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.

Rick Fox speaks the prettiest public access language I've ever heard. Is that Mark Seabrook I hear chortling?

In the summer of 2013, when the Floyd County Health Department claimed years-long precedent for its sudden decision to require temporary food permits of beer vendors operating under supplemental catering permits, I filed a state public access request. The FCHD's reaction was typical.

The hearing is tomorrow, but the Floyd County Health Department is stonewalling about its public access obligations.

Just before the health board hearing in July, the department finally, grudgingly complied to the bare minimum of its capabilities -- and that's a low arc, indeed.

ON THE AVENUES: NABC before the FCHD Board 3.

 .. As for the Public Access request, after a whole month went by with neither a reply nor an explanation from the FCHD, yesterday I had no choice but to file a formal complaint with the Public Access officer in Indianapolis. The complaint was given priority status owing to today’s hearing. Yesterday morning, Dr. Harris was sent notification of my complaint, and subsequently copies of a mere six citations for five years’ time were faxed to us, sans explanation, which beggars belief, but it remains that not one of them pertains to beer.

At the hearing itself both Dr. Tom "House" Harris and board attorney Rick Fox openly mocked NABC's public access request as being incorrectly worded -- when the intention was crystal clear to the public access officer in Indianapolis, who had to remind them of their obligation to answer.

You already know that the Attorney General of the state of Indiana has found the FCHD's justifications to be obfuscations. Here's a reminder, just in case.

N and T: "State: Floyd County Health Department shouldn’t require permit."

Throughout the health department's 2013 usurpation of power, and as we await events of the coming year, during which Dr. Tom has vowed to ignore the AG's ruling, there has been a consistent thread: The actions of the Floyd County Health Department are inseparable from the governmental "culture" of the county's elected (and sometimes appointed) officials, especially the pair of Republicans occupying two of three chairs as our Commissioners.

That's why I've urged local gendarmes to take missing persons claims seriously.

ON THE AVENUES: The fruitless search for adults in county government.

The reason I'm rehashing this old ground? It's because of recent comments from Rick Fox (same attorney, different governmental client), as described in a News and Tribune article.

Floyd County auditor in court over public records; Woman claims she was denied access to Camm trial documents, by Gary Popp

NEW ALBANY — Floyd County Auditor Scott Clark was in court Monday following a claim that his office had failed to make public records available to a woman who had requested the documents.

Kathy Lowe, Harrison County, filed a motion of default judgment in March that led to the civil hearing in Floyd County Circuit Court.

Lowe claims Clark has dismissed her numerous attempts to obtain claims and invoices related to the three David Camm trials and the renovation of the Pine View Youth Shelter and Government Center.

Lowe’s accusations are supported by the Indiana Public Access Counselor ...

And then this:

... Fox said Lowe’s inference that Clark has not complied to her requests is also related to her failure to be clear with what documents she wanted to receive.

“There is an ambiguity as to specifically what it is she was looking for,” he said. “What we ultimately want out of the case is to comply with what her requests are.”

Another public access request, and another snide insinuation from Fox that the principle of public access is valid only when couched in specifically phrased legalese, preferably the sort mastered by lawyers as opposed to laymen. Of course, this is not the intent of Indiana's public access statute.

My point ... once again, with feeling ... is that the profound rot in county government reflects the very apex of the Peter Principle, where Mark Seabrook and Steve Bush preside. From there it filters inexorably down, or to be more accurate, drips over the sides like a plugged commode reeking of rancid sewage.

And one of them wants to be sheriff? Jeeebus help us.

This sort of thing is death for a small business.

Does candidate Bush have a health department permit for this sign?

City populace laughs out loud at substitute teacher's red-faced bleating.

Someone please tell Mark Seabrook that an "apology after the fact" is going to quite effectively "set well with me" when it arrives from Seabrook's and Steve Bush's non-housetrained Floyd County Health Department.

Meanwhile, here is tonight's Twitter line:

@NAT_ChrisM (Chris Morris): Floyd County Commissioners give city officials a piece of their mind!

