Paying for the jail, but not examining the real problem.

Mark brought it up, and there's a lot to talk about in terms of money. The Facebook thread is here.

Floyd County Council, Commissioners at odds over how to pay back jail debt, by Daniel Suddeath (Hanson's Old White Guys Just Like Him Journal)

NEW ALBANY — Floyd County leaders are split on how to spend millions of dollars in interest from hospital sale proceeds, as governing bodies have passed opposing resolutions with repayment of a bond to renovate the jail hanging in the balance.

However, in light of recent weeks, I think our junior editor Bluegill wrote something as or more important.

In previous meetings, the Floyd County Sheriff reported that, like most jails in the country, half or more of the jail population at any given time is there not because they’re particularly violent or dangerous but because they can’t afford bail. Reform of our bail system - something the prosecutor’s office can do - would consistently cut our jail population roughly in half. Any county official willing to spend that much money because a prosecutor won’t reform a corrupt class-based system ought to be run out of office, as should the prosecutor.

And if you look at arrest numbers in New Albany, they tend to skew heavily Black well beyond population percentages. Do you think any politician in this county has the guts to address that publicly and head on?

So, Floyd County clearly has a class-based “criminal justice” system disproportionately aimed at Blacks. And what are we arguing about? Which tax to use to pay for expansion of it.

Wait -- do you mean not one of Bill Hanson's old white male columnists thought to explore this side of the story?

For more: Overcrowded jails, wasted tax dollars: Let's reform cash bail in Kentucky — and the nation, by J. Herbert Nelson.

Candidate Vaughn's letter to INDOT about the Sherman Minton Bridge.

A cynic (who, me?) might assert that a letter from a candidate for county council stands to have little impact on bloated state bureaucracies like INDOT, but I disagree with this standpoint.

In my view, candidates like Nick Vaughn must articulate coherent positions on issues out in the real world, while at the same time revealing to voters something about what makes them tick in the sense of smarts, values and a willingness to get in the thick of it. 

In this letter, Vaughn demonstrates these qualities. He understands that coming on the heels of COVID's toll on independent small business, INDOT's "renewal" plans could easily constitute a death sentence for those entities managing to survive a pandemic, only to find unresponsive state government waiting at the gate with a bloody scythe.

I eagerly await the points of view of other candidates. 

---

Nick Vaughn Sends Letter to INDOT Urging No Full Closure of Sherman Minton Bridge in 2021

New Albany, IN -- On Monday, May 11th, County Council Candidate Nick Vaughn sent a letter to the Indiana Department of Transportation urging them to remove a full closure of the Sherman Minton Bridge from consideration for the repairs scheduled for 2021.

In his letter, Vaughn makes note of the unprecedented times we are in due to COVID-19 and how hard the pandemic has made it to own a local business in Floyd County:

“Local businesses have already had to adapt or face closure during these current unprecedented times due to the pandemic.

I fear that a full closure of the Sherman Minton Bridge would be deadly to Floyd County’s local economy and cause an economic crisis which would require state intervention.”

Additionally, Vaughn called for an economic impact study to be carried out and released to the public and called on state leaders to create an economic stimulus package to protect Floyd County’s local economy during a partial bridge closure.

Included among such an economic stimulus plan should be:

• The ability for Floyd County residents to claim at least half of money spent on bridge tolls on their taxes for a credit.
• The authorization of funds to be dispersed to Floyd County for the purposes of small business loans.
• Advertising stipends for locally owned Floyd County businesses to use to market to Floyd County residents during the duration of the partial bridge closure.
• The formation of a cooperative local economic advisory board made up of locally elected officials and community stakeholders.

On the prospects of a full closure, Vaughn stated that “There is no doubt that the full closure of the Sherman Minton Bridge would be an economic disaster for Floyd County.”

Seeking re-election, county councilman Dale Bagshaw won't accept campaign donations from PACS, special interests or those doing business with Floyd County.

Just a few days ago we spied a healthy phenomenon.

Ryan Fenwick (Louisville) and Nick Vaughn (Floyd County) reject developer, contractor and special interest campaign donations. Shouldn't this be a trend, Jeffrey?

Bravo to Dale Bagshaw for this expression of principle. Let's hope more candidates in the 2020 local election cycle do the same. Maybe even Democrats ...

As most know, I am running for re-election to the Floyd County Council. The council is the fiscal body of the county and as such is solely responsible for allocating and appropriating funds spent in the county. The council does not negotiate contracts, and is not responsible for roads/bridges or zoning issues. That’s what the county commissioners are responsible for.

However, in the spirit of transparency and accountability: I have never, nor will I, accept donations this election from pacs, special interests, or those doing business with the county. I will instead accept donations from individuals and entities that believe in small fiscally conservative government, as I do.

Respectfully, Dale Bagshaw

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to rant in a unique way about the jail tax.

No one from the public attended the second reading and final vote for the tax Wednesday, although (county council president Brad) Striegel said he heard from some constituents who are against it.
-- from the article in the newspaper

For me, it comes down to this: if the primary aim of the criminal justice system is to incarcerate -- and America tends to incarcerate an absurd percentage of its own people -- then it's going to be necessary to constantly build and rebuild jails.

Personally, I find it revolting. So much of this has to do with drug abuse, which is an illness, and we're perpetually unwilling as a nation to examine the fundamentals of addiction and treat the disease rather than its symptoms.

