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?”

Perhaps he will find a way to lengthen the period over which the 40 percent increase is enacted (he politely said the state very seldom goes along with that option), perhaps he will win the ear of the mayor to use some Legacy money to soften the blow (fat chance given the stated goal of making a catalytic improvement to our community; this increase is for maintenance), or a magical source of grant money that will keep us all happy (not likely). All sources of funds, other than you pocket and mine, are doubtful.

Councilman Russ Jehl asked what so many cynics had observed, that only last year when seeking funding for a purification system, Mr. Menon and staff had all but assured council that no rate increase was in the works. Mr. Menon in response to Mr. Jehl’s challenge repeated what he had said earlier in the session, a bit of a split of the hair to be sure, that an evaluation of the needs of the water-garbage-recylcing utility was not complete when he came before council in April, so, technically, he could honestly say that no rate increase had been “in the works” and that he had not spoken with a forked tongue. Like too many other things the problem did not reveal itself until just after the election. Oh, the gods of timing.

The review was, however, planned and executed last year and might have merited passing mention during those UV-Cryto Spiridium hearings that drew millions of dollars away from other City Utility budget lines, including maintenance. “Oh, yes, council members, we have an review in process that will evaluate our balance sheet, our processes and procedures and help us determine whether an adjustment (increase) to water rates will be forced upon us…” He might have tossed that in. It would have raised valid questions which, after all, is what council is supposed to do.

The rate increase will be passed. Council all but said so last night. They will wring their hands and hope that the Mayor will toss a few Legacy dollars to soften the blow to rate payers, but don’t count on it. The water rate increase will take effect in 2013, so start saving pennies now.

Coupled with the confusion surrounding botched inspection of our new city hall’s ancient elevators, the subsequent delay in reporting that substantial miss and the wallet-busting price of the screw-up Mr. Menon’s parsed words last night offered no solace that the administration will keep its word to be more open and cooperative with council. Two swings, two misses. Three strikes, as the metaphor goes. Actions speak louder than words, as the saying goes.

Also, on the menu last night was also discussion of the road “diet” for Lake Avenue. Four lanes, inadequate lanes by most standards, unless you may live in Nigeria, will be reduced to three – two opposing travel lanes and a center turn lane. Lake had been problematic since penny-pincher (penny wise, pound foolish) Mayor Mike Burns save the taxpayer money that flowed directly to body shops and tire repair. Accident, accident, accident. The same diet was implemented on Rudisill and all but the guys driving the muffler-less, high-hubbed, muscle cars love it. Such a “diet” will benefit everyone traveling Lake. Oddly, John Shoaff did not ask why the same sort of diet was not appropriate for State Boulevard where the state-city planning cabal plans to widen, widen, widen to divert truck traffic from Coliseum past North Side, Hall’s East State, the Hospital and the Rib Room. “Listen to the whistle the rumble and the roar…”

No related posts.

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.

Tom Smith, the new council president, decided last month to pick up the pace a bit and put the fifth Tuesday back in play and rename it 5TH TUESDAY. Council was redecorated to give the appearance of a Roman Forum and everyone wore gold-trimmed togas. It is now a special mark on the calendar, so soon there will be 5TH TUESDAY lore, memorabilia and letterhead to promote the night, perhaps reserved seating, perhaps a CD. Mr. Smith wants to give the night stature over the mundane business of buying salt and asphalt, so he sees it as a forum to discuss special topics. So it was last night. Last night’s proceedings were more along the lines of the Watergate Hearings than high discussion among solons.

Most folk know about the new city hall. Most know it was a heck of a fight to convince council to open the purse to buy the $7 million building. The price tag, with repairs and such, increased to around $19 million which led to more and more fights.

Then, after purchase and renovation, citizens started complaining the elevators were holding them captive. Seems a cellphone can get a signal in a fifty-year old elevator shaft. During one EMS run, woman on gurney, monitors beeping, the van waiting outside with lights ablaze, a lift became embarrassingly and dangerously stuck between floors for six to seven minutes. “Life and death,” bemoaned Councilman Marty Bender. It became painfully evident to the administration they had to fix the six building elevators, all of them, at a cost of $900,000. How to pay for the mess, became job one.

So, instead of “splaining” to council and asking them for an appropriation the administration went to the Redevelopment Commission and that’s when the real trouble started. To put it simply, asking the much more compliant, much friendlier commission, which has three mayoral appointees and only two councilmatic appointees, and which is staffed by the administration, looked like an end run, or sweeping the problem under the rug. Council has high profile and loves to grab headlines, the commission holds meetings in a closet and tries to keep the tone hushed. It seemed like “let’s see if we can get away with this one…” So, the commission voted the cash from their own pocket money, but somebody told the press and questions, innuendo, charges, counter-charges, more innuendo and base motives were raised or attributed to the action. The matter didn’t go away, it festered.

Last night council and the administration tried to get it all on the table.

Mr. Smith opened the questioning with a “did you know about this before the election” point blank question; that meaning, did you hide this from the community so as to protect the mayor? Controller Pat Roller chose not to answer the question, but instead went through a lengthy recitation of the purchase of the building, its funding and gardening in Indiana. Eyes glazed and rolled. Assault blunted. One has to guess that was the idea. Tactic One-A in political debate is not to answer the question posed, but to answer what you would have wished that question to have been. Something like, “Controller Roller, would you tell us why the administration should be fast-tracked toward canonization?” Of course!

