CITY COUNCIL MEETING 2/18/10

We had a long and not very productive meeting last night and I will give a brief outline. My report will not be nearly as detailed as Mr. Baylor's.

There is a new format for the agenda. The public officials now speak before the general public. Mr. Carl Malysz spoke first in the Mayor's place:

He had a note from the Mayor which asked that two of the agenda items be tabled. A-09-22 the $2,000,000 for the police and fire depts. from EDIT and G-10-02, the full time attorney for the council. Mr. Ceasar was the sponsor and he complied with the Mayor's wishes.

Mr. Malysz went on to address the comments made at the 2/17 town hall meeting. He said that since Jan. 08 there have been 5 overflows from the sewer system due to the weather. He added that EPA thinks more needs to be done to address this. He also said that even when the Mayor is on vacation they talk daily, sometimes even more.

Chief Juliot (Fire Dept.) was next: he had good news concerning a grant received from Sen. Lugar in the amount of $700,000 to be used to upgrade the communication equipment. This must be shared with other Southern Indiana counties but our share amounts to approx. $180,000.

Mr. Price asked for a public hearing before a vote is to be taken on the sewer rate increase. Mr. Messer said the ordinance needs to be read and a vote taken before Mr. Skomph (from CroweHorwath) can share the details of his meeting with the bondholders and SRL (State Revolving Loans). After the first reading and the first vote, 7 nay no aye, he (Mr. Skomph) shared that the increase was down to 36% now and 19% in 2012. He stressed that immediate action needed to be taken and that he had never seen the government so amiable to an agreement. A meeting was scheduled for March 11 @ 6:00 for the people to express their opinions.

Next were the communications from the public. And of course many people spoke. I will not go into detail but most expressed the same financial problems as those speaking at the town hall meeting. A couple firefighters asked that A-09-22 be passed, not just to save their jobs but for public safety as well.

Finally two resolutions were passed 7-0, R-10-15 a Resolution having to do with L & D Mail Masters, and R-10-06 the Resolution requesting a Forensic Audit. This is being paid for by the Police and Fire Unions.

The fun ended around 9:45. Many people were in small groups in the hall having discussions.