NOTICE OF ELECTION
CITY OF CINCINNATI
EMERGENCY ORDINANCE
#263-2025
BALLOT ISSUE #2
TO SUBMIT to the electors of the City of Cincinnati an amendment to Section 3 of Article V, “Civil Service,” of the Charter of the City of Cincinnati that will create an incentive for individuals who have completed a public safety internship to pursue public safety careers with the City .
WHEREAS, the City has multiple programs that provide young people with public safety career vocational training (“Public Safety Internships”); and
WHEREAS, individuals who successfully complete these programs have increased merit, fitness, efficiency, character, and industry for public safety service; and
WHEREAS, Section 3 of Article V of the Charter of the City of Cincinnati currently provides that graduates of the Cincinnati Public Schools public safety academy program receive a credit of five points added to the passing scores on entry level civil service examinations for positions in the classified service of the City; and
WHEREAS, the City is committed to recruiting highly qualified candidates for the Cincinnati Fire and Police Departments; and
WHEREAS, Council finds that providing examination credit on classified civil service entry-level examinations will incentivize individuals who successfully complete a Public Safety Internship to apply for jobs with the Cincinnati Fire and Police Departments; and
WHEREAS, examination credit under this Charter provision shall apply only to entry level examinations and shall not apply to any promotional examinations; and
WHEREAS, Council finds that the citizens of Cincinnati will benefit from the public service of Public Safety Internship graduates in the Cincinnati Fire and Police Departments; now, therefore,
BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the City of Cincinnati, State of Ohio, two-thirds of the members elected thereto concurring:
Section 1. That there shall be submitted to the vote of the qualified electors of the City of Cincinnati for their approval or disapproval at the general election to be held November 4, 2025, an amendment to the Charter of the City of Cincinnati, amending Section 3 of Article V, “Civil Service,” to read as follows:
Article V. – CIVIL SERVICE
Section 3.
Except as provided in this charter, the council shall have no power to modify the provisions of the laws of the state of Ohio now or hereafter in effect relating to the civil service and civil service commissions. This shall include the provision of veteran preferences as defined and provided pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Chapter 124 or its successor. The civil service commission shall award to any soldier, sailor, marine, coast guardsman, member of the auxiliary corps as established by congress, member of the army nurse corps or navy nurse corps, or red cross nurse who has served in the army, navy, or hospital service of the United States and such military service as is designated by congress, who can provide satisfactory documentation at the time established by the city manager or the city manager's designee, which shall be no earlier than the day before an eligibility list is approved by the civil service commission, that such veteran has been honorably discharged therefrom, or transferred to the reserve with evidence of satisfactory service, an examination credit of five (5) points added to their passing score on entry level examinations for the classified service of the city of Cincinnati. An examination credit of ten (10) points shall be added to the passing score of “disabled veterans,” as defined in the Ohio Revised Code. No fee or other assessment shall be charged to applicants for examinations for positions under the civil service.
The civil service commission shall award an examination credit of five (5) points in entry level examinations for the classified service in the city of Cincinnati fire or police departments to any individual who has successfully completed one of the following public safety internship programs:
(i) a fire or police program conducted at a public safety academy established by Cincinnati Public Schools in collaboration with the City of Cincinnati with a public safety curriculum approved by the city of Cincinnati administration and its fire and/or police administration;
(ii) the Cincinnati Police Understudy Program;
(iii) the Cincinnati Police Summer Cadet Program;
(iv) a minimum of two years in the Cincinnati Police Public Safety Cadet Program;
(v) the Cincinnati Fire Cadet Program; or
(vi) Cincinnati Fire Summer Cadet Program.
A person shall receive a maximum of ten (10) points on any entry level examination for positions under the civil service through a combination of military service examination credit and public safety internship credit.
The city civil service shall be divided into the classified service and the unclassified service. In addition to the positions that comprise the unclassified service under state civil service law, the unclassified service of the city shall include department and division heads, deputies or assistants to department heads, and professional housing and economic development positions. All other positions shall be in the classified service. A person who on the date of enactment of this section holds a position in the classified civil service which becomes unclassified under this section shall be deemed to hold a position in the classified civil service until he or she vacates the position, after which time the position shall be filled as an unclassified position.
Section 2. That the form of the submission of the proposed amendment to the electors shall be substantially as follows:
CHARTER AMENDMENT
A majority vote is necessary for passage.
YES NO
Shall the Charter of the City of Cincinnati be amended to provide that graduates of a public safety internship program established by the City of Cincinnati be provided an incentive to serve the City in the fire and police departments through an award of five (5) points in examination credit on departmental entry level examinations, by amending Section 3 of Article V, “Civil Service,” of the Charter of the City of Cincinnati?
Passed: August 6, 2025
Attest: Nicole Crawford, Acting Clerk
Aftab Pureval, Mayor
CIN,OCT20&27,'25#11731737