Issues

Canal

Kelley’s view: By the time a new council and mayor take office, the canal project will most certainly be too far along to be abandoned.

Kelley agrees that the decision-making process was deplorable. The decision was made without public input or consensus. There has not been an explicit vote by the council. It’s immoral to force people from their homes. It’s dishonest to pretend the EPA mandated the canal or the imminent tripling of sewer bills. Cost estimates have fluctuated too much to be taken seriously and will surely rise. There’s no guarantee economic development will occur.

What Kelley will do: Kelley will support  measures to keep costs of the project in check while ensuring it meets the requirement of the EPA mandate. She will work with a team of incoming council members and a new mayor that will make sure all project-related work is done transparently and ethically while protecting the character of Jeffersonville and the interests of its residents.

**Kelley will also propose an ordinance that prevents further threats of eminent domain for such projects. There will be specific and strict requirements laid out for any purchase of private property by the city.**

New RiverStage

Background: The city purchased a much larger vessel to replace our current RiverStage. It currently does not have an outdoor stage, and estimates for costs to make the vessel suitable were not solicited before the purchase. The purchase was discussed only at Parks Board meetings rarely attended by the public or press and via email by city council members before it took place.

Kelley’s View: Kelley is strongly opposed to any further investment in this new vessel. It’s size will block more of the river view enjoyed by Riverside Dr. residents and those visiting the riverfront. Plans to use indoor space for event rentals will unfairly compete with private businesses. Neighbors already confronted with the noise and crowds of riverfront events can expect more noise and more crowds with a larger vessel.

Our current RiverStage is big enough, fits with the scenery and is largely supported and enjoyed by Jeff residents. This is an example of trying to fix something that isn’t broken, and city officials’ vague claims about the current vessel being “cost-prohibitive” to maintain don’t ring true in the face of facts such as costs to renovate the new vessel and interest from other communities in purchasing the current one.

What Kelley will do: The new vessel was supposedly purchased for its scrap value. Kelley will support recapturing that investment: scrap the ugly thing.

Animal Shelter

Background: For background on this issue, please see Kelley’s post and the links following it at Southern Indiana Agitator.

Kelley’s View: In the short-term, the director of the shelter should be replaced with someone with a background in caring for animals. A policy should be put in place and strictly enforced that volunteers, their work and expertise is to be respected and put to use to serve the animals and taxpayers whenever it is offered. Safeguards must be immediately put in place to prevent the spread of disease, particularly from shelter strays to lost animals held only overnight and from animals adopted from the shelter to the broader pet population.

Local animal activists have longer-term concerns as part of their wish list. Kelley is confident that with new leadership at the shelter and a new requirement to cooperate with volunteers, those issues will be addressed over time.

What Kelley will do: City leaders should act NOW to address these problems, but if they fail to, Kelley will propose sticter regulations on the shelter, including a mandate to cooperate with volunteers, when she takes office in January.

Vissing Park

Background: Late last year, a contractor hired by the Galligan administration deforested 15 acres of mature trees in Richard Vissing Park with no public notice, no public input, no vote by the city council or parks authority (also the council), no permits required by the state, no studies of need or the impact on the environment or traffic and with no expression of remorse by the administration or outrage by the council.

Kelley’s view: This should not have happened, and those who perpetrated it and excused it deserve, at minimum, to lose their jobs.

What Kelley will do: Support the plan that returns the park to the most natural state possible while allowing the maximum amount of public access to the outdoor space. The plan that has been put forth by the Galligan administration does not meet this criteria, and if possible, that plan will be rejected.

Public safety

Background: Opinions vary widely on the proper role of government. However, few would argue that fire and police protection do not appropriately fall within that role. Yet, in Jeffersonville, many within the ranks of our public safety professionals feel they are stretched too thin, are not appropriately equipped and that they are disrespected and micromanaged by the current city government and council. This surprisingly includes Kelley’s opponent, incumbent councilman and former fire chief Mike Smith, and, in fact, it is Smith many of these professionals point to as the primary obstacle in creating a more professional, well-trained and equipped public safety presence with higher morale.

Kelley’s view: The protection of individuals and their property, is the single most important task with which government is charged. Those in these professions deserve respect from government leaders. Further, studies have repeatedly shown that the more those in public safety are treated as professionals – trained and paid well, insulated from politics via a true merit system, and given the professional respect to do their jobs with minimal interference – the better they perform and the less a community needs to worry about corruption.

As a matter of priority, there is no excuse for a city’s public safety professionals to go without important equipment and other needs while the city pursues costly projects not related to government’s core functions. Yet this is exactly the situation we’ve experienced in Jeffersonville.

What Kelley will do:Kelley will refrain from trying to micromanage these departments which fall under the executive branch and are overseen by a merit commission. When dealing with the aspect the legislative branch is responsible for, funding, she will consistently prioritize public safety and vote against virtually all other spending if there are public safety needs not being met.

Public input on projects

Background: One of Kelley’s primary concerns for several years now has been the lack of notice to residents and opportunities for them to express their desires prior to the city moving on major projects that are expensive and/or have a major impact on the community.

Kelley’s View: Please check out the column Kelley wrote last year, well before she entertained any idea of running for office, on this subject. Her views have not changed, and as the campaign has progressed and she has met with voters, she has realized she is hardly alone in those concerns.

What Kelley will do: Kelley will work hard to bring a majority of the new council with her to pass something like the “Kelley plan” detailed in this column. The specifics may vary, but the key aspects are: specific notice about proposed projects; formal opportunities for citizen input as well as a waiting period which will allow residents to communicate with their city council representative less formally; greater requirement than a simple council majority in order to pass major projects; teeth to the ordinance to force the executive branch to ask for permission rather than forgiveness.

Annexation

Kelley’s view: Recent circumstances prove the claims of those who opposed the annexation of several neighborhoods east and north of the former city limits: the financial plan put forth by the city was inadequate. For political reasons, those who supported annexation dishonestly minimized the costs to provide adequate services to those areas.

She has heard from police, firefighters and residents with valid concerns that resources have been spread too thin, leaving residents throughout the city vulnerable and putting our public safety professionals at risk.

What Kelley will do: Kelley will support those in public safety, annexed residents and taxpayers by prioritizing appropriate funding and staffing of police and fire throughout the city.

Note: this page will continue to be added to and updated.