Roger: And a whole city yawns.

Bluegill: At least we know it didn't take long.

Roger: The half-life of a microdot on a flea's scrotum.

In fact, this same flea's pathetic athletic supporter is the approximate location of the world's smallest violin player, currently on track to resin up the bow and let loose with a funereal dirge for the county's biggest political whiner.

Frustrations aired before Durgee Road work approved in New Albany; Railroad crossing to close, road to be paved

NEW ALBANY — The Floyd County Commissioners approved the city’s request to close an existing railroad crossing and pave a section of Durgee Road Tuesday, but not without sharing a bit of frustration with John Rosenbarger, director of public facilities projects for New Albany ...

 ... Rosenbarger apologized to the commissioners prior to his presentation.

“We have done a very poor job communicating with you about this project,” Rosenbarger told the commissioners. “I apologize for that. We have not done our due diligence when it comes to communicating with the county.”

While Commissioners Steve Bush and Mark Seabrook appreciated the apology, they took offense to the city moving ahead with the project without their inclusion.

“It seems like a good project that will benefit both the city and county,” Bush said. “But this seems to be the theme of the city when it comes to communicating with the county. It’s a little ridiculous in my opinion. If this was the first time something like this had happened that would be one thing, but it’s not” ...

 ... “Thank you for your apology, but an apology after the fact doesn’t set well with me,” Seabrook said. “I think it’s a good project and I think it helps businesses. But I feel like we have been run over roughshod through this whole thing. It comes across as arrogance that you don’t need county approval on anything. I just wish there was better communication and I feel like we have tried. This stuff has got to stop and it has got to stop tonight.”

Photo credit

Durgee Road causes Bush, Seabrook to get their knickers in a twist, and that's funny.

The News and Tribune had the story on Saturday.

“How can the city close a county road? I have a big problem with that,” Commissioner Mark Seabrook said. “They built it without telling us, now they’re closing it without telling us?”

Today it's in the C-J.

... (County planner Don) Lopp said Durgee Road questions boil down to communication. “The county commissioners obviously have an interest,” he said. “They just want more information on the plans.”

I obviously have an interest in knowing when the health department decides to change its permitting procedures on a whim, and from no discernible statutory precedent, but neither Seabrook nor Bush thinks it's important for me to be informed about THAT.

But if a funeral home regulator walked into HIS business and did what the health department did to NABC and others in June, Seabrook would begin chewing the scenery. Bush wants to be sheriff, and he can't be bothered with the law as it pertains to a lowly, atheistic beer slinger.

Read these words carefully: I hope you both choke on Durgee Road.

That is all.

(photo credit ... www.panda.org)

Premature anticlimaxes (where the streets run one way).

I'm hesitant to link to the newspaper, seeing as its proverb-quoting "publisher of the year," whose Eastside preacher now writes a weekly Jesus-advocacy column, has festooned the site with inescapable ads for some tacky televised atrocity known as "My Big Redneck Vacation," thus proving what I've been saying all along about our "local" press release compendium being inexorably tied to its Alabama corporate parent ... but we need to be reminded that when Steve Bush announced his bid for Sheriff, it was the most anticlimactic recent moment since it was revealed that Jerry "Horseshoe Foundation" Finn is taking control of the committee to refurbish the church steeple.

Broadsheets we have known: "The Floyd County Review."

Interesting stuff. Especially who paid for it. Does this mean I'm finally in agreement with C Faux A? Gads. The world turned upside down, indeed. Here is the text.

---

Floyd County Gets the Chance for Better Leadership

This November, Floyd County has a chance to elect one of our county’s finest citizens to the county Board of Commissioners. With the encouragement of many residents, Dennis Roudenbush is a candidate for the 3rd District seat. Although the county is composed of 3 districts, each commissioner actually represents the entire county. Roudenbush already represents the residents of Georgetown and Georgetown Township as their elected Township Trustee, and he has expressed much excitement about the prospect of helping even more county residents as their Commissioner. Dennis is a lifelong county resident and longtime manager of the Floyd Central Thriftway, and he says he shares the growing frustration of Floyd’s citizens with recent developments in the community. As a concerned taxpayer, Roudenbush strongly objects to the recently reported waste and misuse of tax money by certain officials, and he believes that he must act to instill more integrity and accountability into the county’s government affairs. Like most residents, he is especially frustrated at the significant sums consumed by the murder trial of former police officer David Camm and the subsequent media circus surrounding the county prosecutor’s apparent misconduct.

