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.

December 21, 2011. Beth Malloy gets her walking papers. Her explanation; “She said she had both personal and professional reasons to leave.” Professional reasons? One can only imagine. I suspect a tiff with the administration. Glad she left nonetheless.

January 28, 2012. Andi Udris is shown the door from The Alliance. He was an outspoken individual, and successful at his job. Udris also openly supported the  “right- to- work” legislation, something Henry opposed. He leaves under a cloud of suspicion. Kevin Leininger stated just the other day:

But surely an agency that spends so much of the public’s money and claims to represent its interests can muster a better explanation for what happened than the terse two-sentence news released issued Friday stating that Udris had resigned to “pursue other interests” – the oldest euphemism in the book for a separation that is not entirely voluntary.

February 2, 2012. King Henry kills the city-county homeland security agreement. No reason, he just did it. On Thursday, Henry sent a letter to the county commissioners stating the agreement is over  in 60 days. That’s it, no explanation. According to one county commissioner, the was no advance warning, and no complaints from the city.

Henry writes: ”While the past six years have been a valuable experiment, with the challenges of budgetary constraints, the city must work to find more effective service solutions for its residents”

Effective solutions? More lockstep democrats, one could suppose.

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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.

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I just received a call from Tom Rotering asking me if I could make the post about Huntertown Council member Mike Aker ”go away,” as he stated. Rotering is an Arson Investigator with the Fort Wayne Fire Department, and Akers works at the FWFW as well at Station 10. Comrades I suppose.

I’ve only once taken down a post due to an outside influence, and I’ve regretted it ever since. The facts are what they are. If Aker thinks having a picture like this, of him and one of his minor children flaunting an alcoholic beverage is okay, whatever happens as a result this and his now former Facebook page is of his own doing.

Fort what it’s worth, Rotering is also the county secretary with the Allen County Republican Party.

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Here’s a sampling.

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Imagine if this was another city or county department. If Allen County Recorder were two years behind, could McGauley blame the city? Or, what if the Allen County Building department was two years behind in issuing building permits? Who would they blame?

Now, due to Kennedy’s maladroit way of running her office, she’ll have to go to the city for $80,000 to balance her budget. We’re paying Kennedy $73,451 per year.  Maybe she should go without her salary for one year to make up the difference.

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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.

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One of his first stories involves a Facebook post yesterday by Fort Wayne City Councilman Glynn Hines, who refers to republicans as “retards.” Click here to read the story.

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Renovations on the City-County Building have stopped. This is due to the City of Fort Wayne reneging  on its commitment to pay $500,000 dollars by Thursday to keep paying contractors.

Welcome to Chicago.

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