Some City Council members have been acting up a lot lately.

First, there was John Cranley and David Pepper's "Economic Growth and Fairness Act," which, among other things, called for the mayor to appoint an economic-development task force.

That was a tough act to follow, but Pat DeWine introduced a proposal to require city departments to disclose the cost of each printing. He called it the "Taxpayer Protection Act."

Last week, Alicia Reece proposed the "Recreation Improvement and Fiscal Responsibility Act," which proposed taking money for recreation centers from one pot of money instead of another.

And then DeWine and Crowley joined in the "Taxpayer Protection Act" (again), but this time it would ask the city manager to draft new rules prohibiting city employees from lobbying City Council.

Who could be against economic growth, taxpayer protection and recreation? Not Mayor Charlie Luken.

"I do like the panache we give to things these days," he observed last week.

What's with the act? Perhaps City Council members are trying to make even mundane legislation seem more important. Maybe it says something about the ambition of this young group of legislators, at least some of whom no doubt will go on to propose Acts of Congress.

"In Congress, everything's called the `Taxpayer Protection Act,'" said Luken, a former one-term congressman.

"In Congress, this would be called the `DeWine Taxpayer Protection Act,'" DeWine retorted.

Pepper said council members should think before they act.

"It's frankly embarrassing," Pepper said.

"It's getting silly. If we're going to call something an `act,' it should be some sweeping change. What we passed today was a motion requesting that someone go off and write us a report," he said of the latest "Taxpayer Protection Act."

Pepper did not say whether he would introduce a resolution to clean up council's act, called the "Act Introduction Reform Act."

Salt of the earth: The University of Cincinnati can't get any. Delhi Township has been turned away. The U.S. Postal Service and the Metro bus system are waiting in line.

Even other city departments are having trouble getting the Department of Public Services to part with its most valuable commodity - road salt.

So how, then, did the Village of Lincoln Heights make off with two truckloads Tuesday?

Lincoln Heights City Manager Cheryl Meadows, former head of the Cincinnati Department of Neighborhood Services, called an old friend, Daryl Brock, head of the Department of Public Services.

"It's my understanding that the village of Lincoln Heights is completely out of salt, as opposed to some of the other people who called us. That's putting people at significant risk," Brock said. "It's a safety issue."

With 10 to 15 tons, Lincoln Heights got just 0.1 percent of the 10,000 tons Cincinnati has on hand. Still, Brock admitted, Cincinnati salt levels are less than one-third of capacity.

"That's scary for us," Brock said. He said he wouldn't have made the deal if he weren't expecting a barge to deliver another 1,500 tons Tuesday.

Meadows promised to pay for the salt, but no immediate terms were reached.

Legal tender: Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and the Cincinnati Black United Front are moving closer to getting taxpayers to foot the bill for $600,000 worth of legal services

The parties to the Collaborative Agreement, as the racial profiling settlement has become known, will go back to U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott's chambers Feb. 28. The plaintiffs say they're still owed about $200,000 for their work on the agreement - not including hundreds of hours spent since the agreement was signed last April.

"We haven't gotten our money, so we want to find out what the plan is. The plaintiffs' attorneys have been very reasonable. We didn't hold up anything, trusting we'd get paid," said lawyer Al Gerhardstein.

City Solicitor Rita McNeil said she knows the lawyers' fee issue isn't going away, but the city maintains taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook. "Our position has not changed," she said.

City Hall reporter Gregory Korte can be reached at gkorte@enquirer.com or 768-8391.