Published: July 16, 2008 11:47 pm            

Council moves ahead on annexation

Amended plan still far from final approval

The Kokomo Common Council moved the city’s annexation plan a step closer to passage Wednesday, after amending it to remove several west side neighborhoods.

But council president Mike Kennedy warned the plan’s final passage is still contingent on financial information — both on how the annexation will be paid for and how much property taxes will increase.

None of that information was available at Wednesday’s often-raucous meeting, with an estimated 200 people crammed into council chambers, City Hall, for the official public hearing on the plan.

Accountants with Indianapolis firm Crowe Chizek are working on the numbers, but that work had to basically begin over again when the council changed the annexation area last week.

One of those most dissatisfied with the lack of information was County Assessor Jamie Shepherd, who said she’d spent “hours, days and weeks” trying to calculate those figures.

Those calculations, she said, had to be thrown out when council members last week decided to amend Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight’s original plan.

In the amendment, which passed unanimously Wednesday, the Tall Oaks subdivision, all areas west of Malfalfa Road (300 West) and three subdivisions on the southeast edge of Goodnight’s targeted West Side Annexation area were taken out.

Even with the knowledge those areas would no longer be a part of the planned annexation, there were plenty of upset individuals at Wednesday’s two-hour meeting, ready to offer opinions.

“I’m tired of being insulted that being a county resident, I use city services and city streets and don’t pay for it,” said Carr Drive resident Brian Smith. “I live in the county, and when I come to Kokomo, I purchase goods and services.”

The anti-annexation remonstrators cheered when Aaron Williford, a city resident, criticized council members for pursuing Goodnight’s plan with “no grassroots support.”

“Who campaigned on this issue? I didn’t hear a whisper about it. It seems like a pretty big plan to spring on people when you didn’t mention it running for office,” he said.

Several comments brought attempted replies from Kennedy, who was jeered at each turn by the large crowd. Kennedy saved his gavel, however, for the beginning and ending of the meeting.

In one such exchange, Kennedy tried to correct a remonstrator who complained that the city did nothing to shovel sidewalks and driveways for elderly city residents. Why should anyone expect the city would shovel those areas in the annexed areas? he asked.

“Who’s shoveling the sidewalks and driveways in the county?” Kennedy said. “That’s not something cities or counties do.”

Numerous county officials spoke at the meeting, with County Auditor Ann Wells, County Treasurer Martha Lake, Shepherd and County Commissioner Dave Trine all expressing concerns about hardships on taxpayers. Taxes are due Friday.

“We have people very upset. They’re depressed and stressed out,” Lake told council. “I wish if you felt you had to annex, a voice of reason had been put into it beforehand.”

As it has in past meetings, concerns about rural living also surfaced.

Goyer Road resident Jeff Ely, although living just across the street from the city limits, asked why his 3.7-acre plot on the east side should be annexed.

“The deer haven’t realized they’re in an urban area,” he said. “They come and eat the apples that have fallen from my tree.”

Ely also questioned why the city wants his property, but not the properties in the nearby Darrough Chapel neighborhood, which has been plagued by failing septic systems and health code violations for years.

Attorney Dan May, who’s pursuing a lawsuit in an attempt to stop the East Side Annexation, said he’d received what he called “hypocritical” answers from council on septic systems in the proposed annexation area.

“If you pass this [as is], you will make everyone you annex with a septic system in violation of your own codes,” May said. “What you’ve told me is that ‘we don’t plan to enforce that.’ I think that’s hypocritical.”

“I’m not going to debate you on this,” Kennedy replied. “Our attorneys are looking into these things. And we currently have people on septics in the city who are not being forced to go on sewers.”

Trine also made a point about the possibility certain property owners might be exempted from city ordinances concerning non-rural activities like shooting guns, riding ATVs and burning trash.

“You need to be honest with people. Quit telling them they’ll get better police and fire protection, but oh yeah, putting in fire hydrants is going to cost you an extra [large sum of money],” Trine said.

Finally, county resident Mark Kearney said that for him, the issue was simply one of fairness.

“The big thing that sticks in my craw is that you nine people will get to vote on this, when these people in the audience never had a chance to vote for you,” Kearney said. “It’s just taxation without representation.”

The vote is tallied

At the end of the 90 minutes of public comments, which was 30 minutes more than Kennedy indicated he’d allow at the beginning of the hearing, the council voted on two ordinances.

The first ordinance up for a vote — on the second of three required readings — was for the West Side Annexation.

Council members passed the amendment to take out the neighborhoods west of Malfalfa unanimously.

Council then voted 8-1 — with Councilman Bob Cameron, D-2nd, getting cheers for his sole “no” vote — to pass the ordinance on second reading.

The East Side Annexation ordinance passed by the same 8-1 tally, with Cameron again voting nay.

“He’ll get elected again,” someone said from the back of the room, one of dozens of such interjections made by the audience during the hearing.

“I don’t care about that at all, what that person said,” Cameron said. “The thing I ran for was to not cost the citizens of this community money, and not infringe on their quality of life. I see a lot of holes in this thing, and we still don’t have the costs.”

After the meeting, Kennedy noted the annexation ordinances still face numerous legal challenges, in addition to the fact they must still receive a majority of council votes to pass on third and final reading.

That third reading won’t come until both city and county officials have received the calculations from Crowe Chizek, digested the numbers, and made more decisions.

Council members have not ruled out making more changes to the annexation areas; council members may subtract land from the proposed annexation, but cannot add territory.

Most significantly, Kennedy said, if the numbers from Crowe Chizek are significantly different from the estimates already made by Kokomo city officials, some hard decisions will have to be made.

Scott Smith may be reached at (765) 454-8569 or via e-mail at scott.smith@kokomotribune.com

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.