Another council meeting has come and gone. We recognized former council president Dr. Servaas for his 90th birthday. All I can say is that if I live to 90, I hope I can be in as good of health and spirit. With his comments it is no wonder he led the city council for so long. Congratulations Dr. Servaas on reaching 90 years old.
The vote was on the agenda tonight to merge the Perry Township fire department with IFD. It seems that there are a number of Democrats and a few Republicans that would not support the proposal so it was sent back to committee for further discussion. Funny how when former Mayor Peterson wanted merger all the Democrats supported the idea. Back then it was just a way to bail out a financially broke IFD. Today, Mayor Ballard wants to merge the departments to reduce costs and to have a more uniform training and services throughout the county. Funny how the Democrats change their opinion so quickly when it is not in their best political interest.
We also passed the proposal funding the arts community with 1 million dollars of tax payer money. It is a shame that both Republican and Democrat leaders were so quick to use taxpayer dollars to fund private organizations tonight. In a time when the city budget is already looking to go into the red this year this is not the time to be frivolous with taxpayers hard earned dollars. This is one of the few times I will give kudos to the current CIB leadership. At least they have recognized this fact and discussed cutting the funding for the arts. FYI, I voted no on this.
There were a few other proposals of slight interest. I will say the most interesting comment tonight came from Councilor Lutz. A proposal to introduce two new members to the new ethics committee were voted on tonight. I asked about their resumes as to were these two attorneys practice law. He quickly responded that he is not sure and that neither work for Barnes and Thornburg. He did later come up with the answer thought. The funny thing is how quickly he commented on Barnes and Thornburg. I am not sure if it was intended, but I find this to be an admission of a conflict with B&T when he comments so quickly on something I did not ask directly about.
I am off to work for the night. Keep up the good fight and don't let up. With more Liberty minded individuals speaking up, maybe we can get more of our leaders to come to their senses.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Thoughts on Tonights Council Meeting
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5 comments:
I'm going to apologize in advance if my questions have already been answered elsewhere, but since I don't know the answer, I'll ask anyways:
I hear a whole lot of talk about mergers to save costs but I'm not hearing much about reduced revenue forecasts and their impact to budgets. I'm wondering if part of the merger isn't necessarily as a cost savings strategy, but as a necessary means to maintain continuity in the face of unprecedented budget shortfalls.
Does the Perry FD merger include a transfer of applicable funding from Perry Township to IFD? If so, how does IFD plan to manage funding when property tax caps come into effect? Has the anticipation of reduced funding already been worked into the IFD budget forecasts? And finally, with IFD facing the same revenue reductions as the townships, is there a plan in place to maintain safe coverage with a reduced budget - and does the plan to maintain safe coverage within current IFD coverage depend upon successful mergers with the townships?
Can anyone answer a question for me? Does the new ethics ordinance apply to say...the fiance of a certain County Chairman who is coerceing and in some cases intimidating appointed officials to "work with her" in starting her consulting business. Word has it that she's even approaching sitting judges to work with her. My question is "when does the influence peddling stop?" What make the Chairman's girlfriend qualified to be a consultant? If I was an elected offical I'd wouldn't be in the same room with Ms. Trexler. She's an investigation in heels.
This could get interesting. So Tom John's mistress, turned girlfriend, turned fiance is now preparing to get a sweetheart deal for no other reason than her "relationship" with the party boss. My question to Tom is why can't she find something in the private section or better yet why can't she get a job with your drinking buddy Carl Brizzi or perhaps your law firm Ice Miller? Why must she get taxpayer dollars for a service in which she isn't qualified to provide and thus must force people to work with her? And more importantly Tom how far are you willing to go to convince elected and appointed individuals to sign on her dotted line? Will you pull a knife-in-the-back scheme like you did with Judge Miller or will it be more sleezy like what you did with Ballard during the election? Personally I wish you nothing but success because you are the best gift the marion County Democratic Party has had in quite a while. FWIW I do feel sorry for Judge Altice, for a Republican he's really a decent fellow. :)
How does a degree in interior design qualify someone to provide services for ex-offenders? Unless of course you are Martha Stewart.
Come on Binkie, you're not doing your homework. This is not about qualifications. This about romantic quid pro quo. Christina also has a background in private investigations which comes in handy if you are an aspiring GOP Chairman (see Mike Murphy) or need your PCs and elected officials to toe-the line (see Barb Malone,
Ed Coleman, Mike Speedy). Just put a unmarked tail on your little wayward child or maybe a little dumpster diving and collect your evidence. That's why she feels so comfortable touting her business Manifestix LLC to anyone who spends five minutes with her. If you accepts her invitiation instantly becomes a pawn of Tom John. She's on the Community Corrections board because of him not her resume. At the end of the day it has nothing to do with good policy, its all about the money. That's what Tom will tell you if you buy him a few drinks. Bottom line if you see her heading your way turn around and go the other way. You won't regret it.
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