Carson also said the tea party is stopping change in Congress, likening it to “the effort that we’re seeing of Jim Crow.”

Fort Wayne City Councilwoman Karen Goldner apparently doesn’t have a problem with this. Around 4:00 today she posted, this on Facebook.

Karen Goldner I wish Andre Carson were OUR Congressman. Sigh.

If I lived in the 2nd District, Russ Jehl would certainly have my vote in November.

No related posts.

It should be noted, (and Pape and Goldner never mention this), the ordinance only appropriates $700K. There is nothing in there that spells out when they have to do anything, or what they have to accomplish. Just give Tom Henry and Beth Malloy $700K to buy more software and contract some of Beth’s friends to provide retraining programs for employees who aren’t very nice to applicants. There are no deadlines, no benchmarks, no nothing. Just cash.

Pape submitted the ordinance, which is laden with errors. He also has no clue who wrote it. Goldner and Pape call it a power grab. Henry says Harper is ignoring the business community.

Harper did this for valid reasons, and rather than show a willingness to work out the kinks in the ordinance, Golder and Pape would rather stand in front of cameras and piss and moan.

Goldner in her press release stated, “Harper unilaterally decided he’d delay the process himself and <sic> add more red tape.” It’s not more red tape. Given the city now wants to give health insurance to city employee’s spouses, Harper is not only questioning the language in the ordinance and the lack of benchmarks, among other things, but whether or not the city can actually afford it.

Goldner continued, “The ordinance is designed to eliminate unnecessary delays in large-scale business investment that creates good paying jobs, and it needs to get done now.” It’s been an ongoing problem for years. What’s two additional weeks to insure it’s done right?

In a release today, GOP Chairman Steve Shine stated the following:

“Vogt and Harper are exercising a spirit of cooperation that has been missing in local government for quite some time,” Shine said.”This action exemplifies what Republican leadership is all about.”

The action of bringing city and county councils for joint deliberations and agreement on benchmarks has been met with much different reactions from fellow council members. The all-Republican Allen County Council reserved discussion on the changes in the permitting process without fanfare. Conversely, Democrat Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry and Councilpersons Karen Goldner and Tim Pape are greatly resisting a full discussion of all stakeholders that are charged to protect the taxpayers in one meeting.

“I am disappointed by the action of city Democrats,” Shine said. “As a taxpayer, I am glad council leadership came together to make sure this expenditure isn’t simply a blank check to the Henry administration.”

Goldner, Pape and Henry just want business as usual when it comes to “their” ordinances. Ram it through, the hell with scrutiny.

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So the big item on the agenda last night was a $30 million bond proposal to further clean our drinking water. One council member after another offered appreciation to the administration for the way in which the project was structured and for the recent briefings the administration gave to council members leading up to the committee vote.

The usual suspects who most often support the administration voiced their approval: Karen Goldner, Tim Pape and Glynn Hines. Even John Shoaff said it was wise and appropriate. Mr. Shoaff is usually to bonds as a mongoose is to cobras. He doesn’t like them for a variety of reasons, mostly the additional cost, but last night he express approval and appreciation of the project. Other council members around the table asked a few questions and made a few comments, but nothing unusual until Liz Brown, candidate for mayor in the Republican primary, and councilwoman-at-large, jumped in.

“So, you’ve been working on this for ten years! she said. A polite and affirmative response was offered by Kumar Menon, the head of city utilities, who detailed a deadly outbreak of cryptosporidium in Milwaukee water in the mid-90s that led to new, federally mandated treatment processes. She asked a few more questions and got more polite answers from Dr. Menon, his associate Matthew Wirtz and another gentleman from the department. She nipped at the proposal from a variety of angles trying very hard to find somewhere to attack. She finally did, it seemed, for a brief moment, find an opening concerning other projects that would be undertaken with money from the bond, projects that would otherwise have been paid for from other sources. Her vision of uncovering malfeasance in office petered out. Each subsequent line of interrogation led to more polite answers that all seemed rational business practices. Other council members nodded or rocked in their chairs. She leaned forward and asked about the City Utilities cash that would be involved in the project and was met with more polite and detailed explanations. She finally, with a tone of frustration, ended one line of questioning with a mutter comment, “well, that’s disturbing.” It was hard to tell what had disturbed her, but she was clearly disturbed.

She ended up being the only member of council to vote against, what another member of that body labeled, the safe drinking water bill.

Then, as the vote was called, she blurted that she wanted to explain her vote. Heads turned. Apparently, she is not against safe drinking water, not against the UV equipment to be purchased with the $30 million, not against the bonding method, not against the low interest rate, not against anything in particular that had anything to do with the bill before her, she was just angry that Menon and City Utilities had supposedly snubbed her over unrelated questions of fire hydrant financing from a year ago and she was using this vote and her questioning to find a way of getting back at them for her perceived injustice. Menon apologized for failing to provide her with the information she had requested and rather lamely said he had that very information for her just yesterday but she had failed to show for the briefing, but she could stop by anytime, he smiled. She made the point a second time and Tim Pape reminded her that she had missed the meeting.

Normally, bills make three steps through council: introduction, committee discussion and final vote. Introductions are rather pro-forma, usually just a reading. The committee session, in which all members are a part of all committees, is where, homework having been done, each member may ask as many questions, ad nauseum, should they so wish. Normally, council members explain their rational for voting a measure up or down during final vote in regular session. Apparently, Mrs. Brown felt compelled to blurt out her frustrations well in advance of the final vote, as if she was trying, in some sad way to explain her seething anger.

Marty Bender was also irritated by a new lighting proposal for the Cloverleaf where Coliseum Boulevard (the Bueter Road) meets Maumee Avenue. He was not, however, angry with the city; nope, his frustration was with the State of Indiana. When the state rejiggered the ramps at the intersection they removed a 90-foot tall light. The city, upon review and consideration, decided to install new, highly energy efficient lights and to remove the badly deteriorating and costly-to-maintain tower lights. LED systems are going in. According to Marty, the state caused the problem, has placed a variety of constraints and mandates on the project and requires a state approved contractor do the work, but will not contribute the first dime to the project. Regardless, the city traffic engineer noted that costs of operating the new lights will plummet, as will maintenance costs. The old lights required changing expensive bulbs every two years, the new LEDs should last 15 years between change-outs. The old system eats 44-thousands watts of energy per year compared to 8,200 watts for the LEDs, according to the engineer. He, Shan Gunawardeena, went on to add that the city is replacing old systems through out Fort Wayne with LED fixtures and leads the state in that sort of energy saving, dollar saving effort. President Mitch Harper then brought up LEP (Light Emitting Plasma) lights which were invented in Indiana and are manufactured just south of Indianapolis. A long, technical discussion ensured, but the off-shoot was that the city is also analyzing LEPs to determine their quality, longevity and cost of operation. The city clearly feels proud of their cost-saving, new tech initiatives.

The other big matter last night was a flood mitigation project between the old north side industrial park and the I-69/Coldwater intersection. A land swap will mitigate flooding in the area, make land more “developable” and beautify there area, as well. Most members of council were clearly pleased with the resolution, including Tom Didier, in whose district the area lies and in whose ears regular complaints have been heard repeatedly from the hundred or so firms that have suffered water damage and other problems over the years. The deal between the City, Menards and Sturges Development will cost just under one million dollars, but the city will be able to recoup much of the costs and put more land in production thus yielding a few more tax dollars. We shall see.

In all, three big projects came to the table and the city walked away with three wins. It is an election year and each Tuesday is increasingly highly charged as we approach the May primary and then head toward the November ballot. It was clear that the election was a factor in the discussions.

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The star of last night’s council meeting was a citizen, Phil Marx. It was a dose of reality after an evening of mud-wrestling.

