Full Council Meets 1/30: What's Going On?

The Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council will have the full council meet for the second time this month on Monday, January 30 (agenda). The proposed smoking ban (which I discussed over at Indy Politics) and a handful of other proposals (which Pat Andrews has addressed here) will be voted on by the full council.

But what I found interesting are the several appointments to government boards, some of which are being voted on that evening and some are being referred to committee.

Aaron Haith served as the council's attorney when Monroe Gray was Council President. He also served as Gray's personal attorney at the time. He's been before the Indiana Supreme Court ethics arm twice and, at one point, had his license to practice law suspended for a year due to a DUI arrest. Haith is nominated to be on the Indianapolis Housing Agency Board.

Interesting choice, I guess?

Marion County Sheriff John Layton and County Clerk Beth White are proposed to be re-appointed to the Information Technology Board. Doing a brief search through social media, most (if not all) board members have no background in IT and are heavy on government work. And this is the board that is in charge with negotiating major IT contracts!

This is not a specific slam against either Layton or White or how they run their respective county offices. But it is important to make sure those who do or have worked in IT be represented on the board so that they can work in-conjunction with those familiar with the IT needs of city-county government. With both properly represented on this board, they'd be able to negotiate better contracts and give taxpayers the best buy for their buck.

People who followed the 2011 council races might recognize a couple of names among the various appointments. Scott Coxey and Regina Marsh both ran as Democrats in 2011 in noncompetitive districts. Coxey is being appointed to the Telecom and Video Services Agency Board, while Marsh is being appointed to the Board of Public Safety.

And on a final note, I made a joke about councilor Brian Mahern imagining himself as Mayor in four years in front of a Democratic friend of mine. And that Democrat believes that's exactly what's going on. My friend noted he's upping his profile in various ways, including attending more community meetings and starting a Facebook page shortly after the November 2011 elections.

That's all for now. Tonight's meeting should be fun!

UPDATE: Proving that I have some of the smartest readers' out there, they directed me to this municipal code that apparently dictates who is supposed to be on the IT board. It pretty much is set in stone and the appointment process seems to be mostly ceremonial.