Archive for the “Fort Wayne” Category

Bernie called a local non-profit this week, and stated, “my position has been eliminated by the Mayor and I no longer have a job. As such, I’m resigning effective immediately from the board of directors.”

Odd, no one has picked up this story. Last I heard the county commissioners and the mayor were still talking it over.

By Jim Sack

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

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

November 18, 2011. Jim Howard, city purchasing director, who wears his pro-life and conservative credentials on his sleeve, was terminated without warning, and no reasonable explanation was given. You can only imagine, no wait, you imagined correctly.

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.

By Jim Sack

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

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

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

By Jim Sack

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

Andi Udris

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

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

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

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

By Jim Sack

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

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