Dysfunctional local Government
Posted by Mike Sylvester - 11/20/09 @ 9:59 pm - Filed Under Featured, Local Politics
The County Council has voted unanimously against sharing space with the City in the new Palace the City is going to create.
It is appalling that our local Government officials; both City and County, have again failed to work together to resolve issues.
The City and County have both had “space issues” for many years and now the City and County will be in different buildings.
I am not sure who is to blame for this debacle; however, it truly shows incompetence that the City and County have again proved unable to even coordinate where local Government will be located.
Mike Sylvester
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13 Responses to “Dysfunctional local Government”
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Thank you for the clarification. Sitting in the audience at the County Council meeting, I misunderstood the vote to be a unanimous decision to cap spending for re/co-location at $3 million. Also, I had always understood that as the fiscal body of county government, the council did not have the authority to decide what offices are in which location.
Paul,
You should read my post again… You seem to have misunderstood the post entirely.
Here is the point of the post.
Our local Government, City and County, is dysfunctional because they have once again completely refused to work together on an issue that has been known for many years.
Obviously this vote of County Council was such that the City and COunty will not co-locate.
I am not blaming one side over the other; I blame both.
Mike
The bad vote in my opinion was to buy the “Tower of Henry” in the first place.
My understanding is the city chose a building that has more square footage than the two entities need. The county’s position is funding only the part of the new facitlity it would need. Sounds like good use of county dollars to me. Why should the county fund more of the project than it would benefit, all in the name of “cooperation”? I understand that it would be difficult (near impossible) to find a building that precisely meets the needs of both entities but my understanding is the Berry St. location is grossly over their needs.
I have a few questions if anyone cares to answer.
Was it proposed that the city and county go 50/50 on the new building?
Did the city council vote to fund the Berry St. building purchase have a contingency that the county would have to be onboard? Is the city now on the hook to fund the purchase alone?
Has anyone heard what would become of the city/county building if both entities moved to Berry St.?
The actual vote aside, what I got out of the County Council discussion was their sincere desire to co-locate public safety functions in a fiscally responsible manner. From my perspective, there are but two actions needed: a new FWPD facility, and different space for the Sheriff’s offices located out north. Anything else would be “nice,” but not in the taxpayers best interest.
As far as “dysfunctional?” That is because the city administration refuses to accept that Fort Wayne residents are Allen County residents, not the other way around.
I think County Council knew what number would sink any co-location plan.
I don’t think the city will have any trouble filling up the Berry St. location.
The Sheriff has said he didn’t want to move his people in with the City Police. I think the Sheriff could have his administrative offices in the City -County Building. But his officers should be nearer where they patrol, maybe two satellite offices one on the east side of the county and one on the west.
I think this was inevitable that the City would be at the Berry St. location by themselves.
The task force that looked into the various options said that the most cost-effective choice would be to move the City into Berry St. and bring the County offices that are now scattered around the city into the vacated space at the City-County Building.
Paul,
I certainly appreciate your opinion!
I tend to agree with you that the City is more at fault than the County; however, I strongly feel that this entire debacle has shown that our local Government often fails to work together…
The space issues have been building for many years and the City and County keep failing to reach agreement.
Mayor Henry forced the issue by purchasing a new “palace.”
It is too bad City Council allowed him to do it…
County Council certainly showed some “guts.”
Mike
Paul,
I tend to agree the City is more at fault; however, I think this demonstrates that the City and County just seem unable to effectively plan and work together.
Mike
Well since both communication centers are located in the city county building wouldn’t it be the right time for the county too take over both with the help of the city tax base to do away with duplication of services and cut cost? I mean what is Henry going to do build a new communication center?Also what is the city going to do about lock up which is also located in the city county building.Sure doesn’t seem this was thought out very well.
JB- the communication center will stay in the CCB. The lock up is run by the County, not the city.
My point is why doesn’t the county use its leverage to combine both centers.They could tell the city to take a walk and build their own communication center if they don’t play ball.The city could do that but it would be very unpopular with voters.Lets combine some duplicate government services.I think Henry screwed up and left the city open to something like this.
JB- State law says that Allen County cannot have more than 2 communication centers- and I think that comes in 2012 (the third one we currently have is New Haven).
I have seen a few comments here that want to blame the city for the breakdown in communication.
I find it curious that it was PUBLIC knowledge the city was buying the building. It was PUBLIC knowledge that the commissioners were working with the city on co-location options. And yet, everyone seems shocked that County Council put a stop to it. Clearly the commissioners are not speaking with the council.
Didn’t the commissioners have any idea this was going to happen? They could have saved a lot of time, effort, energy and cost by communicating with County Council what their plans were.
Well isn’t fun to see Henry come back to the table today 11/24/2009.Who cares who makes the first party blink.It will save the taxpayers dollars.And I have to say Henry will have to genuflect.Did you give him the bad news?LMAO!!