EVANSVILLE REDEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MEMBERS MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF STATE LAW

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    Some of the Evansville Department of Redevelopment Board membership may be in violation of Indiana Code 36-7-14. Research shows that ERC was created pursuant to 36-7-14-1 et seq.  

    IC 36-7-14-1 states that Application of this chapter; jurisdiction in excluded cities to be governed by this chapter.

    IC 36-7-14-3Sec. 3 (a) states  that a unit may establish the Department Redevelopment controlled by a board of five (5) members to be known as “Evansville Redevelopment Commission”, designating the name of the municipality.

    IC 36-7-14-6.1 entitled Commissioners; appointment states in Sec.6-1. that (a) The five (5) Commissioners for a municipal Redevelopment Commission shall be appointed as follows:

    (1)  Three (3) shall be appointed by the Municipal Executive.

    (2) Two shall be appointed by the Municipal Legislative body.

    IC 36-7-14-7 is entitled Commissioners; terms of office; vacancies; oaths; bonds; qualifications ; reimbursement for expenses; compensation.

    Sec. 7 (d) states a Redevelopment Commissioner must be at least 18 years of age, and must be a resident of the unit he serves.

    Sec. 7 (e) states if a Commissioner ceases to be qualified under this section, he forfeits his office.

    Sec. 7 (f) states that Redevelopment Commissioners are not entitled to salaries but are entitled to reimbursement for expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of their duties.

    Sec. 7 (g) states a Redevelopment Commissioner who does not otherwise hold a lucrative office for the purpose of the Article 2, Section 9 of the Indiana Constitution may receive:

    1. a salary; or
    2. a per diem and is entitled to reimbursement for the expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of the Redevelopment Commissioners duties.

    FOOTNOTE:  this section about salary or per diem since the last two DMD Directors told us that ERC Commissioners never receive any compensation for their service on the ERC Board because State Law doesn’t allow this.  We consider this a developing issues and shall inform you of our findings about this issue at a later date.

    Our research of 2012, 2013 and 2014 minutes show that the following individuals served as ERC Commissioners during these times.  We have also included if the ERC Board members lived in the City or County.

    ERC Commissioners for 2012 were:  Ed Hafer-County,  Jay Carter-City,  Randy Alsman-City, Sara Miller-County and Stan Wheeler-City.

    FOOTNOTE:  Looks like two 2012 ERC Board members served illegally because they lived in the County.

    ERC Commissioners for 2013 were:  Ed Hafer-County, Randy Alsman-City, Stan Wheeler-City, Pat Lowery-County and Jennifer Raibley-City.

    FOOTNOTE: Looks like two 2013 ERC Board members served illegally because they lived in the County.

    ERC Commissioners for 2014 are: Randy Alsman-City, Vernon Stevens-County, Stan Wheeler-City, Pat Lowery-County and Jennifer Raibley-City.

    FOOTNOTE: Looks like two 2014 ERC Board members are serving illegally because they live in the County. 

    LEGAL QUESTIONS 

    Legal questions to consider since the ERC Commissioners membership makeup didn’t comply with State Residency Law or City Ordinances requirements.

    Would all the capital project approvals, loans,  grants,  property purchases, approved bond issues,  negotiations to build new downtown Hotel and IU Med School approved by the ERC board between 2012 and 2014 could be in jeopardy?

    ANOTHER DEVELOPING STORY—-ACCORDING TO IC 36-4–9-2  EVANSVILLE  BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS AND SAFETY BOARD MEMBERS MUST LIVE IN EVANSVILLE.

    we also found out that members of the Evansville Board of Public Woks and Evansville Safety Board also are require that its board members be a resident of the City of Evansville.  This is a developing story because we must go back and see if past and present  Board of Public Works members live in the City limits of Evansville over the last several years.

    FOOTNOTE: WE ARE PRESENTLY SEARCHING TO SEE IF EVANSVILLE BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS AND EVANSVILLE SAFETY BOARDS ARE SUBJECT TO AN INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT.

    Please take time and vote in todays “Readers Poll”.

    Copyright 2014 City County Observer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

    19 COMMENTS

    2. Well, Well, Well, wonder if the bond underwriters for the Hotel and Med will be quick to issue bonds in the fear of citizen groups filing law suits in regards to the ERC illegal acts? It is now 15 months and counting concerning the Hotel and, of course, Labor’s support of Winnecke is absolute non-sense…he obviously does not know how to do his homework…what about his multi-million dollar man a/k/a Ted Ziemer…thanks should go out to the CCO for their Free, accurate and insightful research!!!

      Of course, the CP is MIA

      • This is a win-win for TZ. If the city gets its socks sued off, he’s got lots of billable hours. If it doesn’t get sued, he still has a lot of work to legalize the illegal acts of these bodies.
        Billin’ Ted’s Excellent Adventure goes on!
        I really hope this puts an end to the hotel nonsense. Of course, the unions aren’t going to like it if Winnie fails to deliver. Poor Winnie may go the way of Jimmy Hoffa!