Kindly note that as I'm writing these words, the 1% has amassed a few trillion dollars more, none of which is being tithed toward jails, disease or much of anything else apart from greed.

Sounds like a disease to me. Is there a vaccine?

In terms of coping with reality in the way we as a people seem to favor it, then yes, Sheriff Loop's plan for jail renovation is far less expensive then building fresh, and the tax enacted this week is relatively low.

Those county council members carrying the ball were doing so pragmatically. No one ever said it was going to be easy trying to square diametrically opposed conditions, and my guess is they understand the electoral implications, although to repeat, not one member of the public bothered to show up and speak.

Politics is about power, and in political terms, Adam Dickey predictably has released his bots-by-DNC-template attacks, with Republicans being savaged for raising taxes. Seems there might be as many fault lines in the local GOP as among Squire Adam's DemoDisneyDixiecrats, as some Republicans are joining in this fusillade on social media.

Others expressing support for the jail tax have written that they predicated their approval on efforts to cut fat before approving the tax, with these not being considered.

Just a thought, but all these Republicans might also be asking urban Democrats to explain a municipal budget that has doubled since Jeff Gahan took office, or helping to unravel the vast extent of mayoral influence peddling, or even taking to the airwaves to question the Gahan ruling clique's cozy arrangement to procure a job for councilman Matt Nash.

It would be mighty helpful in explicating Gahan's myriad ethical shortcomings if the occasional sign of a pulse dimly emanated from the right, and not only the left, where as the rare social democrat (lower case, please) in the room, I tire of waging a one-front war against Team Gahan's larcenous stupidity.

Here's the script. No charge; you can buy me a beer some time. Instructions for use: launch an offensive against Democratic Party corruption first, illustrating that Gahan's homegrown Anchor Nostra is costing each of us quite a lot more than $100 each year, and then take your chances with the jail tax response.

A purely sadistic week in New Gahania, and even more tales from Corruption Junction.

Alas, as one Republican sadly explained to me:

It's because our presumptive mayoral candidate is low energy and is surrounded by a bunch of low-lifes who can’t call the Democrats out because they do exactly the same thing.

Can't we all just get along and agree to topple the despot?

But I digress. As it pertains to the jail tax, what just about everyone on both sides of the aisle misses is the basic first-causes point, this being whether we need to incarcerate so many persons when numerous other strategies to address such behavior exist.

We're accepting the grassroots muck, then arguing about how best to keep the slime off our clothing. Down here in the mud flats by the river, it's quite likely a futile strategy.

Floyd County Council approves new jail tax, by Chris Morris

Move will generate $4.5 million a year

NEW ALBANY — The Floyd County Council raised taxes in 1992 to pay for a new jail. On Wednesday night, a different council voted to raise taxes to renovate that same jail.

By a 4-3 vote the council approved a new Correctional Rehabilitation Facilities ordinance that calls for a .002 percent payroll tax on Floyd County residents. The new tax will generate around $4.5 million a year to be used on jail expenses including staffing and construction costs associated with the $15 million renovation plan that was recently approved.

"It's hard to do, but it's the right thing to do," council Vice President Denise Konkle said after the vote. Konkle, Lana Aebersold, Dale Bagshaw and Leslie Knable voted in favor of the tax, while Brad Striegel, Tom Pickett and Cam Wright voted against ...

... Bagshaw said the costs to run government have increased like everything else over the past two decades, and while school taxes have increased during that time, county taxes have not.

"This can help pay the bond and other costs for the jail," he said. "That is why we did it."

And a day earlier:

Jail tax ordinance moves forward in Floyd County, by Chris Morris

NEW ALBANY — The Floyd County Council moved one step closer to creating a new jail tax Tuesday night.

By a 5-2 vote, an ordinance to create a .002 jail tax rate passed on first reading. The final vote will take place Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Pine View Government Center since the vote did not pass by unanimous consent on first reading.

The new tax will generate around $4.5 million a year to be used on jail expenses including construction costs associated with the $15 million renovation plan that was recently approved. For residents making $50,000 a year, the new jail payroll tax will amount to around $100 a year, according to Auditor Scott Clark. The tax would kick in Oct. 1, 2018.

Lana Aebersold, Dale Bagshaw, Cam Wright, Leslie Knable and Denise Konkle voted in favor of the jail tax in the first reading, while Brad Striegel and Tom Pickett voted against. Only a majority vote of the council is needed Wednesday night for the tax to be approved.

"I've been struggling with this," Bagshaw said. "But I looked at this [needs] through the prism of public safety and infrastructure. This meets both in my opinion."

While no one wants to see a tax increase, Konkle said residents will be getting "a bang for their buck," with this ordinance. She said for just a minimal amount the jail will be renovated and be able to hold 100 more inmates, which will keep the county in compliance. She said it is also needed to shore up the budget.

"It may upset some people but the levy has not increased significantly enough to keep up with the growth in the community," Konkle said.

RDA in our time, or an early Christmas for One Southern Indiana and Rep. Ed Clere.

Thanks Martina.

Approval of Son of RDA probably was a foregone conclusion.

(1 of 2) It's Son of Regional Development Authority, coming from your Floyd County Council at Tuesday's meeting.

(2 of 2) Floyd County Council set to approve Son of Regional Development Authority after rejecting it two years ago.

