A change to the Fort Wayne City Council agenda led to chaos at the end of Tuesday’s meeting, where residents who had shown up expecting a public comment period weren’t given the opportunity to speak.
At the conclusion of Tuesday’s meeting, frustrated residents pointed out that the city’s website says City Council holds regular sessions with a public comment period every second and fourth Tuesday of the month.
The council held a regular session, following a committee session, but closed the meeting with only comments from the board.
Councilman Geoff Paddock, D-5th, said the decision whether to include a public comment period is up to the council president, currently Councilman Marty Bender.
“I believe he indicated that this was billed more of a special meeting, so that was not included," Paddock said. "I do apologize to the general public if they felt misinformed.”
Paddock said he hopes public comment will return to the agenda on Jan. 27.
While Indiana law requires public comment be heard during a public hearing, it is not required to hold public comment during public meetings. The law only requires the public be able to attend and observe the meetings.
A sizeable group of residents showed up to speak about the ongoing Google data center build on the southeast side of the city.
Opposition to the project has been building over the past several months, with the group making specific requests of council.
Some of those requests include rescinding tax abatements given to the project and requesting Google rescind a request to the state to build more diesel generators on the property.
Councilman Russ Jehl, R-2nd, said he is less concerned about the tax abatements or the generators and more concerned about the potential for higher electricity bills for his constituents as a fallout of the data center using more energy.
“The silence on that matter continues to be deafening and that’s the part that people in my district quietly express to me now and what I’m trying to get answers to," Jehl said.
Even without the public comment, some members of the council acknowledged the group they knew were in the room, thanking them for their emails and correspondence and encouraging them to stay engaged.
During the meeting, council unanimously voted down a proposal that would have required the city reimburse Google for work done to update storm water drainage.
Several council members attributed the failure of that ordinance to Paddock’s work with Google while he was serving as council president at the end of last year.
“There’s a strong feeling that we’ve given them quite a bit," he said. "I reached out to them some time ago, about a month ago, and several other council members then followed up with me, to ask them to pay for this infrastructure improvement.”
As the meeting ended, security ushered the irate residents from the council chambers. Throughout the meeting, Bender reminded those in attendance that council rules require anyone who isn’t security or a city employee to immediately vacate the building following meetings.
Before leaving, several residents told council they would be back for public comment in two weeks.
