Goot Logwood, LaPorte City councilman at-large, voted against the adoption of the 2011 budget on Nov. 1, 2010, saying, “This budget, if adopted, represents a failure of the governing body to address the needs of the citizens of LaPorte by cutting the law enforcement budget while violent crime and theft is on the rise.”
In a press release, Logwood said: “Repeatedly, I have asked for additional meetings of the finance committee in the form of the full completion of the city council and in compliance of the Open Door Law so that the public could also be in attendance. But these requests have been met with the claim that I am ‘the Lone Ranger,’ as if I am the only person within the city that feels this way, while those from region who receive the South Bend Tribune can plainly see the criminal activity that they report on weekly and sometimes a daily basis, and the need for additional financial help to go to our police department.
“One member of council feels that he must repair the good morale between the fire and police departments, because of my raising the fact that passage of this budget represents a 5% cut of the police budget over 3 years while the fire department has only seen 1% and has over 8,500 hours of overtime.
“While I am sorry to be the one bringing this issue to forefront, the facts are that morale was bad before I did this, and the appearance of a conflict of interest on the finance committee by the mayor handpicking a LaPorte city fireman over that same three-year period is glaring. In addition, I cannot see how that fireman/councilman will be the one to restore morale.
“I am not trying to pick a fight with the mayor or any other member of this council, but I will if the people’s voice needs to be represented. I was elected by the people of LaPorte to be on their team, and I have been and plan always to be an independent voice for them.
“I believe that conventional wisdom should point the direction in this matter and if, on a monthly basis, the fire department is running 250 calls and only 50 of those are not EMS assist calls to the police department’s 2,000 calls per month, then the choice is clear as to allocation of budget resources. In addition, if the fire department must operate with 8,500 hours of overtime, or the equivalent of hiring four new firefighters, then I believe that we must also look at the closure of one of the city’s three fire stations for the 2011 budget cycle.
“This second reading of the budget is being forwarded the county for the stamp of approval on the bottom line only. I ask again that a meeting(s) be held after the return of this budget from the county to review changes to this 2011 budget.”
