Author Archive

By Jim Sack

Kumar Menon’s presentation to council was studious, refined and chocked with facts and figures and explanations of how the state controls much of water policy in Fort Wayne. He could lull owls to sleep. And, by the end of his lengthy slide show and presentation most council members had begun to ask how the effect of the rate increase might be “softened,” not whether it was inevitable or needed.

So, next week the matter will be rehashed and Mr. Menon, the dapper, erudite head of City Utilities, will be bring back his answer to their principle question – is there another way? “Oh, esteemed members of our glorious and beloved city council, fellow champions of the public good, health and welfare, after lengthy study, consultation with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, deliberations with our beloved mayor, the burning of much incense and incantations to the gods of sewers and cast iron pipe, the answer, in a word, is no! Any further questions?” Read the rest of this entry »

By Jim Sack

The party-line concerning the elevators went something like this: we had them inspected, were told they were good for three or so more years, moved on to other things, were surprised when people got stuck between floors after move-in, found money that would not require council approval and here we are. Sorry, should have given you a heads up.

It was the inaugural Fifth Tuesday hearing and it was well worth the price of admission. I doubt, however, that anyone left the chambers last night satisfied with either questions or answers.

To set the scene, most months have four Tuesdays when the Common Council of the City of Fort Wayne does its work. Once quarterly a month has a fifth Tuesday and over time this “extra” Tuesday has been taken off by council. They have done that for no real reason such as a prevalence of sun spots on all fifth Tuesdays or a need to fly home to the meet with constituents, it is just boys’ night off. Council, in fact, operates on a three night rotation where a bill is introduced on the first Tuesday, debated or discussed the second Tuesday and then disposed of the third Tuesday. Given there are 52 weeks there is only one Tuesday that would cause confusion, not four, but things being things the fifth Tuesday has become time away from the rigors of talking. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jim Sack

My friend, Andi Udris, has resigned from the Alliance. I will miss him.

Andi Udris

To be clear, the abrupt resignation, which he did not signal to me when we breakfasted last week, looks more like walking the plank at the point of cutlass.

Perhaps the people who gave him the choice between jumping or being pushed had a good reason, perhaps, as was reported, it was a clash of personalities. I doubt anyone will bother to tell me. People in these positions use silencers.

Andi, to his credit, worked hard for this area and had big dreams for economic development. He clearly had begun to set down roots and bubbled of how much he liked Fort Wayne.

Somebody, apparently, didn’t care much for Andi, his ideas or his personality. You can see the members listed here on their website. They include the high and the mighty in Fort Wayne, as well as a couple who are moving on in life. They include people who are hired guns who will vanish in their own time from the local scene leaving very little, indeed, behind. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jim Sack

It was a workmanlike meeting at council last night punctuated by joviality and smiles, many smiles. Hardly an eyebrow lifted through the 100-minute session, not even when representatives of the mayor said they would keep politics out of redistricting.

From pre-game to post-meeting analysis members of council found charming things to say about each other, to compliment the clerk and to toss roses to the audience. It is a reflection of the new members on council – Jehl, Paddock and Crawford – all of whom try to find the sunny side of a question. Last year’s cat-fight-of-a-bar-room brawl has unofficially been put to rest and now will become the stuff of humorous comparisons. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jim Sack

The new council asserted their power early in last night’s meeting with a quick three to six denial of a contract between the administration and a project management company. City Utilities had proposed a two-year contract and a representative gave a long-winded explanation of the project, of the need for a consultant, of the qualifications of that consultant who had worked or the city at one time, and as to why a two-year contract was preferable to a shorter iteration. Both Dr. John Crawford and Tom Didier took mild umbrage at the proposal citing their participation on the Professional Services Committee which is soon to issue new guidelines on how consultants should be hired by the city and by city utilities. The two men led the party-line vote to send the bill back for a rewrite. Simply, they proposed the bill be written for a one year period. Mr. Crawford and Didier, with the support of all the Republicans on council, believed a two-year contract might somehow fail compliance with the new, yet-to-be-minted, guidelines. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jim Sack

Early in last night’s council meeting, after a bit of early formalities and the shifting in chairs, Council President Tom Smith announced to the assembled dozens of citizens and the multitudes at home via streaming video the presence in the room of the Mayor of the City of Fort Wayne, the Honorable Thomas Henry. The mayor, with his bright smile and friendly manner, strode forward and took a seat at the table. Judging by the surrounding smiles he was most welcome and genuinely well received. His comments were about cooperation, the friendlier tone on council during deliberations, his open door to all council members and a enthusiasm to work with council to confront the challenges our government faces in maintaining Fort Wayne’s position as the envy of every other city and town in the state. Council members all nodded and smiled. They noted steps the administration had already taken to work in harmony.

