MOTION, submitted by Vice Mayor Kearney, WE MOVE that City Council pay to the Mercantile Library the sum of $10,000 from the City Managers General Fund as a moral obligation for the City of Cincinnati’s Poet Laureate Program. The City of Cincinnati established its Poet Laureate Program in 2016. The Mercantile Library agreed to manage the program in 2021 and has consistently done so. The budget for the Poet Laureate’s stipend is $10,000 per year. The Mercantile Library and City of Cincinnati each incur half of the $10,000 annual cost. The City of Cincinnati paid it’s $5,000 share to the Mercantile Library for the Cincinnati Poet Laureate Program in 2021, 2022, and 2023. However, the City of Cincinnati failed to pay to the Mercantile Library its $5,000 share for the Poet Laureate Program for FY’24 and owes for FY 25. Therefore, the total owed to the Mercantile Library for those two years is $10,000.

Motion Adopted Introduced August 1, 2025

Where it was heard