CINCINNATI -- City Manager Harry Black was the lone agenda item for Wednesday's special City Council meeting, but, pretty quickly, he got sidelined for another argument: whether the meeting itself was a waste of time.
To Mayor John Cranley, the meeting marked the start of the 2017 election season.
And to the people in attendance, it was a chance air some long-simmering complaints.
The two men who called the meeting -- Councilmen Wendell Young and Charlie Winburn -- said they were trying to put to bed rumors that Black's job might be in jeopardy.
Black filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the Fraternal Order of Police, raising some questions about how Cranley and City Council might react if they asked Black to withdraw the complaint and he didn't comply.
City spokesman Rocky Merz said no one's given Black any formal direction to withdraw the complaint. And both Black and Cranley led Wednesday's meeting by running through a litany of accomplishments over the past two years.
Any rumors about Black's job status could have been addressed with a phone call, Councilman Christopher Smitherman said. If Black's job was in jeopardy, he said, Council would get the final say anyway. Under Cincinnati's charter, the mayor can recommend the city manager for dismissal, but a majority of councilmembers must vote to actually fire him or her.
"I thought my colleagues had an email, or a phone message they could play" that would give some substance to the rumors, Smitherman said.
Instead, he said Black was the center of a political game -- and the meeting was political theater.
"I think this particular meeting is a waste of time," Smitherman said.
Winburn had a rare, passionate rebuttal for his frequent ally: Anyone who didn't want to be at the meeting should resign, he said, because they were paid to be there. He and Young wanted City Council on the record with its support for Black. For the two men, recent rumors were a bit too similar to those surrounding former police chief Jeffrey Blackwell not long before Black fired him, surprising many councilmembers.
Winburn tried to get his colleagues to pass a motion supporting Black, which they all said they did anyway. But, with two members absent -- Amy Murray and Chris Seelbach -- there weren't enough votes to take up the motion right away. Council legislation is typically referred to a committee, then comes back to the full council for a vote if the committee passes it.
Calling for an immediate vote was "quite unusual," Councilman Kevin Flynn said.
"This is not the way we normally do business," Flynn said.
Winburn plans to bring it back to a council committee for another try in September, a delay Young worried could lend credence to rumors.
Black and Cranley said they had a good working relationship. But Young recalled Blackwell's "embarrassing" and "dramatic" termination last September: Both Cranley and Black supported Blackwell, at least in public, not long before he was suddenly fired.
Winburn weighed in, too: "We have an opportunity to correct our past mistakes by promoting an open government."
The lines about Blackwell got the biggest reaction from Wednesday's audience; some shouted at Smitherman, prompting Cranley to ask for respect.
Iris Roley, who's been active in Cincinnati police reform for more than a decade, said she's "probably wasted a lot of time" in the Law and Public Safety Committee, which Smitherman chairs. She said she thought Cranley was meddling too much in the police department. Alexander Shelton said he's seen black administrators treated unfairly and black people used as pawns in political bargaining for votes.
Members of the public typically don't speak at special meetings of City Council, but all seven members present voted to suspend the rules and allow it.
Cranley's take: "Silly season" has begun at City Hall. It's a term used to describe the lead-up to a municipal election, when politics seem to play a larger role in elected officials' every move.
It's been just two weeks since President Pro Tem Yvette Simpson announced she'd be running against Cranley for the mayor's office in 2017. Wednesday was the first time they've been in a Council meeting since then.
She didn't say much in a meeting that seemed to be a proxy fight between her and Cranley's allies. But her overall take: She doesn't want City Council to be caught by surprise if Cranley moves to dismiss Black.