Almost no one knew the RDA had returned to Floyd County Council for down and dirty adoption, but one thing is clear. Now that Floyd County's governmental tier has hospital sale money to spend, we're compelled to start paying close attention to them, too.

In 2015, council Republicans led the way in voting against RDA, but there has been turnover since then, and anyway, when all the DemoDixieDisneycrats in the room are falling over themselves to agree with Rep. Ed Clere, Wendy Dant Chesser and the regional oligarchs she represents ... hey, wait.

It's National Bourbon Day, isn't it?

Now there's an idea for coping skills.

But seriously ... had I known sooner, much more hell would have been raised, though to be truthful, it's on me. I missed the approaching RDA boomerang, and as we've gleaned from so many years observing Deaf Gahan's bunker charades, politicians are secretive just like fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly.

I hope not to be fooled twice. Here's a thought from regular reader Kelley Curran:

The only purpose of an RDA is to "get things done" that supposedly can't be done now because of "politics." Translated, because elected officials are charged with representing their constituents, it makes it difficult to do things not in those constituents' best interests, and that frustrates the (big) business community.

Here's a graphic from CounterPunch. The next time you see this graffiti, it'll have been made One Southern Indiana's homepage banner, because irony is something they're not calculated to grasp.

The newspaper covered last evening's meeting here. Lots of hard, cutting edge questions, and ... say, what about that bourbon?

(2 of 2) Floyd County Council set to approve Son of Regional Development Authority after rejecting it two years ago.

For further background on the 2015 origins of this story, go here.

It was August, 2015, and we were living through an era of alphabet soup. That was then ...

For the sparse straight dope, read Chris Morris's description of yesterday's meeting, in which the Floyd County Council voted 5 - 2 to reject One Southern Indiana's entreaties and remain outside the Regional Development Authority (RDA) required to participate in the Regional Cities Initiative lottery. The voting breakdown reflects this issue's strange non-partisan orientation. Four Republicans and a Democrat (Striegel) voted against, with Pickett (D) and Schellenberger (R) voting in favor.

... this is now.

It seems that for quite some time, some local government officials have been conferring with One Southern Indiana, and we're now going to witness a revival of the Regional Cities Initiative, as plotted and stewarded by an appointed Regional Development Authority board, with the ostensible goal being a share of economic development monies disbursed by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (go here for more).

I'm told the votes are there to pass this measure. For proponents of the RCI, the best case scenario would be an RDA accepted by Floyd, Clark, Harrison, Washington and Scott counties.

Here's the ordinance.

Apologies for the quality of reproduction.

I'm only a pro bono blogger with a full plate today, annoyed yet again by non-transparency on the part of local government, but in little position at the moment to elaborate beyond what I've written.

I've heard the arguments in favor, and respect them. I'd respect them even more if they were accompanied by pledges of renewed transparency, and a concurrent goal to involved more citizens in the process. 1Si has a dreadful record in this regard, and it has consistently refused to be accountable for the horrible plan it created in 2015.

Seeing as 1Si is responsive only to its members, my recommendation is simple.

Engage your county council representatives. 

Agree or disagree; say yea or nay. Ask questions. Expect coherent answers. We need to know if this time we'll be allowed to make input to this process. If not, then it's just another one of 1Si's shell games.

Find them here: http://www.floydcounty.in.gov/index.php/floyd-county-government/floyd-county-indiana-county-council

Good luck, and let me know what they tell you.

(1 of 2) It's Son of Regional Development Authority, coming from your Floyd County Council at Tuesday's meeting.

At the Floyd County Council meeting on Tuesday evening, it is expected that the county's fiscal body will reverse course from 2015 and approve participation in a Regional Development Authority (RDA) to be formed for the purpose of devising and implementing a future Regional Cities Initiative.

Read the ordinance here.

I know; acronym sickness is just over the horizon, but bear with me. All of these slick letter combos are a reprise of 2015, when the state minted the notion of staging a quasi-reality show to disburse lottery winnings (actually, the state's share came from a tax amnesty program).

My effort to explain it in 2015 contained the following excerpt from Elizabeth's Beilman's N & T coverage, although interested parties should reread the whole column to benefit from some of my best-ever pitchfork rhetoric.

ON THE AVENUES SPECIAL EDITION: When it comes to the RCI, can the RDA opt out of the RFRA?

August 12, 2015

(Beilman): One Southern Indiana has taken the lead in producing this plan through a new initiative called “Our Southern Indiana.” The plan includes developments across Clark, Floyd, Washington, Scott and Harrison counties as the Southern Indiana region.

Wendy Dant Chesser, 1si president and CEO, presented the five key areas that the projects cover — waterfront development, regional greenway system, workforce development, River Ridge Commerce Center economic engine and regional water resources ...

... In order to be chosen by the IEDC for RCI funds, the five counties’ fiscal bodies that form the region here must approve the formation of a Regional Development Authority, or RDA. Five non-elected or nongovernmental representatives will be chosen and approved by the each county commission.

If chosen, the Southern Indiana RDA would execute the plan that Our Southern Indiana has devised with the input of local officials and residents through various public forums.

Infuriatingly, the state's website doesn't really explain what an RDA is; rather, it rehashes propaganda from those RDAs already in existence. Exceedingly annoying.

At any rate, 1Si's 2015 RDA/RCI effort collapsed like a house of cards in a hurricane. Clark County approved, then changed its mind. Floyd County's council voted no.