A review of official documents obtained from the county auditor and the commissioners’ office shows that the county’s elected prosecutor, Keith Henderson, has spent at least $27,539.00 of taxpayer funds to conduct his own personal legal affairs defending an ethics grievance filed against him, presumably for improperly negotiating a book-publishing deal during the trial. His conduct is specifically prohibited by Rule 1.8(d) of the Indiana attorneys’ Rules of Professional Conduct. Mr. Henderson’s alleged misappropriation of trial funds is the subject of an anticipated investigation by several state agencies, including the State Board of Accounts and the Indian Supreme Court’s Disciplinary Commission. When the matter was brought to their attention at their February 21, 2012 meeting, Commissioners Mark Seabrook (R) and Steve Bush (R) refused to support the efforts of Commissioner Chuck Freiberger (D) to recover the tax funds, essentially voting to let their fellow Republican Henderson keep all of the money. Considering that the sum of tax money is more than 8 months of the average Floyd County wage earner’s income of $39,788.00, many residents are upset at what appears to be an abuse of their trust and the political donation of their hard-earned money. Floyd’s taxpayers are also frustrated and concerned that Mr. Henderson’s handling of the murder trial will necessitate yet a third trial with an estimated price tag of an additional $ 1 million dollars. Indiana’s Court of Appeals and Supreme Court both recently ordered Henderson removed from the case because of his self-inflicted conflict of interest, with his efforts to fight his removal helping to delay the third trial for approximately two more years.

The Board of Commissioners were given more opportunities to demand the return of Floyd taxpayers’ money during their meetings of October 2 and 16, 2012 when resident Joseph Moore presented them with a comprehensive summary of events leading to the alleged diversion of funds, supported by official vouchers and invoices as well as the commissioners’ own minutes of their February 21 meeting. Court documents and the Attorney General’s Office both confirm that Henderson’s personal attorney did not represent him in any of the Camm proceedings, indicating that he had obtained county funds under false pretenses. Despite acknowledging that they had not approved funds for Henderson’s ethics defense, Commissioners Bush and Seabrook again refused any effort to recover the money or even to investigate the matter. Rick Fox, attorney for the commissioners and brother-in-law of Keith Henderson, admitted that no one on behalf of the Board has looked into the matter since it was discussed at their February meeting and, ironically, said their failure to investigate precluded them from taking any action. Following Moore to the podium was local civic watchdog, George Mouser, who admonished the board that a private citizen was the only person to investigate a scandal that the commissioners had known about for at least 8 months.

Mr. Roudenbush, who attended the commissioners meetings, stated that, if elected, one of his first efforts will be to launch an investigation and recover any funds wrongly obtained by Mr. Henderson. “Our residents work too hard to have their money just given away to highly-paid elected officials,” Roudenbush said, “especially for an ethics problem caused by their attempt to profit from a private book deal that conflicted with their official duties. We weren’t going to receive a penny from that book deal but now we’re expected to pay his private lawyer $375.00 per hour? I don’t think that’s right.”

Positions on the issues:

1. Merger with New Albany on services and resources:
Roudenbush believes that our emergency services providers should be consulted; the cost-savings should be analyzed; and commissioners should not be afraid to relinquish some control to the city if fairness and the facts warrant it. Egos should not prevent common sense solutions.

Bush has repeatedly claimed that he favors consolidation to “streamline services” and save money, but several joint city-county efforts have been thwarted or even reversed during his term. He has refused to discuss equitable cost-sharing and insists upon maintaining full control over any merged departments, even where the city clearly shoulders most of the work or cost, e.g., the aborted fire-dispatch merger and the anticipated split of the county parks system.