What Mr. Marx vividly and dramatically detailed to council was a litany, a long-long litany, of the abuse he and his neighbors had long endured and against which they had fought and defeated in order to take back neighborhood from thugs. Mr. Marx read police statistics for just one street, his, that were simply amazing -knifings, screw-driver to the head, shootings, assaults, false 911 calls, battery, vandalism…jeez, Louise. The list went on and on and on to the discomfort of all members of council and everyone in the audience.

Then Marx, who led the fight against the gang-bangers and drug heads and thieves,handed out a bit of credit. Assistant Chief and councilman Marty Bender, he said, would make multiple stops and ever-so-slow patrols through his neighborhood on a daily basis to show the colors, to run off perps, to simply check to see if Mr. Marx and neighbors were still standing! Over a period of years Marx and others fought back and, as he noted last night, took back their neighborhood from the derelicts who had terrorized him and everyone else on the block. Marx then read his list of infractions from a more recent police cycle and it all came up goose-eggs. Apparently, closing one den of thieves, one house, changed the entire tenor of the neighborhood. Mr. Marx again gave praise to Marty Bender, lauded Chief Rusty York and all the officers who had taken time to ride down his street to just check and to show the colors.

Mr. Marx also voiced his appreciation to Council President Mitch Harper for starting the curative ball rolling by writing on Mr. Harper’s blog about the ongoing battle of neighbors vs. low-life. Mr. Marx, noticeably, did not express appreciation to his councilman on the east side during his recitation of the ordeal.

For Mr. Marx is was an empowering ordeal that he could well have done without. Few of us want to be harassed by young toughs with their hats on backward, tats climbing their arms, their pants sagging to their knees and uttering threats, especially while we are on a ladder cleaning gutters, as Mr. Marx recounted. Mr. Marx fought back and relentlessly demanded the city take notice. It was apparent from what he said and how Mr. Bender responded that the city took a very long time to take Mr. Marx at his word and then an even longer time to weed out the gutter-dwellers.

So, I hope Mr. Marx will make stay involved in government, in holding official feet to the fire and help other neighborhoods rid themselves of these poor, neglect young miscreants.

Mr. Marx would be a better nominee than most for our local “leaders” citizen of the year award.

Meanwhile, council distinguished itself in a fight over procedure, or, rather, make that two fights over procedure.

The first tussle was between President Harper and Councilwoman Golder. It was a mess. He proposed to change a decades-old process allowing “prior approvals.” Ms. Goldner defended the system. She said she could not see the difference between what he was proposing and what was currently in effect. His “new” system, he said, (suspension of the rules) and is in keeping with Roberts’ Rules of Order; the other process, prior-approval, is not in keeping, he said. He explained that his “new” system, which is really the older system revived, would end the questionable newer system (prior-approval) he said was put in place to “wire around Jimmy Stier.” Some of you will remember Jimmy. Essentially, prior approval was the fast-track system; Mr. Harper’s new system, (suspension of the rules) which was the old system, now raises the bar substantially requiring unanimous approval at a key point to move forward.

Another way of looking at it, the “prior approval” system anticipated that council would later “make good” on its promise by formally and legally passing said ordinance. Until it was formally passed, however, its legality was suspect and could leave 1) a contractor holding the bag, 2) a big hole in a street and 3) lawyers licking their briefs. (As a side note: Liz Brown, contradicting her normal pro-business position, uttered something in support of Mitch: it’s “not our job to get every ordinance out the door as fast as possible.” This is the woman who frequently complains about the city putting too much red-tape in the way of business.) The new system…or old system revived…is less subject to lawsuit.

The debate was nasty at times with Ms. Goldner being interrupted in mid-sentence by the normally polite Mr. Harper. She asked permission to continue with her thought. “No,” he snapped. Murmurs from other members at the table. Glynn Hines rose, rolled his eyes and poured himself a coffee at a side-stand in obvious muted anger. Eventually, Mrs. Brown offered a canned motion in support of Mr. Harper, which passed, and the matter ended, but not without tarnishing a bit the reputation of council.

As for the process, it was clumsy. Apparently, a couple council members knew what was coming, as witnessed by Mrs. Brown’s memorized motion, but the whole mess could have been averted with a little broader consultation.

Then, Mr. Harper invited a pair of vendors to the table to criticize the city’s handling of the cleaning contract for the People’s Palace. The two vendors leveled a number of charges and insinuations against the process and said they felt it had been “very questionable.” Mr. Pape asked, as a point of procedure, whether the two were being given special treatment by Mr. Harper and pointed out the irony of procedure being violated to discuss a perceived breech of procedure. It was the second mess of the evening.

Later, Jim Howard, the purchasing manager, had a chance to defend the way in which the contract was bid. He challenged each and everyone one of the arguments offered by the losing bidder. Again, as she did last week, Mrs. Brown asked Howard if the city could save money by not advertising bids as extensively as it does, as is required by law. Interestingly, she also encouraged greater government transparency later in the meeting.)

Another high point was the presentation of a clock to Mr. Pape for his years of service to the community. He accepted it graciously, if a bit prematurely. He has another seven months left on his contract. One can easily note that he is a changed man since his announcement not to run. His humor is lighter, less pointed, he offers more compliments, he tries to moderate disagreements, of which there are sufficient number.

Otherwise, it was a frustrating evening of arcane procedural wrangling juxtaposed against the message Mr. Marx presented at the dais. Marx and the rest of us are on the front line and need more help in protecting and improving our neighborhoods. Meanwhile, council parses words, toss barbs and otherwise looks petty.

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Scott Harrold and Elissa McGauley sat before council last night as an example of city-county economic development cooperation and left nearly everybody in the room scratching heads to try to understand the tangled and intricate proposal they had introduced.

Harrold and McGauley are both economic development specialists with the county and city, respectively. McGauley, who called Howard her “counterpart” at the county, works to help businesses gain tax abatements and to oversee their compliance with the promises they make to the community in exchange for your help.” (The tax breaks they receive means you will have to pick up a share of their abatements, and millions in tax “incentives” are handed out each year in the hope the company will 1) keep its promises, 2) create jobs and, 3) add to the economic viability of Fort Wayne and Allen County.)

So Last night Mrs. McGauley and Mr. Howard were at council table in a rare joint appearance (with a member of the Alliance ring side for support) to explain the proposal to abate, incent, and otherwise smooth the way for Greatbatch, an orthopedics company moving to town, to develop a plot of fallow land where California Road and Kroemer Road meet on the westside of town.

Greatbatch wants your help and our economic development teams have been, contrary to popular angst, been falling all over themselves to come up with an incentive package. Think: men in robes bearing gifts. With a high local jobless rate our representatives have been pulling out all the stops, including helping develop the parcel, laying utility lines and reimbursing the company for some of their costs of improvement, as well as abating their taxes for ten years in the future.

As there were only six members of council on hand last night it was easy to watch their eyes, many of which were glazed over. Trying to decipher the jargon Mr. Harrold and Mrs. McGauley used was like trying to follow a cricket test match on shortwave radio from Bangladesh. Liz Brown was the most determined to get to the bottom of the issue to determine whether it was a good deal or a flawed deal. She sensed more than a few flaws. It seemed even her keen observations were put to the test as indirect responses did little to answer her direct questions.

Mrs. Brown pointed out quite a few problems with the contract that had been presented to council, mostly ambiguities that she felt would give the company plenty of room to use incentives in ways they were not intended. Her questions were met with nuanced responses. She was clearly frustrated.

Councilwoman Karen Goldner then tried to sum up the jist of the matter, the broad flow of the deal, for we ignorant rabble and managed to get Mrs. McGauley and Harrold to nod to her synopsis in the way someone laughs at a joke they don’t quite get.

One council member finally asked Mr. Harrold if, in all their tracking of abatements whether the benefiting companies had fallen short of their promises and, if they had fallen short, whether incentive money, your tax dollars, had been “clawed back,” meaning repaid. Clawed back… Interesting way of looking at the process. The answer was yes, some companies had failed to deliver, but no, no tax incentives had been returned. “Special circumstances” beyond the control of businesses caused those problems and we should not expect them to repay, explained Howard. Given it is IRS season try that one when your return is flagged. Council has asked the same question a dozen times in the past two years showing a certain level of impatience and disapproval.

