Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council Meeting Live Blog

The Agenda (not the “uhgender”) is posted HERE (Adobe Reader required). Meeting starts at 7 PM.

6:53 PM - The crowd is assembling in the Public Assembly Room. Several veterans including Warren Township’s own Pony Tail Paul Cauley.

(More after the leap)

7:00 PM - Not quite ready yet. Councilors still arriving in the chamber. Vice-President Kent Smith called the councilors to their seats. Vice-President Smith called the meeting to order.

7:05 PM - President Bob Cockrum led the pledge and prayer. Attendance was recorded with all present except for Councilor Carson. President Cockrum announced Councilor Carson has resigned his Council seat.

7:06 PM - Introduction of Guests by Councilors

7:15 PM - Special proclamations and resolutions…..

7:18 PM - Mike McQuillen (R-12) is speaking on a special resolution on a literacy program. Councilor McQuillen stated one in ten adults in Indianapolis are functionally illiterate. Anyone want to wager the same one in ten are IPS dropouts?

7:21 PM - Councilors Ben Hunter (R-21), Marilyn Pfiester (R-14) and Robert Lutz (R-13) are introducing a resolution to support the US House of Representatives resolution supporting a “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day”. Pony Tail Paul Cauley was asked to speak, he was very broken up over the Council’s passage of the resolution.

7:27 PM - Councilor Vaughn (R-3) is requesting a passage of a resolution demonstrating the City’s support for the 2012 Super Bowl. Motion passes unanimously by voice vote.

7:31 PM - Proposal 14 - Nominates Terry Dilk to the Beech Grove Economic Development Commission - Passed unanimously with Minority Leader Sanders (D-AL) dissenting and Councilor Brown (D-18) not voting.

7:33 PM - Proposal 62 - Nominates Matthew Klein to Greenways Development Cmte - Passed unanimously

7:34 PM - Proposal 71 - Confirms Mayor Ballard’s appointment of Nick Weber as Deputy Mayor for Workforce Development. Passes 27-0 with Councilor Brown absent from chambers

7:35 PM - Proposals 73, 74, 78, 79, 80 - Multiples appointments to various boards. Of note re-appoints the incompetent Clerk Beth White and Treasurer Michael Rodman to the IT Board. All 5 pass unanimously

7:41 PM - Proposals 80 and 83 - A couple more appointments. Passes unanimously.

7:44 PM - Proposal 87 - Appoints John Suter to the MDC. Passes unanimously.

7:46 PM - Proposal 89 - Appointing Lawrence resident Thomas Shevlot to the IMCPL replacing Louie Mahern. Comrade Nytes is arguing over the terms of the appointment. Bob Elrod is straightening her out. Sounds like the original UNIGOV merger caused a little confusion as to the ending terms of the IMCPL board members. Motion to Amend for technicalities - voice vote aye - Proposal passes unanimously

My God Sweet Pea. Can you not remember how to speak into the microphone?

7:54 PM - Proposals 90 & 91 - Appoints Dr. David Bash to ACCB & Edrose Potts to the Law Enforcement Advisory Board. Passes unanimously

7:57 PM - Proposal 94 - appoints Dennis Rosebrough to Public Works Board. Presently works as the Public Relations for the Indiana BMV. Passes unanimously

7:59 PM - Proposals 114 & 115 - Couple more appointments to boards………. pass unanimously

Introduction of new Proposals by the Clerk…… time for a break.

8:11 PM - Whew! After a marathon of new proposals, Proposal 118 is being heard. This is a bond issue for Mann Village apartment project. This has been previously approved by the Council (the Democrat one) and is coming before the Council again because the previous buyers of the project backed out. Proposal passes.

8:20 PM - Proposal 34 - Appropriates $25,000 to MCJA Drug Free Task Force, a grant from Drug Free Marion County. Passes.

