City council relaxes Rainy Day Fund rule

Oct. 07--Some Logansport City Council members said a change to the city's Rainy Day Fund will make for a better savings account while others said it dodges responsibility and creates speculation following a narrow vote Monday, Oct. 6.

Former rules gave city council the first three months of every year to decide how much money to place in the Rainy Day Fund. The ordinance that passed 4-3 on first reading Monday strikes the March deadline and permits officials to transfer to the fund throughout the year.

Council members Bob Bishop, Joe Buck, Gary Fox and Charlie Hastings voted in favor while Jeremy Ashcraft, Chuck LaDow and Teresa Popejoy voting against.

Bishop said the change expands the council's manageability over a necessary tool to aid in emergencies.

"It's our savings account," he said.

Buck agreed.

"It allows us to have a small safety account, basically is what it amounts to," he said.

Popejoy said she thought the rules were fine the way they were.

"You know what your budget is in January," she said. "If you're going to transfer to the Rainy Day Fund... March 31 is ample time to do that."

Ashcraft said he had mixed feelings on the matter, adding his decision could change by the second and final vote during the council's November 2014 meeting.

Indiana Code permits cities to transfer unused and unencumbered funds to a rainy day fund as long as it does not exceed more than 10 percent of the city's total budget.

Bishop said city council could place up to $800,000 in its Rainy Day through 2015.

Ashcraft said part of his current opposition stems from a desire to find a way to get these unused and unencumbered funds back to taxpayers.

He added he is also concerned by the fact that money in rainy day funds is not scrutinized by the Indiana State Board of Accounts. He doesn't suspect council members will attempt to take advantage of this by attempting to use rainy day money dishonestly, he continued, but feared it may create that notion among the public.

LaDow shared a similar sentiment, adding he feels state board of accounts scrutiny is a good thing.

"I believe in checks and balances," he said.

City council will hold its second and final vote on the matter at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 3 in the City Council Chambers on the third floor of the City Building, 601 E. Broadway.

In other news, the council also:

--Approved unanimously an ordinance on first reading outlining a list of 18 rules to be enforced at Logansport parks.

--Approved unanimously on first reading the city's 2015 budget. A last-minute amendment suggested by Logansport Mayor Ted Franklin to take about $247,000 resulting from the council's decision to lower the city's property tax levy to a line item for land acquisition and development in the board of public works and safety's budget for future in-house trash pickup services passed 5-2, with LaDow and Popejoy dissenting.

Read the P-T's coverage of the start and conclusion of 2015 budget talks.

--Approved unanimously a resolution appointing Angie Burns, Vickie Lebo and Krista Slusser to the Logansport Historic Preservation Commission.

--Approved 6-1 an ordinance on first reading amending the city's rules regarding abandoned vehicles, with Bishop dissenting. The changes included bringing procedures for selling confiscated abandoned vehicles in accordance with current Indiana Code and including a vehicle that is mechanically inoperable visibly left on private property for more than 14 days in its definition of an abandoned vehicle. Bishop offered an amendment striking the exception for violators who are U.S. military members away on active duty and students away at college, calling it discriminatory, but it failed 2-5.

Read the P-T's coverage of city council's updated abandoned vehicles rules.

--Approved unanimously an ordinance on first reading requiring Logansport Police Department and Logansport Fire Department applicants to pay $200 for polygraph testing, which would be refunded upon passing the test.

Read the P-T's coverage of city council's consideration of placing polygraph test fees on LPD and LFD applicants.

--Approved unanimously an ordinance on first reading establishing a fund for LPD and LFD applicant polygraph test fees.

--Approved unanimously an ordinance on first reading establishing a "Complete Streets" policy "to develop a safe, reliable, efficient, integrated and connected multimodal transportation system that promotes access, mobility and health for all users"

--Approved unanimously an ordinance on first reading authorizing the rezone of the Logansport Mall area to standards laid out in a planned unit development that aims to bring an open-air gathering space surrounded by commercial buildings and market-rate multi-family housing. The council then unanimously voted to suspend its bylaws to hold its second and final vote on the ordinance, which passed unanimously as well.

Read the P-T's coverage of the planned unit development for the mall area.

Reach Mitchell Kirk at [email protected] or 574-732-5130

City council shifts funds

Logansport City Council approved the following appropriations and transfers at its Monday, Oct. 6, meeting:

--$9,303 from the Rainy Day Fund to the Logansport Clerk Treasurer's Office for data processing, chief deputy, and retirement unanimously on first reading.

--$2,469.29 from money budgeted for chemicals to lifeguards and cashiers and $117.02 from money budgeted for chemicals to Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax within the Logansport Parks Department unanimously.

--$117,633.32 from money budgeted for personnel services to radio equipment within the Logansport Police Department 5-2, with council members Chuck LaDow and Teresa Popejoy dissenting. LaDow later said he cast his vote in error and supports the transfer.

--$3,022.61 from surplus auction funds to Mount Hope Cemetery for gasoline unanimously on first reading.

--$1,552.82 from surplus auction funds to the parks department for the replacement of a truck unanimously on first reading.

--$3,040 from the Rainy Day Fund to purchase properties in the Cass County Tax Sale unanimously on first reading.

--$648.16 from the Rainy Day Fund for legal notices published in the Royal Center Record.

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