The measure passed. One council member subsequently told me that the tangle of promises and payouts, reimbursements and contracts was simply unfathomable. You have to wonder how many more of those glazed eyes on council had only a vague notion of what they had committed your tax dollars to do. By the way, the parcel is outside city limits.

There was more last night. Three labor contracts were up. Mrs. Liz Brown, candidate for mayor, voted against all three which included a 1%, across-the-board wage increase. While it may not matter in the Republican primary all of her votes against pay raises for city employees will be remembered in November.

Then, City Fleet Manager, Larry Campbell, whose grasp of verbs and pronouns is tenuous, defended a deal with Petroleum Traders for fuel. $3.7 million. Councilman Marty Bender likened previous gas deliveries to sludge and noted that police cars had stalled or wouldn’t start with PT fuel. Campbell replied that a rigorous testing program was in place to resolve that problem and that shipments had been refused. He added, later, that the city had not experienced that problem with deliveries from Lassus Brothers. (Penny wise, pound foolish?) He also added that he might have to return to council later in the year for another $100k or so should consumption exceed the budget. He hinted strongly that it would. Mayoral candidate Brown again was not happy. The contract passed.

Police chief Rusty York, soft spoken and seemingly tired, also testified before council last night. He spoke in support of a $1.142 million request for high tech gear for his patrol cars. In essence, each car is a mobile office with wi-fi access to the world – GPS, internet, contact with state and federal data banks with cross-referencing to known bad guys, cameras, digital hi-def recorders, etc. The discussion strayed to a conversation about where 911 offices would be located in the new two-building arrangement, but came back in time for a 6-0 vote in favor or Chief York’s request.

Council members Hines, Pape and Didier were missing last night. Spring break? Since his announcement that he would not be running for re-election, Mr. Pape has seemed to have flown the coop, as if that’s where haggard old lame ducks recover. Perhaps, instead of simply disappearing we might organize a dinner, give him a watch and ask the Democrats to appoint a replacement to fill out his term. Or, easier yet, he might just resume representing the district. While council meetings are noticeably shorter without him, his keen mind and rapier-like insights might have helped untangle the Greatbatch deal and kept his fellow council members awake as the dulling convolutions of the deal were disclosed.

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Karen Goldner says:

I’ll try for you Suse
Writing Democratic haiku
What a convention

No fun in ER
Sorry you had such problems
Glad they had cable

“Crowd thunders” indeed
To be part of history
Means more than I can express

The original post was deleted after I started writing this. You can view a cached version here.

From Wiki:

Haiku in English is a development of the Japanese haiku poetic form in the English language. Contemporary haiku are written in many languages, but most poets outside of Japan are concentrated in the English-speaking countries. It is impossible to single out any current style, format, or subject matter as definitive. Some of the more common practices in English include:

Use of three lines of up to 17 syllables;
Use of a season word (kigo);
Use of a cut or kire (sometimes indicated by a punctuation mark) to compare two images implicitly.

You can’t make this crap up.

No related posts.

The drowsy end of the two-hour meeting might have been the most interesting. Charles Eberhart from somewhere in Waynedale lumbered to the open mic. A few weeks back he had affably pushed Pickle Ball, a downsized version of tennis for geezers like me…and foggies like him. Last night he called into question, in an equally affable manner, that the city and the county had both hired the same guy to represent them in matters concerning co-location in the old and new city halls. Eberhart wondered how either entity could trust the negotiator to have their interests foremost. He noted that Ken Neumeister was that man and then quipped that Neumeister had boasted about how he had already saved the county more in the deal than the substantial amount they are paying him. Hmmm? At whose expense. Eberhart, a retired union man, added that such an arrangement would have been unthinkable in management-labor negotiations of his era. You could see eyes on council narrow as they considered the implications.

Neumeister is already known or playing both sides, perhaps against the middle. He raises money for Democrats and Republicans, helps the sheriff with his fund raising, bought land that he sold to the county at a nice profit and has thrown his weight behind Democrat Mayor Henry for re-election and behind Republican Ken Nicolet, a city employee, who is running against incumbent Republican Tom Smith in the primary. Call it bi-partisan government or Machiavellian self-interest, when Eberhart raised the question you could tell some council members were not comfortable with the implication of conflict of interest.

Mr. Eberhart’s comments called into question the wisdom of Mayor Tom Henry in hiring Neumeister at taxpayer expense to represent the city while also representing the county in the matter.

Otherwise, it was Tim Pape’s night. He made closing arguments on two matters before council and was on the winning side in both votes: adding a management position to the 311 Call Center for $75,000 including benefits; and in releasing some $3 million for city utility maintenance that Council President Mitch Harper had managed to tie up. In both cases Mr. Pape listened to the arguments on both sides of the matters, held his comments until the end and then clearly and succinctly summed the situation, enunciated the potential downsides and stated his rationale for his position and action. He may well have moved a vote or two with his clear analysis, maybe not. Council members often come to the table prepared, often have already made up their minds and are indifferent to the arguments either side of them. But, Mr. Pape can be the most eloquent of the members of council, speaking in a “everyman” way that is easy for everyone to understand and would have made Perry Mason take note. Last night he burnished his image.

Oh, about the call center, 311. The city made the point that the system can do vastly more than simply take calls and route them to departments for response. Additionally, the system can develop methods by which statistics gathered in the calls provide government officials with trends that can help foretell problems so preventive maintenance or “preventive” policies can be implemented. Without leadership it is achieving only a small measure of its potential payback to the community. A stitch in time saves nine.

That was also the theme of Mike Kiester’s presentation to council concerning sewers and lining work that will be soon undertaken by the city. Kiester was asking for a million dollars to line 31,000 linear feet of aging sewers. He gave a very, very strong presentation to council and got their unanimous approval. He said TV checks had identified the areas most in need of lining and that by doing the work now it would cost the city much, much less than inevitable emergency repairs. “We are trying to get ahead of the problem.” A stitch in time saves nine.

There were a number of appointments on the docket last night: Lockwood Marine, a reader of this page, a friend of John Shoaff and a champion of honest government, was reappointed to the Metro Human Relations Committee. You might remember that there was a previous vote that ended tied. Tim Pape was not present at that meeting, but was for round two. Last night Mr. Pape cast his vote with John Shoaff’s nominee. Councilwoman Brown has nominated another capable fellow. At the previous meeting when called upon for his vote Mitch Harper had passed, but eventually had to vote and chose to cast his chit in favor of Mrs. Brown’s nominee. Mitch frequently holds his vote until the end, perhaps to see which way the wind is blowing. In this matter his vote in that first round was crucial and one could see a bit of chagrin flash across his face at being on the spot: vote for friend John Shoaff or Republican candidate Liz Brown’s nominee. His vote made the matter a tie that was broken last night by Mr. Pape.

There was also a bit of cat fight at the beginning of council last night. Again, you may remember on his second night as council president, early in January on a very snowy night, the record snowfall for that night in Fort Wayne history as Mr. Harper later pointed out in his defense, the newly elected president was late to gavel down his own meeting. Very, very unusual. Last night, before the cameras came on Mr. Harper quipped humorously about being late and then snickered that Councilwoman Goldner might again take umbrage if the meeting got off to a slow start. She was not amused in the slightest. She shot back quickly by repeating her criticism of that snowy January night that it was “rude” to make council, members of the media and a half dozen visitors wait. (He had called ahead to have the meeting held.) He retorted something toward Ms. Goldner that was lost under the surprised sounds of other council members. He just should have left that one drop.

