
Indy City-County Council considers $27.2M spring spending package
Officials have slated $19.7 million for the Department of Public Works, mostly for capital projects, snow removal and road safety.
Officials have slated $19.7 million for the Department of Public Works, mostly for capital projects, snow removal and road safety.
Andrew Merkley, administrator for the Division of Homelessness Policy and Eviction Prevention, has worked in the Indianapolis Office of Public Health and Safety since 2020.
Guests who stayed in the city’s temporary winter shelter have spoken against Andrew Merkley’s nomination to head the Office of Public Health and Safety, arguing the shelter was unfit for families.
Indianapolis City-County councilors unanimously approved the policy, which, among other things, empowers the Department of Public Works to deploy plows at any level of accumulation, based on road conditions.
Mayor Joe Hogsett’s office said the mayor would make a new appointment after City-County Council members decided Monday evening to table a confirmation vote for Lena Hill, his pick for deputy mayor of public health and safety.
The $249 million plan calls for rehabilitating the 116-year-old former municipal building at 202 Alabama St. and building a 387-foot tower with 186 apartments, 23 condominiums and 156 hotel rooms.
Councilors authorized an external investigation in August after three women came forward with harassment allegations against the mayor’s former chief of staff.
Initially, the Feb. 28 deadline was intended to be the midpoint of the seven-member, bipartisan investigative committee’s work.
Indianapolis Democrats have a supermajority in the council with 19 seats. Republicans hold six.
Arnold Place, a $13.2 million complex of 33 town houses, is being developed by the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership.
A pair of apartment projects on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street near the under-construction Indiana University Health hospital campus received initial approval for tax-increment financing bonds Monday evening.
Hart, who has represented District 20 on the city’s southeast side since 2019, replaces former Minority Leader Brian Mowery.
Allowing each councilor to choose an improvement project is part of an initiative by Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration to invest in roads, parks and dangerous intersections throughout Marion County.
The move is part of a compromise after state lawmakers nearly passed a similar provision into law this year.
Attorneys from Atlanta-based law firm hired by the City-County Council explained that supervisors and managers are held to a higher standard when it comes to reporting and modeling appropriate behavior in the workplace.
The Indianapolis City-County Council Investigative Committee voted Wednesday evening to select national law firm Fisher Phillips to conduct an independent investigation into the Hogsett administration’s handling of sexual harassment allegations.
The Indianapolis City-County Council on Monday evening voted to approve two tweaked proposals: one that increases long-stagnant countywide elected official pay and the other requiring councilors to fill out more in-depth, publicly available disclosure forms.
A bipartisan City-County Council proposal would raise the pay for absentee voter board workers from $11 an hour to $15 an hour and recommend increased per diem for day-of workers.
The committee, which will have the power to subpoena witnesses including members of the Hogsett administration, is made up of five Democrats and two Republicans.
For now, disclosure forms bearing councilor workplaces, board memberships and potential conflicts of interest are only available through a records request to the council office.