Hamilton County commissioners on Friday asked Cincinnati officials to transfer property needed for the Bengals stadium immediately and work out some other details of a riverfront deal later.
''We've done a good job on all the big stuff,'' said County Commission President Tom Neyer Jr., the county's lead negotiator. ''There's a lot of little stuff - and some not so little - that needs to be addressed.''
City Manager John Shirey, the city's lead negotiator, has opposed such a strategy in the past, arguing it's important to reach a broad agreement to avoid future problems.
In documents hand-delivered to city lawyers and city council members Todd Portune and Jeanette Cissell, county officials explained what they dislike about the proposal Mr. Shirey released Thursday. Mr. Portune and Ms. Cissell met with County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus to discuss the matter. Mayor Roxanne Qualls and council members Dwight Tillery and Charlie Winburn blasted them for it, saying Mr. Shirey speaks for the city as city manager.
But Mr. Bedinghaus defended Mr. Portune and Ms. Cissell, saying, ''What are they supposed to do? Just sit over there like potted plants and wait for things to get spoon-fed to them?''
Mr. Tillery called that disrespectful of how city government works.
A county letter to Mr. Shirey also explained further why county leaders say it's urgent to have the 12.5 acres of city-controlled riverfront land.
The county has reached a tentative deal with a railroad and several produce vendors who lease city-controlled land that would move the businesses off the land and get some pieces of track removed for the city. But the deals hinge on having the city land by Jan. 30, the letter said.
''We should not hold these business owners up,'' Mr. Bedinghaus said.
The city and county have agreed to key financial terms of a deal: the county gives $10 million for the city's overhaul of Fort Washington Way; the city and county split the estimated $14 million cost of a new floodwall for Fort Washington Way; the city and county split rent and tax proceeds from city developments atop garages; and the city returns stadium property taxes to the county.
But there are subtle differences even in how the county and city describe those agreements. There also are dozens of points in Mr. Shirey's proposal the county doesn't agree with, commissioners said.
For example, the city proposal includes a detailed description of parking garages to be built in the land freed up by the city's narrowing of Fort Washington Way, which the county letter called too ''speculative'' to agree upon.
Bengals President Mike Brown has said he'll kill the $400.3 million stadium deal if the city and county don't resolve their differences by Jan. 31.
City and county leaders stressed they think a deal can be reached by then.
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