Greg Leatherman, the director of the Redevelopment Commission, which found the petty cash, eventually came to the table to recite a bit of history about TIF money. TIF is Tax Incremental Financing, and within a TIF district property tax dollars are diverted from the general fund to use on intra-district economic development. It is money that would otherwise go to the general fund and pay for schools and libraries and buses, not to mention airports and sewers, but has been used to pay for ballparks and parking garages that are believed to increase the tax base. TIF. Mr. Leatherman cited a dozen examples of where TIF dollars had been used for purposes very similar to elevator repair. That line of discussion rather faded away. Yesterday was the formerly embattled Mr. Leatherman’s best day since his wedding. (See celebratory stories of the Harrison. His baby, in many ways.)

Finally, Mrs. Roller and architect Cory Miller, who handled much of the “due diligence,” noted that the State of Indiana inspected and passed the elevators and that experts had told the administration to budget for ongoing maintenance while setting aside cash for eventual major repairs within three to four years. Mr. Miller and Mrs. Roller said they accepted those findings and moved on to other problems. In hindsight, they said, yup, they should have sought additional inspections, yup, they should have realized that the building being fallow for years might have had an adverse effect, but that with so many other things on the plate during this “once in a century” move that a nut-by-greasy-bolt inspection was not done.

In the end, council agreed the elevators had to be repaired, that the source of funds was acceptable and accepted the oft repeated mea culpas and apologies offered by the controller. Heads will not roll.

The administration did, however, know that the elevators were in dire straights before the election. Hmmm. The administration also cast doubt on their recent pledge to be more open and cooperative with council. (Hard to regain lost trust.)

While securing funds from the Redevelopment Commission enjoyed precedent it blew up in the Henry Administration’s face. Mrs. Roller said the approach taken was a mistake. Perhaps it was a teachable moment. Perhaps.

So, Mr. Smith should be commended. He kept most of his herd on topic last night, the meeting was polite, but probing. It was a smart start to a new “tradition” and should serve as a warning to this executive: should the nascent “tradition” set down roots, this administration or any future administration that tries an end-run will attract double the attention and yield many more headlines than simply upfront “splainin’.”

No related posts.

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.

Udris grew up, as mentioned, in Cleveland, he was the son of a Democratic father and a Republican mother. His father immigrated after WWII from West Germany after fleeing his native Latvia. The Soviets had killed thousands in Riga just before the war and would kill thousand more, deport tens of thousands of Latvians to Siberia and would stifle Latvia for a generation. The elder Udris, who had fought the Soviets, fled with the retreating Germans and eventually found his way to Cleveland and a solid, well paying union job that promised a future and security. His union job delivered on that promise in a way the Soviets never did, nor ever would.

So, Andi would talk of hearing his father and mother argue politics at home. They both wanted him to get a nice, safe, middle class job as an engineer, but his first years among the geeks told him that he would rather be in the more fluid and political arena of economic development. To the chagrin of his “play-it-safe” parents, Andi transferred credits and graduated into the more political, more controversial world of quasi-government community development. After stints in other towns, after successes and failures, he brought to Fort Wayne and to his job plenty of experience, plenty of ideas and a sensitivity to the Republican side and the Democratic side of arguments, thanks to hearing his mother and father debate. Andi was not only willing to listen, but he also heard and understood what you might say. When we breakfasted he told me his concerns with the Right-to-Work bill, but explained why he supported it. I offered my concerns which he accepted. There was no rancor, no hyperbole, just an analysis and discussion. I might suggest that willingness to hear sat him apart from so many “leaders” who hear nothing and are just waiting for your lips to stop moving so they can pronounce their loftier thoughts.

What was equally interesting during our many conversations was the way Udris explained the problems confronting Fort Wayne’s economic development future. He had big ideas that would require significant change in local thinking and for some people and institutions to think of the community as well as their parochial turf. The big ideas complimented the standard, Economic Development 101 projects such as “shovel-ready” factory sites.

Perhaps it was his willingness to push, to confront the sedentary and to propose big ideas to little minds that got him in trouble and led to “spend more time with my family,” as they say.

It would, indeed, be a sad thing if Mr. Udris were to leave Fort Wayne for other digs. He contributes much to our area and is not afraid to rattle a few cages. In economic developmental sleeping dogs should not be let lie.

No related posts.

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.

So, the meeting veritably sped by with polite discussion, observation and action. Votes came and went bam, bam, bam.

The meeting opened with John Urbahns, the city’s director of Economic Development, and sidekick Paul Spoelhof, a bow-tied, round-rimmed bespectacled planner, discussing with council how the process of redistricting will go. Urbahns offered some ideas, one of which was accepted by council – The Hines Crawford process of ten years ago will be dusted off and put back into play. Hines, a Democrat and a representative of a district, will work with Crawford, a Republican and an at-large councilman, to adjust boundaries so that each of our six districts comprises roughly 40,000 voters. Maps will be draw and offered to council for their consideration and amendment. All seemed to agree the 3rd district would shrink a bit and the underpopulated fifth would grow correspondingly. Council members were reminded that current districts would remain status quo until the next election thus allaying many of their spoken and unspoken fears. Urbahns early warned that he would work with everyone equally and that he didn’t want his staff to be the target of political attacks; council members all pledged to keep this most politically fraught of processes above politics. File this under the dual headings of: Talk is Cheap, and, The Devil is in the Details.

On to a stoplight fight on the north side, albeit a civilized and cooperative fight that seemed more friendly jostling than a fight. City-County planning was told two weeks ago to take a project they had endorsed for a “cramped” development off Coldwater Road back to the drawing board. They did. In the interim a plenary session was held with all involved, and last night, with nary a dissenting syllable the development was tabled again for a month or so more to allow traffic planning to study the corridor south of Union Chapel Road to determine who overflowing traffic flow might be better managed with widening or lights or turn-lanes. John Shoaff gave high marks to Russ Jehl, the second district representative, in the way Jehl managed the informal meeting. Jehl blew a kiss back at Mr. Shoaff for providing the savvy old-timer stability that resolved many of the questions posed at the meeting. Even the developer, normally Tums-Poppers to a man, seemed comfortable with the delays. The project was tabled for another month or two. So ended the committee session. Polite. Workmanlike. Bordering on gracious.