2. Keith Henderson scandal:
Roudenbush insists upon a full investigation and a demand for the return of any misappropriated tax money.

Bush, while acknowledging that the money appears to have been misspent, has nonetheless stated that he “supports our prosecutor,” and has refused every effort to recover the funds or even to request an official investigation.

3. Open and transparent government:
Roudenbush has proposed a number of changes to encourage public participation in the commissioners meetings and decision-making process, including holding meetings around the county, publishing detailed agendas before meetings, and allowing public comment before voting on any issue. He also favors the use of resident surveys or referendums whenever practical before a vote is taken by the commissioners, to better assess public sentiment on the issues.

Bush, despite campaigning every time on promises of “openness and transparency,” has refused to support the advance publication of meeting agendas and, as president of the commissioners, discourages public comment until the end of each meeting, long after the commissioners have already voted on the issues.

4. Fiscal accountability:
Roudenbush is a proven fiscal conservative who has the know-how and many years experience managing budgets, payrolls, insurance plans, vendors and contractors, and personnel. He believes that commissioners have a duty to scrutinize every request for money rather than merely rubber-stamping all claims submitted by the auditor’s office or other county departments.

Bush is a career police office with no real fiscal training or experience. His lack of knowledge on financial matters causes him to rely entirely on the advice of other county employees, resulting in confusion, overspending, and problems such as the Henderson scandal and the growing costs of the Camm trials.

Bush also has an ongoing conflict of interest because, as a police officer, he votes for every (or almost every) funding request from his law enforcement colleagues without questioning their necessity or merits. His close working relationship with the county prosecutor is also one of the factors believed to be behind his refusal to support an investigation of Keith Henderson’s alleged misappropriations.

5. Economic growth:
Roudenbush believes that Floyd County is best served by reasonable planning and growth, including the expansion of business in common-sense locations such as those nearest to our major highways. By enticing employers first, we can better pay for any future growth of residential areas. This fits in with his belief in reasonable and limited growth that will not drastically alter or destroy the rural character of our county that we all cherish.

Bush has shown no appreciable efforts or results in drawing new businesses and employers to the county, instead relying on residential developments to provide new sources of tax money. However, residential growth arguably consumes more in tax revenue than it generates when taking into account the substantially increased need for roads, sewers, emergency services, and schools required for homes as compared to businesses. This problem is compounded when new residences are built for people who work in Louisville or other places outside of Floyd County.

Steve Bush: " I can be a county elected official because I do not work for the county."

Pete posted a photo on Facebook, and I asked a question ... and to my shock and amazement, Floyd County Commissioner Stephen Bush promptly answered my question without so much as deleting it.

He must not have received Parson Clere's memo about how to misuse social media.

My question: "Must (Bush) conform to the new 'no cops get elected' law?

Commissioner Bush's answer: "My understanding of the new law is that I can be a county elected official because I do not work for the county. As a city employee, Senate Bill No. 167 states that I cannot hold an elected office in the city because it's the political subdivision's legislative or fiscal body. Hope that helps."

Fair enough. I admire Bush's immediacy and nuanced non-deletion, whether or not we are in agreement, but of course it didn't end right there.

Me: "I look forward to reading the candidate's platform, which I suspect will be filled with references to sidestepping the county's various funding obligations v.v. the city of New Albany."

Bush: "I find it very interesting that you would throw out accusations of sidestepping when you haven't attended a Commissioner's meeting where these decisions have been made or even asked me face to face about my position on these issues. I would invite you to sit down with me and talk about my stance on the issues and I can give you my side so you at least can get more facts before you make a judgment against me."

Whoa -- looks like I may have inadvertently brushed against a scab. My response:

"Two can play that game: I don't recall seeing you at very many city council meetings over the years. But this is small beer, and as you know, not particularly relevant. I'm perpetually time-challenged, but would enjoy the opportunity to hear your side of the story."

