Who's in charge?

Who is in charge of what?

For the second time in less than a year that question came up at a Portland City Council meeting as council member Kent McClung pointed out that Portland Board of Works seemed to have overstepped its authority.

Prior to council taking a vote Nov. 4 on funds for a contract to clear fallen and dead trees from the Kelly Baggs Nature Trail at Weiler-Wilson Park, McClung contended that the contract had been awarded by board of works rather than park board.

“I hate to see the park board cut out of this decision,” said McClung at the meeting. “We wouldn’t have the park board making decisions about the police retirement fund or about the street department.”

He added that it seemed out of order that the contract was signed prior to approval of the funding to pay for it.

McClung had also called out the board of works in late 2018 over eliminating curbside recycling.

So, exactly what are the responsibilities of the board of works, park board and city council?



Board of works

By state statute (Indiana Code 36-4-9-5), cities are required to establish a board of public works and safety. The board may have three or five members. Those members are the mayor and two (or four) others appointed by the mayor. Appointees serve at the pleasure of the mayor and may be replaced at any time.

By city ordinance, Portland’s board of works is made up of three members — Mayor Randy Geesaman and two appointees, currently Bill Gibson, who is also president of city council, and Jerry Leonhard. (The only requirements to be a member of the board of works are to be of voting age and a resident of the city.)

The board of works, again as designated by city ordinance, “shall have control of the day-to-day operations of the police department, fire department, utilities (sewage and water), streets and sanitation.” As such, the board can hire employees and contract for material or services.

Board of works, by city ordinance, is also the purchasing agency for the city.



Park board

By state statute (Indiana Code 36-10-3-1), a city may create a board of parks and recreation.

By city ordinance, Portland has such a board that is made up of four mayoral appointments (no more than two of the same political party), on the basis of their interest in and knowledge of parks and recreation, and an ex-officio member.

The ex-officio member, by state statute, may be a school board member, an individual who lives within the school corporation as selected by the school board or a member of the library board. (Park board has been without its ex-officio member for months following the departure of Kristi Betts.)

The board is tasked with “performing all acts necessary to acquire and develop sites and facilities to conduct such programs as are generally understood to be parks and recreation functions.”



City council

By state statute, cities have a council made up of seven elected members. The state allows several possible divisions for council districts.

By city ordinance, Portland is divided into five council districts with one representative elected from each. The other two members are elected at-large, meaning they are voted on by all residents of the city.

Council is the legislative branch of the city and “shall have exclusive authority to adopt ordinances and appropriate tax monies received by the city.” Essentially, council makes the rules and sets the budget.



Who is in charge?

In the case that came up at the Nov. 4 council meeting, the answer is, all three. Park board, board of works and city council all had standing to handle part of the process.

Based on duties and responsibilities as laid out in state statute and city ordinance, the process should have gone as follows:

•Park board had the authority to decide the work needed to be done.

•City council had the authority to decide whether or not economic development income tax (EDIT) funds would be used for that purpose.

•Board of works had the authority to award the contract.

So, two steps were missed.

Park board discussed the issue with the trails but never formally voted in favor of the work. Board of works got ahead of itself by awarding the contract before requesting the EDIT funds from council. (Had council rejected the funds, board of works could have sought to pay for the project via other sources.)



Why does it matter?

“For me, as a poli sci major, it goes to who has the authority to decide what. And we divide that up,” said McClung, a former park board member who was re-elected to council earlier this month. “And so once we’ve set it up, I think we need to follow it.

“We have these boards for a reason. And if we don’t use them, I mean, technically we’re not following our own ordinances.”

He added that if those ordinances aren’t followed, it makes it difficult for residents to know whom to contact with questions about parks or other city functions.

Both Geesaman and McClung agreed that one of the challenges is the vast amount of procedure there is to remember. The “administration” section of Portland’s city ordinance alone is 116 pages long. Traffic code is another 55 pages. Public works is 50; land usage 46; and general regulations 26. Even the index is 14 pages long.

For that reason, McClung added that he’d like to see more training made available for public officials.

So, whose responsibility is it to make sure procedure is followed?

Geesaman said it ultimately falls on his shoulders.

“I think that it is the mayor’s responsibility,” he said.

McClung took it a step further.

“I think it lies with all of us,” McClung said.