Redkey council drops the ball

Just when it seemed that the Redkey Town Council was moving in the right direction, it stumbled badly.
The current council has been making real strides in addressing the town’s enormous challenges involving the need to update its sewer system, and there’s been a real emphasis on community improvement.
But then came last week.
If you missed it, the council had scheduled a 6 p.m. executive session (closed to the public) to discuss pending or threatened litigation. It had also scheduled a 7 p.m. special meeting to discuss Dunkirk’s experience using a public health and safety officer to address eyesores and neglected properties. The special session was intended to be a public briefing as Redkey considers following Dunkirk’s example.
But when 6 p.m. rolled around, the council moved ahead with what was supposed to be the 7 p.m. agenda. Dunkirk police chief Dane Mumbower and Dunkirk City Councilman Jack Robbins, who acts as public health and safety officer, were on hand.
So were a couple of high school students getting credit for a class and a single Redkey citizen known for being well-informed on the issues.
Trouble is, the public audience that wanted to hear the health and safety officer discussion didn’t start arriving until a little before 7 p.m., just about the time that the folks from Dunkirk were heading home.
So with the public session conducted in the executive session time slot, the executive session went by the wayside entirely. The council just muddled on, conducting a few other items of business. The special meeting that was meant to inform the public was over before most of the public arrived.
It was, in the words of the town’s attorney, “a mess.”
And what’s silly is that it was completely avoidable.
The Indiana Open Door Law isn’t complicated. It’s mostly a matter of making sure that the public knows what’s being discussed and when. It is, by no means, rocket science.
Now, both the executive session and the public session must be rescheduled. The council still needs to discuss that question of litigation, and the people of Redkey still want to know more about the issue of having a public health and safety officer.
If that sounds like a waste of time, that’s because it is. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]