Officials say latest oversight framework will provide accountability for earlier accountability measures that may not have received adequate procedural reflection

CINCINNATI— In a move city leaders described as a necessary step toward restoring public confidence in Cincinnati’s internal accountability systems, officials announced Friday the formation of a new review process tasked with evaluating whether previous review processes were themselves reviewed thoroughly enough.

The announcement came after several weeks of discussion at City Hall regarding how best to assess a series of past assessments tied to departmental performance, procurement procedures, and various public-facing initiatives whose outcomes had already been documented in at least three separate summary memos.

Mayor Aftab Pureval said the city’s objective was not to revisit old conclusions so much as to confirm that those conclusions had been reached through a sufficiently reviewable method.

“We are committed to making sure every review receives the level of review our residents have come to expect,” Pureval said. “If a review occurred without a clear secondary review pathway, then naturally there are questions about whether that review was ever truly available for review in the first place.”

Under the proposal, an interdepartmental panel will examine prior findings, identify which findings were preliminarily affirmed, and determine whether those affirmations require a follow-up review before being sent to a final review committee for procedural acknowledgment. Officials said the process could extend into late summer, or longer if additional past reviews are discovered in storage, email threads, or labeled binders in the basement of the City-County Building.

Deputy City Manager Leslie Ghiz said the city is aiming for a measured approach.

“We do not want to rush into validating a review before first confirming that the validation criteria were properly reviewed,” Ghiz said. “That would only create new questions.”

Downtown resident Mark Ellison said he appreciated the seriousness of the effort, though he admitted he had lost track of what was being reviewed sometime around the second paragraph of the public notice.

“I don’t need government to be fast,” Ellison said. “I just need to know somebody, somewhere, is looking into whether the people looking into things have been looked into.”

At press time, officials confirmed a short written review of the announcement would be issued next week, pending review.