Council Casino Revenue Allocation (950-2026)

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions; names and details may be misheard and outcomes incomplete.

What: Ordinance 950-2026, as amended (Councilmember Howse-Jones and Councilmember Starr), amends the title and section 2 of ordinance 715-2025 on how casino revenue set aside for city council is used. The live dispute is whether council staff and the law department decide if a project is a "proper public purpose", or council itself.
Where it stands: held in committee on 2026-10-12 for further discussion; no vote on the main change. Three amendments were adopted by voice vote: two law department clerical fixes and removal of the words "currently 17" so the text applies to however many wards exist.
Next: an Operations Committee hearing on proper public purpose and ethics was announced for Thursday, October 22 at 10 AM, and Council President Griffin wants the law director present before the ordinance returns to the table.

Councilmember Howse-Jones proposes to strike the sentence saying project proposals are reviewed by council staff and the law department to determine a proper public purpose, and to make the earlier file (the framework adopted with ordinance 715-2025) a guiding framework rather than a fixed list. Projects would still be authorized by separate legislation.
Her argument: under a 1951 Ohio Supreme Court decision, the legislative body defines proper public purpose and courts step in only for gross abuse; staff and law denials of professional development, staff shirts and council events show the file is being read as an exhaustive list. She said the required monthly casino expenditure reports have not been delivered, that she sent the proposal in August, and that the amounts are small (about $130,000 per ward).

Councilmember Harsh and Councilmember Slife warned that removing law department review removes a guardrail and could leave staff legally exposed; Slife asked how council would avoid authorizing something that conflicts with state law, and noted the administration can decline to enter contracts council authorizes.
Council President Griffin said he agrees the rules should be clearer, noted the 2025 outside counsel review (alcohol, bad debt and partisan politics are the barred purposes), and favored expanding the written list, while cautioning that council must protect itself.
Councilmembers Conwell and Joseph Jones said professional development is allowed elsewhere and supported more flexibility; Jones backed her view that council sets the rules and that all legislation already goes through the law department.

About 72 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-10-12 - Finance, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee	72

2026-10-12 - Finance, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee - Read, held, clerical and ward-count amendments adopted; long debate on striking law department review; held for an Operations Committee hearing and law director input.