And, there were two public hearings at the beginning of the meeting. En toto they involved over $4 million of public money. Committee chairman Tom Smith called once, twice then a third time for public input. No one came to the mic at his first call, nor the second nor his third. And, when the mic was open to publicly make a comment about anything concerning the city of Fort Wayne from sewers to the ninth floor only Charles Eberhart bothered to make a comment.

For all the gnashing of teeth, for all of the anger and angst, few people bother to take the time to come to council and say what is on their mind. Very few, indeed.

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Mitch Harper was on time, in plenty of time, but is still getting his sea-legs.

Marty Bender was mercifully silent.

Sampson and Udris were stellar.

Mrs. Brown had her attack collar on again.

Mr. Howard clarified with a smile.

Mrs. McGauley went on and on and on.

And the smell or a rat was detected.

The meeting gaveled down perfectly on time with seven, not nine members present. Two Democrats, Mr. Pape and Mr. Shoaff, were both absent. Mr. Pape eventually arrived. Housekeeping was quickly taken care of and Glynn Hines, sixth district councilman, moved two bills through with perfect diction and decorum. Hines gave President Harper exactly the sort of civil and unembellished committee leadership Mr. Harper has been looking for. Hines needed five minutes at the very most. Polite and efficient. City Utilities Committee yielded to Finance and the meeting began to bog down like the German Army at Stalingrad.

Tom Smith’s committee was all about infrastructure last night. City Engineer David Ross came to the table to explain an Auburn Road project. Widening, sidewalks, new signals, all to aid traffic flow. Ross went on about the cost, some 80% of which will come from other sources, not your property taxes. Ross referred repeatedly to a digest sheet he had provided to council in their two-inch thick packets of materials for the night’s meeting.

Two city employees then came to the table to explain a sewer design project. One of the two witnesses was very, very nervous and was treated with kid gloves by everyone at the table, especially the normally acerbic Councilwoman Liz Brown. The young woman had trouble explaining the project and then learned from a councilman that an important sheet had been left out of the packet and the vote would have to be tabled. They were mildly chided. The two employees went on to explain they were trying to save the city money and time by conducting the study in 2011 for projects scheduled for 2022 and 2025. Because the project proposed is very large creating the design now will show other area projects where not to dig in the coming years so that costly relocation of utilities will not have to be redone in ten years. Very smart. Very nervous. One piece of paper missing.

The Lake Avenue Road Diet was next up and the discussion and the reminiscences and the personal stories of young councilmen daring to pass on the unusually narrow stretch of Lake from Anthony to Coliseum. Council members just could not keep from telling stories or near misses, all except Marty Bender who uttered not one sound all night, mercifully, except “here” and “aye.” The traffic engineer explained that Lake will emulate Rudisill’s configuration without the bike lanes. Two travel lanes and a center turn lane will reduce travel time and the number of accidents, he said. It made sense and council members generally agreed. Again, most of the money will come from federal and state sources, not local property taxes. They smiled at that. Progress on someone else’s dime.

Next, a bill to add a travel lane to Dupont. Again mostly federal dollars at work. The $10 million project will cost we local taxpayers $1.2 million. After much discussion leading to the vote Tim Pape quipped that everybody sure wants to cut federal spending, unless it is for their project. It passed unanimously.

Then, the stars of the evening, John Sampson and Andi Udris had their turns at the table. Sampson, whose leg bobbed up and down like he was working an old sewing machine explained his organization, the Northeast Indiana Regional Marketing Partnership, a non-profit construct of local government and business, to council. He was blunt, to the point, clear spoken and passionate about his work. They are, essentially, outside sales for Fort Wayne. They call on companies and “site selectors” to get leads or make first contact with companies that may wish to relocate to Fort Wayne. Mr. Harper, it seems a past critic of Sampson, lauded the presentation, to Mr. Sampson’s obvious surprise and relief. Mr. Harper delivered the praise in such a way that Sampson was leaning back in his chair preparing for a verbal blow when, instead, the doggie biscuit was presented. Council approved Mr. Sampson’s request for funds.

Andi Udris, our big Latvian director of the Alliance, another non-profit economic development “engine,” then took the seat. The Alliance, he explained to a council that already knew, are the “closers” for Fort Wayne. Once Samspon finds and qualifies a lead Udris and his team then close the deal by helping the relocating company through the various permitting and other processes needed to start a business here.

Sampson and Udris were both given the funding from council they requested and some council members suggested, Tim Pape, in particular, that they should get more because the jobs they do are so critical to the community.

A story was told about a contest, literally a contest between Fort Wayne and Kansas City for a manufacturing planning to expand. Came down to a meeting in KC where the company explained to the mayor about a million dollar problem in the way of moving to Kansas City. The mayor, it was retold, excused himself and came back in only a few minutes with a commitment to allocate the needed $1 million.

Udris and Sampson both painted a picture in which cities fight one another today to lure companies to their industrial parks. Companies with jobs in this recession are king and they go where cities chip in the most…

They both suggested that a large chunk of the I&M lease money be spent on economic development tools to help them bring more jobs to Fort Wayne. Their presentations were sobering and very informative. If it wasn’t clear before it should be now that Louisville or Aachen or Tsingxang would love to lure ITT or any other local industry away from Fort Wayne, and they are happy to pay whatever the price. And, with the ease of moving capital, the speed of equipment obsolescence and the increasing computerization of everything, almost any company can move…quickly.

There followed a humorous discourse between President Harper, Clerk Sandy Kennedy, Councilwoman Brown and Councilwoman Goldner over a proposal by Mr. Harper to make council records more easily “searchable” on the city web site. I recommend you watch on City TV the exchanges where Mr. Harper would explain city policy and Mrs. Kennedy would say it wasn’t so. Mrs. Brown and Ms. Goldner both go into the semantics mess.

Among the shortest lines on the agenda last night and the biggest drain of time was a Special Ordinance establishing new Economic Development Target Areas. Elyssa McGauley ably runs that program for the city that ties many abatement and incentive programs together to benefit existing local businesses wishing to expand or improve their systems. Council members had received her comprehensive packet with a neat description of each newly proposed zone well before the meeting. To illustrate, she displayed a large map with each new and existing zone colored and outlined. She then proceeded to read what was before each council member, as if a witness at a congressional inquiry with a dozen lawyers following line by line. It was unnecessary and long, long, long. Council members love economic development, but they, too, tired of hearing what they had already studied. When Mrs. McGauley finally left the table she looked completely drained of energy and emotion.

Mr. Harper, with his promise to move meetings along more efficiently, could suggest to administration witnesses to be brief and not go over material included in council packets.

Finally….the matter of garbage cans and their financing. You may remember last week Tim Pape put on hold the question of financing the recycling carts. An Arizona firm and a Pennsylvania company with offices in Fort Wayne, PNC Bank, were the finalists. $33k was the difference in favor of the Arizona bankers. Mr. Pape questioned whether the deal would fall within Buy Indiana parameters, thus giving “points” to PNC because of their “local presence.” The tabled discussion resumed. Val Ahr, the deputy controller, came to the table and was almost immediately under attack by Mrs. Brown. Ahr said she “shopped” the deal between Arizona and PA to see if they could come down on their prices. Both made adjustments. The cost to the rate payers dropped and the difference between PNC and Arizona narrowed to $17,000, still favoring the Arizona company. But, “under the bus” for political considerations. Jim Howard, purchasing director, then quickly came to the table, sorted things out, gave reasoned and clear advice and the matter passed with two votes opposed, Brown and Mr. Harper.

A nasty end to an unnecessarily long meeting. Mrs. Brown, who had been gentle with witnesses most of the evening took an unnecessary shot at the Alliance in the form of a condescending barb about their website, and then growled at Mrs. Ahr who had reopened bidding and saved the city considerable money.

The rat? One has to wonder why PNC was given special treatment. These things come and go at the table with dizzying speed. So, why should PNC get a “second look?” Perhaps it is less about garbage can financing, less about Buy Indiana legislation and more about a pending downtown development.

