Posts Tagged “City of Fort Wayne”

Frank Suarez, the latest in a lengthy line of Fort Wayne Public Information Officers released a statement earlier this week that stated in part, the following:

Joint Statement of the City of Fort Wayne and the Office of the Allen County Prosecutor on the issue of a Fort Wayne City Court:

[...]

The idea of a Fort Wayne City Court is one that has been talked about for some time. The ordinance calling for a City Court was prepared because City Clerk Sandy Kennedy, various members of Fort Wayne City Council, including Council President Marty Bender and Councilman Glynn Hines, along with the Henry administration, all believed it to be a good idea. Research supported its pursuit.

In light of the new opportunities for dialogue, the City, City Council and the County/Prosecutor’s Office have agreed to address these issues and work to secure those solutions within the current system. As part of that mutual understanding, the ordinance calling for the establishment of a Fort Wayne City Court has been withdrawn from consideration.

Horse hockey. The fact is this. The Henry administration thought they had the vote in the bag. 5 ayes and 4 nays. The five they knew that would vote in favor were all the usual Henry disciples, including Tim Pape.

Prior to the press release, Frank Suarez was busy on the phone calling the opposition. While I’m not certain how many of the opposition votes he contacted, I do know he contacted at least one of them. What? Wait? Why you ask, if they had five votes in favor? Simple answer.

Tim Pape left for sunny Florida, creating an “absent”. Hence, the “joint” press release was nothing more than fluff. It was a draw.

By Jim Sack

Council dealt with two interesting matters last night: the combination of 911 call centers and the future of government housing in Fort Wayne. Both showed considerable signs of progress, but with more than a few curves ahead.

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First an amusing side note. Ben Lanka stayed up until 3:00 this morning, scurrying around to get a story out after we beat him by 7 hours. He even found his way to steal our lead-in.

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By Jim Sack

It was reported late last week that the cost of using the old Wolf & Dessauer building as the new city hall has gone up, again. Well, it has gone up this time like a rocket, over 50%, from $7 million to $11 million in round figures.

Why?

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A local guy at a local rag wrote today that Earth First is coming back to bid on the city’s trash contract in 2010. He writes about this years’ bid. “Earth First’s was the lowest and would have saved the city about $2.2 million a year.”

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US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has plans to save the planet, one fart at a time.

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The Fraternal Order of Police contract came to the table last night and received a do-pass vote. Police Chief Rusty York strongly supported it at the table. Behind him were two officers representing the FOP. Marty Bender wisely abstained.

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From Ben Lanka

Mayor Tom Henry and the Allen County commissioners Monday announced a tentative agreement to merge 911 call centers – potentially ending years of stalled negotiations on emergency communications.

The agreement would place control of the merged emergency call center with a joint city-county board.

I have mixed emotions over the 911 consolidation effort. I certainly don’t think a 7 member board needs to have oversight. How many boards does the city have now? You may be amazed, (see after the fold).

What do you think?

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