And that spirit of cooperation was most evident as deliberations ensured on a stack of ordinances, hearings and resolutions tackled by council in their committee session and the following regular session. Of the forty-one votes taken last night all but two, passed 9 to 0. Consensus, unanimity, cooperation. Just what the mayor was hoping for, the goal of council after four tedious and testy years of rancor. Of the two bills that failed to pass unanimously one measure was kicked back to the administration, “held” unanimously, 9-0, while the other suffered only an abstention due to a potential conflict of interest: Russ Jehl abstained on a development matter. Wise. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jim Sack

Tom Smith is the new city council president and he set the tone of the new council with a smile and kind words for all. His six pages of opening comments were generous in their praise for all members of council, for the mayor, for the rest of us in the community who depend upon council to invest our taxes wisely and constructively.

After the chores of naming committee assignments, reappointment of staff and appointments to boards, Mr. Smith asked the members of council for their thoughts. Each member, starting with senior councilman Glynn Hines and working to the youthfulness of Russ Jehl spoke of a desire to cooperative, to rise serve the community without rancor and to find common ground. Only Councilman-at-Large John Shoaff chose to throw down a gauntlet, but even that was so carefully veiled as to be esoterica to all but the sharpest of ears. He less threw it down than placed it gently on the table. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jim Sack

Two citizen appointees to the Redevelopment Commission gave a studied, thoughtful and well documented overview of the efforts of that controversial body to council last night. The nice thing was that council, often the scene of playground fights, acted like grown adults for the duration of the presentation and through the rest of the meeting.

They were first on the agenda, lawyer Casey Cox and banker Tom Obergfell, both councilmatic appointees, both highly respected for their work and their even-handed approach to the powerful Commission’s challenges. Cox began with a moderately long monologue chronicling the ups and downs of the Harrison project, essentially bringing the outgoing council up to date, reassuring most that the project is finally underway and headed toward success. The fly in the ointment remains the sale of the tax credits, but neither Cox nor Obergfell could speak to that process, except to say that it is the most significant condition of further participation by lenders. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jim Sack

The nasty relationship between Councilwomen Brown and Goldner came to a head last night with the former snarling invective toward Ms. Goldner and the later walking out in disgust, in the company of Councilmen Glynn Hines and Tim Pape. The enabler was Council President Mitch Harper who so frequently speaks of proper decorum and process at council but let last night’s anger boil over into an embarrassment and distraction from the business of council.

The tirade came at the end of the meeting, during the increasingly testy comment period where citizens can approach the high and mighty with their meager thoughts. Citizens are tolerated as a preface to the high and mighty pontificating about their pet issue, glibly announcing a concert at the Foellinger or a 5k Run, or lashing out at the “enemy.” The later was the role Mrs. Brown chose last night.

Brandon Seifert, a township trustee from out around Arcola, started the fight with his call to roust the “squatters,” the Occupy Wall Street group from Freimann Square. He related a list of ills, including a fire, an arrest, filth, scum, the decay of the American system of government and all but linked the handful of woeful demonstrators to the Russian mafia. Within a few seconds another citizen, Phil Marx, rose to refute part of what Mr. Seyfert, who apparently was speaking based on hearsay, had charged. Mr. Marx pointed out a few mistakes, as well as a misunderstanding, offered no great philosophical points, he just questioned a few charges.

Councilman Tim Pape then chimed in with a long-winded defense of the protesters, or “hippie-scum,” if you prefer, as taking part in the long tradition of American free speech. He closed by saying the problem would resolve itself in the name of winter. Tom Smith said laws are laws and recounted a story of a constituent who was afraid to expose her tender grandchildren to that sort of rabble, something Smith suggested would ruin the cheery lighting celebrations in the downtown for hundreds of families. He imagined clashes between the heavily armed demonstrators and espadrille-clad pottery shoppers at Three Rivers some nine months away. Glynn Hines avoided the issue, instead reminding citizens about a hearing surrounding a major project where Anthony and Wayne Trace intersect. Mitch Harper passed. John Shoaff likened the gaggle of young protesters to those who the Hyde Park soap-box crowd in London and add, this, too, shall pass, that we will lose more through confrontation than accommodation. Karen Goldner then picked up on Mr. Smith’s hand-wringing and noted that his constituent was voicing fear of those who are different. Councilman Bender noted echoed much of what Mr. Marx had said and added that he disagreed with the Henry Administration’s policy in the matter. (“I’ve won political capital and I intend to spend it…”) Mr. Harper then spoke of the rule of law, breaking no ground, but tossing in a quote or two to underscore his points. The community, as shown by council, is divided on the issue, but as Mr. Pape said, January will have its effect.

