Panel OKs Creation of Water Agency in Indianapolis
In one of the clearest examples that the GOP caucus now has conservative and moderate factions, Republicans went after one another at Thursday's meeting of the Public Works Committee. The panel nonetheless voted 6-1 to pass a measure creating a new city department of waterworks to govern the water company.
The quarrels won't stop the deal, but they're "fun" to watch, said Democratic Councilman Steve Talley, who monitored the meeting on television. Twelve Democrats support the purchase, and they'll be joined by most of the Republicans on the council, so the sale will pass on a "slam dunk," Talley said.
Conservatives complain that there haven't been any public hearings on the proposals that will make the purchase possible. "The public has yet to hear the whys, hows and whens," Councilman Scott Schneider told the committee.
Noting that Thursday's meeting was a public hearing, committee Chairwoman Beulah Coughenour pointed out that only one person who was not on the council had shown up to speak on the issue. "I don't see these concerned public people here," she said.
Coughenour said her hearing was on creating the board that would float the bonds to pay for the deal. She continually interrupted three fellow Republicans as they strayed from that topic into a "philosophical" debate over whether or not to buy the water company.
The trio, Schneider and Councilmen Jim Bradford and Curt Coonrod, aren't voting members of the Public Works Committee. "This is not the time," she said, noting that the full council would have to approve the purchase, as well as the bonds. The measure creating the seven-member board goes before the full council Nov. 12.
Source: Indianapolis Star