Dynamic and inspirational Cincinnati City Manager Sheryl Long spoke to a GSG Connections Lunch in December. Mayor Aftab Pureval appointed Long as City Manager in September 2022. She said it is a “great time” to be at City Hall and feels that she and the Mayor are very aligned on their goals for the city.
Long manages over 6,000 employees and reminded the audience how hard city employees work and how much happens behind the scenes to make our city run smoothly. She pointed to several accomplishments in her first few months on the job, including:
- Fire Training Center – she oversaw the first major overhaul of this facility since FDR was President! The fire training center will consolidate its services to one location where it will be used year-round by Cincinnati Fire Department staff and recruits. The firefighters in the audience applauded her for prioritizing this project.
- In what may be a national-first, Long made changes to the City’s racial slurs policy. City employees will be investigated for using racial slurs and face termination for use of the N-word.
- Long expanded the CincyAlert toolkit to include public safety alerts and encouraged people to sign up. Cincy Alert is a tool used to notify Cincinnati’s residents of emergencies (ex., public safety, severe weather, municipal alerts). Sign up by visiting https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/ecc/alerts/.
- Rock the Block – This new initiative gets employees and citizens into neighborhoods to get to know the city and its residents. Long selects a neighborhood and city employees conduct a service project or host an event to bring people together.
- Long also highlighted that during BLINK weekend, crime in our city was extremely low. The event allowed access to areas of the city that people typically avoid; it was a great opportunity to remove those barriers.
Looking ahead, Manager Long said there are exciting things to come. Long shared that she is on call 24-7 to help keep our city and its residents safe. Long wrapped up her presentation with a call to action for everyone to take responsibility for promoting our city whether it is at meetings, conferences, during travel, and while working. She also encouraged the audience to look for innovative ideas to implement in our communities, using creative solutions to solve problems.
