The issue is whether the Park Authority should be made up the very same people as on the city council, as is the case now. It is just not good government practice to have the city council funding their own projects and ideas, That is not how good government works or operates, and it totally bypasses the checks and balances intended to have government work efficiently and benefit the taxpayers and citizens.
The dual responsibilities of a combined parks authority/ city council circumvents the separation of executive and legislative powers of governmental duties. It is just not good practice and one wonders about the legality of it all. It has become exceptionally poor practice here locally due to the contentious relationship of the mayor and the current city council. It just gives the two opposing entities (mayor and council) another political football to play with.
We can thank Ron (wishy washy ) Grooms who proposed the poor legislation that allowed this dual responsibility of a combined parks authority- city council. It has created another roadblock here locally for efficiency and fiscal responsibility.
On the project itself while it has been scaled down considerably from earlier 3 MILLION upgrade it still appears to the BatBlog to be a totally unnecessary waste of money for a facility in a poor location and not really wanted or utilized by a majority of the electorate. It appears though that the 1 MILLION upgrade is getting ready to be shoved down the taxpayers throats...due mainly to the Parks authority- city council's dual responsibilities and counterproductive ability to make up their own projects and then vote for the funding of the same project. It's just a poor way to run a railroad or a City......
It is a great facility for our youth. Glad to see investment in to it.
ReplyDeleteIsn't Jeffersonville politics grand, the fox watching over the henhouse comes to mind in this instance.
ReplyDeleteGood analogy Anon. in this case the fox proposes a hen house be built, then ok's it to be built but by spending the other foxes money. The original fox gets his fill of all the chickens and eggs he can eat...while the other foxes get little or nothing of what they want only the scraps the original fox doesn't want...
ReplyDeleteCouncil / Parks board = Fox no.1
Taxpayers = all the other foxes
Indiana law clearly delineates
ReplyDeletethat there are separated responsibilities
of the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial Branch.
The time tested formula in the United States is that there are three separate
co-equal government branches. Governmental authority is separated into the three branches.
Additionally, the city's lawsuit maintains that the Jeffersonville City Council
should not be acting as the Parks Authority. The suit claims that they
do not have the statutory authority to do so.
10C01-1211-PL-134
Taken from the city's pleading:
"Indiana Code 36-10-5-2 does not apply to the City of Jeffersonville
as the City did not become a Second Class City as a result of the 2010 decennial Census; the city became a Second Class City based only on the results of the 2000
Decennial census.
Therefore, The Jeffersonville Parks Authority exists contrary to Indiana Code and acts without authority under Indiana law."
But where does the lawsuit stand ???
ReplyDeleteIt seems like it was filed several years ago... Is the City still pursuing it ???
It looks like Mayor Moore
ReplyDeletehas TWO VERY RESPONSIBLE POSITIONS
on the city council's 'SOCCERGATE' spending problems:
First, a reading of the Indiana Code shows that the city council
may not have the statutory authority in principle or by existing statute
to act simultaneously in a dual capacity as BOTH the Legislative Branch
and the Executive Branch.,
Secondly, the Mayor is asserting that the soccer field SPENDING
is excessive and should be curtailed. The current soccer facility
is very nice, very sufficient, and continuing to spend wildly on it
is not in the best interests of the citizens of Jeffersonville.
That seems like a very reasonable, logical and responsible position.
H-T of the way cool Bat Blog correctly asked:
ReplyDelete"But where does the lawsuit stand ???
It seems like it was filed several years ago... Is the City still pursuing it ???"
....heh...heh...heh...
Yes. Timing. How about that Count III in detail for the intelligent Bat Blog readers to review!
The Bat Blog is leading the way!
I would like to thank Hoosier Taxpayer and the Bat Blog for the very interesting and detailed coverage of Jeffersonville and Clark County politics.
ReplyDeleteThe allegations of excessive insider spending on the 10Th Street plant mess,
the soccer mess, the attack on the city court,
the jealous attempts to block great economic development projects,
the attempt to 'Bring Back the Canal',
and coverage of other issues is very informative.
A certain local city council seems to be mired in controversy
and bad decisions.....
H-T, stay strong!
It was costing $100,000 a year to maintain the 10thStree Plant Mess
ReplyDeleteThe SOCCERGATE spending mess
fits nicely with the 10th Street Plant Scandal mess.
The newsandtribune.com had a good article on the city council's mishandling
of the expensive plant mess.
The current council is like a deer in the headlights.