Then came Mrs. Brown. It was as if all of the anger and pent-up frustrations of the past four years spewed from her like yesterday’s spoiled eggs. She attacked Goldner for unnecessary and inappropriate comments in the Sunday Journal concerning the firing of Purchasing Director Jim Howard. She called Ms. Goldner a “mouth-piece” for the administration as if expressing a view other than that of Mrs. Brown was by definition illegitimate. She railed about the lack of transparency in the Henry Administration. About half-way through her purge Tim Pape stood up and left. Glynn Hines then noisily rose and made the floor resound with his disapproval. He was followed by Ms. Goldner who showed a great deal of hurt on her face.

Through this all not once did either the council president, Mr. Harper, or the steward of council dignity, John Shoaff, rise to cool the emotions. They both could have, should have and did not.

Mrs. Brown and Ms. Goldner will both give up their seats in six weeks. There will be three more meetings during which they will have to sit near or next to each other. For the last full sessions it would be best if Ms. Goldner were to change seats with Mr. Smith or Mr. Hines. Distance has its rewards.

And, your taxes went up a bit last night. Lincoln National came in for a tax abatement for just under a million, and the good people who are to profit through the refurbishing of the Anthony Wayne Bank building were at the trough for a $10 million abatement. There was a third smaller abatement also on the agenda, all of which were quickly moved forward without the first comment or question. Tax abatements are essentially a bit of wealth transferal from you to investors. The county estimated a few years back that you pay $40 per $100,000 of assessed valuation on your property taxes which, you might remember, were supposed to be capped at one percent. The pace of abatements have accelerated so you are probably paying a bit more than that now. It is a method of shifting cumulative tax burden from corporations to individuals. The Lincoln said they would retain nearly two thousand jobs in exchange for the abatement, as if the loss of the abatement would cause them to move the rest of the operation to Philadelphia. The AWB project will create a score of jobs, so at least they are showing good intent. Sadly, the reporting system is so badly flawed that we will never know if they created the first job in exchange for raising your taxes.

Kudos were heaped last night on city staff for winning national recognition for “green” projects, namely the recycling success and the greening of our vehicle fleet. It should be noted that award for improving the efficiencies and reducing the waste in our vehicle fleet was won in competition with the likes of Coke, UPS and other majors with significantly higher budgets, legions of PR people and the exaggerated values of business-like competition. Nice win. Most of us know about the win-win-win of the recycling program, even those who could care less about “waste-not, want-not” lessons of every day life. Rates went down because of the recycling program and are predicted to go down again next year.

Finally, (but early in on the agenda) the meeting featured a presentation by the Citilink president and GM. They spoke of increased ridership, their new transit center and other successes. Efficiency was touted. Greater service, less cost, significant potential for growth. In response to a complainant of a couple weeks back who was angered at having to stand for lack of a seat during a trip, they offered no real answer. They should cheered about the complaint, instead of wringing hands. They should have been praised for having built ridership to the point where more buses, the fifty-percent more efficient buses they are now using, are needed, not that someone had to stand on a crowded bus! The shortcoming of the bus system is its infrequency of service and short hours. I would suggest the angry rider try a transit in Munchen, Berlin, Gera, or any of a few hundred cities where standing is nothing unusual and the buses come every 10 to 15 minutes and offer a truly valuable transit service. Our system has a long, long way to go.

Back to Mrs. Brown and Ms. Goldner. Their personal anger toward each other impedes the work that council is to undertake on our behalf. John Crawford was in the audience last night and one can certainly expect that the personalization of issues and vilification of the opposition will end as he and Russ Jehl replace Mrs. Brown and Ms. Goldner. It seems that Mr. Smith is in line to wield the president’s gavel next year, so lets hope he is more successful at keeping the vitriol in check than Mr. Harper.

On the way home I noticed a tent in Freimann. It was one small tent, drenched with cold rain, swaying in the wind.

By Jim Sack

One (I) had hoped that the emotions leading up to the election would have subsided a bit by last night, yielding to pensive analysis of the city’s affairs and collaborative steps forward. I was wrong. Again, Councilwoman Liz Brown and city controller Pat Roller found themselves locked in a heated debate over the ways and means surrounding Citizens Square.

Controller Roller came to council last night, invited it seems, to make a report concerning the purchase and on-going renovation of the the house of collective government. It was entitled a “Community-based Solution to Local Government Needs Summary.” She presented a slide show that started with a “Co-Location Timeline,” proceeded to “Guiding Principles ” outlining discussions on space needs and construction, and continued through a “Current Fiscal analysis of Citizens Square.” The presentation ended in a recap of funding for the building which was once priced at $14 million, worked its way to $18 million and is now heading a million higher.