The Love-Sherpas guided everyone from the committee room into the grand hall for the regular session. Of the thirty ordinances up for introduction or passage only one was rejected and only one other bill received less than a unanimous vote. Most were proforma introductory readings: Glynn Hines made it a appoint to read as fast as possible nearly 20 bills on his committee’s agenda. Polite laughter accompanied him nearly all the way through the tedious reading as if encouraging applause for a proud marathoner. Congratulatory laughter greeted him at the finish line.

The dead ordinance was “S-12-01-03, An Ordinance approving program and project management assistance for City Utilities – 2012 & 2013 between The Secant Group, Inc., and the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana in connection with the Board of Public Works. Total cost of $310,336.” (Hines had to read 20 similarly tediousness bills…) You may remember that last week the DOA ordinance was voted “Do Not Pass” because the contract would run for two years. The professional services committee is about to offer new guidelines on said professional service contracts and wants all new contracts to comply with the yet-to-be-finished ordinance. Dr. Crawford and Mr. Didier sit on that committee and put the kibosh on the contract. One expects the administration to rebid the contact for a one year, 2012, term. You may also remember that last year, during the cat-fight-council, such a discussion might have led to red pumps being thrown and a walkout of three or four members. Not so last night, again, hardly a contrarian scent in the air. The method of voting was calmly explained, a vote taken, and the verdict read – simple as that.

Finally, Mitch Harper’s Citizen Full Participation Act of 2012 was brought to a vote. It had been discussed, with a mild gnashing of teeth at the last council meeting and was simply voted into law last night with no pontificating, no snarling, no invective.

Even during the open mic session the discussions were polite and straight forward. Dr. Crawford did remind that the professional contracts committee is still at work, as was evidenced in that death-dealing vote, but that was about the most charged statement anyone made. Members all seemed graduates of the Charmaine Finishing School. After the meeting, John Shoaff, noticeably buoyed by the congeniality of the meeting, was heard to say – I think we can get some things done this year. Sandy Kennedy was also heard to say “it is early in the year.”

Clerk Kennedy is probably right, but compared to last year it looks like council will work as a team on the vast majority of projects and discuss problematic projects with balance and fairness. To anyone who watched the previous council it is a boring relief. In that, Mr. Shoaff may also prove right.

No related posts.

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.

There was no rancor in the discussion, as would certainly have been the case last year; the matter was politely discussed, moved, seconded, debated and tossed to the wolves.

On the meeting went, mostly through a slew of service contracts and purchase contracts for chemicals and materials. We learned that 2010 was a very bad year for water breaks and that Water Maintenance is still repairing old problems. We learned we are getting our moneys-worth out of certain fire hydrants purchased by the city before the Great War and still in use. We learned that the center of town will be ripped up in the years to come as the sewer separator project lays parallel lines on the near west side. Brick streets, however, will be rebuilt as original. We also learned that Russ Jehl had asked for a copy of the city budget but had not yet received said copy, so he abstained on a number of votes for lack of information upon which to base a decision. We further learned that the city purchasing department managed a number of reverse auctions in the previous years that saved taxpayers considerably in matters of buying the chemicals that “flavor” our water. And, finally, we learned from Tom Didier that the taste of the water here is fall better than that in Indianapolis where he recently visited. Good to know.

Of course, there was a bit of a fight last night: Mitch Harper defended his bill, shall we call it the Redman Rule, that will allow citizen to speak more frequently to council. Policy now is that citizens are allowed mic time at the end of the regular session only every two weeks, or in legal public hearings. The setting for public speaking time is a bit intimidating. One stands behind a lectern under a spot light some thirty feet from council who are arrayed in their togas on the raised dais. They sit in in a stony-faced semi-circle peering down over their glasses at the petitioning peasant. There is no response from on high. To the side, a police officer stands ready to haul the miscreant away should his petitions irk the mighty. It is not a welcoming place. James Redman, on the other hand, managed to speak to council from a less formal and distant place, the witness chair immediately at the end of the committee table. His comments about the paucity of trails and bike paths on the southeast side was a conversation, a front-porch chat with glasses of sweetened tea and a few laughs. Mr. Redman conducted a dialogue, or a multi-logue, as it may be. That is what Mr. Harper envisions.

So, the councilman from the Fourth proposed that citizens’ brains be picked in that more informal manner and more frequently. His proposed law was criticized as unnecessary by Dr. Crawford and council President Smith. Harper was mildly indignant and he was supported by Messrs. Shoaff, Paddock, Didier and Jehl in passing the bill, 5-4. Shoaff later recounted that during the Calhoun Street debate of four years ago he had three citizens prepared to speak on that issue and they were told to go away by the committee chair. So, the Harper Free-Speech Act of 2012 passed out of committee and will win passage in the regular session as one or two more council members will switch over in support.

Ironically, during the many, many public hearings and at that regular open-mic moment there are very, very few citizens who avail themselves of the chance to speak or vent or illuminate. Perhaps Mr. Harper might wish to encourage the troops a bit to speak truth to power. He has an opportunity coming up.

The other lingering business concerning council was discussed at the head of the meeting by President Smith as he organized the body to discuss the very expensive and surprising repairs to elevators in the recently renovated city hall. He asked a consensus of the body as to how and when administration representatives might come down to explain the “unexpected” $900,000 repair bill, the biggest of a string of surprise overruns. Mr. Smith wants to know who inspected the elevators, when they were inspected and what the report concluded. He might also wish to know why the administration has chosen to solicit repair money through the more compliant and much less inquisitive Redevelopment Commission. He has a dozen more questions, as do most of the rest of council.

