Two of Cincinnati City Council member David Mann’s staff have resigned hours after a contentious hearing over the city’s budget boiled over into protests.
Mann’s Chief of Staff Ioanna Paraskevopoulos sent her resignation letter late last night.
Paraskevopoulos was Mann’s top aide for three and a half years.
“Your long record of civil and level headed leadership in Cincinnati is unparalleled, and I will always be grateful for the opportunity to learn from working with you,” she wrote. “Few leaders love the City as much as you do, and as your Chief of Staff and constituent, I thank you for that.
“However, it is no longer tenable for me to serve as your Chief of Staff. I am stepping down as of July 1 to devote my energy to Action Tank, a think tank whose mission is to research, educate, and promote equitable municipal policy. This is the best way for me to serve the City of Cincinnati right now, with a hopeful and determined outlook for a more equitable future.”
Paraskevopoulos has been working with partners to launch Action Tank for months.
Mann’s Community Affairs Advisor Hillary Kenkel also sent her resignation letter this morning, according to a post on social media.
Neither resignation letter mentions the turbulent public hearing, which Mann attempted to end after speakers advocating defunding Cincinnati Police booed and yelled at a pro-police speaker. Mann left the meeting soon after, saying later he felt the group had become “a mob” and that he briefly feared for his safety.
Many at the meeting, the subsequent protest and in social media posts and emails to Mann heavily criticized his actions.
Fellow council members made statements saying they did not support the move ending the hearing.
Council member Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney took over as chair of the hearing after Mann and council member Betsy Sundermann departed. Council members P.G. Sittenfeld, Jeff Pastor and Greg Landsman also remained in the auditorium, and council member Chris Seelbach continued to participate via Zoom because he is quarantining.
After several more speakers, the crowd left the Duke Energy Convention Center and protested on Elm Street until midnight.
The blowup, which some have compared to a turbulent 2001 council meeting over the police shooting death of Timothy Thomas that presaged days of civil unrest, comes as city council is faced with the task of approving a budget by June 30. That budget must bridge a $73 million deficit and future economic uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city manager’s budget proposal calls for cuts to many city departments but also increases police spending slightly from $151.7 million to $152.6 million — roughly 36 percent of the city’s operating spending.
Council will convene again Monday to hear more public input and begin airing its own budget proposals.
Mann, a veteran of local and national politics, served as mayor of Cincinnati once in the early 1980s and again in 1991. He has also served in the U.S. House of Representatives and has had several council terms. He announced earlier this year that he is running in Cincinnnati’s 2021 mayoral election.
This article appears in The Summer Guide.