Costs included $7 million for the building,

• $2 million for the bond and interest,
• $200,000 to issue the bond (closing costs),
• $9.6 million in construction costs,
• $200,000 in “delay” costs and another
• $333,000 in “pre-construction costs,” such as heating the building prior to move in.

The current costs total out to $19.5 million and just under $19 million was authorized or scrounged. That leaves an overage of $468,893 in council’s lap. Expect an appropriation request soon. (One former city leader, noted that the over-run was small compared to the size of the project.)

But, when there is that much money involved, that many people with two-cents to add, two competing branches of government and two political parties engaged in on-going hostilities things get confused. It seems someone in the higher reaches of the Henry Administration decided to bring up back debts, purportedly owned by the county to the city, as part of the money negotiations. Inside the city limits are scores of properties owned by the county, taken back as a result of non-payment of taxes. It often falls to the city to mow the vacant lots or around the derelict houses. The county is to reimburse the city for those expenses, but the country, according to the city, is $500,000 behind on payments. So Pat Roller and the Mayor decided to settle accounts once and for all in a process of grand negotiations and accounting. Of course, the Republicans have howled that the mowing bill and other unpaid old bills the city has dug up are not germane to the final accounting concerning Citizens Square. Mrs. Roller and her boss apparently feel that tossing in these “bogies,” as she called them, during negotiations with the county was the time when the city had the most leverage to resolve old accounts.

Mrs. Councilwoman Brown felt otherwise and all but represented county government in her arguments, trying to de-couple the bogies from the negotiations. She has her points: tossing in the extraneous issues certainly muddies the waters and confuses matters. The city, to further leverage their position, also argues that they have no current lease at the old City Country Building and are withholding rent. They are building further leverage with the county. In business such dickering often happens, but in government, when the additional expenses are born by taxpayers, you and I are on the hook for delays and associated expenses.

So, after Mrs. Brown all but called Mrs. Roller a liar, after Mrs. Roller tried to “correct the record” after one of Mrs. Brown’s charges, in rides (finally) the council president, the guy with the gavel, Mitch Harper, humor in hand, to defuse the situation. At first he proposed a beer-summit between city and county leaders to resolve the matter, the mayor facing off with the three country commissioners, with a few city and county council members, to end the bickering. Then, impishly grinning, Mitch suggested, pun fully intended, that the leaders convene to “talk Turkey” in the spirit of the coming holiday. Tee hees and groans washed across the table and gallery. The idea probably further muddies the waters, as did the tedious co-location task force, which Controller Roller blames for some of the cost overruns. Envision putting County Council members Paul Moss and Roy Buskirk in a room with the Commissioners, the Mayor, three city council members, a crowd of citizens, the media and button-wearing supporters will but might bring public pressure to bear to resolve the matter, but is likely to drag it out and give a platform for posturing. One can only guess that the list of back bills unpaid from both sides could paper a wall. We shall see if Mayor Henry and the Commissioners bite on the turkey idea.

There were other bills and resolutions on the agenda. Another “revitalization” tax abatement was moved along that will help a small business on Illinois Road expand in exchange for ten-years of savings. A sewer extension that will cut across the Cherry Hills Golf Course and cost the city half a million in “green fees” was given an accelerated approval so as to get moving before the snows falls and, by doing so, allow restoration of the fairways so no precious tee-times will be lost in the early spring. And, some $800,000 was moved from one part of the budget to the Parks Department to pay for trees.

In general, it was a meeting in contrast to pre-election brawls. At the beginning and end of the night members of council joked, smiled, bantered and seemed restrained in their comments until the matter of bogies hit the table. Mrs. Brown now has nothing to lose, having lost everything already. She attacked Mrs. Roller while most others in the room squirmed, that is until Tom Smith gently interjected his request that the negotiations be kept to the central issue of who pays for what concerning the building. That calmed things enough to allow Mr. Turkey to gobble in with his proposal to march the top gladiators for both sides into a camera-filled room to arrive at a thoughtful solution. Anyone who witnessed the last iteration of that process had better hold on to their wallets and eat a light breakfast.

By Jim Sack

The crowd at the Grand Wayne sang happy birthday to the mayor last night and it was clear he was moved. He had already cracked a few jokes, paid his respects to challenger Paula Hughes and thanked a few dozen figures central to his victory. Behind him were members of his “immediate” family, some 30 to 40 young and old, brothers, sisters, his mom, his nephews and nieces and the adopted Tony “Henry,” as well as the natural Tony.

There are a score of ways to look at the election: vindication, better organization, rejection of the challenger’s message, personal affection for the mayor, and on. In a county controlled by Republicans, in a city where the base registration favors Republicans, in a state controlled by Republicans the City of Fort Wayne chose a Democrat to lead. The Republicans failed to win the moderate middle. Read the rest of this entry »