A dust up and spruce up: Matching funds approved for Jeffersonville's 10th Street facades

Clark County

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June 15, 2012

A dust up and spruce up: Matching funds approved for Jeffersonville's 10th Street facades

By BRADEN LAMMERS braden.lammers@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Fri Jun 15, 2012, 07:19 AM EDT

JEFFERSONVILLE — Before the dispute over what plan should be adopted as Jeffersonville’s approach and landing to the Big Four Bridge, another spat erupted in the city’s Redevelopment Commission meeting Wednesday night.

The commission’s newest member, Jack Vissing — who was appointed by Mayor Mike Moore to replace Mike Hutt, who resigned from the board last week — entered a letter into the record that warned Commission Members Dennis Julius and James Lake to clear up any potential conflicts of interest.

Vissing said that while clearing up his own conflict of interest — in that he had been the attorney for a client involved in an eminent domain action on Eighth and Spring streets but resigned as the attorney in the case — he came across the Indiana Code that outlined such issues for redevelopment commission members.

According to Indiana Code, if any property acquired for redevelopment in which a commission member has a “pecuniary interest,” the contract to acquire or sell the property is void.

“I am curious how you guys have dealt with the fact that Dennis Julius is a commissioner and Jamie Lake is a commissioner and that both Kovert Hawkins and Walnut Ridge do business on a regular basis with the Jeffersonville Department of Redevelopment,” Vissing’s letter read.

Julius, who is a part owner of Walnut Ridge and a Jeffersonville City Councilman, and Lake, who is an architect with Kovert Hawkins, both took offense to the letter presented and its perceived insinuations.

Lake fired back calling Vissing’s letter an attack on his reputation.

He added that there is no contract between Kovert Hawkins and Jeffersonville’s Redevelopment Commission and asked redevelopment Attorney Les Merkley to confirm that there was no contract in place between the commission and his company.

Merkley agreed that there was no current contract in existence.

“I have signed the conflict of interest statute,” Lake said. “I am well aware of the conflict of interest statute ... I think it is a defamation of character. I think you were probably told to submit this; I think it’s political and I don’t appreciate it. I question the intent of this letter if it isn’t defamation of character.”

Vissing denied being told to submit the letter and offered that it was a potential conflict he discovered in clearing up his own issue before joining the board.

“It’s inaccurate,” Lake said. “If it was truly a concern ... it would have been sent to me personally, not submitted in a public meeting.”

10th street facades

The redevelopment commission unanimously agreed to pay up to $10,000 in matching funds to replace facades in Jeffersonville Plaza on 10th Street.

Bill Northcut, manager of the JPI Inc.-owned properties in the plaza, presented the plan to beautify the facades in the shopping center to give them a more uniform appearance.

“You hate to see a great piece of property in a great location, in such a high profile location, continue to slide,” he said.

In addition to replacing the facades, several businesses in Jeffersonville Plaza will be replacing their signs.

“The tenants are required to provide their own signage,” Northcut said.

Jeffersonville’s matching funds will cover a portion of the costs to replace the facades and will pay for the first phase of renovations to the plaza.

“We’re going to have $25,000 in this phase,” Northcut said.