The matter is now set for the fifth Tuesday meeting of council on January 31st. Three birds with one stone. Mr. Smith gets to put council to work on their customary fifth Tuesday off, one of his stated goals. Council and the public will get a chance to see the new openness and cooperation of the administration, and the Redman-Harper Rule on citizen participation will be tested.

Bottom line: we all should want to know whether we bought a pig in a poke. The gavel will fall at 5:30pm.

No related posts.

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.

On the matter of a development on the far north side, the one “held” 9-0, a multi-family housing project for seniors, allowed council to flexed its new-found muscle. (Remember, council is has a Republican super majority and of the three Democrats hardly one is a staunch defender of the administration.) The proposal, brought down to the table with a do-pass recommendation by the plan commission, was generally criticized by Councilmen John Shoaff, Tom Didier, Russ Jehl and others. Mr. Shoaff rued the lack of aesthetics, Messrs. Jehl and Didier wanted a traffic light and supported Mr. Shoaff. All felt that there was much more work to be done to protect surrounding neighborhoods and get out ahead of future traffic jams. The city representative said repeatedly that her office found no problems and that the engineers thought it just fine. She added the plan commission has signed off unanimously. Shoaff does not care for plans lead by engineers. He wants more green space, more amenities and more consideration for people. The comment that walks and driveways were one in the same sent the project back to the drawing board for a bit more tweeking.” Mr. Shoaff warned that he was again a member of the plan commission and this sort of plan would not pass his muster once he takes his seat. Mr. Jehl proposed a hold of two weeks. His first foray into the unknown was supported nine-naught by his colleagues.

Count on Mr. Shoaff to push over and over again to force developers to higher standards of “livability,” whatever that may mean. Mr. Shoaff believes that aesthetics of a development should come first and that engineers then should figure out how to run wires, plumbing, sidewalks and the like, not the reverse. For decades traffic engineering has led development in Fort Wayne and the city shows that certain pocket-protector look, according to architect Shoaff. Mr. Shoaff will now push for the “city in a garden” look on future development and has the full backing of his eight colleagues.

Collaboration and cooperation were in order through every comment and discussion, especially during the time at the end of the meeting when council members speak to issues or events that are dear to their hearts. President Tom Smith started the discussion in tandem with his friend, Councilman Shoaff. The both spoke clearly about their anger over the surprise revelation that the city must now spend another $900,000 or so to repair elevators in Citizen’s Square. Smith asked why this fundamental problem was not discovered during the inspection of the building that preceded the purchase last year. He asked who was responsible and whether the city was covered in some way for the unpleasant surprise? Mr. Shoaff then expressed anger at what he saw was an end run to pay for the anticipated costs – rather than come to council with the funding request, the administration has chosen to seek funds through the Redevelopment Commission where the administration has a loyal majority. Shoaff said the Redevelopment Commission is a creature of city council and suggested a harder look at their staffing and dealings. He is still angry over the flawed ball park contract, the entire Harrison Square complex process, the gift of land to the boss of a member of the commission, and a dozen other RDC doings. Last year he tried to fire the director, Greg Leatherman, in a roundabout way.

Then John Crawford let fly in his very understated way. He reminded council of its here-to-fore failed effort to clamp down on pay-to-play where contractors toss extravagant campaign contributions to the incumbent, in this case the very Mayor who had been so warmly welcomed at the beginning of the meeting, in exchange for big contracts. He voiced kudos for a News Sentinel report on the matter that came a few months after Dan Turkette, the owner of this blog, opened the discussion with a lengthy analysis of suspicious donations to Mayor Henry’s campaign. Mr. Crawford all but defined kick-back, graft and corruption in his gently presented homily. “lead us not into temptation…” He noted that on the agenda last night were contracts let to some of the out-of-state contractors who had may well have violated election laws. “I will ask the election board to look in to this,” he politely said.

Councilmen Smith, Shoaff and Crawford all but called for subpoenas. Smith wants members of the administration to come down to explain who knew what and when concerning cost overruns. His question is how could something so fundamental to a building as an elevator system be overlooked by city inspectors? Where was the due diligence? Who screwed up? Did the seller hide the flaw? The mayor had better have snappy answers or this will drag on and on and on, perhaps end up in court. Mr. Shoaff, in his turn, is determined that the administration will not avoid fessing up and accepting guilt. He will fight against Mayor Henry using the Redevelopment Commission, as has been done in the past, as a cover for failure. No sweeping this under the carpet. And, Mr. Crawford will quietly walk over to the election board and file a complaint that will do more than all the angry diatribes last year achieved. He will also offer an ordinance to attack campaign funding corruption.

While the entire evening was convivial, collaborative, genial, friendly, one big smile-fest, the chickens are certainly coming home to roost. Now, let’s see who catches bird-flu.

No related posts.

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.

The “recycled-rookie,” John Crawford, his four term on council only interrupted by public anger over two of his most courageous votes, spoke of coalition building and civility: never make a policy discussion a platform for a personal attack, he said, the attacker may need the victim for a critical vote the following week. Heads nodded around the table. Geoff Paddock, a first-time councilman, but long, long in training for this level of public service, spoke of how he admired every member of this council and how honored he was to simply sit among them. Eyes began to water. Marty Bender added that he looked forward to workmanlike sessions were meetings were a bit shorter and to the point, Mitch Harper joked about the other members of council gaining from Russ’s Jehl-education.

Last night was the exact reverse of the constant rancor and bitterness that colored council for the past four years.

But, to say that there will not be disagreements and confrontations with the administration is to overlook human nature. Mr. Shoaff alluded to as much when he accept his new assignment to the a planning body – he has already started his fight against changes to State Boulevard that, in his words, will devastate the surrounding neighborhoods. He is now in a position to carry his fight to a higher level with regards to State Boulevard and to future projects imposed by un-elected planning agencies, he might add. In future projects, he expects the administration and regional planning bodies to consult with the affected citizens before letting the first contracts and all but establishing a fait accomplis. Expect Mr. Shoaff to be tough as nails on issues of urban design, community involvement and openness.