As preface for tomorrow's new vote, which I'm told will pass easily, reprinted below are two 2015 explanatory pieces.

---

Indiana Regional Cities Initiative: One Southern Indiana's math didn't help its case, did it?

September 6, 2015

Let's reduce this to the most simple component.

One Southern Indiana convenes a meeting of politicians and acolytes, which I attended, and introduces its grand plan (Our Southern Indiana) for how a quasi-lottery windfall of $434-odd million is to be spent within the framework of a "regional" cities initiative.

1Si takes the Goebbelsian gambit a step further by shrouding it with MBA-level, lower-case tagging: "imagine - empower - illuminate," reminding me that buffed and polished PR-speak tends to send me running in search of a bucket.

Forget all the major topics of discussion before and after the triumphal roll-out meeting, including concerns about the powers of the Regional Development Authority, the potential for eminent domain controversies, and whether or not any of this money actually would be real according to commonly accepted definitions of reality -- and whether any of it would benefit ordinary working people.

Just keep your eyes on the dollar-sign propaganda.

1Si's lottery winning disbursement committee produces proposals for regional unity over a projected five county area, because, yet again, the founding shtick of the whole plan is regional cooperation. One would think this might imply a semblance of proportionality, given the goal of universal participation.

Except that it gets predictable, and quickly.

Greenway expansion funding (can't we finish the 1990s model first?) omits Harrison, Scott and Washington Counties entirely from direct investment. Waterfront development excludes the latter two counties, which don't front on the Ohio. Workforce development spreads a few million farthings around, some of which might leach into the outer reaches of the five-county target area. A paltry 200K is proposed to study regional water resources,which arguably is the most important consideration of all in a time of climate change.

This leaves roughly $252 million to  -- that's right, incentivize River Ridge, which already has been enabled by the state as a regional economic development "winner" for two decades, and showered with every imaginable form of abatement, subsidy and happy ending potions known to corporate welfare fetishists hereabouts.

Proportionately dividing Greenway and Waterfront proposals between counties, it leaves us with $300 million out of $434 million earmarked for Clark County alone.

How exactly does one sell this notion to Washington County -- to Floyd County?

To repeat: I understand that the situation is more nuanced than this. What I'm trying to convey to the usual suspects in imaginary One Southern Indiana Land is that given the numbers you provide, there is almost no compelling reason for a politician sitting outside Clark County to vote in favor of ceding authority when so little of the benefit accrues to his or her home turf.

And, again: Had 1Si led with even the slightest recognition that River Ridge's ongoing "empowerment" suggests regional transit options of the sort that big-time state funding could help realize, I might have given the business-as-usual elites the benefit of the doubt.

There are numerous other reasons to be suspicious of the Indiana Regional Cities Initiative, and Rep. Clere can paint it any way he likes, but until One Southern Indiana accepts a measure of responsibility for its ongoing institutionalized tone deafness, it's all moot.

New Albany state rep: Southern Indiana's regional funding bid derailed by 'misinformation', by Marty Finley (Louisville Business First)

When Indiana State Rep. Ed Clere co-authored legislation meant to inject major dollars into various regions of Indiana, he expected the largest hurdle to be getting that bill passed and funded.

What he didn't expect was for local Republican-led political bodies to shoot down a plan that was passed by a Republican-dominated legislature with support from a Republican governor.

But that's what happened ...

 ... And though competition for the funding was sure to be stiff, the Clark-Floyd county region was thought to be a strong contender, based on its size and proximity to the Louisville market.

But that's now moot for Southern Indiana, as the region has declined to submit an application, according to Wendy Dant Chesser, president and CEO of One Southern Indiana, the chamber of commerce for Clark and Floyd counties.

---

Finally, how it ended.

---

Merciful closure for 1Si as three (!) Indiana Regional Cities Initiative lottery winners are announced.

December 19, 2015

File under: "For the record."

The regions identified below have as their hubs the cities of Evansville, South Bend and Ft. Wayne, respectively.

There'll be chickens in every pot, and the wine will flow like water, or at least Bud Light Lime. Fatted calves will be rendered onto veal, etc, and so forth.

Meanwhile, there is the Break Wind Lofts at Duggins Flats.

We've got that going for us.

Pence, IEDC Put Stamp on Regional Cities Selections, by Andy Ober (Inside Indiana Business)

INDIANAPOLIS - Governor Mike Pence and the Indiana Economic Development Corp. Board of Directors have approved the Indiana Regional Cities Strategic Review Committee recommendations. As a result, the southwest, north central and northeast regions will receive funding as part of the statewide Regional Cities Initiative.

Bravo: Commissioners, county council earmark future hospital sale proceeds for a destination not labeled Community Foundation.

Note the author's use of "clawed back," and join me in a resounding SMH.

Bill Hanson will be self-immolating soon, but will his own newspaper have reporters available to cover the bonfire?

Also see that these votes cut across party lines, and that Mark Seabrook for once found himself outvoted. It's the sort of thing to celebrate, if for no other reason than freshening the leadership gene pool.

Incoming commissioner Billy Stewart had this to say when I thanked him on Facebook: "I will always put our citizens first and hold ALL elected officials accountable for their actions. Political party doesn't matter, what's right does."

If you've been wondering why I've been drinking more coffee with Republicans than Democrats ... what Mr. Stewart said.

