Published: November 04, 2008 01:19 pm      

Jeffersonville mayor breaks tie over hiring freeze

Galligan says he’s not against capping salaries temporarily, but proposal was altered at meeting

Jeffersonville Mayor Tom Galligan cast a tie-breaking vote against a proposed hiring freeze that, with one member absent, left the City Council deadlocked Monday night.

Galligan — whose vote ultimately defeated the resolution — said he wasn’t against the proposal to freeze salaries, but wanted a clean copy of it after a few changes were made by council members while it was being discussed. Some members of the council cited the same reason when voting against it.

“I’m voting with those who want clean copies,” Galligan said. “There’s nobody going to be hired, nobody’s going to change salaries.

“Bring it back next time and it’ll be passed.”

Councilman Keith Fetz proposed the hiring freeze because he said Galligan’s administration went back on its word when it hired a new fire department employee.

Prior to that, he said, the council and the mayor had agreed that there would be no more new hires.

Galligan countered that the person hired by the fire department was already in the process before that discussion took place.

“Nobody that I hired was not in the budget,” he said. “Go ahead and pass it. It’s OK.”

The hiring freeze would prohibit city officials from hiring people for new positions until a 2009 budget is approved by the state. Indiana has been behind on approving local government budgets in recent years. It only two weeks ago approved a 2008 budget, more than 10 months into the year.

“It obviously makes sense for us to take a step back and take a look before we make a decision,” Fetz said, citing the budget concerns.

Councilman Ron Grooms said he also wanted to freeze salary adjustments. And a provision was worked in that exempted the city’s sewer department from the hiring freeze.

Council members Nathan Samuel and Barbara Wilson said they were voting against it because they wanted to see clean copies of the proposal, including the changes.

Councilman Mike Smith voted against it as well, saying he wanted more time to for examination and that he wanted to know more about what brought on the measure.

Grooms voted for it, saying “it gives the mayor clear direction from the council.”

Council President Ed Zastawny also voted for approval, creating a three-to-three tie among council members and putting it in the hands of the mayor. Councilwoman Connie Sellers was absent.

Monday’s meeting was the first time Galligan had been called on to break a council vote since his term began in January.

In other business

• The council approved $42,648 in annexation money for a new brush truck and new pagers for the Jeffersonville Fire Department. Assistant Fire Chief Tony Decker told members a truck was needed in order to fight brush fires in newly annexed rural areas and the pagers were needed to outfit newly hired members.

• A resolution that changes the name of the city’s beautification committee to the City Pride Committee was approved. Councilwoman Barbara Wilson said the committee is involved in a lot more than picking up garbage, which — for some — is what the old moniker implied.

Among other things, the committee handles the placement of city benches, bike racks, planters and garbage cans, she said.

• Additional appropriations for fuel, police software and emergency backup radios were also approved.