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I can only imagine the frustration Mitch Harper must have felt as the shiny new president of Fort Wayne city council struggled in his car plowing through snow, slowed by the grey-hairs in their rear-wheel-drive Buicks, to get to the meeting he was to chair, a meeting in which eight other council members were patiently (to degrees) waiting, where the city clerk had laid out the table as if for Thanksgiving dinner, where two “real” reporters, a couple scruffy bloggers, an intern, a police officer, the new fire-fighters union chief, a few administration representatives, two men from City TV and a couple of aspiring candidates patiently checked their watches in the hope that by staring at the second hand the president would magically appear.

Over seven long minutes the wishful thinking turned slowly to frustration.

Karen Golder showed her cold-induced-ire by moving to start the meeting without President Harper. A rather confused discussion followed and Vice President Shoaff eventually took the president’s chair to get the show going. “Oh,” a coup d’etat” smiled the senior eminence among the two real reporters. About then, President Harper, flushed, flecks of snow on his overcoat, hair blown slightly askew with a framed picture under his arm strode forcefully into the Chamber using the “secret” passage from the men’s room to council chambers.

Meanwhile, Otto, the tall, laconic camera operator for City TV resumed his countdown to air yet another time. Three-two-one. The camera’s red light came on. Without missing a beat, Mr. Harper gave the welcoming intro, quipping about the weather, made a self-effacing joke and quickly shifted attention by holding up the portrait of our recently deceased mayor and offering a rememberance to Paul “Mike” Burns, a Democrat, who would have lit into the tardy council president like a thoroughly pissed off hornet for being late.

Too bad you could not have seen this at home. There really should have been a camera in the car beside Mr. Harper, one mounted on a following car to show him swerving in and out of traffic, and a camera overhead in a helicopter to show his breakneck progress. I am sure he drove like the perfect gentleman he is, but there must have been beads of sweat on his temple and a dryness in his mouth.

And, there was a new seating chart last night. Seating matters and is dictated by el presidente. While they all have microphones and use them for emphasis, position counts. Relationships develop. Liz Brown now sits out of striking distance from the witness chair with the result that her piercing stare does not bring any witnesses to tears last night, as it has. Councilmen Bender and Hines dwarf her from either side like bodyguards or, simple, guards. Mr. Shoaff, the new VP, sits now next to the City Council Attorney Joe Bonahoom whose son Zach is running against City Clerk Sandy Kennedy who sits at the left hand of the president. In truth and in Biblical parlance the president rather sits at the right hand of Clerk Kennedy Almighty, maker of agendas and rules.

Tim Pape has been exiled to the end of the table, where Mrs. Brown once so menacingly scowled. Tim smiles more, sometimes like a full Venus Fly-trap, but his questioning disassembles spin in a more disarming way. Councilman Smith is next to Karen Goldner and may be feeling the first effects of the cold she brought to the table last night.

On the matter of the recycling bins, Valery Ahr, the deputy controller, came to the table to explain the new financing. Mrs. Brown listened and then asked a few key questions, in a most polite way, that revealed that the new financing package will amortize over seven years, rather than ten, and result in greater payments in each of those years. Consequently, payments will be $120,000 higher each year than budgeted. Where will the extra money come from, asked a patient Mrs. Brown? The deputy controller haltingly said that City Utilities would cut spending here or there to find it. Mrs. Brown asked the question in different forms again and again until it was clear that there would be consequences. Hmmmm. Two questions: why did the administration not check with the banks in the first place to ascertain rates and terms so they could properly budget for the loan figures, and is City Utilities rolling in enough extra money that they have $120,000 pocket money laying around? Or, are they robbing Petre to pay Paolo? What budget line or service will suffer because of the forced change?

The dumpster ordinance was tabled on a motion from Tim Pape (yup, after all that…) because the winning lender is in Arizona and he wanted to know how far apart the winner was from number two, PNC, with branches conveniently located all over Fort Wayne, as if a drive through might help. Okay, there are PNC branches here, but will the loan be serviced by workers in Waynedale or those in Pittsburgh. (The hold is a result of the Buy Indiana legislation that Karen Goldner sold to council. Indiana firms, say in Evansville, get preference, points, ahead of out-of-state firms, say in Antwerp, Ohio, in contracts with the city. You can easily see how that will benefit us all.) Delaying the vote has consequences, in this case, possibly pushing the final vote out beyond the “lock-in date of the low, low, really low interest rates Valarie won for us all. Low rate expires, a higher rate is offered and we all pay more… Oh. Council, in a sort of muddled cacophony of thoughts tried to find a parliamentary way of speeding the process after Mr. Pape received his answer, and came up with a Rube Goldberg four or five step process. Clerk Kennedy, experienced at these things over the decades, offered a solution that will simplify the process to two steps with a final vote in well under the wire. (Young Mr. Bonahoom, her challenger, was hopefully taking notes.)

Otherwise, Mr. Harper ran a civil and congenial meeting that was a testimony to his Robert’s Rules skills and his legislative experience. It will be interested to see whether future meetings are an Alice in Wonderland journey through the Robert’s looking glass or whether he and parliamentary side-kick John Shoaff use Roberts to speed meetings, contain the outbursts and dot every “i.”

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Here’s what I have learned from sources high and low.

The benefits and problems of instituting a local city court had been researched by City Clerk Sandy Kennedy for months before its introduction. Fort Wayne had such a beast in the past, and before which I once had to pay my dues to society. $49 and costs.

The five “signators” to the introduced ordinance included as least one member of council who was surprised to see he had “signed” on.

The impetus for the city court came from frustration that the city had piles and piles of unpaid traffic fines, among other unpaid fines, and felt the county was not pursuing them seriously or with alacrity. Given New Haven had successfully instituted a city court and that similar courts were functioning around our beloved state, Clerk Kennedy did her duty.

The city, Sandy Kennedy and others with whom she had chats, saw the city court as taking the bull by the horns and clearing thousands of unpaid bills from her desk, and making a lot of money for the city in the process. (Better scofflaws pay than property owners.) Sandy and her supporters seemed not fully aware of the cut the other governmental entities would take, thereby diminishing the city’s haul and making the establishment of a court less lucrative and, perhaps, not worth the bother. But, then again, New Haven seems to think it is worth the bother.

Why did it hit council table so late? Well, no one clearly answered that question. It may be that Sandy or Joe Bonahoom, the council attorney, learned late that steps would have to be taken this year to have the court in place sooner than later. I have heard the comment about electing a judge would have to occur next year, or the whole thing would have to wait until 2015. Undoubtedly, there is a second route, perhaps appointment of a judge, but I would guess Republicans would be granted that opportunity, given the governor is a Republican, the top state election official is a Republican (perhaps soon to be indicted, but none the less), as are the commissioners. “Hear ye, hear ye, City Court will rise, the Right Honorable Judge John ‘Hang ‘em high’ Popp will take the bench.”

The other theory of tardiness is more sinister: Joe Bonahoom tried to embarrass Sandy. His son, a former DJ on a cruise ship, is running as a Republican against Sandy, ostensibly to get his name out there, and dad is alleged to have thought delaying delivery of the drafted ordinance until too late for the normal month of intros and hearings, would cause just this sort of calamity. Joe, however, is not that devious, he is a very, very nice man and dedicated to his community’s well-bring and to maintaining his family’s exceptional reputation for community service. But Joe is criticized for not devoting enough time to his council work (vis-à-vis his private practice) resulting in paperwork coming down to the table late.

The mayor, I was informed, was volcanic last week when the train-wreck seemed imminent. He belatedly had learned that Tim Pape, his man on council, was floating in an inflatable rubber ducky ring among the other sharks off a Floridian beach. Sharks, Tim can be assured, never attack lawyers: professional courtesy. Mr. Pape and family told everyone long ago that they were heading to Disney World or another Florida playground and would not be there for the pivotal vote, scheduled December 28th at 5:30pm. With the defection of sorts of Comrade Pape Sandy’s idea was near implosion and had now landed in Mayor Henry’s lap. Political types on the ninth floor were on the phone begging the three undocumented Republicans to sign-on to the bill so that a fifth vote would be there for introduction. No one did. I know of one who was asked and he said others were contacted. So, the deputy mayor was dispatched to put get Humpty Dumpty into Redi-Med.