I intend to do so. A final amusing peripheral issue came from one of the candidate's friends.

David E.: "I suggest the County impose a $10 a bottle (or mug) imported beer tax to help raise the needed revenue to pay for funding obligations v.v. the city of New Albany."

That's like a lob pass.

Me: "DE may be on to something, although it might help to define 'imported beer' for the benefit of those who cling to the fiction that Budweiser, a multinational monolith with HQ in Belgium, still somehow qualifies as 'domestic'. As the owner of the only Floyd County-produced beer (after all, we on the flood plain actually do pay Floyd County taxes), I'd be delighted to enjoy tax-exempt status."

Strangely, the conversation ended there.

Bullseye remains affixed to county government in NAFC parks funding fiasco. Anyone got a hankie?

Word.

“The county can stand up there and say ‘we’re the friends of the parks, we’re the supporters of the parks,’ but had the county honored the agreement they had originally, we wouldn’t be where we are today,” (Steve Laduke) said.

From: Parks still a sore spot for New Albany, Floyd County; Closing Community Park has been discussed, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

Why not use the buildings already there?

In Thursday’s edition of the Tribune, county commissioner Steve Bush ruminated on the $5.8 million appraisal of the Grant Line Road property that includes the downtrodden but nonetheless historic building that houses the county’s Youth Shelter.

His conclusion? Use the predominantly green property to build a new City County Building nearer to the Interstate.

Why? Because to do so would represent a future-oriented perspective.

Of course, comic relief was provided by county council kingpin Larry McAllister, who noted the absence of money, the hopelessness of the situation, and the dearth of any ideas on his part to remedy the situation.

Presumably these admissions of political impotence are designed to guarantee his re-election by way of assuring constituents that he'll work to keep them poor.

In today’s Courier-Journal, it is revealed that Clarksville’s town government has approached the owners of the recently vacated Value City on Eastern Boulevard with a mind toward flipping the town hall currently located off Veterans Parkway and redeveloping the shopping center area and its acres of unused concrete for use as the new town hall.

Granted, the situations aren’t entirely analogous; Veterans Parkway is an exurban blemish, but Clarksville has a more valuable hand to play as a result.

At the same time, with downtown New Albany properties available for adaptive reuse (even the old M. Fine factory building makes sense in this context), is abandoning the city center for increasingly rare suburban green space really a future-oriented perspective?

Open thread: Elections for County Commissioners.

The election’s almost here, and yesterday we began to consider the local races.

As noted, NAC’s pants-down editorial board hasn’t undertaken a detailed consideration of anything, much less the candidates. We’ve been far too busy monitoring our Obama yard signs to prevent them being stolen by Roveing gangs of brown shirts.

So, we're randomly tossing out local contests for discussion, and today, the two races for County Commissioner.

The Tribune's hard work is more than sufficient to set the table. The newspaper’s questions and answers are extensive. There’s much to chew on, including the candidates’ views on the Kernan-Shepard commission local government streamlining recommendations, options for a new Youth Shelter, how to increase revenues, and public safety.

I’m no handicapper, but for my money, the more interesting of the two races is District 2, where the Democratic incumbent Freiberger is challenged by the Republican Party chairman Matthews, with the dean of county potty policemen hoping to be a spoiler. It is the latter, George Mouser, who provides the single best quote of this campaign courtesy of the Tribune:

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN CONVICTED OF A NON-TRAFFIC COURT CRIME IN THE UNITED STATES? IF SO, PLEASE EXPLAIN ALL RELEVANT INSTANCES.

“Only once; many years ago I paid a fine of $50 or less, for ‘putting fear’ in one or more trespassers on my property. In view of my timid disposition this was a ridiculous decision by the judge.”

Huzzah. Any thoughts?

ELECTION Q&A: Floyd County Commissioner - District 2

Charles Freiberger (D)
Dave Matthews (R)
George Mouser (Independent)

ELECTION Q&A: Floyd County Commissioner - District 3

Steve Bush (R)
Dennis Roudenbush (D)