The fallout from a bitter 2008 power struggle involving a major contractor used at Cincinnati City Hall is about to spill over into the courtroom. Linda S. Kirkland, who had been hired by Invest in Neighborhoods Inc. two years ago to be its executive director and then was summarily terminated just days later, has filed a lawsuit in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court alleging the organization breached her contract and charged its leaders with gender and racial discrimination.  

Some Cincinnati officials are saying a controversial move last year to yank a longtime contract from a private company is now hampering the effectiveness of the city's network of neighborhood councils. A perfect storm combination of leadership infighting, a struggling economy, City Council's decision to move control of funding in-house and the ensuing bumpy transition has caused concern for the future of the neighborhood groups.   

For almost three decades, Invest in Neighborhoods Inc. has overseen how taxpayer money is distributed to Cincinnati's neighborhood groups, doling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to areas ranging from Avondale to Winton Place and all points in between. But that role might soon come to an end amid allegations about the organization's slippery business practices and secretive decision-making process.