Ordinance affecting future Floyd Memorial Hospital proceeds repealed, by Chris Morris (Don't Come Around City Council No More)

Yearly payments will go into hospital fund

NEW ALBANY — The Floyd County Commissioners and Council passed Floyd County Ordinance 2017-3 Tuesday night in a joint meeting. The ordinance repeals three of the five sections in an ordinance passed last November, dealing with future proceeds from the sale of Floyd Memorial Hospital.

The $61 million to be paid over the next 10 years will now go into a line item termed "hospital fund" in the county budget, not to the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana as directed in the old ordinance. Where it winds up in the future is still to be decided.

However, the $70 million received from the sale of the hospital to Baptist Health at closing will be remain in the hands of the CFSI. If state legislation passes this year, which officials are hopeful it will, Floyd County will receive up to a 5 percent spend rate from the $70 million investment, but will not be able to spend the principal.

While the new ordinance does not specifically address the $70 million investment, a resolution will be written by Council attorney Steven Langdon to ensure the money will remain with the CFSI and will not be clawed back by the county.

Henderson ethics, schMETHics: Matt Oakley challenges the Floyd County power duopoly. Matt Oakley loses. Turn the page.

On Tuesday evening, county government's entertainment cauldron threatened to approach full boil. It didn't, and the crisis of adulthood passed, but the squirming was chuckle-worthy.

Seems that council member Matt Oakley had announced his determination to shine a light on star prosecutor Keith Henderson's ethical lapses ...

Matt Oakley's assessment of the prosecutor's ethical breakdown doesn't stop with Keith Henderson.

 ... and precisely because other county government operatives were complicit in the containment effort, there was little chance Oakley's resolution would succeed, and it died for lack of a second from any one of the council's four Republicans (Oakley's probably a Maverick Independent by now) and two Democrats.

But of course it died. There is nothing a two-party power duopoly resents more than someone standing outside the fixed system of elites, peskily suggesting that those reposing within the circled wagons undertake the reform of themselves.

Trust me. I know this.

Even the nominal council "Democrats" were having none of it. Brad Striegel and Tom Pickett stared off zombie-eyed into the distance, and why not? Purported Democrats always have played a prominent role in county council's dysfunction, which may or may not be cured by an influx of hospital sale cash. Dixiecrat-wing (nut) heavies Ted Heavrin and Larry McAllister merrily pinched the feeding tube for decades, and were venerated by the self-styled urban Rockefeller "liberals."

On rare occasions one is covered with glory, but more often in dog poo. City council wouldn't police Dan Coffey, and county council will leave Henderson to his own devices, which we can only hope will be culminate in disbarment.

With those Baptist hospital proceeds burning holes in the pockets of all involved, who needs to be reminded about ethics?

Floyd County prosecutor won't have to pay back cash; Resolution asking Keith Henderson to repay legal fees fails, by Papa (Hanson Hole Puncher)

NEW ALBANY — A resolution demanding Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson pay back $27,539 in funds used for his legal fees died for a lack of a second Tuesday night at the Floyd County Council meeting.

Councilman Matt Oakley introduced the resolution. He said Henderson received two payments, for $10,000 and $17,539, for his own personal legal fees and those funds should be repaid.

The coroner surveys employment opportunities: "I investigate death, that is my job. I am surrounded by freaking incompetence."

As an observer on Twitter pithily wrote, "(It) might be relevant to note Ms. Knable is a candidate for County Council."

I'll add: As a Democrat.

Damn -- that Adam fellow already scrubbed her clean. Meanwhile, the reporter can't go wrong with such strong material.

Floyd County Coroner: 'I am surrounded by freaking incompetence'; council denies funding request, by Chris Morris (CNHI Utica)

NEW ALBANY — They came and asked the Floyd County Council for $35,000 to get them through the remainder of the year. They would have settled for $6,645 to get them current with their bills.

But all Floyd County Coroner Leslie Knable and Deputy Coroner Stefanie House left with was an appointment to meet with two council members, and Auditor Scott Clark, to try and clear up outstanding bills and other issues associated with their budget ...

... Knable and House also questioned why the council always seems to give the coroner's a "hard time" when additional appropriations are requested.

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

"You are asking us who is dropping the ball. That is your job," she said. "I investigate death, that is my job. I am surrounded by freaking incompetence."

Freiberger waxes defiant, Seabrook wheezes offended and Gahan daintily skips critical hospital sale meeting to raise funds for State Senate quest.

Going, going ... gone.

Between Floyd Memorial's board, the county council and county commissioners -- nineteen public stewards in all -- only Chuck Freiberger's "no" vote broke the placid spell of our collective payday.

Jerod Clapp provides solid coverage, and the C-J's Lexy Gross excels with this glimpse of the hilarity.

"We should've been told about the sale and the process before any of this took place," said commissioner Chuck Freiberger, who had the lone "no" vote. "... Are we really getting a good deal for the hospital?"

Later, commissioner Mark Seabrook addressed Freiberger's concern in a heated argument about the transparency of the deal. "It offends me that someone would question my integrity," Seabrook said.

New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan had similar concerns days ago, when he released a statement online explaining his disapproval of the deal and asked residents to email public officials with concerns before Tuesday's crucial vote.

Gahan was not at Tuesday's meeting.

Let the harvest of county government "must have" post-it notes begin.

