Saturday, December 31, 2011

HERE'S HOPING FOR A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! 

Please remember what Christmas is all about and have a happy and peaceful holiday.

Friday, December 16, 2011

CITY COUNCIL MEETING 12/15/11 GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK

Last night was the last of the regularly scheduled City Council meetings for 2011 and the last meeting for this term.  There will be a special meeting 12/28/11 for the third reading of the Ordinance to refinance the bond for Christian Academy. The city is only allowed to issue $10,000,000 in bonds per year and this needs to be passed in 2011.

Other agenda items included CM Coffey's G-11-16, the third reading on the Abandoned Vehicle Ordinance which passed 9-0.

And finally CM Price's G-11-17 third reading on the Noise Regulation Ordinance it also passed 9-0.

Mr. Ed Wilkinson gave a report on the Sewer Dept. There have been many improvements to our sewers in the last year and we are in much better shape financially.  There has been another $200,000 + collected from delinquent bills, this is in addition to the previously reported $750,000.  Great job Ed!

This meeting was also short and sweet, or maybe bittersweet.  Mr. Gahan thanked the council for their service this last year.  Mr. Messer thanked the council for their help in the last eight years and expressed how much he appreciated his time in office.  Mr. Price had a different goodbye message.  He thanked the council for "putting up with him" for the past eight years.  This, of course, brought laughter to an otherwise solemn moment.

Prior to the council meeting, the Police Dept. had a meeting at Scribner Jr. High School concerning artificial marijuana and cocaine.  This is a very serious subject and was well presented by Chief Bailey.  Unfortunately it was poorly attended.  The Chief thought this was because the seminar was not well advertised.  I don't know what happened but I hope they have another presentation because this is very valuable information for all the parents and family members in New Albany.

I don't know what 2012 will bring.  There will be a lot of changes, I just hope and pray that New Albany will continue to grow and prosper.

Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy Holidays.

Shirley

Monday, December 5, 2011

CITY COUNCIL MEETING 12/5/11

Tonight's city council meeting was relatively quiet. I guess everyone wants to end the year on a positive note, or they are thinking about the holidays.

First of all I want to commend Josh Lawrence, an Eagle Scout candidate who changed those ugly rocks on the hillside near the river from "welcome" to a beautiful sign spelling New Albany.  If they ever re-open the Sherman Minton Bridge we will have to pleasure of seeing this sign daily.  Josh was helped by his father, Asst. Police Chief Mike Lawrence and members of his troop.

Now back to the meeting:

R-11-31 Benedetti
Cost of Living Recognition Payment for non-bargaining employees.  The amount was determined by their years of employment. The funds were part of an appropriation from the EDIT Fund which has been left unused. For 49 employees the total of the bonuses was $45,750. Instead of the usual show of hands CM Coffey asked for a roll call. It was passed with 5 Yay votes and 3 Nay (Coffey,Price,McLaughlin) (CM Messer was absent)

G-11-16 Coffey 1 & 2
Amendment to the Abandoned Vehicle Non-Reverting Fund.  The proceeds from the fines will be used to pay the expenses for a tow-in-lot and offset fuel costs for the police and fire departments. Passed 8-0.

G-11-17 Price 1 & 2
Amendment to the noise regulation. This was a clarification to the original ordinance with specific fines for each offense.
$50.00 1st offense, $100.00 2nd offense. Passed 8-0

G-11-18 Coffey 1 & 2
This was the Ordinance authorizing $6,000,000 in  Sewage Works Revenue Bonds.CM Coffey tabled this for now and asked to chair the standing committee.

A-11-26 Coffey 2 & 3
Ordinance for the Appropriation of Rainy Day Funds $500,000 for MVH (Street Dept.) and $100,000 for the Parks Dept. Passed 7-1 CM Zurschmeide cast the Nay vote.

A-11-27 Caesar 3
Final vote on the Ordinance for the Appropriation of EDIT Funds. This was the 2.3 Million dollars transferred to the General Fund to balance the budget.Passed 6-2 with CM Price & CM Zurschmeide voting Nay.

There were a few tabled Ordinances which were withdrawn. 

The meeting went pretty smoothly, especially considering the lengthy agenda.  Let's hope this trend continues.