Chats were held with Prosecutor Richards and Judge Fran Gull, two quick critics of the ordinance and a modus vivendi was agreed. They would shelve the bill, as if there was an alternative, and meet again, sometime soon, you have your Blackberry call my Blackberry, and discuss the next step. Perhaps the county will step up enforcement, perhaps there is really nothing that can b e done.

But, back to the question of the original five signatures: Bender, Shoaff, Goldner, Pape and Hines. Seems Sandy has persuaded Marty to sign on, as well as Glynn. I think they were doing her a favor, one from friendship and the other from political courtesy and loyalty. Marty, a law and order man, probably saw the upside of enforcement. She then penciled in the names of the other Democrats, as a good Democrat partisan would. (Nothing wrong with being a political partisan, unless they are of the other party, eh.) She is old-school in that way. One councilman was surprised to see his name on the ordinance, but thought, as he often does, that it merited discussion, so he was game.

That bit of partisanship ticked Tom Didier off. From the dais he rued that he “thought this was a council of nine members, not just five.” When last week, in an effort to pull the rabbit out of the hat Mr. Didier was begged, cajoled, hassled to sign on he did not, for better or worse. The ordinance fails and the idea crawls into a cave to either desiccate or recover and rise anew to threaten our delicate local political eco-system.

So, then comes the bizarre news release and the news conference to which we were not invited, announcing the wonderful opportunity to work more closely with Karen Richards and Fran Gull and to have a fruitful dialog. The news release read like some seventh level Communist hack had written the piece; the meat of the announcement relegated to the last paragraph in the hopes most readers would have fallen asleep before arriving at the exciting climax. Most of the top part of the news release tried to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Seriously, that is exactly how the happy-face bosses in Hungary wrote about the “challenges and opportunities” some bureaucratically caused disaster had wonderfully afforded them. Whoever wrote it has a future in North Korea.

Months ago, during a visit to the Clerk’s office, one my friends there, a hard-working, intelligent and dedicated veteran of local government, told me that the state had made it more difficult and much more expensive to track down traffic fine-evaders by charging the city for online database searches of driver license information. The alternative is much more time-consuming. She then recounted stories of how noble citizens would come in, spin elaborate yarns and ranted and raved about how a traffic ticket was someone else’s fault, never, ever theirs. (Envision meters stealthily trading places one with another to ensnare her!) I happily witnessed one loud mouth, leviathan of a woman ranting in her nearly indistinguishable dialect about how she had been entrapped by a traffic meter. Her flailing butt nearly crushed me against a counter as she gesticulated. You could see the super-human effort of staff and other citizens to stifle smiles.

So, what next? Beth Malloy will meet a few times with Karen and Fran and ask them to push a bit harder to bring scofflaws to task. Maybe they will write a memo or two, push a bit, and then everyone will return to business as usual, meaning good people will pay their traffic tickets and the ones with the jacked up cars with the silly rims will blow them off.

So, the problem is remains. People flaunt the laws and the courts, for whatever reason, toss most of the cases. That is a matter to examine. Sandy tried to do something about it, did not pull it off well, at all, and it lands in Tom Henry’s lap like a bag of ripe Limburger cheese. It then is seen as his sneaky effort to create a new bureaucracy and steal a political march on the Republican dominated county offices. Whether there was any political stealth remains to be seen. I kinda doubt it. Clumsiness, bad timing (Noel, oh Noel, Happy New Year) and political insensibilities are more likely the culprits.

Sandy goofed.

Mr. Didier was very upset, ticked, angry, frustrated, for a variety of good reasons.

Tom Henry was handed a bag of poop for Christmas.

Will Beth and Karen’s eyes meet? Will a political solution be found? Will city and county finally find love in that new cozy cottage on Berry Street? Stay tuned in October to see if this drama become an issue in the forthcoming election. Liz Brown has already tried to turn it to her advantage. Perhaps Sandy Kennedy will turn it back to her advantage in brochure, speeches and ads. I can see the campaign lines now: ‘It is a matter of Justice: A thousand cases were filed and only four resolved.” Point those fingers at the prosecutor for sleeping at the wheel. I can hardly wait for the sequel.

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What a mess.

The agenda, often with misspellings and other little problems had two big holes in it last night.

First, Tom Smith sort of welcomed a pair of the local high and mighty to the table by saying they were not on the agenda. Huh???? Papers shuffled all over the place. Council members scratched their heads. Eyes darts to and fro. They, the representatives of the Grand Wayne Center, WERE supposed to have been on the agenda, seems somebody had simply failed to add them and their report on the written agenda. Then, much later, at the end of the meeting two representatives of the administration, Matt Gratz and Bobby Kennedy strode to the table to help council conduct a vote on another matter that was missing from the agenda, amendments to the garbage ordinance. Was it the City Clerk’s office that dropped the ball or the legal department of the city. Fingers were pointing in both directions and each was pointing at other. Call it a scrivener’s error. Just move on.

To save the garbage matter City council’s parliamentarian in residence, John Shoaff, adeptly managed a prepared process that required a series of four votes to suspend rules, to bring the matter to the table and to vote it up or down. All the votes were unanimous and done with a bit of humor. Liz Brown pointed out a another scrivener’s error that would have given duplexes a free ride. There were other errors including a zip code that doesn’t exist. Scrivener’s error.

Had the audience been only of the couch potato at home variety, along with the band of reporters and camp-followers who usually show up it would not have been much to talk about, perhaps a few insider chortles. But the glitterati of local government and its appendages were in attendance last night: John Stafford, the director of the Community Research Institute, Dan O’Connell, head of Visit Fort Wayne (the old Convention and Visitor’s Bureau), Ben Campbell, president of Star Financial and a leader of the Grand Wayne Board, Rich Davis, director of the Downtown Improvement District, Bob Lister who runs the Grand Wayne and his board leaders, Al Moll who runs the Parks Department, Scott Glaze, a prominent businessman, a covey of administration leaders, and Jim Anderson from, appropriately enough, the Zoo. He must have felt right at home.

The high points.

Early on, Glynn Hines brought a project to a halt because he said he was tired of being promised one thing and delivered another. He made a number of points about promises developers make only to forget when a project is ready to open. Everybody else on council agreed with him. The project was put on hold until, as he said, the “Is can be dotted and the Ts crossed.”

Mid on, Mitch Harper noted in the discussion with DID leaders that most of the buildings in the Downtown Improvement District are not paying property taxes, and was told that in the core only about a third of properties are on the rolls. Hmmm. A trend nationwide, one leader noted. Mitch thought it a bad trend.

Later, Mike Koester, an engineer, won a prior approval to get work started quickly on a sewer project at Pearl and Ewing so a contractor could avoid laying people off. The project, however, will damage a brick street that the West Central neighborhood is trying to save. City halls knows this. West Central, working with one department on preserving and repairing brick streets, wondered why a lack of communications exists between policy makers and implementers. Phones will be ringing this AM.

Dan O’Connell and Bob Lister, in separate discussions with council, boasted of the rising number of conventions coming to Fort Wayne that might otherwise have gone to Indianapolis or elsewhere. Lister noted with pride that an article in a northwestern Indiana paper called for construction of a new convention center near Gary because Fort Wayne was beating them badly at the convention business. Karen Goldner glowed that the Democratic Party State Convention was coming in 2012 to Fort Wayne and noted how proactive and accommodating Fort Wayne convention planners had been with the Democratic Party site searchers. Lister added that the new hotel will increase convention business dramatically over the coming years. New money into the local economy, he said.

