The City-County Council’s new investigative committee convened for the first time Tuesday evening, with the group hearing an overview of the city’s current sexual harassment reporting process.
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The proposal calls for a formal investigation into the city’s handling of sexual harassment allegations against a former top official in the Mayor’s Office, as well as overhauling the way similar claims are handled by city staff in the future.
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The City-County Council’s Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee advanced a tax-abatement proposal Monday that would save Calumet about $129,440 over a four-year term. In return, Calumet has committed to retaining 190 jobs.
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Six Democratic councilors-elect, and one Republican, make up the freshman class that will take office Jan. 1. Democrats will have a 19-6 majority on the Indianapolis City-County Council.
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Allowing each councilor to choose an improvement project is part of an initiative by Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration to invest in roads, parks and dangerous intersections throughout Marion County.
The move is part of a compromise after state lawmakers nearly passed a similar provision into law this year.
Attorneys from Atlanta-based law firm hired by the City-County Council explained that supervisors and managers are held to a higher standard when it comes to reporting and modeling appropriate behavior in the workplace.
The Indianapolis City-County Council Investigative Committee voted Wednesday evening to select national law firm Fisher Phillips to conduct an independent investigation into the Hogsett administration’s handling of sexual harassment allegations.
The Indianapolis City-County Council on Monday evening voted to approve two tweaked proposals: one that increases long-stagnant countywide elected official pay and the other requiring councilors to fill out more in-depth, publicly available disclosure forms.
A bipartisan City-County Council proposal would raise the pay for absentee voter board workers from $11 an hour to $15 an hour and recommend increased per diem for day-of workers.
The committee, which will have the power to subpoena witnesses including members of the Hogsett administration, is made up of five Democrats and two Republicans.
For now, disclosure forms bearing councilor workplaces, board memberships and potential conflicts of interest are only available through a records request to the council office.
An administrator at the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development was fired Wednesday after an internal investigation found “overwhelming evidence” of inappropriate sexual misconduct, according to documents released by the city’s attorneys.
The $1.3 million proposed for the Indy Arts Council will be discussed Thursday during a Parks and Recreation Committee budget hearing.
City-County Council President Vop Osili has authored a proposal to elevate the Indianapolis mayor’s annual salary by 31%, as well as increase salaries for seven other elected positions.
The Hogsett administration is currently under scrutiny after three former female employees made harassment accusations against former Chief of Staff Thomas Cook, who served as Hogsett’s close adviser for years despite concerns raised about his behavior.
The City-County Council also approved measures Monday that would require owners of Airbnb and VRBO rentals and dogs not spayed or neutered to register with the city.
The taxing district is expected to generate about $4.65 million a year for downtown-focused efforts in Indianapolis, along with funding the operating costs of the low-barrier homeless shelter planned on the southeast side of downtown.
Mayor Joe Hogsett’s staff stressed, however, that federal American Rescue Plan Act funds are running dry and union contracts are currently being renegotiated—two factors that constrain spending.
Most of the council’s Democratic caucus issued a joint statement Friday morning committing to city human resources reforms in light of sexual harassment allegations against a former top aide to Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett.
Jesse Brown, a first-term Democrat, said Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett should resign over his handling of sexual harassment claims against former top aide Thomas Cook.
For the JW Marriott, the fee would be nearly $348,000 a year. For Salesforce Tower, the cost is about $251,000.
An IndyStar investigation reported that Thomas Cook, who served as Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s chief deputy and advised him in other capacities, was accused by three subordinate women staffers of showering them with gifts and attention and then pressuring them toward intimacy.
The proposal would create a permitting system that imposes a $150 annual registration fee and allows the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services to conduct an inspection of the properties.
