Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken is launching a war on bureaucracy that could significantly change the structure of City Hall.

        In his first week after being sworn in under a system that gives him considerably more power, Mr. Luken took steps to seize on that momentum and attempt to rein in a bureaucracy that has flourished for 76 years under the city manager system:

        • One proposal would move three jobs from the city manager's office to the mayor's office, with salaries totaling $148,612.

        The positions include two assistant city managers and a secretary.

        The proposal is sponsored by two councilmen — Republican Pat DeWine and Democrat John Cranley — who say the moves will implement changes envisioned by the voters when they approved the “strong mayor” form of government in 1999.

        • Mr. Luken has proposed elimination of two bureaucracies. The Safety Department would be eliminated, making the police and fire chiefs report directly to the city manager. He would also merge the Economic Development Department with the Department of Neighborhood Services.

        • Mr. Luken wants to move the city manager to the soon-to-be-vacant safety director's office down the hall, keeping the corner suite for his own expanded staff.

        “In the city manager form of government, the incentive is for the city manager to reward his constituency, which is city employees,” Mr. Cranley said.

        “By giving more power to the mayor, we break up that culture of administration, which only serves to protect the bureaucracy.”

        Mr. Luken, who campaigned on the premise that the city manager and the mayor would work as a “team,” said the moves would simply even up the workload between the two offices.

        But even with the support of a bipartisan group of council members, Mr. Luken may find that bureaucratic culture more difficult to change.

        Under the city's charter, it takes a three-fourths vote of City Council — seven votes — to abolish a department.

        And eliminating the Safety Department could be controversial, because the Fraternal Order of Police sees it as a “buffer” between the police chief and the politicians at City Hall, and some civil-rights groups see it as a level of oversight over the safety forces.

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