SEE YOU LATER, BARON

Baron Hill  is visiting every county in the 9th District, but not to say goodbye.  He started this morning in Salem, and is ending the day in Clarksville, visiting 10 cities in 48 hours.  He called it his "See You Later" tour.  

He stopped by the Floyd County Democratic Headquarters this evening to have a quick but meaningful visit with some of his constituents.  He was very frank and open, as always, and answered our questions. 

He is very concerned about Congress, as are many others.  He said the new Congress Members are mostly newly elected as are many other elected officials, including clerks.  The clerks, many which are untrained, will be in charge of the 2012 elections and there will be mistakes. (Thankfully the voters of Floyd County have re-elected Linda Moeller so we are in good shape.) The untrained Congress Membership is much more frightening.  It's going to be totally new territory for many. 

Baron is unsure about his own future but he has been talking to a lot of people and he is very hopeful. (He did say, however that Betty wants him to stay off the campaign trail for a little while). He promised to stay informed politically and keep us here in New Albany informed as well.  He was happy to say that his staff members are finding new positions, both locally and in Washington.  As he said, that just shows what a good reputation his employees enjoy.

I just want to wish Baron the best here on this blog as I did downtown. Hopefully soon we will have to opportunity to welcome him back into public service. (fingers crossed) 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  Please be safe and take care of each other and yourselves. 

LET'S GET ON WITH IT

It looks like Globe Mechanical wants to purchase the buildings which were formally occupied by the street department. The asking price was $300,000 and Globe is offering $225,000. Yes the bid is much lower than the asking price, but  these days no one can sell for asking price.  And besides, no one else is interested in these buildings.

Globe Mechanical wants the space so they can expand and hire 40 more workers.  I say sell the buildings already and let them put 40 people to work.

"POP' GO THE BAD GUYS

New Albany Police Chief Todd Bailey held a meeting last night at the New Albany Public Library which was well attended. There were members of a couple of neighborhood associations and other interested citizens. We all came away with a feeling of hope for our fair city. Although the program will begin in the SEJ neighborhood, the whole city will be covered. And other neighborhoods are scheduled to be part of the POP plan also.

Chief Bailey began by saying that he was a native of New Albany who lives on Elm St. with his family. He also expressed a great concern for the community. He has only been chief for eight weeks but he is eager to make changes.

The police force will be working in a different way from now on. They will be pro-active instead of reactive, and will also be ready and willing to listen to our concerns. The new plan is called "Problem Oriented Policing" or "POP".

There was also a slide presentation with information which is listed below:

• New policing concept designed to attack crime in problems areas of town.
• Replaces outdated process of simply responding to crime in the community.
• Will deal with quality of life issues such as loud music, code issues, juvenile problems, vandalism, thefts, graffiti and drug and alcohol matters.
• "POP' works hand in hand with "Intelligence Oriented Policing".
• Interviewing known criminals and analyzing data to pinpoint trouble and to direct strategy.
• We will seek your input and suggestions regarding some of the problems to solve.
• Police personnel will engage in "POP" activities daily beginning Jan. 1, 2011.
• Our Night Shift will implement the program with tactical operations in the SE Jones area and surrounding areas.
• Additional community problem areas and problem topics will be immediately addressed.
• ZERO TOLERANCE

This is just a part of the information on the slides. They went on to ask everyone to get involved and join neighborhood watch groups, which will be re-instated. He also gave NAPD contact information.

• Emergency 911
• Non-Emergency Dispatch 944-6411
• Non-Emergency Administration 948-5300
• CRIME LINE 948-NAPD (6273)

The crime line is for callers to leave tips, and they do not have to give their name, but it is preferable to identify yourself and be a witness in court if necessary.

The police also have a Facebook page and will soon have twitter and a web page.

Chief Bailey thinks that things don't need to be done a certain way just because that's the way things have always been done.

Building Commissioner David Brewer was also present and he is eager to make changes also. He said the previous Code Enforcement Officer only had the authority to send letters to offenders. The city council has approved the hiring of another code enforcement officer, one to handle problems in the office and another to be out looking for violations. He promised that from now on issues will be taken care of instead of just sending letters.

As I said earlier, the people in attendance were excited about making New Albany safe again. Everyone was asked to complete a short questionnaire listing problems in their neighborhood and asked to participate watch groups. I encourage everyone to help with this endeavor.

CITY COUNCIL MEETING 12/6/10

The Mayor was the first to speak at the podium Monday evening. These are the points he made:

• The city will continue to pick up leaves until 12/23/10
• There is a study being done on our ambulance service.
• We need to combine the city and county 911 systems.

CM Coffey asked Atty Rick Fox to explain the judgement on the sewer utility against the city. Our City Attorney, Shane Gibson, helped explain the situation. There is a judgement and they want to collect. There have been negotiations with Gibson and Fox and others and it will soon be satisfied. CM Coffey wants to pay and then sue the sewer utility for the money. Mr. Gibson thinks this is silly and added that he hoped to have a resolution by the next council meeting.

Building Commissioner, David Brewer spoke about our code enforcement. With our two officers there have been 68 issues, 35 called in, 3 by email, and 2 in person. All have been resolved. Additionally, there are 18 buildings which may be demolished if they are not repaired.

The only speaker from the public was Peter Farmer, president of Main St. Preservation. He spoke against G-10-21 (Dissolution of the Historic Preservation Commission)

Next up were the votes:

A-10-13 Transfer 1.7 million from EDIT for General Fund expenses. The reason being that TIF funds cannot be used for certain projects. The vote was 6 yes and 3 no (CM's Coffey,Price, and Gahan). Same results on the second reading.

A-10-12 Ordinance for the transfer of $200,000 from the Cumulative Capital Improvement Fund to the General Fund. (Goes to cash deficit, not an appropriation, money goes to the rolling deficit) This was the 3rd reading and it passed 9-0

G-20-21 Dissolving the Historic Preservation Commission: failed 7 no, 1 yes, CM Price, and 1 abstain CM Coffey.

Finally the Resolution to adopt a Fiscal Plan for the Annexation passed 7 yes and 2 no CM Coffey and Price. The annexation will not take effect until January 1, 2014.

On a personal note, the meeting went pretty smoothly. The microphones seemed to have been set at a lower volume, or maybe it was just my imagination.

SEE YOU AT THE LIBRARY

Chief Todd Bailey will host a meeting this Wednesday at the Library at 7:00. He will be starting a new program called Problem Oriented Policing program on January 1, 2011.

He wants to start more neighborhood watch groups. I hope the people will be more receptive this time. Becky Roy started a neighborhood watch group several years ago (West End) but attendance was very limited, same with the Friends and Families of the West End group.

Please check the "Tribune" for more details.

SEWER LINE SNAG

I read in today's "Tribune" that the developers are discovering problems with the Mid-town aka. S. Ellen Jones neighborhood's outdated sewer lines. It seems that the sewer department used to allow two homes to be hooked up to the same line back in the 1920's and 30's. Since there are probably several more of these "Y" connections in the area this needs to be addressed.

Apparently Jon-Paul Inc. did not add the cost of sewer lines in their original bid for the project. Hopefully this cost will me minimal so the project does not go far over budget.

Another problem is the cost of sewer hookups which run $1650 each. This is one case where I think the City Council should waive the connection fee. This is not a new development of expensive homes. These homes will be sold to lower income residents and costs need to be kept as low as possible. New Albany was fortunate to have this grant and we should do everything we can to keep the project going and sell these homes as quickly and economically as possible.