Sharon Coolidge, and Mark Curnutte

Cincinnati

UPDATE: Councilwoman Yvette Simpson is reporting a lawyer has agreed to represent Pastor Mingo for free and a contractor has agreed to make repairs to his wall for free.

Mayor John Cranley was sitting in a meeting Tuesday morning when he got the call from council candidate Brian Garry, who was sitting in a Hamilton County courtroom.

The Rev. Peterson Mingo, a popular pastor and a city employee tasked with keeping the peace after homicides, had just been sent to jail as the result of a building code violation, Garry told the mayor.

That's right. He was arrested for failing to repair the retaining wall in the backyard of his Evanston home. And Municipal Court Judge Bernie Bouchard had just sent him to jail.

Cranley, flanked by a handful of staff members and city lawyers, dashed to court.

There Cranley convinced Bouchard to give Mingo another chance. And it prompted Cranley to call for no jail time for anyone with building code violations as long as they live in their home.

"I don’t know details of property crime and I'm not suggesting this is not serious," Cranley told The Enquirer. "But I do know the solution is a civil monetary one. I want to stress the importance of not having a man like this in jail over a property issue."

Councilwoman Yvette Simpson, who is challenging Cranley in this year's mayoral election, had a different take.

"What if this wasn't Pastor Mingo and it's Miss Green down the street who doesn’t know who to call?" she said "Is the mayor going to run over every time? This is not a good use of the mayor's time and energy. We have to make sure when we do code enforcement we’re going after the bad actors, not individual homeowners who are trying to make repairs."

The Cranley administration has made fighting blight a priority. The city has aggressively enforced building codes in an effort to improve neighborhoods.

But in recent months some council members have asked whether homeowners were getting caught up in the legal system for things like tall grass, broken windows, or in the case of Mingo, crumbling retaining walls. Failing to fix property code violations can lead to criminal citations.

The two also have clashed over whether to create a special housing court, which would expand the current one-day-per-week "housing docket" into a full-time court. Cranley wants a special housing court; Simpson worries homeowners could end up tangled in the legal system and says the city has been overzealous in its enforcement in some neighborhoods.

"Mingo was tangled up today precisely because these cases go to so many different judges and get different treatment," Cranley said. "People deserve equal treatment and one specialized court to ensure equal protection."





Mingo, who was handcuffed and taken to jail before being called back the courtroom, told The Enquirer: “The whole thing has just been kind of crazy.”

Word spread quickly on social media. Rob Richardson Sr., president of the Cincinnati branch of the NAACP, said he heard from several people about Mingo’s jailing.

“I don’t want to comment until I know more, but it sounds like something that shouldn’t have happened,” Richardson said, adding that the NAACP will investigate the situation, he said.

The Rev. Mark Bomar, President of the Baptist Ministers Conference, said he was shocked.

“Here’s a man who works with young people, keeping them off the streets and inspiring them to do something good," he said. "I am glad Pastor Mingo had the connection with the mayor and was able to get right on out of there.”

'Are you going to fix this wall or not?'

The case dates back to December 2014 when Mingo was cited for the failing wall in his backyard. He was ordered by the city to make repairs within a month. But the case was contentious from the start. The city sent the citation under the name William Peterson his given name is Peterson William Mingo.

And then when Mingo hired an expert to look at the problems, the city said that person wasn't qualified. Mingo said repairs will cost between $6,000 and $10,000, which he can't afford.

Mingo, who has lived in the home since 1982, appeared at a Mount Auburn neighborhood community meeting Feb. 27 to complain, prompting city officials to take a closer look. Last month Mingo entered into a compliance program with the court, meaning he was found guilty but would have the charge dismissed once he repaired the wall.

They were working together, city officials say. Until Tuesday.

Bouchard jailed Mingo, 67, the Outreach Program Manager for the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission, for 90 days.

"He told me I wasn't taking it seriously," Mingo told The Enquirer. "Read the transcript. I was saying, `Yes, Sir' and `No, Sir.'" An Enquirer review of the transcript bears that out. A city prosecutor in the court did not ask that Mingo be jailed.

He was handcuffed in court Tuesday morning at taken to the justice center shortly before 11 a.m. Guards at the justice center, who know the popular minister and advocate, said, “Rev Mingo, what are you doing here?” Several inmates whom Mingo has counseled talked with him. Mingo said he ended up holding a prayer service with inmates while he himself was incarcerated.

After Cranley’s intervention, Mingo was returned to Bouchard’s courtroom and told he had until June 6 to prove to the court that the wall would be fixed.

Bouchard said he could not comment on a pending case. He first tried to put Mingo under house arrest, but grew frustrated when he felt Mingo wasn't serious about fixing the wall, according to a transcript of the court hearing.

"This is May 2017, three years later," Bouchard told Mingo. "You say stuff and you just keep talking and talking in circles. Did you get the permit? It's not a yes or no. I called this person, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay. I deal in getting things done, not running all around. Are you going to fix this wall or not, yes or no?"

City Manager Harry Black met with Mingo Tuesday.

"I have spoken and met with Pastor Mingo to ensure he has the resources necessary to remedy this real estate situation as quickly as possible," Black wrote to Council in the memo. He did not explain what the plan was. Mingo, in court, told Bouchard he couldn't afford to make the fixes until late June or July.

City Solicitor Paula Boggs Muething too issued a memo late Tuesday afternoon.

"The primary goal of this office with respect to cases on the housing docket is to achieve compliance," she wrote. "As a matter of policy, we do not seek criminal sanctions for violations of the building code by owner-occupants."

Cranley introduced a motion Tuesday in the wake of the case. He wants to use civil rather than criminal penalties and offer some as-yet-unspecified help for owners facing economic hardships. Simpson, since March, has had a motion pending calling on council to halt some enforcement of citations.