At today’s Fort Wayne Plan Commission, it was discussed whether or not they want to use Executive Committee sessions to make decisions. Â There has been talk of merging the City and County’s separate Plan Commissions into one. Â Allen County uses the Executive Committee function, while the City does not. Â If you followed the Cedar Canyon saga, you’ll know that Executive Committee played a role in the controversy. Â Executive Committee allows a smaller number of members to decide issues for the larger Commission.
The County, some time back, sent the City it’s procedure for using the Executive Committee function. Â It was filed away for future reference. Â Today, it was decided to discuss the issue. Â Commissioners Tom Smith (also 1st District City Councilman) and Don Schmidt (former 2nd District Councilman) both came out strongly against such a process. Â Smith said using the Executive Committee function would take the Plan Commission away from being open and transparent.
A decision was made to explore the option to see what could be worked out – not necessarily to adopt the function, but also to explore if the County would be willing to forgo it.
I was with Tom Smith when Ben Lanka asked him if his feelings and the issue coming to the front now had anything to do with the Cedar Canyon controversy and Tom responded with a resounding yes. Â (Sorry to steal your thunder, Ben, but you probably have more readers than I do.)
I am coming to this a little late, and was caught off guard. Â Hopefully I have captured the essence of the conversation. Â But, in case I didn’t, you can listen to the audio portion of the discussion.
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