Hospital sale: Gahanic hypocrisy aside, that's some nice party unity ya got there, boy wonder.

Surrealism simply doesn't play as entertainingly in the complete absence of ironic sensibility.

Nonetheless, in the service of stubborn persistence, I've underlined passages of interest to anyone who has ever tried to pry information from Jeff Gahan's City Hall.

More details emerge on proposed sale of Floyd Memorial Hospital; Answers on Little League donation, other questions given, by Jerod Clapp (Hanson Bible Tracts)

... Gahan said he's not aware of any invitations to him or other city officials to be involved in the process of the sale, but he's concerned about the county denying access to information.

"I don’t know what (Matt Oakley's) referring to," Gahan said. "Maybe he can elaborate and explain to the public exactly what the offers are, where the appraisals are and other information he can fully disclose. Tomorrow’s the vote," he said Monday, "and all I’m asking of him is to make those details public."

Gahan said the city needs that information to make sure its citizens are informed and he doesn't agree that the hospital sale has been a transparent process.

"I think we’re doing our job in encouraging the county council and the commissioners in making these documents public," he said. "I’ve been told I don’t have a say in it, it’s not a city issue, but when people call the office and they’re asking questions, it’s our responsibility to make sure we’re doing what we can to respond to that."

As the county council's scant two Democrats prepare to back Commissioner Chuck Freiberger's "no" campaign to the hilt ... they ... um, wait.

That's right. They aren't.

Gahan is disgruntled that his monopoly on secrecy is being challenged by county-borne upstarts -- including those in his own party.

• “Because of the nature of this business, it doesn't fall under the traditional model of appraising a piece of property,” (Brad) Striegel, who is in favor of the deal, said.
• “I am very excited about it,” said Councilman Tom Pickett. “For me it’s good to go.”

We might spend the next hundred years analyzing this, but the gist is easy to grasp.

County government, including both Republicans and Heavrin Democrats, long ago removed any consideration of revenue enhancement (including taxation rates) from the table. It's okay to discuss the potential intervention of space aliens, just not taxes. Now, the parties as ever combined in purpose, they're selling an asset to provide funding they couldn't/wouldn't acquire by other means.

Noting that the nominally democratic Gahan didn't actually oppose the sale, only parse the issue of transparency -- for which in his own fiefdom, there's no score lower than F -- it leaves the imperfect Democrat Freiberger as virtually the only one making a coherent opposition case.

Is this the best you can do, Adam?

Truth is stranger than fact: A whole day before the vote, Jeff Gahan publicly urges greater transparency in the hospital sale.

We're headed to the pawn shop with the hospital stuffed in a gym bag, but why this sale, and why now?

And with a donation and naming rights to the little league park's ball fields, finally the Floyd hospital deal makes sense.

With a scant five days notice, here's your chance to "speak out" about the Floyd Memorial Hospital sale.

Matt Oakley proposes giving the hospital to the Baptists for free, because otherwise, county government would have money.

Chuck Freiberger: Hospital sale non-transparency is bad, while Team Gahan non-transparency is ... THUMP THUMP -- is this thing on?

With a scant five days notice, here's your chance to "speak out" about the Floyd Memorial Hospital sale.

Wait, Larry -- is that a crosswalk on a street with uncontrolled traffic?

Whether you support or oppose the hospital sale, five days isn't much time to adjust calendars. Nonetheless, this could be a long one.  

Public meetings to discuss Floyd County finances, hospital sale, by Chris Morris (River Ridge Today)

NEW ALBANY – For the first time since it was announced, the public will get the chance to speak out about the proposed sale of Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services to Baptist Health.

Since the sale was announced in March, residents have not been able to voice their opinions, either for or against the transaction. That is until now.

The meeting will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Pine View Government Center. Members of the Floyd County Council and Floyd County Commissioners will be in attendance, as will representatives from Floyd Memorial Hospital.

"The goal of the public meeting is to inform the public about the details of the sale and help the public understand the process and how we got to this point," said Floyd County Council President Brad Striegel.

Matt Oakley proposes giving the hospital to the Baptists for free, because otherwise, county government would have money.

Q. What happens when the newspaper combines cooking school !!! with pet o' the month nominations?

A. Bowser Burgoo.

(My compliments to the late, great John Ed Pearce for the dish)

Meanwhile, Matt Oakley takes his case for enforced starvation to an on-line click-bait bracket, which Ted Heavrin would win handily if he still served on the County Council.

Infrastructure and economic development? Just a thought.

online-petition/article_c9f293ee-f52f-11e5-af8e-57b048789e96.html">Floyd Councilman Matt Oakley proposing tax cut via online petition, by Chris Morris (Clark County Cornucopia)

NEW ALBANY — Matt Oakley does not plan to serve the final year of his term on the Floyd County Council doing nothing.

Oakley recently posted his plan to cut taxes online at the website floydforward.com, a free petition site where he is encouraging people to read the plan and sign it if they approve. He said with the money the county will receive from the sale of Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services — $75 million of $150 million will be paid up front if approved — county taxpayers should be able to keep more of their money. The other half from the sale will be paid over a 10-year period.

Floyd County Council approves $150-300-eleventy million hospital privatization windfall. No wonder there are so many county government candidates.