8:21 PM - Proposal 56 - Appropriates $1.85 million (that’s Million with an “M”) to cover the costs of contracting for the 2007 reassessment for commercial and industrial properties. Councilor Pfiester stated that people who want to know the decisions that were made in the Council Committee meeting are found on IndyGov.org under the Channel 16 page (archives) and click on video for Administrative & Finance, 2/12/2008. Councilor Lutz (R-13) states his opposition to the proposal. Councilor Evans (D-1) comes to the rescue and brings County Ass. Greg Bowes (D) to the podium. Councilor Plowman (R-25) asks what if the Council voted to not pass this. Bowes stated we really have no choice in the matter. Councilor Brian Mahern (D-16) asks about the budget for the present budget year for the assessor’s office. Councilors are grilling Mr. Bowes over the reassessment. Comrade Nytes (D-9) is giving her reasoning for consolidating the Township assessors with the County Assessor. BIG SMOOCHING SOUND! Councilor Pryor (D-7) is giving her predecessor a real butt smooch on the “outstanding job the County Ass. office has done”. Did you use chapstick before puckering up Councilor Pryor? The GOP Councilors are still giving Ass. Bowes a grilling. I recall from a Township meeting recently the vendor Mannatech has several huge, glaring errors in their assessment. Just ask Jason Holliday down in Decatur. Greg Bowes is ASS-U-MING the County Assessor will be doing all of the assessments instead of the township assessors. Public Comment - Ernie Shearer “$1.8 million is rewarding incompetence”. Nice slams on Beth White and Greg Bowes! Councilor Coleman (R-AL) had a good chuckle over Ernie’s statement about someone who can’t run an election. Now - Squidward speaks. “We’re screwing taxpayers all over again!” Councilor Dane Mahern (D-19) is now blaming the township assessors for the mess. More butt-smooching from Councilor Pryor for her predecessor. President Cockrum finally calls for the vote. Proposal passes 17-10 with Councilors Cain, Cardwell, Coleman, Hunter, Lutz, McHenry, Pfiesterer, Plowman, Scales, and Speedy dissenting. Councilors Cockrum, Day, Malone, McQuillen, Smith and Vaughn vote for the proposal along with the Democrat caucus.

NOTE: Ed Coleman approached me afterwards and stated Mike McQuillen intended to vote “NO” but inadvertently pressed the “YES” button. I’ll leave it to you whether you believe it. Besides couldn’t Mike McQuillen come up to me afterwards and say so himself without sending Ed Coleman?

8:55 PM - Proposal 92 - Appropriation for a drug treatment program at a work release center. Passed unanimously.

8:58 PM - Proposal 93 - Grant to ease the backlog of DNA cases. Passes unanimously.

9:00 PM - Proposal 82 - Withholds the paychecks of the Coroner (Ken Ackles - D) until he can pass the Coroner’s examination. So far the Coroner has failed the exam. The passed the committee only on a 4-3 vote. Comrade Nytes (D-9) is voicing opposition to the proposal, blaming the state for their “unintended consequences”. Councilor Sanders (D-AL) concurs with her comrade. Councilor Bateman opposes the proposal on constitutional grounds. Councilor Mansfield calls the state law “poor legislation” but will support the proposal. Councilor Brown (D-18) is asking why Coroner Ackles did not appear before committee meetings. Duke Oliver (D-10) is trying to justify the Coroner’s incompetence. Councilor Pryor (D-7) is also trying to justify supporting Coroner Ackles. Councilor Ben Hunter (R-21) supports the proposal. Greg Gasden, attorney for Coroner Ken Ackles, is at the podium now. The attorney is claiming the state law requiring this is contradictory, and Councilor Lutz raised a point of order because Councilor Pryor asked why Ackles has not passed the exam and why Ackles has not appeared before committees. The attorney keeps deflecting the question of the Councilors. Dane Mahern is asking why Ackles has not appeared before the committee. Damn Dane!! Did he finally grow a set?? Councilor Malone just asked a question and was replied with another question by the attorney. Oh shut up Duke Oliver! Brian Mahern asks Bob Elrod the potential liability of the City and County if this state law were declared unconstitutional. Counselor Elrod says we need to obey the state law and not concern over how a court might rule. Sweet Pea is making a motion to return this proposal to committee and get an opinion from the Attorney General. Motion seconded. President Cockrum stated that 14 people in the Coroner’s Department passed the test. The Coroner himself has not, and apparently is in no hurry to do so. Sweet Pea has called for the question. Motion fails 16-12 along party lines, with Angela Mansfield breaking ranks from the Democrats. Councilor Cain calls for the question on the proposal. Voice vote is indecisive. Call for question passes 20-7. Proposal Passes 20-8 with Councilors Bateman, Brown, Gray, Dane and Brian Mahern, Oliver, Pryor, and Sanders dissenting.

9:46 PM - Announcements and adjournment.