But, it was clearly Mr. Smith’s night: He was elected unanimously, without a whimper of dissent and at a speed that would qualify for the London Olympics. He called for “calm and cordial” relations on council and with the administration. He noted that City Controller Pat Roller had already spoken with him about working together, together! on the budget process starting the sooner the better. He fairly beemed with optimism. He expects the budget process to be a team effort, not to explode in council’s faces as it did last year. Smith added his “key” goal this year will be to provide greater leadership, meaning that council will also have an agenda, not act as a sounding board-rubber stamp for mayoral initiatives. Later, he spoke of the Legacy Fund and the implication was clear that each member of council and the body as a whole will offer amendments. In the spirit of Pat Roller it might benefit John Urbahns and the mayor to bring their proposals to Smith and council early for discussions and improvements. It will, after all, take five votes to kill any bill and only six votes to override a veto.

“Keeping our property values strong is the key to keeping Fort Wayne financially strong,” he declared. President Smith called on the city to conduct a “tax impact assessment” in the way that all major projects must now conduction an environmental impact assessment. That comment comes from the tumultuous experiences with the ballpark complex, the acquisition of Citizen’s Square, the abatement mess and tax incremental funding zones, TIFs, that divert pools of tax dollars, give away tax dollars, and invariably shift taxes to the rest of us to make up. Let’s gauge “the impact of our spending on property values before we undertake certain projects.” He would like to know who the winners and losers will be before the ink dries. Mr. Smith seems to have nailed that one.

So, the 2012 City Council – all men, all virile, all politicians to the core – has started the four-year term with the best of intentions and the kindest of words. We can only hope. We know the prime component of the paving material leading to hell. What we do know is that Mayor Tom Henry has already clearly and publicly signaled a willingness to meet council more than half-way. We know that most members of council have cordial relations with the mayor and will be open to the best for the city. Fundamentally, there will always be disagreement over how to spend tax money and for what purposes; we will always contend on how much tax money to raise, how to raise it and from whom. It just seems so clear that the coming year will be more a process of ebbing and flowing coalitions than a reprise of the recent public brawl. Mr. Smith seems to be the perfect choice to build bridges, encourage compromise and heal the wounds.

We can only hope.

No related posts.

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.

Obergfell then presented a legal-sized page upon which was a spreadsheet detailing the various TIF zones in and around Fort Wayne, their histories, their sources of income, the heft of their accounts and when they will go out of business. Tax Incremental Financing refers to defined zones in which the property tax dollars collected go not to the general fund to be divvied to CITIlink and the Schools and government, but rather are plowed back into the development of the specific district. Council members poured over the details and asked studied questions.

During that discussion Councilman Tim Pape and Council president Mitch Harper had a polite exchange, oft punctuated by the word, “respectfully,” in relationship to whether tax dollars are best left in the hands of the taxpayer or collected by and for a community to power development projects to bring jobs and higher income. Mr. Pape sounded like a lobbyist for the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Harper sounded the anti-tax Liberterian or for the less-government-just-skirting-anarchy position. The exchange of ideas was interesting and, more importantly, polite. Instead of the rancor of weeks past it was a meeting of minds, rather than ambushes and gotchas.

Cox and Obergfell were both comprehensively praised by most members of council for their professionalism and dedication to the community. Both men left the impression that the public will be well represented during the forthcoming work of the Commission and that missteps like those that created that overly generous contract with Hardball Capital and Berry Realty will not occur on their watch. Council members all but reappointed the two to second four-year terms on the Redevelopment Commission. That will have to wait until the new year.

The rest of the agenda was short; a land purchase that would benefit the Park Department, reduce flooding, extend trails and beautify the far north side was passed without a whimper.

Then came Deputy Mayor Beth Malloy to the table to testify concerning two bills to continue the revamp of the permitting process started a year ago by Councilman Roy Buskirk and carried forward by a intergovernmental committee which held a number of public hearings and was pressed forward by many in the construction community. A month ago the same presentation would have been one series of angry exchanges, charges, counter-charges, snipes, innuendo and rudeness. Last night, there was only one smallish snipe, but the great majority of the conversation centered on the process and progress. Two contracts were let: one to employ a management team and the other to hire a company to plow through existing regulations and code to trim the bushes and untangle the spaghetti plate of overlap, contradiction and confusion that has grown in the local governmental permitting process. Both bills passed unanimously without the hurtful and bitter comments of previous meetings. It was refreshing. Councilman Tom Smith was applauded for his role in the process, as was Councilwoman Karen Goldner who asked on-going council members to be vigilant in carrying this project to fruition and re-fruition, as regulation can be like kudzu. A member suggested that Councilman John Shoaff, who had previously served on the exploratory committee be reappointed to the board. He smiled acceptance, if formally offered.

The year 2011 was not a golden year for council. The fighting and bickering began with committee assignments in January, continued through the testy and messy primary, rose in intensity over the summer, hit a raucous climax during early November and then turned nasty two weeks ago. Last night was a welcome change characterized by a a business-like tenor from start to finish. The meeting ended with a reminder of the responsibilities we have to those who have gone before us and why we should care so much about the work of the people.

Marty Bender, who had remained taciturn the entire meeting, was again given the task of moving adjournment. He did so after offering a few words in memory for the sailors and soldiers killed during the sneak attack in 1941 on Pearl Harbor. Remember Pearl Harbor, he asked, and try to do some good today for your city, state and country.

No related posts.

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.

No related posts.

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.

No related posts.

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.