"In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot.”
― Czesław Miłosz

First, something we'd been told was inevitable -- which naturally should make us suspicious. Chris Morris (Picayune de la Jeffersonvillia) has the scoop, with expanded story to come:

Floyd council agrees to Baptist Health's $150M offer for Floyd Memorial Hospital

NEW ALBANY — The Floyd County Council on Tuesday evening unanimously voted for a nonbinding agreement to sell Floyd Memorial Hospital to Baptist Health Systems for $150 million.

Louisville-based Baptist's offer is $75 million at the sale's completion and another $75 million to be paid out over 10 years.

In fact, some folks already were suspicious, even if the newspaper's seldom-deployed editorial board was not: OUR OPINION: The time is right to sell Floyd Memorial Hospital.

The view from Clark County? It's all copacetic. Anyway, it's Morris again.

Floyd Memorial Hospital cuts list to three suitors; Some officials upset over lack of information

 ... However, longtime commissioner Chuck Freiberger said before he votes on a sale, he wants more details. He said he has received "very little information" and said there has been no transparency through the entire process.

"There was a task force formed without my knowledge and they have been meeting for about a year. I am told they are taking bids ... I think that is a problem," he said. "The public should be told. It's been kept hush, hush from the public."

Mark Seabrook represented the commissioners on the task force and Steve Bush sat in when Seabrook was absent. Bush said there was very little they were able to disclose due to the nature of the negotiations. He said members had to sign a confidentiality form.

I'm guessing it's too late for a referendum, but 2016 is a Floyd County election cycle. There is a huge amount of money involved, and yet every politician and hospital administrator close to the negotiations accepted terms of non-transparency.

There hasn't been much sunshine in this instance. As Bluegill previously noted on Fb:

The whole thing sounds like one of Dr. Eichenberger's blog posts. We must sell because it can't possibly make it as a public institution and we must sell now because it's in such good financial standing. Oh, and we voluntarily signed confidentiality agreements so the fact that we can't talk about it is not our fault. This is a guy who strenuously argued that whether or not people can access health services should not be considered in measuring health system quality. 

(Remember NA Health? The archives remain.)

My point, predictably offered in vain, is this: If we must wait for the outcome of the presidential election to appoint a Supreme Court justice, under the GOP's rationale that the voters need to decide, as opposed to the incumbents, then doesn't Floyd County's GOP-dominated government owe it to the citizenry to wait until after the forthcoming election before deciding what’s to become of Floyd Memorial Hospital?

Let the candidates state their preference, and let the voters choose. It's only fair, right?

$150 million says that ain't happening.

WITHOUT CIVIC MINUTES ...

WITHOUT CIVIC MINUTES: Episode V, County Election Preview (The Democrats Strike Back).

At the request of the substitute for the columnist, I've agreed to pull this post.

Floyd County Council rejects the RDA and RCI. Will the city of New Albany now rush to enlist?

For the sparse straight dope, read Chris Morris's description of yesterday's meeting, in which the Floyd County Council voted 5 - 2 to reject One Southern Indiana's entreaties and remain outside the Regional Development Authority (RDA) required to participate in the Regional Cities Initiative lottery.

The voting breakdown reflects this issue's strange non-partisan orientation. Four Republicans and a Democrat (Striegel) voted against, with Pickett (D) and Schellenberger (R) voting in favor.

Ed Clere is a big proponent of RCI, and this carried no weight yesterday.

If I understand this correctly, there is still a chance that the city of New Albany could take Floyd County's place in constituting the RDA, which must at bare minimum include two contiguous counties (so far, Clark and Scott).

However, these must have a combined population of 200,000 people. They don't. One Southern Indiana has stated that the RDA train leaves the station on August 31, although some dispute this date. It's a treasure hunt, not a Supreme Court ruling.

Meanwhile, Horseshoe-rich Harrison County is out, but Washington County's council has scheduled a reconsideration for August 20, having previously failed to support the measure in resolution.

New Albany's city council has a meeting the same day at 7:00 p.m. As a second-class city, New Albany is eligible to join the RDA on its own if the county does not. Jeffersonville might, too, but it's moot because Clark County is in.

Depending on whose numbers you use, flipping Washington County and adding New Albany would give Wendy Dant Chesser her 200K population numbers, making the RDA more formidable when the state reviews the RCI lottery applications.

Way back in December at the otherwise poorly attended merchant mixer meeting, both Jeff Gahan and Ed Clere were there to let these small business owners know about the approaching boon in state project funding.

I'm told by insiders that Gahan subsequently pulled away from active RCI support for fear that Floyd County's dominant GOP would be in the driver's seat. As of yesterday, this threat is removed, and if the city enlists, it'll be under terms of engagement dictated by the Democrats.

In short, Gahan  and the same usual suspects can be self-exalting heroes, offering a chimera to assuage their bumbling mismanagement of Pillsbury's departure , and achieving what even the powerful Clere could not produce in his own home county.

Surely this is powerful elixir, and irresistible to them -- and how many council members would oppose it?

I'm thinking as few as three. Personally, I  remain opposed.

There are many reasons to be suspicious of the Regional Cities Initiative, from the basis of the tax amnesty funding the state's portion, to eminent domain fears as yet unaddressed, and including reasonable doubts about a new layer of non-accountable governance, the latter something inadvertently emphasized by Jerry Finn yesterday.

