NEW ALBANY —
An $85,000 appropriation to support bicentennial events and fundraisers was approved on initial ballots Monday by the New Albany City Council, though provisions were added to the measure.
Councilman Dan Coffey abstained on the second reading and Councilman Kevin Zurschmiede voted against the appropriation, which passed 7-1. A third ballot will have to be approved before the money, which will come from riverboat funds, is released.
There was a lengthy discussion among council and New Albany Bicentennial Commission members over how the funding amount was reached. There was also question over which events should be funded, and if the public would have access to all the bicentennial programs being footed in part through the city.
“I don’t think we understand how the $85,000 is derived,” Councilman Scott Blair said.
There are several events on the horizon as planned by the commission, including a golf scramble, style show and ice cream social. But Thursday’s bicentennial book release gala received scrutiny from some of the council members.
Dubbed “200 for 200,” the gala will serve as the launch for the bicentennial book “Historic New Albany, Indiana: By the River’s Edge.” For $200 per couple, people will receive a dinner, an autographed copy of the book and a night of entertainment at The Grand.
Zurschmiede said some of the events may be too expensive for all of the public to attend.
“Some of these are going to exclude some taxpayers,” Zurschmiede said, as he added he wouldn’t support an appropriation that doesn’t provide an equal opportunity for the entire community.
Councilman Greg Phipps said he would prefer to see the events that would be more likely to be potentially utilized by all residents to be funded first, followed by any programs that may be deemed more “elitist.”
Shelle England, co-chair of the bicentennial commission and wife of former Mayor Doug England, said the $85,000 request total came from Mayor Jeff Gahan’s administration.
The request was separated from the New Albany Bicentennial Park funding measure in August, and there have been multiple presentations made by the commission and council members about the funding total.
England said the commission includes members that were appointed by the council, but added that hasn’t led to agreement over bicentennial event funding.
“I don’t know why it seems to be we’re on two different sides here,” she said.
Coffey questioned how reliable the information from the commission could be, as he inferred some of the council’s appointees haven’t been privileged to all of the discussions held in regards to the events.
Last month, commission vice chair Barbara Zoller told the council meetings between some of the board’s members and the Horseshoe Foundation of Floyd County had occurred without all of the commission being aware of them.
The foundation has provided a $250,000 grant for the bicentennial, with $25,000 of it dedicated for events and the remainder going toward the park.
Zoller requested that if the council had questions about specific events, that they address the entire commission and not just individual members.
Council President Diane McCartin-Benedetti and Zurschmiede are the council’s representatives on the foundation. Benedetti denied at the time and again Monday that the meeting was wrong, as she said no votes were taken.
She added it was about Horseshoe funding, not the council’s potential involvement in the project.
England also said the gathering was about fundraising, and “not a meeting that required a vote.”
As amended, the funding measure states that any profit generated from the events must be returned to the riverboat fund, and that the entire bicentennial commission must vote on the events to be footed through the appropriation.
Monday’s meeting was long, with several issues remaining to be voted on as of press deadline. Look for an update on the rest of Monday’s votes at www.newsandtribune.com and in News and Tribune print editions this week.
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