PENDLETON — Pendleton Town Council voted 3-2 at its most recent meeting to appoint Lindsey Madinger to the Pendleton Park and Recreation board, filling the one seat on the seven-member body that expired at the end of 2021.
To those aware of what took place at a special town council meeting the prior week, on Thursday, Jan. 6, it was a hint at what was to come: The council affirmed that its Jan. 6 split vote to approve of an ordinance “modernizing” the park board did not actually discontinue the park board and replace it with a new one — with all members to be newly appointed — as part of the ordinance stated.
“The section that we’re repealing is because we didn’t meet the state statute, it was illegal, I’ll take the hit for that,” Council President Chet Babb said during the Jan. 13 meeting. “Anyway, the park board will not be, what’s the word, disbanded.”
Town attorney Jeff Graham clarified further about the move, which keeps the town’s three other appointments to the park board intact, as well as the three other appointments representing South Madison Community School Corp. board of trustees, Pendleton Community Public Library board of trustees and Madison County Circuit Court.
“The word that was in the original ordinance was ‘discontinued’ and replaced with another one. They cannot be without different procedures,” Graham said. “So, that portion of (Ordinance) 22-01 (passed Jan. 6), which discontinued the park board, did not comply with Indiana law. Therefore, it’s void. It’s like you voted for (Pendleton town manager) Scott Reske to be president of the United States — that’s nice, but it doesn’t have any effect.”
Graham said it’s important to stress that the section never took effect, and that the park board’s existence has been continuous going back to 1972.
“You don’t want, at least from a financial standpoint, a discontinuation of the board,” Graham said, stating the park board president and park board attorney brought this to his attention after the Jan. 6 vote.
Park Board President Bryan Williams said after the Jan. 6 vote, that park board attorney Bill Davisson called him and told him disbanding the board would put in jeopardy about $350,000 of property taxes that go to the park. The amount was later determined to be about $500,000.
Williams spoke at the Jan. 13 meeting.
“I’ve appeared here several times over the past month and a half, and every time I’m here all of you, but especially the three of you who voted in favor of this last week (Jan. 6), have stressed the importance of communication — we need more communication, we need more communication. The three of you who voted to replace Josh Ring tonight, the same three of you voted last week to disband the park board, the most drastic action taken since the park board was created 50 years ago, with zero — zero — contact with anybody on the park board, to say ‘Oh, by the way, we’re going to disband the park board.’
“Stop talking about communication unless you’re going to back it up. Jeff Graham could have reached out to Bill Davisson. Maybe you guys were in a hurry, called a special meeting to disband the park board. What was the hurry?” Williams said. “If Jeff would have reached out to Bill Davisson, or if you would have reached out to me, we could have had a conversation.
“Bill Davisson saved you guys from yourselves. He deserves credit for saving the park last week. You three should be thanking him. The town should be thanking him.
“When the park board was created June 6th of 1972, that was Step 1. Do you know what Step 2 was? It was following the process that required a vote of the township of whether or not their property taxes would go to support the park. So when you rushed into action last week, without contacting anyone — the three of you, I mean — when you did that you disbanded the park board, that ended that. Last year, 2021, the park … received about $500,000 from property tax revenue. You three voted to end that last week.”
Williams further said without that tax revenue to pay bonds, the town would have been on the hook for about $4 million in debt.
Councilman Bob Jones asked Graham for a response to Williams’ comments, to which he said: “My only response is I fully endorse 22-01, and Bryan’s right. I told you this via email and I’ll say it publicly tonight, I did make a mistake and did not consider the state statute when I drafted that ordinance, and I apologize to the council and the park board and the members of the town for that. I am grateful Bill found that and recommended this ordinance in front of you tonight be passed.”
The council then voted 5-0 for an ordinance affirming that the park board was not disbanded.
Part of the Jan. 6 ordinance that remains in effect changes who makes the town’s four appointments to the board; instead of the town council president, it’s now the entire council. Also, Babb said residency requirements for board appointees have changed, allowing the town’s four appointees to be from anywhere within the town and Fall Creek Township, instead of just the town; and for the Circuit Court appointment to be from anywhere within the town and township, not just the township.
“The ordinance we’re talking about is 50 years old this year. So, the modernization is what we’re trying to do,” Babb said. “There’s going to be more of these, because we’ve got ordinances that are just old and outdated, and that’s the way it’s going to be. We’ve got to update what we’re doing … so, that’s where we’re at.”