At the end of the meeting Liz Brown, during open mic time, noted that the local economy seems to be improving rapidly and proudly noted how helpful the administration and council have been in supporting local economic development. Isn’t she supposed to be criticizing the administration?

The Low points.

Beside the problems with the agenda, beside the confusion over the garbage contract there were a couple notable low points.

Liz Brown was on the attack again. The violence came during a rejiggering of the city budget. At year’s end departments come in, hat in hand, begging for a few shekels to balance budgets. One such humble beggar was Rick Orr who runs the city Right of Way Department. The matter was a $23,000 shortage in the infamous fire hydrant fund. “You mean to tell me,” she sneared at Rick when he said he had underestimated the cost of maintenance, “that you don’t know the number of fire hydrants in the city! There’s a formula.” He answered her a couple of times before she heard him. The number changes, he said, as maintenance occurs and new water mains are laid. Oh. She dropped it, but not after drawing attention, again, to her testy nature.

Ricky Stevenson, Wayne Township Trustee, showed up last night for whatever reason, with his cell phone, apparently, fresh out of the box. Twice during the session music and messages on his phone were clearly audible to the house. Normally, when someone’s cell phone goes off it is unexpected and quickly silenced. Not Ricky. Stevenson just examine his phone as if he’d just found a shiny new quarter. The music, robust and loud, continued. Stevenson just didn’t seem to care.

Finally, Tom Didier took umbrage at being left out of “back room” negotiations that have led to a call for establishment of a city court. Five votes are there to bring the matter to the table, five council members met to start the project. Smith was not included, Didier was not included. I was told by a council member that the cabal was the four Democrats and Marty Bender who are offering the alternative to the county-run system. It is a way to get something done quickly, if time is of the essence, but it smacks of the artificial deadline waved about during the negotiations to buy the new city hall.

An open discussion will be held in council chambers on the 28th of December at 5:30. There are many, many questions to be answered as to cost, value for cost and rationale. If it is just a matter to fill space at the new town hall that is not enough. Has to be some meat on that bone.

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It was what was missing that proved most interesting last night at city council.

First, the ordinance concerning the new yellow-topped recycling bins was withdrawn to be reintroduced another time. The city could not find a local bank to loan the money to buy the carts, $2.7 million. The project is designed to pay over time for the upfront costs through your water bill. The upfront costs, however, are substantial and the city prefers to borrow. Unfortunately, those pesky banks, the ones that won’t loan a farthing to their formerly best customers, had real qualms about loaning such a huge amount to such a questionable entity as the city. Perhaps the city’s finances are in worse condition than anyone has told us. The city will go, hat in hand, again to the fat cats to scrounge the cost and represent the ordinance at a later time.

Then, there was the $5,000,000 economic development bond for Concordia Theological Seminary to help add on to their library. Somewhere along the line the wrong date was published for a public hearing so it was held for another meeting another day.

And, finally, no rancor. None. Hardly a whisper of disharmony. In fact, Mitch Harper told a couple of jokes, Liz Brown occasionally illuminated the room with her smile, Karen Goldner beamed during the discussion of the Boundless Park, Taylor Reuille’s dream, Tom Smith offered witty asides and Tim Pape had fun with his stentorian voice. Only Joe Bonahoom, the city council attorney, had any cold water to toss when he reminded Mrs. Smith to ask for “nays” and abstentions when conducting a vote. A chastened Mr. Smith apologized with a smile.

It was almost all smiles.

Jim Haley, the city’s information technology director, suffered the only moment of scrutiny when he explained an administration request to digitize records in four city departments. He said that soon, for $250,000, files will be scanned and searchable, making correlation of information or simply finding a document so much easier. Most, if not all, city files will soon be accessible. During the discussion he added that that the machinery that holds the files is simply too heavy to carry from current offices to the new city hall. Apparently, when planning the move and budgeting for the move that cost and problem was not factored in estimates, so the controller will have to request more money for the move. It will not be the last additional cost that will have to be added to the initial low-ball cost for the acquisition, renovation and move to 200 East Berry. As Mitch Harper noted during the debate, the new city hall will have many on-going expenses, as does the current city hall. Mr. Haley was treated gently in the spirit of the evening.

No votes were registered on bills concerning the sewer separation project (Mr. Harper) and on a salary ordinance between the city and the Machinists union, Mrs. Brown objecting and Mr. Harper abstaining.

It was a relaxing meeting that put one man in the gallery to sleep and prompted many a stifled yawn.

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Glynn Hines woke everyone up at the end of a moribund council meeting: net year is election year and we may want to move the budget process up.

Until then the meeting of Fort Wayne Common Council was winging like little martins passed resolutions, over introductions of bills and through a “public” hearing of sorts with hardly a sound. The Committee session had only one item to discuss, but in two forms; a legal public hearing, at which no one, not even the recipients of a proposed tax break, chose to speak. Diversified Marketing Solutions wanted a $640,000 off their tax bill in exchange for creating a handful of jobs. In the jargon of government, an Economic Revitalization Area was created to give structure and justification to the break. Moments later the same measure, now having sailed through the public hearing, was up for discussion. Elissa McGauley, economic development specialist for the city, explain the rationale behind the proposal and wove a story of an old building being revitalized, a corporate headquarters being moved to Fort Wayne and a distribution center soon to open. Tom Smith, who chairs the committee, liked the story she detailed and said as much, with emphasis. Heads nodded, vote taken, unanimous approval. The underlying principle is to help local businesses, usually small businesses, expand. It does. Like any human project it has its strengths and its weaknesses, but it is based on all of us helping entrepreneurs among us get a start or expand. It takes a village.

Then, council members got up, took the pledge to the flag, bowed their heads for a moment of silence and Clerk Sandy Kennedy re-read the roll to open the Regular Session of Common Council. By now, Mitch Harper had joined his colleagues to form a full house. The audience numbered about eleven, including a police officer, two reporters, two bloggers, two citizens who never miss a session, two unidentified individuals, a citizen-politician who loves to lurk on the margins of the room and the camera operator for the City TV channel. No one from the administration, except the gifted Ms. McGauley, was there.

So, in regular session council breezed through 19 ordinances with remarkable speed and consensus. Only one member, Mitch Harper, voted against any of the 19 measures; he did not explain his vote. No one bothered to ask him why. Mitch always has his reasons.

Finally, council invited citizens to amble to the table to express themselves in some way on some item of community interest. No one did. Going once, going twice, going three times, noted the council president, Mr. Bender. He really, really sounded like he hoped someone would come forward to speak.

He then invited council members to speak about whatever matter they might find of pressing consequence. John Shoaff announce two matters, others added a comment or two and then Tom Smith, who had chaired the budget process in November, applauded the group for their good work, gave himself a pat on the back for chairing the perilous process and then tossed a piece of red meat on the table: next year why not require a co-sponsor for any proposed cut. Liz Brown stiffened, her eyes sharpened. She had proposed the most cuts this last go-round, and had lost all of them except one a gift from God in the person of Greg Leatherman who brought laughter and a dose of reality when he tossed her a $5,000 win. She nearly hugged Leatherman. Smith had just opened a wound. Others spoke to the issue and then Ms. Brown retorted that it was her duty to find excess in the budget and propose cuts. Tim Pape then added that council members should first speak with department heads where they, council members, proposed to make cuts. Ms. Brown again bristled and on both counts she was right. It is her duty to make proposed cuts and she will not have to fill out a “mother-may-I” form to show she has duly parleyed with someone in the street-light warehouse, although it might help her a bit to understand the rational behind departmental budgeting, perhaps the point that Mr. Pape was trying to make. John Shoaff came to the rescue by suggesting that any proposed cut should have a second to be introduced for discussion, a la Robert’s Rules of Order, the bible for such bodies and one that seemingly only Shoaff and Harper at table have read. Mr. Shoaff made it clear that he would second some motions just to facilitate discussion.

