By: Conor O’Daniel
September 6, 2012
Over the past month, some in our community have expressed their displeasure with our funding of the Human Relations Commission. At first, I thought this was a fringe group of citizens who wanted to be heard, but that over time those voices would fade. Those voices brought out several to our meetings to support the HRC and its Executive Director Diane Clements. On August 7th, at the joint council budget hearings, Mrs. Clements explained to the public, and both the city and county council, what the HRC does and what its continued financial needs are. The majority of the city council listened and offered continued support for their mission. The two county council members who remained did the same. Now, one month later new grumblings have surfaced from the County Commissioners, namely Marsha Abell. She has proposed a 20% cut in the county’s portion of the budget.
I can no longer sit back and watch this continue.
The Human Relations Commission is needed today like never before. They provide education to the ignorant. They provide a voice to the voiceless. They provide hope to the aggrieved and empower those who have suffered at the hands of discrimination. Many of those who have come before us have fought for our freedoms and I mean all of our freedoms. They have unlocked the doors of success and have walked through. Along the way, and in the words of First Lady Obama, those trailblazers have offered a helping hand so others could walk through those same doors of opportunity. Now, we see some want to shut the door to prevent success and opportunity and deprive many of us who look different, believe different and love different from the same freedoms they possess. If the county does not believe in protecting all of citizens from the evils of discrimination and fully funding their portion of the HRC budget, then I call on the Mayor to increase the amount of funding in the budget from the City of Evansville to ensure the HRC will be whole in 2013 and in future years.
Currently, there exist interlocal agreements on funding a number of departments that serve city and county interests. Those agreements provide an arbitrary percent of contribution from the city and the county. As to the HRC, the city contributes 87% and the county only 13%. The proposed budget by Commissioner Abell would reduce the contribution to approximately 10% of the HRC budget which is in violation of the interlocal agreement. Since it appears the county executive branch does not believe they are bound to agreement, I believe it is time to readdress these agreements and change the allocation of responsibility in a number of departments. After considering state statutes and comments of trusted colleagues, I propose immediate action in three departments: HRC, EMA and Weights and Measures.
I call on the Mayor and Council to fully fund the HRC at 100% of the approved budget. This will prevent rogue commissioners from defunding or putting a squeeze on this necessary department. As to Emergency Management and Weights and Measures, I must commend the work that the current directors and staff perform each and every day. They are a vital asset to our community as a whole which is why the Indiana legislature mandates in counties of our size that the county maintain these departments. See I.C. 24-6-3-3, I.C. 10-14-3-17(b). Since, the State of Indiana charges the county with this obligation; I cannot fathom why the city is also contributing to their budget. City folks pay county taxes too. As such, the current interlocal agreement provides an equal split in the budget to fund the EMA and a 45%/55% split on Weights and Measures. I propose opting out of the interlocal agreement with respect to these two departments because they are county responsibility. The city would not pay half of the $404,444 EMA budget or 45% of the $368,847 Weights and Measures budget. After adding back in the amount to fully fund HRC, the taxpayers of Evansville would save over $318,000 which could be used to upgrade public safety equipment, upgrade our parks department and even help sustain a rainy day fund. If you don’t believe this can be done, I encourage you to look to the City of Kokomo, whose Mayor just did exactly this with respect to EMA and Weights and Measures in his 2013 budget much to the dismay of the county officials.
Let us be bold. Let us take a stand. Let us change the way. Let us lead.
Conor O’Daniel
City Council At-Large
Wow-Isn’t this the same City Council member who voted for the “Earthcare” deal that has cost the the taxpayers about $200,000 so far?
Enough said!
Looks like our extreme left wing city councilman could be drinking the “Obama” kool aid.
Oh, would like to know why Conor O’Daniel decided to vote for the Earthcare deal? Maybe he also could write the CCO an article explaining why he did this.
I can’t believe I voted for this guy in the last city election.
One time and out!
Rather than submit this political granstanding babble(you forgot to mention that anyone opposed to the HRC wants to put ya’ll back in chains) why not actually take the time to point out specifically what the HRC does that isn’t already being done at the state level? My problem with the HRC is due to the fact that the director specifically stated that their primary function was to assist those with complaints locally because travel to Indy would possibly be a burden to those folks. However, a quick trip to IN.gov and that statement was shown to be untrue as persons filing a complaint may either show up in person, fax or mail their complaint and it went on to inform that agents are on call ready to assist with the paperwork.
Did I not read in the news that the Ev Recuse Mission case started 3 years ago and just this year held their “hearing “……Why the wait?
Who would you choose to represent you in court, Conor O’Daniel or Marsha Abell? Legally speaking I bet old Conor is right about these legal assertions.
Agreed! Seems like once again the city has been picking up more than their share. If Abell wants to play hardball by all means stick the county with all the EMA budget! I support any elected official, D or R, that supports equal rights and protection of those rights.
good reason to support consolidation to try and unravel all of the messy joint entities our politicians have inflicted on us over the last thirty years…. The Emergency Management Agency was formed in a great rush 20 odd years ago to take advantage of a Federal Grant…. the city signed over their responsibility for our Civil Defense to a board that is made up of safety professionals and who then hired one of their peers as the manager…. NO ACCOUNTABILITY to you or I …. were it not for some very sharp County Commissioners at the time, the tragedy of a deadly tornado would have been much worse….
Any “messy joint entities” can and should be “unraveled” the same way they were created, by the government parties originally involved. Consolidation should have nothing to do with the process.
Any joint service funding should be based on the number of residents inside the city and outside, in the county, that would be served, not just an arbitrary split agreed upon without determining the financial impact on each group. Any idiot knows that Evansville has a larger population inside it’s limits than the area outside, commonly called “The County”, and should be paying a larger share.
According to Ms. Abell, the HRC wants an ordinance approved that is not legal and cannot be enforced so they can use it to threaten companies into compliance to their demands. That is unethical, illegal and the type of thing that has earned Evansville the reputation of being a “Little Chicago”. If the HRC doesn’t understand that, how can they expect respect and financing from government or the people they are supposed to be serving? If the only way to get their attention is to reduce their funding, so be it.
Another reason to vote hell NO
Conor, I admire your zeal and courage!
“The Human Relations Commission is needed today like never before. They provide education to the ignorant. They provide a voice to the voiceless. They provide hope to the aggrieved and empower those who have suffered at the hands of discrimination. Many of those who have come before us have fought for our freedoms and I mean all of our freedoms. They have unlocked the doors of success and have walked through.” (Conor O’Daniel)
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Would Councilman O’Daniel care to cite some examples to back up his claims here? Examples where only the HRC could have effected the outcome?
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