Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Stormwater Board: No paid city employees allowed, except for the one who is.

At the website of the Stormwater Utility, it says:

Welcome! Thank you for visiting the New Albany Stormwater website. Our board members:

Roger Harbison-President
Larry Summers-P.E./ Vice President
Zonia Cousins- Member

Within the city's code of ordinances, it reads (italics ours):

§ 33.113 MEMBERSHIP.

The membership of the Stormwater Board shall hereinafter consist of the following:

(A) The Mayor, or his or her designee, who shall serve as Chairperson at all times during his or her tenure in the office;

(B) One member appointed by majority vote of the members of the Common Council, provided that the member shall be a registered professional engineer, and further provided that the member shall not otherwise be a paid or unpaid official or employee of the city. The member shall serve an initial term of two years; and

(C) One member appointed by majority vote of the members of the Common Council, provided that the member shall not otherwise be a paid or unpaid official or employee of the city. The member shall serve an initial term of three years.

(Ord. G-06-20, passed 6-5-2006)

Frankly, I'm a fan of Larry Summers, and believe that in his current role as chief public conveyor of Speck, a job necessitated by John Rosenbarger's unsuitability for human contact, Larry is doing good work under impossible political conditions imposed upon him (and us) by his forever inept and oblivious bosses.

But how is it possible for the Common Council to appoint Larry Summers to the Stormwater Board, or for the Mayor to countenance the appointment, when the ordinance quite plainly states that an employee of the city is ineligible to serve in this capacity?

The book readers want to know. Don't you?

2 comments:

ecology warrior said...

Blatant violation of the city ordinance and potentially an item of non conformance with IDEM and the MS4 permit.

ecology warrior said...

Who fell asleep at the wheel here and allowed this illegal board appointment? This kind of thing did not happen under the Garner or England administration.