By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Just two days after Cincinnati police officers ratified a two-year contract with the city in a tight vote, City Council members are suggesting they may vote it down because it still allows the union to protest the city manager's hiring of assistant police chiefs.

By refusing to insist on changes that would deny assistant police chiefs civil service protection, the city manager negotiated a contract that directly conflicts with a 2001 amendment to the city charter, said Councilman Pat DeWine.

"The city manager should explain why she just thumbed her nose at all the people in the city who voted for Issue 5," he said.

Mr. DeWine was a chief supporter of last year's Issue 5, a post-riot reform that removed the police chief, assistant chiefs and other city officials from civil service protection.

At the heart of the issue is a dispute over which law prevails: the city's charter, which says the city manager can hire and fire assistant police chiefs at will, or the recently signed Fraternal Order of Police contract, which says she can't.

It's not an academic question. City Manager Valerie Lemmie has already said she will look outside the Cincinnati Police Department to replace Lt. Col. Ronald J. Twitty, who resigned after being found guilty of attempting to cover up an accident in his city car.

Capt. Stephen Gregoire has filed a grievance and a lawsuit, saying he should be next in line for the job.

Ms. Lemmie said she couldn't force the FOP to accept the change, but believes the city will win out in court if the FOP tries to block her appointment. "We did put some language on the table to try to clarify this and that was a non-starter," she said. "They refused to negotiate that."

Supporting her is Mayor Charlie Luken, who said he stands behind the contract and believes the administration got the best deal it could.

"Who is in the bargaining unit is not even something we can negotiate," he said. "What does DeWine want us to do? We got at the number one complaint, which is the arbitration process, getting bad cops off the street. And the FOP was willing to work with us on that. We made some improvements. And if we vote this down, we lose the whole thing."

It's unclear whether City Council will refuse to ratify the contract because of the dispute. Finance Committee Chairman John Cranley, whose committee will consider the contract Monday, said City Council would never vote for a contract that clearly violates the charter. He's just not sure if it's that clear-cut.

"I think everything's a possibility right now, because I don't think any of us have a sense of what the facts are," he said. "I've never been so confused before."

City Council's approval was expected to be a formality after the FOP approved the contract in balloting that ended Wednesday. Officers voted 210-191 for the contract, with supervisors voting 83-47.

FOP Vice President Keith Fangman blasted City Council members for interfering with the tentative contract, saying the issue will ultimately be up to the courts.

"Under no circumstances while I am in a leadership position with the FOP will we sell out any of our members, including the four assistant chiefs," he said. "The primary and most important reason why we feel so strongly about this is because by having the assistant chiefs in the bargaining unit, we can protect them from political predators like Pat DeWine."

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com