OUR SHRINKING LOCAL GOVERNMENT

I was very upset about the recent Indiana Senate vote to eliminate local township advisory boards. These three member boards are the fiscal and legislative body and adopt the township budget. These duties are to be transferred to the county council.

This is just another step Gov. Daniels is taking to eliminate or severly limit our local government. He is trying to eliminate townships all together. Per the Tribune article dated 2/25/09 the government found sloppy bookkeeping in townships and consolidation would be more efficient. Would not some counties have sloppy bookkeeping also?

What is Gov. Daniels trying to do? He wants to reduce the number of county commissioners from three to one and change several local elected positions to appointed positions. Can you say nepotism ? If a county executive appoints the county assessor, treasurer, recorder, surveyor and coroner, would not this person have just a little too much power?

We need to speak with our votes in the next election. Gov. Daniels is not a king and we are not his subjects. Please vote to keep our local elected positions as they are, how else are the voters going to have their say?

UNSAFE HOUSES REVISITED

There has been a lot of talk lately about rental inspections. While this is all fine and good, what about the owner occupied homes which are in dangerously poor condition?


The "Report on Code Enforcement" dated January 11, 2009 states."Providing safe housing for themselves is a basic responsibility for every homeowner. A safe dwelling allows the family to live free from concern for unsafe mechanical systems, pest infestations, or other treats to health and well-being. In such places the cost for heat, water and sewage should be reasonable and predictable. Responsible homeowners routinely take the initiative to ensure that these basics are provided. Government's role in the regulation of owner-occupied housing is somewhat limited: inform the community of accepted standards, and ensure that the life-safety issues are in compliance with existing code provisions."


I must say that not all of the blighted homes in New Albany are not rental property, some of them are owner-occupied. No, I don't have the statistics but we all know this is true. I have nothing against the regulation of rental properties but I think homeowners should be regulated also. An unsafe house is an unsafe house.

As far as Government's role in regulation being limited, I beg to differ on that issue also. Ordinance G-04-23 lists the responsibilities of the Building Commissioner as follows:

1. Enter the premises to determine compliance. 150.101(E)


2. Determine the identity and address of landowner. 150.101(E)


3. Send written notice by certified mail. 150.101(E)


4. Have the city remove material and vehicles. 150.101(E)


5. File a lien against the property with the County Recorder for all costs incurred by the city for removal.

Procedure to file a lien on property: 150.101(G)

1. Building Commissioner to Recorder


2. Recorder to Auditor


3. Auditor to Treasurer


4. Treasurer add to next tax bill to be mailed.

Let's please change our way of thinking from substandard and unsafe rental property to substandard and unsafe property. We all want the same thing, for New Albany to be a clean, safe, and decent place for all of us to live. While home ownership is an ideal situation, this is not feasible for everyone for various reasons. But everyone should take pride in their home, rather the title be in the resident's name or someone else's name. A person's home is just that.

CITY FORUM 2/11/09

Last night's city forum was well attended considering Mother Nature's attempt to keep everyone home.



I thought the city officials were very receptive to our comments, complaints, ideas, etc. Mayor England promised a follow up meeting in 30 days. This was in response to complaints that we talk but very little gets done.



Readers, if you attended please comment, if you did not, ask a question or make a comment anyway.



Shirley

COME ONE, COME ALL

There have been a few comments regarding the neighborhood forum scheduled for tomorrow night. One poster asked "Why bother?" another poster seemed excited about going and mentioned that the "Silent Majority" will not remain silent.

To answer the question of why bother?, Why NOT BOTHER. Maybe there is some apathy, or a lot of apathy here in town but we need to stop just talking among ourselves and tell the people who run this city how we feel and what needs to be done. The Mayor and City Council are elected officials and they know we can "talk" with our votes.

I liked the comment from the poster talking about the Silent Majority and how they will not remain so. We need someone to jump start this town and wake up our sleeping citizens.

I was jealous when I read the article about Jeffersonville and all of the improvements they have made. New Albany is a prettier town after all, at least I think so. We have to quit being the sleepy little river town and liven up. And no I don't mean that we need more strip bars either. We need to encourage new businesses and support the businesses which are already established. We can't sit around and wait for the President to drop a few crumbs from his table. There are too many other towns with their hands out and some are even worse off than us, Elkhart for instance.

Please attend this forum if at all possible and attend as many council meetings as you can.

STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS

Mayor England gave his "State of the City" address last night at the City Council meeting. Although many people seemed to be pleased with his take on our local government, as for me, not so much.

He expressed disappointment that the LOIT tax was not passed. He said the police and fire department employees need the additional funds to hire additional workers. I think we need additional workers also. There are a lot of people who need these jobs, but in my opinion we did not need the LOIT tax. Even though this would have been a relatively small deduction, it was still another deduction to an already shrinking paycheck for many people.

One major problem that I had was the remark he made concerning the police and fire department salary increases. He said the City workers were still working at their 2007 salaries. Though I agree with him on that matter, concerning the people working in the City/County Building I disagree when it comes to our police officers and fire fighters.

I did a little research and pulled a Tribune article dated 10/24/08 in which it stated that the 2009 budget would be cut by $600,000. The council voted to use rainy day funds to cover the shortfall. It went on to say, "The amount would still be nearly $210,000 short because of retroactive pay increases. Mayor Doug England signed a contract this week that gives the police and fire department a three percent raise for 2008."

Even though he was probably just talking about the above mentioned City/County employees regarding the salary freeze, I consider the police and fire employees to be employed by the city of New Albany just as the others. Nothing against these people but I believe that other city employees work hard also and are just as loyal. Everyone deserves to be treated equally whether they are making arrests, fighting fires or answering 911 calls or helping citizens with their tax bills or utility bills.

Times are hard for all of us and it will probably get worse before it gets better. Everyone needs to sacrifice.