How much should Cincinnati City Council members know about the people who work for them?

        That was the debate at City Council's Finance Committee on Tuesday, as some members of City Council sought access to a sensitive human resources database with information on more than 6,000 city employees.

        Led by Finance Committee Chairman John Cranley, the council members want the detailed employee information to better prepare for the 2003-04 budget.

        But the effort is raising questions about how much privacy city employees (who, after all, are paid by taxpayers) can come to expect.

        Most of the information in the database — employee names, positions and job histories — is a matter of public record.

        Some is not. It's illegal to release Social Security numbers, medical information, and the home addresses of police officers. And information about how much employees pay in taxes is confidential even to City Council members.

        And then there's information that's public record, but could be embarrassing: salaries, wage garnishments and disciplinary action.

        Only about 12 city employees — all sworn to secrecy — have full access to the database, with others having limited access to their departments. Giving council members and their staffs that information could double that number.

        One solution — to separate public from non-public information — could require expensive software patches, said Finance Director Bill Moller.

        With the high turnover in council offices, Councilwoman Alicia Reece said it would be hard to control what council aides do with the information once they leave the city.

        Councilman David Crowley said that even if the system were made available to him, he probably wouldn't use it.

        “What public policy matter is so crucial that we have to take the chance of violating the confidentiality of even one of our employees?” Mr. Crowley said.

        Mr. Cranley's response: “We have a $27 million deficit to make up. We need access to information.”

        Your tax money: Mayor Charlie Luken believes so strongly in the Summer Youth Employment Initiative that he asked City Council to take $12,500 from his own office budget to help fund it.

        Mr. Luken's contribution will go toward a program that will employ 16 “green teens” to maintain the 200 oversized flower pots popping up downtown as part of the Flower Power event.

        Clinton watch: It's been more than three weeks since former President Bill Clinton offered to come to Cincinnati to help with the city's racial problems.

        He can probably forget about the engraved invitation from the mayor's office. Planning a Clinton visit — never a high priority for Mr. Luken — seems like it's slowly dropping off the mayor's agenda altogether.

        Officially, the mayor's office says only that staffers for Mr. Luken and Mr. Clinton are still playing phone tag.

        “I'm not sure whose turn it is to return calls,” said Mr. Luken's spokesman, Brendon Cull.
       City Hall reporter Gregory Korte can be reached at 768-8391 or gkorte@enquirer.com.

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