THE NEXT TURN OF EVENTS.

THE TURNOUT FOR THE PARADE WAS EXCELLENT AND COVERED A LOT OF TERRITORY. WE NEED TO KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING BY MAKING A STATEMENT AT MONDAY NIGHT’S CITY COUNCIL MEETING.

Bring your signs and bring your voice to the Council meeting Monday evening to object to the proposed resolution to assess additional fees to the public for “Stormwater Drainage”. ALSO, SHOW SUPPORT FOR OUR SANITATION WORKERS. no PRIVATIZATION!!!

Our illustrious Mayor Garner has once again demonstrated his inability to make an intelligent decision by fast talking his way past public scrutiny with the “new” Stormwater drainage fee that we’ve been hearing about.
The administration has neglected many opportunities to discuss this issue with the public, and the City Council, when enough time was still left to decipher the full ramifications of this proposal to meet EPA mandates.
They waited until time was short to execute the public meeting requirements, and now there is once again an “urgency” to pass the proposed resolutions.
The resolution(s) seem to bleed over into other areas of interest to the Mayor. For example, the salary he may be able to boost for himself as Chair of the new, New Albany “Stormwater Board”. Of course, there will be pay available for a couple of buddies too.
CM’s Seabrook, and Dan Coffey have apparently been tapped, as they were present at the recent meetings.
It is also common knowledge that Sewer Board Attorney Greg Fifer is advising this new proposed entity of “Stormwater Drainage” (present at public meeting in such capacity), and is the also the same Attorney that has represented many developers in the County who have had difficulties getting major developments approved due to problems with the current Sewage constraints (re: Tribune 12/13 & 12/17 of 2003).
Could this be a conflict of interest?
Now, here’s the straw that is breaking the backs of the citizens of New Albany…..
For now, let’s keep this real simple so the entire constituency might understand;

Garner and his boys are telling us this is a nonnegotiable mandate by the State, the EPA, and IDEM, and there is just no discussion needed. Still, they went to all the trouble of presenting a very nice PowerPoint presentation, and distributing a lot of nice pamphlets and paperwork. However, the most impressive things on those papers were the numbers.
The bottom number of all the papers and computer screens was a resounding $800,000 for the new Stormwater Drainage fund. Which, by the way, Garner said he wants to operate as its own stand alone entity of which he himself would be the Chair of, with another salary. Of course, a separate entity would require staff, and thus… salaries for that staff. When I questioned the Mayor as to how much of the $800K fund was for administrative costs, he answered “none”. The administrative costs haven’t been included in that outrageous number.
Now, and here’s the kicker…can anyone explain to me why and how the County is accomplishing the same mandated requirements for a mere $200K?
In the County, only Developers are paying any fees towards this Stormwater fund, while EDIT funds and Riverboat revenues are being utilized to cover the rest. No fees are being assessed to the general public.

This proposal needs a lot more questions answered, and a lot of research. More information will be forthcoming, as I acquire more documentation.