And, the city choose again the venerable Sandy Kennedy, a died-in-the-wool, card-carrying Democrat, to continue the job of recording the city’s transactions as city clerk. Again, the Republicans failed to hold the middle.

But, the city also chose two Republicans and a Democrat to serve as senators, in other words, councilmen-at-large. And, in the districts voters replaced one Democrat with a Republican and one Democrat with another Democrat. Local voters split their votes.

Republican Marty Bender got the most votes of all candidates. Why? Considering Democrats won the top two offices why split the ballot so very emphatically? Bender earned some 4,000 votes more than the mayor re-elect. Probably because people like him, see him as one of them, like his mannerism and that he protects them. Bender, as much as anyone on council, is a man of the middle, someone who constructively works with everyone.

The likability factor is probably also why more voters picked Tom and Sandy. They like them, and trust them.

It was also a night to vote for tried and true, except in the case of Karen Goldner. She was beaten, not by much, in a solidly Republican district, but newcomer Russ Jehl, an old German name in Fort Wayne. Other council members felt that Ms. Goldner had worked the hardest over the past four years as anyone at the table, becoming expert in the nuts and bolts of matters that usually fly under the radar, pollution control and infrastructure repair. but there is a difference between running for office and serving in office. Jehl said he would not be out-worked and may have visited the most front doors of any of the candidates. Another councilman, Tom Smith, lectured early in the campaign that he who walked most would win the most votes. Jehl walked the most, he simply out worked her.

The other big winner of the night was Tom Didier. He earned 70 percent of the vote. Numbers like that are usually reserved for rigged elections in small Third World dictatorships. Didier was clearly the people’s choice. He, as with Tom and Sandy and Marty, is beloved by many in this community, and I mean beloved. To be around any one of them in public is to witness a stream of appreciative admirers come up to express some level of thanks.

Perhaps, that is what Fort Wayners did yesterday. Perhaps more than anything else they voted for people they believe to be their friends.

No related posts.

And, the winner was….

…whoever you think it was.

Not being flippant, really, just observing. At last night’s mayoral debate at IPFW all three candidate’s made points, all three offered memorable moments and very few votes were changed. Partisans remained partisans, those on the edge didn’t get much raw meat to win their vote. The debate was a bit of a draw.

First, it was a very polite crowd who dutifully followed, except in one instance, the admonition of host Andy Downs to keep quiet throughout the night. No hooting, no hissing, no applause. The audience, me included, dutifully responded, except for one heartfelt moment. Happily, only one selfish man’s cell phone went off during the debate. Andy was clear on that, too.

“Celebrity” interrogators Heather Herron and Mark Mellinger did a fine job of asking questions and, even when smothering in responses that were little more than mind-dulling blather, had the composure to reiterating the very same question, with a healthy bit of voiced frustration. Frequently, the candidates answered questions that hadn’t been posed. Mellinger’s called them on the carpet twice garnering approving rustles from the 200 or so in attendance, as well as the wizened politicos who hung around after the debate in little clusters scoring the results. “Nice format.” “Smart guy, that Mellinger.”

It was an interesting format with questions from the interrogators, questions from one candidate to another, rebuttals and a faux-pause which Mr. Mellinger announced as a chance for the candidates to catch their breath when, in fact, euphamism aside, it was a chance to sell soap to the viewing audience and to ID the station.

There were no opening comments, so questions were quickly posed. Libertarian Haley Arendt was clearly not ready for his moment of celebrity. His early answers were brittle. His early “pass” on an opportunity to expound was met with muffled derision from the audience. Paula Hughes came out swinging and attacked the mayor whenever she had an opportunity. Mayor Tom Henry did the opposite, a tactical move, apparently, to give Mrs. Hughes as little opportunity as possible. When he was offered his opportunities to quiz an opponent he always chose to ask a question of Mr. Arendt, as if Mrs. Hughes was not in the room. That tactic, to deny the other face-time and to limit the chance of a point-scoring counter-attack, may have sounded good in the preparation pit but the audience did not like it very much. Cynical was a word used by one post-debate observer.

Mrs. Hughes scored points with her supporters, lost them with Mayor Henry’s people and may have lost a few down the middle with her charge that a hefty campaign donation to the Henry camp was nothing more than a bride to the mayor that he will pay back, if re-elected. The matter concerned the North River Project, a campaign gift from the Rifkin family to Mayor Tom and revolves around whether the City of Fort Wayne will attempt to buy the former scrap yard-cum-prime downtown real estate, and what price it will pay. Her insinuation drew a gasp from the audience.

Both leading candidates skirted a question from Mr. Mellinger about the tawdry ads both camps are using in an attempt to paint the other candidate as 1) a profligate spender, 2) a tax-dependent junkie, and 3) an untrustworthy liar. Many voters have commented on the vile tenor of the ads, but last night both Hizzonor and the Pretender refused to answer the question directly. It made for three minutes of squirming. Melllinger should have simply asked if they were ashamed of their campaign ads. He came darn close as they squirmed and squirmed and squirmed. It is hard to answer with a clenched jaw.

The three candidates also failed to offer “any ideas for the future.” Again, Mr. Mellinger paused when the last candidate had answered and repeated the question with a moderate touch of irritation in his voice. Laughter from the audience. Again, the candidates offered not bright ideas, just bubbling love of community-stuff. No vision, no ideas, no plans, just fluff.

