Archive for the “City & County Government” Category

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 »

By Jim Sack

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. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jim Sack

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. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jim Sack

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. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t think so.

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.

Mike Aker is a Huntertown Town Council member as well as a Fort Wayne Firefighter. His Facebook page for now, is open for all to see.  I certainly don’t think his conduct on Facebook is something most people would like to see from an elected official, but who am I to judge? You decide. Read the rest of this entry »

Funny how this story did not break until after the elections. According to a report issued by Sandy Kennedy’s office, they are two years behind in collecting unpaid parking tickets; 14,400 of them. Kennedy is blaming the county courts. However, according to Judge Fran Gull, not only is Kennedy’s office not filing them with the courts, they’ve yet to contact her to discuss a solution.

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.

By Jim Sack

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Many of you know Brandon Seifert. He often attends city council meetings, and has worked on various political campaigns over the years. This weekend, with the technical help of yours truly, he launched a blog, The Conservative Pundit.

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.