03212018 - News Article - Hearing set in lawsuit between Portage mayor and City Council

Hearing set in lawsuit between Portage mayor and City Council
NWI Times
March 21, 2018
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/hearing-set-in-lawsuit-between-portage-mayor-and-city-council/article_7aaee32a-201a-5d6f-8a71-cbf7813645af.html

PORTAGE — A hearing has been set in the lawsuit filed by Mayor James Snyder against the City Council and the control of the city's Utility Services Department.

Snyder filed the lawsuit in Porter Superior Court on March 1 against the council and Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham.

Snyder is asking the court for both immediate and permanent action to declare the board's operations illegal and rule the recently passed stormwater fees void and unenforceable. The hearing on the request is set for 10 a.m. April 23 in Judge Mary Harper's courtroom.

The lawsuit contends that, under state law, the USB, which was created by combining separate stormwater and sanitary sewer boards in 2010, violates state code. In addition, Snyder contends the ordinance that put the City Council at the helm of the USB is also in violation of state law. Because those two ordinances are in violation of state law, the suit also contends, an ordinance that gave the council a salary for running the USB and the ordinance establishing the use of impervious surface measurements to charge stormwater fees for nonresidential customers are illegal.

Lawyers for the City Council dispute the mayor's claims.