The N-T helped expose the city council acting in the dual role
and the huge problem it has been.
http://m.newsandtribune.com/news/private-company-to-maintain-th-street-medians-in-jeffersonville/article_9bb5eb70-25c8-11e5-abad-4f7223b2b021.html?mode=jqm
By ELIZABETH BEILMAN. newsandtribune.com
"The Jeffersonville City Council — the same nine members as the parks authority — moved $75,000 into the parks department’s contractual services budget"...
"The Jeffersonville Parks Authority during a special meeting Monday voted unanimously in favor of a $94,500 quote from Byrnes Lawn Care. A contract will begin this month and last until next July. Services will include trimming bushes and shrubs twice a year, applying plant food and pre-emergent herbicide in early spring, pulling weeds throughout the year, refreshing mulch once a year, picking up trash every week and watering plants three times a year"
"Parks Authority member Nathan Samuel said that contracting a company for the medians is not the situation he wanted the city to fall into again. Medians were formerly maintained by Walnut Ridge Nursery and Garden Center until February 2014, when the Jeffersonville Redevelopment Commission decided not to renew the contract."
ReplyDelete"In response to this move and a growing number of parks maintenance responsibilities, the city council funded a greenspace maintenance team.
Samuel asked if other maintenance jobs, such as bioswales, will be contracted out. Northam said a different department takes care of the bioswales.
“The reason I’m saying that is when we talked about establishing this team, we added well over $100,000 to get this team up to do this, and now we have additional costs to that team,” he said.
“We’re back in the same boat,” Parks Authority member Steve Webb said.
The Jeffersonville Street Department and Drainage Department were supposed to move employees who were maintaining greenspaces laterally to the “Green Team” for a total of 10, but that hasn’t happened.
Sellers said the street department is short-staffed and can’t contribute the employees they agreed to.
“It never rolled out like we intended,” Samuel said. “Even with the employees, they were supposed to be given over there and only on certain cases would they be able to be called back [to their original departments].”
Because the Green Team wasn’t funded until April, the city was behind on preventing growth of weeds that overtook the medians.
Parks Authority member Lisa Gill said she liked the one-year maintenance quote best because it doesn’t leave the city to renew a contract come next spring.
$100,000 a year to maintain the 10th Street medians.
Elizabeth Beilman
Elizabeth is the Jeffersonville and Sellersburg reporter for the News and Tribune. She is a Louisville, Ky. native and recent graduate from Western Kentucky University with degrees in journalism and English. Follow her on Twitter at @EMBeilman.
from the newsandtribune.com
“Why we’re still chasing our tail is because we didn’t get that spring work done,” Gill said. “This guarantees that we will.”
Budget workshops in the early fall this year will give the city council the opportunity to make a more long-term decision on who is responsible for median maintenance.
“... At some point, we’re going to have to say, which way do we want to go?” Samuel said.
Some of the city council members like Lisa Gill and Nathan Samuel appear to have sincere good intentions, but are trying to make it work in an unlawful situation. Serve your elected legislative position as a city council person, and relinquish the conflicting parks authority position for the benefit of your city and your constituents. Running the Parks Department is NOT what they elected you to do.
ReplyDeleteSome of the city council members like Lisa Gill and Nathan Samuel appear to have sincere good intentions, but are trying to make it work in an unlawful situation. Serve your elected legislative position as a city council person, and relinquish the conflicting parks authority position for the benefit of your city and your constituents. Running the Parks Department is NOT what they elected you to do.
ReplyDeleteWasn't Matt the one who fought to keep parks board? Now he has become the Mayors pet. I wonder if the Mayor still uses the unprofessional nicknames that he chose for Matt during the first 3 yrs in office?
ReplyDeleteIt does seem the Councilman Owen
ReplyDeletehas begun to understand and be concerned
about the council's spending addiction.
Someone said that he was tricked into
the city council's vote to create the Parks Authority
and appoint themselves to that board.
perhaps he has been reading the city's court filing.
It is logical that Councilman Owen
ReplyDeletewould be concerned and is now learning that the trusty council apparently:
1.) Passed an ordinance (2012-OR-22)
establishing a parks authority based upon
a local ordinance that utilized a state statute
(IC 36-10-5-2) that had NOT YET been promulgated.,
2.) Utilized a state statute (IC-36-10-5-2)that did not allow
the council to establish a parks authority based
upon the 2000 census under which Jeffersonville
became a Second Class City.,
3. Appointed THEMSELVES to this board and
are exercising Executive Branch powers.
He should be commended for understanding the problems.
Owen personally told me it was to prevent MM from getting control of the ball field accross from Big four park and letting CM able to develop it. Now what? Hmmmmm
ReplyDeleteCurious.....the tea party and others wanted elected boards to run things, such as the RDA, But not the parks department. Makes no sense!
ReplyDelete