Cincinnati's city manager is just two votes away from losing his job.

        Three City Council members said Friday they will vote to get rid of John Shirey at Wednesday's council meeting. Mr. Shirey declined comment on Friday.

        What makes this different from several other attempts to oust Mr. Shirey is that only two council members have pledged to support him. That's one less than Mr. Shirey had on his side earlier in the week.

        Councilman Paul Booth, who was against firing the city manager, said Friday he is now undecided on Mr. Shirey's future.

CITY MANAGER VS. CITY COUNCIL

Shirey    If Cincinnati City Council votes next week on ousting City Manager John Shirey, it will be the second time in six months that Mr. Shirey's job has been publicly challenged by a council member. In November, former Councilman Todd Portune asked the manager to resign.    In recent interviews, Mr. Shirey has described himself as hard-working and dedicated. Any hiccups in City Hall have been attributed to council members' conflicting agendas, he said.    Hired in 1993, Mr. Shirey makes about $149,000 a year to oversee the city's 7,000 employees. He has the longest tenure of any Cincinnati city manager since 1963.    But he has not received a raise — or had a performance review from council — since 1999. In January, the council considered giving the manager a 3 percent raise, but Mayor Charlie Luken cast the deciding “no” vote.    In February, Mr. Shirey was a finalist for a city manager job in Fort Worth, Texas, but withdrew his application.

INFOGRAPHIC

• What council members say about Shirey

        He joins three other council members who also say they are unsure how they will vote. All have voiced complaints about Mr. Shirey's performance in the past.

        “We have to have a decision made, say what we think and then move on,” said Councilman Chris Monzel, who is among the undecided. “If we do vote and there is not enough to fire him, then I don't want to hear any more complaining about it.”

        The decision to put Mr. Shirey's job to a public vote came after a botched attempt by Councilman James Tarbell to oust the city manager privately.

        After the city's worst riots in 30 years, Mr. Tarbell said he lost confidence in Mr. Shirey. He said the city manager failed to take decisive action on claims of police misconduct and for years has ignored declining conditions in Over-the-Rhine.

        Those two things combined to help escalate a communitywide furor that erupted in riots after the April 7 police shooting of an unarmed black man, Mr. Tarbell said.

        “I feel totally helpless right now,” he said.
       

Tarbell leads charge

        In a series of private meetings, Mr. Tarbell — a Charterite and a longtime supporter of Mr. Shirey — failed to get a majority of his colleagues to fire the city manager. But his effort was damaged because he discussed the move only with white council members, leaving the three African-American members out of it.

        Those council members — Mr. Booth, Minette Cooper and Alicia Reece, all Democrats — are all undecided on the manager's fate. While all three have expressed frustration over the city manager's handling of various issues, they also said they were insulted and upset at being left out of a decision as important as getting rid of the manager.

        “There are and always have been issues with the city manager,” Mr. Booth said. “The timing is just poor.”

        If the city gets rid of the manager now, he said, it might appear that officials are assigning blame for the riots instead of trying to rebuild the city.

        Mr. Tarbell called for Wednesday's vote. And this time he said he will make sure all council members have a chance to be heard on the issue.

        He said the three African-American council members were left out because Mayor Charlie Luken flip-flopped on firing the manager. He said Mr. Luken had agreed to broach the topic with all the Democrats but did not do it.

        Mr. Luken, who has been an outspoken supporter of Mr. Shirey, denies that conversation took place. He said Friday that firing the city manager doesn't make sense.

        “The city does not need any more divisiveness,” he said. “If we fire the city manager at this time, we're not going to get a number of highly qualified candidates to replace him.”

        Councilman John Cranley agreed that the timing was wrong. “What's the point of doing it now?” he asked.

        Mr. Shirey, he added, at least “knows the system.”

        In November, residents for the first time in 70 years will directly elect a mayor with enhanced powers, including the ability to hire and fire the city manager.

        Councilmen Phil Heimlich and Pat DeWine have wanted to get rid of the city manager for months and said they will vote to fire Mr. Shirey.

        Mr. Heimlich said it is an issue of integrity.

        “It's wrong to make him a sacrificial lamb for the events of the past weeks,” he said of the riots, but “we have to demand forthrightness among city officials. Sadly, we haven't gotten that from Mr. Shirey.”
       

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