During the debate Mrs. Hughes looked the more intense, the more aggressive, the more outspoken. Her sentences flowed. Her arguments were better framed. During the debate the mayor was most often on the defensive, trying to explain, speaking slowly for clarity and time. Sadly, he did not explain things well, at all, but neither did Mrs. Hughes produce that telling “you’re no Jack Kennedy” moment. Tom flubbed an explanation of city debt. He should have let Tim Pape explain. Mrs. Hughes missed opportunities, too, to clarify her record, but to her credit she did manage to regaled us with her truck-drivin’ story of personally finding a naked field where Steel Dynamics could locate another steel mill. It was memorable story. So, why didn’t Tom tell us about his slog, his door-to-banker’s door slog, to find funding for the Marriott downtown. Why didn’t he tell us about how he has struggled and will soon succeed in building the long-promised Harrison. By dint of labor he has pushed and pushed and pushed to make that piece of the downtown puzzle fall into place, but could he toot his own horn? Unfortunately, for all of us Tom Henry is no debater, he is not the best at telling his own story. One of his kin, however, added that last night was light-years better than the stammering at Tom’s first debate.

Were he a better debater we would all have a better sense of our community’s future. “Just trust me, I’m a good guy” only goes so far.

The most interesting moment and the moment that brought the strongest crowd reaction was during a discussion of the “occupiers” squatting in Headwaters Park. Mrs. Hughes would take no prisoners, “the law is to be obeyed;” Mayor Henry saw no harm and a free speech moment, “Mother Nature will eventually make decisions for them;” and then Haley Arendt rambled through what was obviously a heart-felt and angst-filled assessment of the reasons the young people are there and are protesting. He voiced compassion and sensitivity and was rewarded by a appreciative round of applause from the hall, the only one of the night, a round that came from Rs and Ds, alike.

Tom Henry’s closing statement seemed the better of the three. He ended on a high note. Paula Hughes was aggressive and well-spoken during most of the debate, her close was okay. Haley Arndt was clearly over his head in matters of state and rambled through most answers and his close. All, however, should be commended for standing on the stage and taking the blows. Andy Downs, who runs the Mike Downs Center at IPFW named, incidentally after his father and my former Poli Sci instructor, gave the in-house audience something to think about before the cameras began whirring when he said: “When the lights go on the IQs of candidates immediately drop 50 points.” We ask our candidates to run the gauntlet, a native American tradition that usually ended with the prisoner beaten or poked to death by sticks and tomahawks and stones before reaching the end of two parallel lines of attackers. Then and now it is a test of fortitude, endurance and courage.

Paula, Tom and Haley are at the end of the gauntlet. All three are tougher for the experience and we should appreciate that they have withstood those slings and arrows in order to offer their vision of the city. Had only they offered a vision.

Sadly, this campaign has been much less about vision and much more about smearing the opponent. Next Wednesday, if not sooner, the two perpetrator-engineers of the smearing will leave town heading for their next campaign where they will insist to their next candidate that smearing is the proven way to win. They will shake their heads knowingly when nicer people surrounding the next candidate argue in favor of civility and vision. They will solemnly predict that “when you lose you will wish you had listened to me. I know! I have been there.” Those next local candidates then turn their long-nurtured reputations over to out-of-town campaign managers and, not surprisingly, come out smelling like skunks, with apologies to the pretty little beast. Such campaigns nurture revenge.

Mark Mellinger and Heather Herron tried repeatedly to focus on that vision thing last night. They were rebuffed by two candidates who had been turned into fighting dogs by their campaign managers. We have all had to hold our noses and chose sides based on the lesser of two dung-heaps.

Haley Arndt, for all his inexperience and inabilities on stage last night, was the more honorable of the three candidates. Not once did he infer corruption, make a spurious charge or take a shot at either of the other two. He barely raised his eyebrows.

But, sadly, none of the three offered a vision. Defense all the way. One should hope for more from those who propose to lead.

No related posts.

Last night’s city council debate was frustrating to watch. It was the 5th District’s effort to hear what the six at-large candidates and the two district candidates had to say. With so many candidates the format could only be characterized as superficial.

First, we should all pay great respect to the candidates who offer themselves up to our scrutiny. Of the gaggle of eight all were men of integrity and capability. All would serve us well. All spoke cogently over the two hours of discussing community issues. None assault any of the others, there was no rancor, no sniping comments, no condescension, no “gotchas” efforts. One could easily predict that they would raise the level of debate and civility.

It simply would have been a more revealing discussion if there had been fewer candidates. Eight was just too many to allow them to go into any detail on issues or to ask follow up questions. Introductions took over half an hour, and eight candidates take nearly 20 minutes to go through a single question. Four questions were posed by the audience.

Speaking of the audience, only 18 souls attended, including our guest, Tom Didier from the northwest side of town. I was told by one candidate, John Crawford that turnout at most “debates” had bee slim from the beginning of the campaign to now. Others echoed his comment. He rued that often candidates outnumbered citizens. He further lamented that there were probably among the 18 only five or so votes that might be “movable.” He predicted a light election day turn-out, but hope for the opposite.

As it turned out I may have been one of those “movable” votes. I came to hear and to consider four candidates of whom I knew little. Despite the limiting format it was still very much worthwhile to gauge candidate comments and personality. It was also in the issues they mentioned that one could guess what issues might be most important to them in the coming four years. While all of the candidates wave the fiscal conservative flag, the less-is-better banner, one could tell that some favored pubic safety, others infrastructure, others the parks and planning process. The rivers were mentioned a few times, public transportation got a few votes as did replacing the dying tree canopy. Almost everyone, to a man, objected to borrowing more, even at historically low, low interest rates, favoring instead pay-as-you-go public financing. Given each of the 18 souls has three votes to cast for at-large and one for the district I would Mr. Crawford underestimated how many votes might be swayed. Regardless, the crowd was pathetically small. But, on the other hand, my neighborhood crowd was less pathetically small than those in other neighborhoods. Now we measure voter interest in degrees of pathos.

