery, Mark Mallory and Aftab Pureval.ProvidedThe 1924 Charter has been amended many times. In the 1990’s, the Council candidate who received the most votes became mayor. Later, mayor and Council terms increased from two to four year...