Cincinnati's charter reads, "The city manager shall report to the mayor and the council."

And report she does.

Before the death of Nathaniel Jones in a struggle with police officers Nov. 30, Valerie Lemmie had sent 626 "For Your Information" memos to City Council - an average of seven a week.

Since then, she's sent 43 memos. That's 21 a week.

Most are just two sentences long, and included updates on even the most routine media inquiries. (Example: "Eileen Enabnit, Director of Transportation and Engineering, is having a background session tomorrow morning with Jennifer Edwards from The Cincinnati Enquirer. Their meeting will cover the Part 150 Noise Study, the Lunken Airport master planning process, and community involvement in it.")

Voter-approved term limits have created a young, ambitious City Council that demands immediate information and results.

That's putting more pressure on the city manager, Lemmie said. She lamented that the city manager is no longer "one step removed from politics," as the charter's founders envisioned.

"The increase of responsibility to the mayor, and the micromanaging of how we deal with the public, is clearly eroding the charter as it stands," Lemmie told Enquirer editors this month. "If the practice is that I'm treated more like a staff person than a manager, then the reality is that I'm not exercising any leadership, because I need their approval before I do anything."

Some members of the city's Election Reform Commission agree. They think the dust-up shows Lemmie has too many bosses, and could put a plan before voters to have the manager work for the mayor - and only the mayor.

In one proposal by chairman Don Mooney, the city manager would become a "chief administrative officer," and she would be hired - and fired - by the mayor.

It's another half-step toward a true strong mayor and away from the council-manager form of government that Cincinnati popularized in 1925.

"Right now we have the duck-billed platypus of government types. It's not one. It's not the other. What's it going to be?" said commission member Carl Stich Jr. "The current system makes no sense at all."

ACH REPLACED: Mayor Charlie Luken today will appoint Otto M. Budig Jr. of Indian Hill to a six-year term on the Cincinnati Board of Park Commissioners.

Luken said Budig, a longtime arts patron, "brings a special commitment and special talents" to the park board at a time when a new riverfront park is a top priority. Budig sits on the boards of almost every major arts organization in town, plus the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority.

The mayor did not mention the guy he's replacing, an arts patron with a similar resume: Roger W. Ach II. Ach has gotten into financial trouble of late and is now facing a felony charge of passing a bad check in Texas.

STUNNING: If you were expecting to see a member of City Council being subdued by a stun gun on Citicable today, a rerun of Cops might be a better choice.

A scheduled demonstration of the Taser gun has been canceled - presumably for a lack of volunteers. Instead, company reps and state patrolmen will show a video to the Law & Public Safety Committee.

City Council will vote today whether to accept a $745,000 federal grant to buy the Tasers.

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com