It was almost a jolly city council meeting last night. Even as the troopers were just beginning to trooped in you could see mostly smiles and friendly gestures. Tom Didier, always a happy guy, was the norm rather than the exception last night; the atmosphere during most of the rest of the year as was exemplified during the budget hearings when low grade snarls emanated from around the table. The meeting last night proceeded that way from front to back, only a couple of times did it seem that Liz Brown might go after someone at the table. (To be clear, Harper and Shoaff hardly ever are draw in to the snarling; Shoaff is a very gentile and collegial council member, Harper is highly conscious of the need for polite decorum and fully observes it.)
So, as the meeting neared an end, the last meeting of 2009 and the last with Tom Smith in the chair, I noted to one of the citizen regulars at the meeting, one of the fellows who sits three rows back and keeps notes, that it had been an unusually jocular meeting. He laughed loudly enough to draw the stare of Clerk Sandy Kennedy and reminded me in more hushed tones that Tim Pape was not there. Ah… He added that during the year many of the fire-fights at the table were between Brown, who is given to a conservative bent highlighted by rants and tough questioning, and Pape who is a supporter of the administration and somewhat left of center in his philosophy. Tim also can be hard on his fellow council members as witnessed by his attack on John Shoaff during the Calhoun Street debate. With Mr. Pape gone the meeting went quietly, if with more than a bit of humor, into the night.
Smith goes out as having done a reasonably good job leading the body, speaking forcefully at times for his positions and frequently against those of the administration. He became the public face of the Republican opposition to Mayor Tom Henry. And he always kept the discussions moving along. Smith, however, would not win the Robert’s Rules of Order Pour Le Merit, but he did overcome a number of tricky situations, including the short, but tense impasse over the budget. It was short because of his leadership and Mitch Harper’s quiet stage management. Mitch gets the Elmer McDonald Award for effective leadership without raising much dust.
Smith, however, did not preside in one sense: he did not set the agenda for the year. The administration and Sandy Kennedy, for the most part, decided what council would discuss. Council was a reactive body in 2009.
Next year should be even more reactive with Marty Bender as president. That’s the rumor. Marty is the least vocal member of council. In one way that is good for a president. He can simply play council cop and make sure legislative traffic flows smoothly. (Visualize the old time cop at the intersection with white gloves and a whistle.) But Marty, famously, is not a friend of the first amendment, freedom of speech. He shut down comments on the Calhoun Street debate and was angered when opponents of chewing up Calhoun sent him a whopping (by his standards) 95 emails opposing the expenditure. He told me he was angered by having to read all those emails. Geez Marty. So, we shall see whether he welcomes comment or tries to stifle it. Marty also is an employee of the Fort Wayne Police Department and the City of Fort Wayne. That puts him in a compromised position. Some of the mayor’s proposals have been controversial, so how will Marty vote or manage votes on controversial matters in the future? If he does the honorable thing there may be quite a few 4-to-4 votes. But much more is done behind the scenes and the president theoretically has power over what comes to the table and what does not. President Smith encouraged discussion and debate; we will see whether Mr. Bender maintains independence from his bosses and looks beyond his paycheck and pension package. I guess opposition from the table or the floor may not get very far.
Last night, in short, council continued their support of the Grand Wayne and the Convention and Visitors Bureau without rancor or very probing questions. They committed to support the local GM plant (with tax dollars) in exchange for a weak promise from GM to keep a certain level of jobs at the plant. Council also passed an agreement with lenders concerning the ongoing purchase, now tied up in court, of Aqua Indiana on the north side of the city. There was also a short, terse discussion of the deteriorating condition of downtown sewers which one city manager all but described as a ticking timebomb.
In short, it was a bit of a Christmas party with all members showing good cheer to their colleagues and putting off, for an evening, the problems of the coming new year with its tight budgets, dwindling revenues, Renaissance committees, contracts, gambling, and subterranean ticking time bombs…
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