      • So, let’s go down memory lane…Ed Hafer, lives in the County, president of the ERC, author of the “Hotel” deal, but remember ol’ Russ’ downtown baseball park…the fast track deal and ol’ Ed was there, hand out south of one million dollars and, of course, no ball park…we are now 15 months since approved by City Council and nine months since the sand lot expose. Question, is history going to repeat itself…Ed Hafer, no ballpark & no hotel..so, then the union bosses in the CP article of Dec 13th ditch our Gail, the one that fault so vigorously for our union families and now will be fighting for our lives by opposing the prevailing wage elimination by Winnecke’s party. Then to see that labor has given Winnecke money who has forwarded that money to Pence!!!!! Those big labor bosses need to be whipped, ran out of office…they need to start packing their tools like the rest of the rank and file. Shame on you Paul Green, Barry Russell, Jack McNeely, Mark Biard, Wendell Higdon…the only honorable Labor leader is Chuck Whobrey!!!

        • If Winnecke is the bag man for the Unions, in shipping their contributions to the Governor . . . well then that will make a nice article. Also, if true, that explains quite a bit about the State Board of Accounts whitewash of the 2012 audit . . . .

          • I refer you to Winnecke’s political financial reports…just review the expenditures, you will discover contribution to Gov Pence….Winnecke’s republican party wishes to reduce the hourly rates paid to our union members while the likes of the bosses donate the hard earned money of our rank and file to Winnecke who in turns sends to Pence…what a crock of crap…Mr. Green, Mr. Russell, Mr. Higdon, Mr. Biard, and of course, Mr. McNeely must be drinking the kool-aid…what jobs has Winnecke brought us…Weinzapfel had made the deal for the hotel and then comes Hafer and his gang, THREE YEARS AGO, and still no hotel, just lip service…of course, Johnson Controls, contract signed Nov 17, 2011, during Weinzapfel administration, Mr. Hidgon, those plumber job were the result of JW NOT Winnie…when the Prevailing Wage legislation is passed and Gail is fighting for us, when you clown come up for re-election, we WILL REMEMBER…and the Med school was going to be built in either Warrick, Eastside, or downtown and with it, jobs were there anyway…with or without Winnecke…suckers!!

            • You nailed it on the construction jobs for the Med School. If Winnecke can’t deliver on the hotel construction jobs, he’s not going to be popular with his union buddies, though.

        • Hafer is/was president of the Evansville Regional Business Committee, the quintessential ole’ boys club, for which he was paid a salary of $80K. How this paid membership club of millionaire businessmen is allowed to operate as a tax exempt entity is beyond my comprehension. Anyone who calls for fiscal responsibility in local government and a conservative approach to capital spending will soon find themselves fighting the effects of this committee’s well funded lobbying.

    3. Even if this is illegal not a darn thing will be about it ,I think they are all in the same foul stinky bed …it will only cost the city taxpayers more money and TZ will reap more profits

      • The most likely outcome would be the legislature changing the law to accommodate the present makeup, if past actions are any indication of future ones.

    4. On second thought, can TZ and Danks be held liable for not advising the Mayor and City Council of this law? I’m certain TZ was acting as counsel for the Works Board when the Cross the River dispute came up, too.

      • If they are being paid as lawyers heck yes they can be held liable , unless they did advise mayors and council and they just plain ol said the hell with the law,,, remember this is Evansville

      • LKB

        You sound like your Christmas wish is: I wanta be an attorney for Christmassss, only an attorney will do… you may add the sound track – No LKB we are not able to sue everybody…

      • TZ has no problem passing out “his” opinions like tic tacs. And all too often they are worth about the same. It is when those opinions find their way into a court of law that they are found to be wanting.

        If it sounds like BS, it probably is BS:

        http://youtu.be/Mb45tJhzmcI

    5. Let’s not forget about the safety and public works boards…all members must live in the city…both boards have entered into contracts…if the members of those boards are disqualified, then the those contracts would be void or avoidable? and, those boards are 100% selected by the Mayor.

    6. IMHO:
      Those who did the appointing are the ones MOST responsible for these transgressions. It is their responsibility to know and act within Statutory Law. …

    7. Are motions passed by these “bodies” legal, valid & binding?

      Can any salaries paid to these members be recouped?

      Can the appointing authority be held financially liable?

      Can the attorney for the boards, etc. be held liable?

    8. Most important — who is going to bring those questions up and to whom? Who in fact can do anything about this mess? And how do we go about that? We can all blog until our fingers drop off and that won’t make a bit of difference. Someone smarter than I needs to take the lead here.

    9. Are votes by non-qualified members legal? Interesting only the CCO addresses these laws of resident requirement.

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