Still, they soldiered on. One candidate, incumbent Marty Bender, outlined to an inquiring citizen the numerous steps necessary for what would seem simple response to a neighborhood need. He knows the system. John Shoaff lamented that bad planning has and will invariably yield bad results. He pointed to the Calhoun Street redo as unnecessary and wasteful. He, too, knows the system, as does former councilman, John Crawford, who spoke to his frustration with the Public Service Academy calling it “oversold.” Gordon Anthony spoke to his many years of service on the fire department. Tom Freistroffer assessed the community’s situation against his experience in our fundamental real estate industry and his deep ties to the city. Geoff Paddock spoke of his efforts to land jobs through the return of rail service to Fort Wayne, as well as his work at Headwaters Park. Ben Hall offered his insights about district and city as a long-time manager of his family’s Gas House, as a businessman, as long-time resident of the south side. George Guido spoke about revitalization of the downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods. Eight good men.

There was no place in Fort Wayne I would rather have been last night. Before and after I had time to talk with the candidates, to ask a few additional questions. Today I will find my way downtown to vote early. One of my votes will be for someone who won me over last night.

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After four weeks of passionate, intimate budget-making last night’s council was a bit like that movie cigarette-after-sex moment where the lovers stick around long enough to offer a few private thoughts before one heads out for dinner, to the Bean Dinner, in this case, Rand Paul was in town, the heart-throb of laissez-faire Republicans, Ran Paul, so a few of the Rs took the last puff, hastily pulled on their clothes and bid polite adieus to the Democrats before hurriedly leaving.

Their last bit of business on the tumultuous 2012 budget was a roll call vote which was requested by Mr. Shoaff. A roll-call vote allows each member to go on the record expressing their feelings concerning the issue at hand. Some members voted, but chose not to expound. Karen Goldner and Marty Bender remained taciturn. Mr. Shoaff expressed his concern with the deep cuts inflicted on the Park Department and the Police Department, valid capital needs, he said, that were slashed from their budgets. Mr. Smith rued the dying tree canopy and called on the mayor to budget from the Legacy Fund to solve the matter sooner than dragging it out over a dozen years. Mr. Didier said he had problems with the budget, as did everyone, as should be expected, but still voted for it. Then Mrs. Brown lashed out about how the budget was, in a phrase, filled with lies and deceit. Her lone ally, Mr. Council President Harper, noted that the budget’s income line was puffed out thanks to a doubled “payment in lieu of taxes” from City Utilities to the general budget, seconding that the revenue side was as every bit as dire as Mrs. Brown had tried over her last year at the table to point out. Mr. Hines told the group that the infrastructure of the city upon which economic development and the welfare of the city are based was and is crumbling and praised the city for doing more with less.

Before the Republicans sauntered out to their fill of beans council proceed to shift more of the tax burden away from business to the rest of us. Another tax abatement was moved quickly along to final passage. It seemed interesting that abating some of the taxes of a hospital laundry company reduced a bit the amount available to pay for that crumbling infrastructure that concerned Mr. Hines only minutes earlier. He voted for it. It put a bit more downward pressure on tax collection illustrating Mrs. Brown’s dire forecast. She voted for it. Their action put more pressure on the city to find other sources of revenue, such as payments in lieu of taxes which Mr. Harper had just scorned. And, he voted for it, as did all other members without the first question about the company. The hospital laundry company wanted to expand with a little help from the taxpayer. They promised to retain a few score jobs (would they have fired people without the abatement?) while adding on to their existing facility. A ten-year abatement was justified, according to abatement administrator Elissa McGauley. No taxes will be paid on the improvements and the new personal property acquired to help them compete against other local businesses. Out of your pocket into theirs? Questions swirl about the efficacy of the program, whether the promises are actually kept and whether anyone benefits (workers, “blighted” areas) or this is little more than a way some companies can add to their bottom line at your expense and to the benefit of politicians can point to “accomplishments.”

During table talk last night there was more discussion about the city’s debt burden and the significant costs associated with bonding as a way to pay for large expenses. I asked Val Ahr, the deputy controller, what those costs might be. She said many, if not most, of the interest rates on city obligations are around 3%, some less. I can imagine most businesses would walk over hot coals to score such historically low interest rates. She added that other costs, however, push up the cost of borrowing beyond just the interest rate calculation, costs such as the lawyers and bankers who write the bonds that are then sold to investors. One can only wonder whether the city could find another way to borrow when rates are at such a low, low level in order to repair, improve and make more efficient city systems, say replacing inefficient lights and lighting with LED systems. Given the rate of inflation is greater than the interest rate available one might think the city would be miles ahead to borrow now and pay down debt with less valuable inflated dollars. One might also wonder if there is a way around the lawyers who line up for the lucrative bonding work.

One last note, the Unsinkable Molly Brown tried right until the end to thwart the mayor’s budget. She was seen passing notes to other council members which later came to light as admonitions to vote against the budget. It passed, to her great disappointment, six to two. Tim Pape, a strong advocate for the mayor’s budget and programs was not there last night. Eight votes. Deadlock means a bill dies. Had two other members voted against the budget it would have failed 4-4. One councilman later explained deadlock would have meant the 2011 budget would have been kept on for another year, something that might have pleased other members at the table who would have preferred its allocation of resources compared to the 2012 version. She did not send them notes. I really wouldn’t have changed much, but it would have embarrassed the mayor, perhaps Mrs. Brown’s underlying goal. The budgeting process is all about setting priorities. It is educated guesswork. Things happen that throw the budget for a loop, such as floods. Opportunities arise that any good leader should take advantage of. So, later in the year “supplementals” are brought to the table to adjust the budget to meet reality, or to fund dreams.

This year’s process was a mess, confusing, nasty, contentious and, on the bottom line, an effort to embarrass the mayor in an election year. That last ditch effort would have changed so very little it was hardly worth the effort. The real question is whether council can do anything beyond posturing, or trying to embarrass. It is a question of leadership.

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