Sharon Coolidge, and Dan Horn

Cincinnati

Cincinnati City Councilman Charlie Winburn says he never called or spoke to city officials about his friend Sam Malone's contract with the Metropolitan Sewer District.

Phone records, however, show Winburn's phones had contact with a top city official and MSD's former director on key dates related to Malone's contract.

The records, obtained by The Enquirer, indicate that former MSD Director Tony Parrott received two calls from Winburn's cell phone on May 27, 2015 – the day Malone's contract with MSD was terminated. One call lasted 11 minutes, the other two minutes.

Between those calls, Parrott made a one-minute call to Winburn.

Two weeks later, on June 11, 2015, Assistant City Manager John Juech called Winburn's City Hall office phone immediately after calling Malone at 6:18 p.m. That's about one hour after city officials arranged a $55,000 payment to Malone to close out his MSD contract.

Juech said he called Malone to discuss the payment, but he said he can't remember why he made the one-minute call to Winburn. In a written statement, Juech said Winburn "did have an interest in the Malone contract, but only to make sure that all city contractors and subcontractors were being treated fairly by the city administration."

Winburn said Thursday he has never intervened on Malone's behalf nor spoken to Parrott or other city officials about his contract, although he also said it wouldn't necessarily be improper if he did. He cited Ohio ethics laws that forbid public officials from getting involved with contracts that might benefit them, their family or their business associates.

He said he had no stake in Malone's contract and has no business relationship with him.

"Sam never, ever came to me about this money. I never talked to anybody about this money," Winburn said. "I don't ask anyone to pay Sam or give him a contract. Even if I did, it wouldn't be wrong."

If Winburn did get involved, however, it would contradict multiple statements he has made this year about Malone and his MSD contract. Since The Enquirer first asked Winburn about Malone in February, he has repeatedly said he did not discuss Malone or his contract situation with Parrott or other officials.

Malone's contract has been the focus of intense scrutiny at City Hall since The Enquirer reported two weeks ago that the Columbus law firm Bricker & Eckler claimed it was threatened by city officials unless they paid Malone the $55,000. The firm had an unusual contract with Malone, in which he subcontracted with the firm, but MSD approved his work and covered his pay.

City officials have said the contract, approved by Parrott in 2012, was inappropriate and would not be structured in the same way today. The law firm also has said it regrets the arrangement, but said it took on Malone as a subcontractor at MSD's request.

Malone's firm, Urban Strategies & Solutions, made $331,000 from MSD between 2012 and 2015 for helping the agency hire more small and minority-owned businesses. The city stopped sending money to Bricker & Eckler to pay Malone in early 2015 for reasons neither the city nor the law firm have explained.

Malone, who did not respond to an interview request Thursday, complained about being cut off and continued to submit vague invoices for his work, which by June 2015 totaled $55,000.

City Manager Harry Black said he learned of Malone's unusual contract in early 2015 and terminated it on May 27, 2015. Parrott's phone records show he got a call from Winburn's cell phone at 5:01 p.m. that afternoon. The call lasted 11 minutes.

The two shorter calls between Parrott and Winburn occurred at 8:38 p.m. and 8:39 p.m. that evening.

Winburn said he doesn't recall why he and Parrott talked that day. He said he spoke often to Parrott, although phone records show only two other calls from April through August of 2015.

Parrott declined comment through his attorney, but Winburn said the call might have been related to a disgruntled MSD employee who had come to him to complain about some issues at MSD.

Winburn said he was certain the conversation was not about Malone.

On June 11, Juech's phone records show he called Malone at 6:18 p.m. Juech said they discussed the end of Malone's contract and the $55,000 payment. One minute later, at 6:19 p.m., Juech called Winburn, the records show.

Winburn said he doesn't remember talking to Juech that day. The call was brief, just one minute, so it could have gone to his voicemail. Juech said the call could have been about anything. "As liaison to City Council, I typically would have called him multiple times per day," said Juech, who at the time was the city manager's senior policy adviser.

While Juech said Winburn had an interest in making sure Malone got fair treatment, as he would with any citizen, he did not address in his written statement whether Winburn ever spoke to him specifically about Malone's contract. When asked to elaborate Thursday, Juech declined.

Juech did say, however, that he did not threaten Bricker & Eckler on June 11 as he and other city officials hustled to pay Malone. Several city officials have said Black directed them to close out Malone's contract quickly and get him paid that day.

Bricker & Eckler attorney Mark Evans said he got a "heads up" call from Gina Marsh, then an assistant city solicitor, informing him that the city expected the $55,000 payment within 48 hours or the firm's contract with MSD would be terminated. Marsh confirmed Wednesday that she made the call after her supervisor, Luke Blocher, instructed her to do so.

Blocher has said he was instructed by Black to relay to the law firm that the city would react negatively if the firm failed to pay, but he said he did not threaten the firm.

A short time later, Evans said, he got a call from someone from the city manager's office he believed was Juech, who told him to pay or the firm would lose its contract. Juech has denied he made that call and phone records for his office and city cell phone show no calls to the firm that day.

The firm refused to pay because its contract required the city to approve Malone's invoices and provide the money to pay him. To make that happen on June 11, Black and his staff amended an old contract with Bricker & Eckler, added $55,000 to it and then cut a check for Malone.

Juech's calls to Malone and to Winburn came at the end of that day.

Editor's note: This story has been changed from its original version to clarify that the June 11 call to Charlie Winburn was made to his office phone, not his cell phone.