Then Hines, quiet most of the night, reminded everyone that next year is the city election and they might want to move the budget process up a bit to avoid a hearing on election night. Someone muttered warnings of political agendas and posturing.

At the table was one member who is all but announced for mayor: “I am keeping my options open,” said Liz Brown to a reporter. More than a few people would support her, and more than a few would support Mitch Harper, at the other end of the table, who is also interested in the job, although reservedly so. Tim Pape and Karen Goldner strongly support the administration for their good reasons. Tom Henry is likely to run again. Others at the table like Paula Hughes. As we grown closer to the election, to the rising tempers and louder voices, each vote will gain significance and be a platform for posturing. Perhaps in those numerous “no” votes Mitch Harper is building a record; perhaps in his criticism of Councilwoman Brown Mr. Pape is previewing spring skirmishes, perhaps in all of her lonely votes Mrs. Brown is trying to out-conservative her brethren. Glynn Hines reminded us all that there will be a nice break for the various holidays and then the battle will be on to determine whose priorities guide the city for the coming four years.

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Fire Hydrants? $2,9 million? Well, that’s what Mitch Harper wanted to cut last night from the city budget and it passed, to almost everybody’s surprise, even for Mitch a bit.

More than four hours after a rejuvenated Marty Bender gaveled down the meeting and turned the budget hearings and process over to Finance Chairman Tom Smith the process of cutting the mayor’s budget was still ambling along. Council members, the media, guests, citizens, employees were all a bit slap happy when it came to the matter of Fire Hydrants. It was one of 24 proposed budget cuts voted on in last night’s Marathon session.

Fire hydrant rental! Fire hydrant rental was the big item. Glazed eyes opened when Mr. Harper began his soliloquy. Many, many residents in newly annexed Aboite pay maintenance on fire hydrants through both their property taxes, which are quite high in that tony township, and through their water bills. Mitch wanted a break for his constituents from double billing, so he asked and council agreed to strike it from the city budget. Surprise as the fifth and deciding vote went Mr. Harper’s way. Confusion among city employees. The cost of maintaining hydrants will now shift from property tax rolls to water rate payers. Pat Roller was perplexed and said it will take three months or more to resolve the matter with the Indiana Utilities Rate Commission, but that’s what councils wants, John Shoaff calling it a more rational approach. Some $2.9 was shaved from the city budget, a seemingly grand victory for smaller government folk, but it amounts to a shift in where and how maintenance will be paid, and by whom. The implications of who will save and who will groan when some future water bill is opened is unclear.

There were two clear cuts, however, in the budget, both deductions in funding for the mayor’s office, one for a legislative/business liaison for $67,000 and the second for a 311 Call Center Manager for $76,444. In both cases Beth Malloy, deputy mayor for the city, defended the expenses and in both cases she was grilled by Liz Brown as if she were an enemy prisoner.

Bernie Beier, the director of the Public Safety Academy, also suffered before council as amendments were offered to cut up to $550,000 from his budget. All of the five cuts failed, but Bernie must now clearly know that council is most unhappy with how the PSA has developed. Old sores were reopened, the public was reminded that Mayor Richard had over-sold the academy, that Mayor Henry had negatively affected its board in his first months in office and that the PSA Foundation, which promised last year to raise $100,000 had only managed to scrounge about $1,000.

Council is in the “rock and hard place” conundrum here. If they cut more the place will fail and cost the community for years to come without providing a return on the investment. Currently, it is a great drain on the tax rolls. To add more staff, to aggressively market the facility is not politically acceptable to the angry mob of voters that stand on the horizon. So, what to do? There was no heart in cutting more from the budget. The white salt stain on Bernie’s shoes show that he shovels the snow on the walks while concurrently serving as county “civil defense” director, currently titled Homeland Security Director. There is precious little left to cut at the PSA

Karen Goldner and most of the council members were gentle, but firm with Bernie, who is by all counts considered capable and very hardworking. Goldner virtually held his hand as she explained something significant has to change. Her approach is a study in contrasts to Mrs. Brown.

John Shoaff tried to halve the budget of the Redevelopment Commission who he holds, in part, responsible for the debacle with Harrison Square. While most of his fellow council members agree that the project has not been well handled they did not agree with his plan to gut the Commission. He was the lone vote in favor of his motion, 1-8.

The room was crowded until the matter of the 1% salary increase came to a vote. When it passed, narrowly, a cadre of fire fighters, police officers and other employees drifted away.

In all, the administration won the majority of last night’s battles. Beth Malloy did a good job of defending various lines various council members questioned. Carol Taylor, the city attorney, also defended herself and her department for Liz Brown. Bobby Kennedy defended small items from other Brown attacks.

Fourteen of the 24 cuts were proposed by Mrs. Brown. She lost almost all of them. She frequently found herself either in a 1-8 loss or teamed with Mitch Harper at 2-7. She became increasingly frustration, angry, testy, combative as the night wore on. She sniped at Karen Golder and Tim Pape, who shot right back at her, and she was rebuffed by the normally reserved John Shoaff, and she challenged by Karen Goldner who asked how she had arrived at a certain number concerning a certain proposed cut. She admitted she had no rationale, apparently the number was pulled from thin air as a negotiating ploy.

Her lonesome victory was handed to her by a magnanimous Greg Leatherman, director of the Redevelopment Commission. Greg, having survived the Shoaff cut, probably feeling a bit giddy, was challenged by Mrs. Brown concerning a line in his budget for legal expense. Leatherman calmly and effectively answered why it was needed and helpful for the community and then tossed her a fish, sure, we can cut that line in half, he said. Laughter erupted, Mrs. Brown was all smiles and nearly embraced Leatherman as a life preserver in a turbulent sea. If she runs for mayor she will need all the Leathermans she can find as the seas become increasingly choppy.

Their was another moment suggesting the coming mayoral campaign has clicked up a notch. Mitch Harper, in debate over whether to cut a state house lobbyist from the mayor’s budget, raised his voice. Mitch is more comfortable with a dirk than a broadsword. His comments at the table are usually calmly delivered, concise, incisive and subdued. But, unexpectedly he bellowed his anger toward the mayor’s failed and clumsy effort to bring a casino to downtown Fort Wayne. “Unity starts here,” he roared. He explained that the legislature expects the community to speak with one voice when it presents to the legislature a proposal for funding or a shift in law. He said the mayor showed misunderstanding of the way state government worked by not bring council on board with his initiative, essentially going behind council’s back to bring casino gambling to the City of Churches. His denunciation was one part indignation, one part lecture, and one full measure campaign rhetoric.

There were a couple more items in an evening filled with fine points, gaffes, humor, asides and grist for federally funded studies in group behavior. Marty Bender returned last night in, what looked to be, the peak of health. Kudos to Lutheran for reinvigorating him. He underplayed his illness, which at times sounded very dire. “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated,” to quote Twain. He then went on to vote for his own pay increase, but did unabashedly note to the house that he understood it to be a conflict of interest. Oh well.

The budget wars are over for another year. This council in its current form will don its gladiatorial garb again next year for the same purpose. Credit this year to Mr. Smith for managing a smooth, if lengthy hearing process. The budget discussions were much more transparent and informative, thanks to him and other members of council. It yielded insights and some savings. The administration made repeatedly the point that they have cut until there is very little opportunity to cut more from existing expenses. They have also made the point, aptly, that our employees are driving innovation and, as a result, cost cutting. Bobby Kennedy, chair of the Board of Works, offered one impressive statistic after another, as did other administration representatives. Questions from council were often easily parried as if a council member, one in particular, had not bothered to do her homework before proposing a cut. The administration also hammered home the point that fewer employees are serving an expanded city. Of course, not everything is roses in Fort Wayne, but we are not Bell, California, and we are not Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Fort Wayne is relatively well managed, open to citizen input and participation and has suffered none of the budget disasters of many other cities around the country.

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