Friday, January 19, 2018

01192018 - News Article - Snyder continues legal fight against Portage utility board takeover



Snyder continues legal fight against Portage utility board takeover
Chicago Tribune
January 19, 2018
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-portage-snyder-challenge-st-0121-20180119-story.html

Portage Mayor James Snyder said he hired a law firm to challenge a 2017 ordinance authorizing the City Council to take over the Utility Services Board last February, claiming that the city ordinance allowing the council to take over the USB actually was a threat to mayors across the state.

But newly elected USB President Scott Williams, who also is a councilman (D-3rd), said there is room for the mayor and board to work together and improve communication.

Last February, the City Council passed resolutions removing Snyder as the director of the utility department, including his $30,000 annual salary, and taking over the USB. The former USB was made of a majority of mayoral appointees.

Snyder hired Indianapolis-based law firm Faegre Baker Daniels, which drafted a double-sided, two-page letter to the council indicating their move to strip Snyder of his salary was illegal. Shortly after receiving the Faegre letter — which will cost residents $19,651 — the council relented, moving the $30,000 salary to the city's budget and off the USB's books.

Using money from his 2018 mayoral budget, Snyder hired Bingham Greenbaum Doll, a law firm with offices in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, to look into the council's 2017 takeover of the USB. Early last month, the firm sent Snyder a memorandum claiming the 2009 city ordinance establishing the original USB was improper, as was the council's takeover of the USB last year.

"I think (the ordinance) was passed to deal with the mayor of Portage, but, instead, what the council did was take on every mayor in the State of Indiana," Snyder said. "If the mayor can be threatened to lose his executive power at the utility, then every mayor in the state has a problem."

Snyder said Portage's legislative body, the city council, forced itself into a role the executive branch is supposed to hold when it took over the utility board.

Part of the council's motivation was the mayor's 2016 federal indictment on bribery charges, Snyder said. Federal prosecutors allege that Snyder solicited money from tow truck operator John Cortina and a confidential source, giving them a towing contract for the city.

Snyder and Cortina have pleaded not guilty. Their trials are scheduled for June.

The USB may have been improperly formed in 2009, Snyder said, but the former USB's makeup of a majority of mayoral appointees meant the former board was closer to what state law intended and more likely to keep Portage out of legal trouble.

Snyder said his office will pay Bingham for its work, but abiding by the law firm's decision will have a bigger payoff.

"I hope we can come to resolution," Snyder said. "I don't know what (hiring Bingham) will cost, but it's not going to cost us millions of dollars in class action lawsuits because we're going to get it fixed quickly to be within state law."

Williams said the USB will get a legal opinion on the Bingham memorandum from Board Attorney Ken Elwood, who also represents the council, at its next executive session in early February, but, he said, Snyder apparently did not have any problems with the creation or makeup of the USB until he lost control of the board.

"It was perfectly okay for the mayor then," Williams said. "I think the jury's still out in terms of what we have done, the council taking over the USB, is legal or illegal."

One way to get Snyder and the USB working together and communicating is to make decisions on improvements to a section of Dombey Road, on the city's north side. The Dombey Road improvement is a two-phase project involving new infrastructure and reconstruction of sections of several streets on either side of U.S. 20.

The USB already has a $1.4 million Community Crossing grant from the Indiana Department of Transportation to pave streets west of Dombey, including Locust, Plaza and Marquette, but the USB and mayor have to decide who will pay what portion of a $450,000 bid awarded to construction firm Walsh and Kelly to do more infrastructure work, Williams said.

That means the two parties will have to talk, he added. Getting the sole Republican on the council and USB, John Cannon (D-4th), to help mend the rift between Sndyer and the USB may help, Williams said.

The rest of the city council and, therefore, the USB are Democrats.

"Another good example of a bipartisan effort is working with (John) Cannon on meeting with the mayor to reach a decision on how we made this (Dombey Rd.) project happen and share the cost," Williams said.

The USB and Snyder are scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon to discuss the Dombey project.

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