STAFF REPORTS
The Jeffersonville City Council will get a second look at a handful of controversial issues as a sewer-rate hike, sex-offender ban in city parks and an ordinance that would grow the city council are up for additional votes Monday.
The council meets at 7:30 p.m. at Jeffersonville City Hall, 500 Quartermaster Court.
Most of the issues on the agenda already have received at least one reading, but all need three in order to become law.
• Two weeks ago, the council unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance to raise sewer rates by more than 200 percent over the next five years. Under the legislation, average monthly bills would go from about $24 per month to about $73 per month.
The phased-in rate hikes were approved in order to finance repair and expansion of the city’s sewer system and correct problems with combined sewer overflows, which wash untreated sewage into waterways during heavy rainfalls. The city has signed an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pledging to correct the problem.
It’ll need two more readings before becoming law.
• An ordinance that changes the city’s classification from third-class to second-class is up for a second vote. The new classification would mean a larger city council — nine members instead of seven — and take financial duties from an elected clerk-treasurer to an appointed controller, among other changes.
The classification generally relates to population. With the Oak Park annexation expected to take effect Jan. 1, the city would have more than the 35,000 residents necessary to change its class.
Two weeks ago, the ordinance passed with a narrow 4-3 vote.
It’ll need two more readings before the reclassification is official.
• An ordinance that bans sex offenders from entering city parks is up for its final reading.
A similar ordinance has been on the books since 2006, but it was successfully challenged.
The new ordinance bans only those on the active state sex-offender registry. And it removes an exemption process that had been labeled overly burdensome by the Indiana Court of Appeals.
