Nash on the split: "For the past several years the leaders of Floyd County have not done the right thing."

New Albany's city council voted last night, and in spite of One Southern Indiana's last-minute interference ploy on behalf of itself, the result was approval for a resolution and two readings of an ordinance to secede from the combined city-county parks department. Bob Caesar voted against the resolution and for the ordinance, and the smart money has him executing the rarest of all council maneuvers, the King Larry Gambit, by abstaining when the third reading comes due next time.

Prior to the meeting, Matt Nash traced the sources of the city's discontent in another fine newspaper column.

NASH: How should we fund our parks?

... If any of the elected officials in Floyd County say that they were unaware of funding inadequacies in the parks department until this year, they are either lying or just don’t care. A simple search will find request dating back several years from park’s officials. Ms. Fendley has been a member of the county council for nearly six years serving from 2005-2008 and again from 2011 to the present and for part of that time she was vice president of that board. How have they been coming up with the amount that was budgeted over the last few years? Did they just pick an arbitrary number out of thin air?

Matt's conclusion, an eloquent condemnation of the prevailing McAllister/Heavrin mentality of non-governance in the county is required reading.

I am a resident of New Albany and Floyd County. I believe that a vibrant park system with great facilities adds to the lives of all citizens. It is time that the leaders of Floyd County began to understand this fact. For far too long the priorities of our elected officials have revolved around the murder trial of a single individual and the incarceration of criminals in our county. It is time that the taxpaying citizens of New Albany and Floyd County begin to reap the benefits from the tax dollars we pay.