Finn spoke of the Ohio River Bridges Project, and the Bridges Authority's work prefacing it, praising the body for its cooperative regional approach, when in reality it helped usher an era of an unnecessary downtown bridge and obligatory tolls to pay for it -- tolls on bridges in an auto-centric region, which hurt the working poor hardest, and which came about absent representative government's involvement, top-down, from the elites.

In fact, there is nothing in any of it -- RDA, RCI or One Southern Indiana's perennial definition of "economic development" -- that addresses matters like concentrated poverty, exclusionary housing or income equality.

Furthermore, there is nothing in the $450 million RCI package conceived by 1Si's committee of so-called experts that covers any ground whatever in New Albany, apart from something like $30 million in proposals to expand a Greenway that isn't finished yet.

There's nothing in it for Floyd County in the larger sense, at least not to represent a risk worth the county council's consideration.

It's all about regionalism, we're told -- and 60% of the money, which probably is fictitious, anyway, lands not  unexpectedly at River Ridge, and if that's the way is has to be, how about express bus service to get people in Georgetown to their jobs in Utica without having to drive each day?

Yesterday a Knobs resident mentioned a preference for organic growth. He's right, and he points to an underlying truth: We must cease accepting 1Si's insistence that the economic development model it touts is the only game in town.

According to whom?

I will continue to argue that 1Si's usual formula of trickle down corporate welfare is the problem, not the solution.

Still, visions of sugar plums dance in Jeff Gahan's and Adam Dickey's eyes this morning. Taking New Albany onto an RDA would be a political coup ... but nothing more. To repeat: For New Albany, nothing in any of this addresses fundamental projects, or recognizes the basic needs of the people who need the help the most.

Just say no.

Will Floyd County ante up for RCI? Find out today at 4:00 p.m.

Don't look on Facebook to see the time for today's Floyd County Council meeting, at which there'll be a vote to enable a Regional Development Authority, as a preparatory step toward the Regional Cities Initiative.

It's at 4:00 p.m., which represents a meeting time change over what was previously announced. The News and Tribune sez:

The Floyd County Council is scheduled to vote on the ordinance Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 4 p.m. Washington County will reconsider the initiative at a special meeting on Aug. 20 at 1 p.m. Washington County previously passed on the resolution.

Scott County has approved an ordinance toward this end, and Harrison has rejected it. If I understand this correctly, an RDA can be formed with as few as two adjoining counties opting in. However, cities of a certain size (in our region, either Jeffersonville or New Albany) might choose to approve the RDA if either of their counties did not.

There's something for David Duggins to salivate over in case the county council strays.

There's an interesting sidebar in the newspaper article.

One Southern Indiana President Wendy Dant Chesser addressed those concerns and others Monday night. Dant Chesser said the members of the RDA would be appointed by county commissioners and that commissioners could remove an RDA member with a three-fourths vote.

There are three Floyd County commissioners. Two of them voting to remove an RDA member would constitute only a two-thirds vote -- insufficient according to Dan Chesser's reckoning.

See also:

ON THE AVENUES SPECIAL EDITION: When it comes to the RCI, can the RDA opt out of the RFRA?

Floyd County Council cops the same tired poverty plea: We're too damned poor to afford voting rights.

We might add: Too damned stupid.

JeffG seals it.

Because, gosh darn it, this democracy stuff is just too complicated and expensive. We had plenty of machines located at many more much more accessible polling places that worked just fine. A bipartisan effort put an end to all that. Hooray for the two-party system.

Let's look at that word again: Bipartisan.

Lest we forget that when it comes to pleas of poverty, and there's not a fourth Camm trial to blame, former Floyd County Council members Ted Heavrin and the late Larry McAllister, both DINO Dixiecrats, created institutionalized governmental starvation at the county level.

Republicans? They've merely perfected it.

Floyd County Council members respond to long lines during Election Day, by Scott Adkins (WAVE-3)

... "Obviously to the voters, that's not an acceptable process," said Floyd County Clerk Christy Eurton. "I went to the council earlier in the year and asked for 20 additional election machines. They only gave me 10."
However, county council members Lana Aebersold and Dana Fendley said additional machines isn't the solution.

"The council cannot afford any more machines," Aebersold said.

The Danse Macabre, rim shots, hayseed Dixiecrats and Ted Heavrin's county council candidacy.

Ted Heavrin's county council celebrates after slashing remaining fat from the 2011 budget.

I see that Ted Heavrin is running for Floyd County Council.

Again.

It's only been two years since Floyd County was doomed to ruin when Heavrin, sole possessor of the ATM password, was deposed in the primary. His loss prompted the News and Tribune's Chris Morris to break out his shoeshine kit, but then Heavrin staged a dramatic comeback and returned to vetoing budgets as a member of the board of the Floyd County Parks Department, pausing only to secede from the county and establish his own island kingdom -- which failed when Ricardo Montalban finally died.

Heavrin's 2014 yard signs have been appropriately doctored to block weird traces of previous campaign use, such as the "re-" in "re-elect." Given his legislative background, we can posit that he didn't buy new signs because the county couldn't afford them.

But seriously, I wouldn't vote for Heavrin for dog catcher. I've no doubt he would catch the dogs, but he'd also starve them like he did the county all those years.

Starving poor animals plainly would be cruel ... almost as cruel as Heavrin being elected to council.

Again.

Looks like Barbara Sillings is the choice in District 2. I don't know here, but we all know him.

Ouch.