Let the Mayhem Begin....

Thanks for your patience while this blogster sorted through new information and talked with new people, concerning the present sad condition of New Albany, and any hopes for the future that things could change.
I was renewed with hope, and I do believe things are going to change for the better around here. It has been very exciting to find out who is reading the blogs, and at the same time, it has been a relief. Help is on the way folks!
Even though the City Government didn't get off to a good start by any stretch of the imagination:
The last (I wish) City Council meeting, the first of the New Year, was preconceived to be a very interesting foretelling of what the rest of the 2006 year would be bringing. Boy, did we get painted an ugly picture.
There were no surprises as more strange voting occurred, but newly adopted admonishments for the public to just “Shut Up” (sound familiar?) were handed out immediately, and with fervor. Just makes us wonder what directions he recieved from Mayor Garner in attempts to "control" the public speaking portion of the meetings.
CM Gahan received the nod for the Presidency of the Council for the second year, in what we all thought would be, at least, a compromise for the sparring factions of the Council and public that pledged outright protests had Council “Appointee” Donnie Blevins actually been seated at the head of the table (Council “Member” infers working with the group).
However, we soon saw a very callous stripe of character in President CM Gahan that was outrageous, disheartening, and objectionable.
No citizen should ever be subjected to such brutal, obnoxious questioning as Mr. David Huckleberry was on that night. This man, and his family, have been harassed and ambushed by public officials, and the least the Council can do is to allow him his 5 minutes to talk about ANYTHING he wants that is concerning him. Mr. Gahan committed a despicable act, and he should be reprimanded for it.
What they are trying to accomplish, is to prevent the public from speaking about anything other than what’s on the agenda for the evening.
This would reduce the bi-monthly Council Sessions to nothing more than banter about agenda topics, which votes have most likely been decided prior to the actual meeting.
Such a move would also snatch away the opportunity for Citizens to address the Legislative body of our government with our concerns, and reduce the meetings to a stoic controlled atmosphere. This is exactly what they want.
There’s only one small problem for them. Indiana Code states the order of the agenda shall consist of the City Officials speaking BEFORE the public.
Thus, we can speak to any issue that is brought up, if the Council is going to comply with Indiana Code.
Although it is hard to find instances of any body of the administration that is actually playing by the rules, codes, ordinances, and in some cases even the law, in their feeble attempts to run this little town of ours.
There has been too much money misappropriated, so there is no money to do the repairs that we are under Federal orders to do. There can be no new economic development until we fix the inner-city sewer lines.
Example: A new Thornton's has been built in the West end, but cannot open for business because they are not being allowed to tap into the sewer lines.
There are problems with finding out just what our financial predicament is, because we still have not recieved the 2004 City Audit from the State, nor does the Council have a new budget in hand as they began operations for 2006. SOMETHING STINKS!
They are about to start billing for the Stormwater fee (watch your water bill), which is supposed to be paying the 8 salaries that are still being paid out of the sewer funds inappropriately. Council passed a resolution that this switch in payments would occur at the first of the new year. Who's paying those 8 salaries?
This fee has yet to be billed, and the people who's salaries were to come out of sewers, remain as a drain on the utility's resources. Also,this fee is going to be assessed inequitably, as I've explained before, because it will only be collected from property owners who are recieving a water bill.
It remains to be seen if the Mayors attempts to form an entirely new Stormwater board, that pays him another salary (that makes 3), will actually survive the objections.
There is much much more to talk about, but this posting is going up hurriedly, and we will continue discussions in the comments.
Please forgive the rambling style of thought, but there was no re-write on this one. I wanted to get it out there qwickly.