Published: November 29, 2008 07:46 pm      

Jeffersonville annex could go to high court

Oak Park Residents ask State Supreme Court to hear their case

Plaintiffs in remonstrance of last year’s annexation of the Oak Park Conservancy District have asked the Indiana Supreme Court to hear their case.

That’s after the Clark County Circuit Court and the Indiana Court of Appeals dismissed the case earlier this year.

According to Bruce Herdt, lead plaintiff in the remonstrance, the petition to the Indiana Supreme Court was made Nov. 21. There is no deadline by which the court has to decide to hear the case or not.

The protest relates to a 2007 annexation by the Jeffersonville City Council, which — according to the fiscal plan that passed with it — took in 7,806 acres of land and an estimated 3,360 households north and east of the old city limits. Herdt and others dispute the number of households.

The annexation was done in six tracts, four of which were made final earlier this year. Two areas — known legally as area B and area E — were protested. The case on which the courts have been deciding isn’t on the annexation itself, but on the legal procedure of the protest.

Under state law, a remonstrance to an annexation has to be filed within 90 days and signatures of 65 percent of those affected by the annexation have to be included with the legal complaint.

Derrick Wilson, the attorney representing those remonstrating, filed paperwork on the 90th day of the period without the signatures. They were filed as an amendment to the original complaint a few days later.

Earlier this year, former Clark Circuit Judge Daniel F. Donahue granted a motion to dismiss from the city, which argued that the needed materials weren’t filed on time.

Wilson argued that the amendment containing the signatures related back to the original filing.

Both the trial court and the appeals court sided with the city.

About a dozen volunteers spent the 90-day period trying to garner the signatures, Herdt explained. Because of the large area those volunteers had to cover, Herdt said they knew it was going to take a long time to canvas every home.

“It’s a big task to get that done,” he said.

Wilson has said in court that his office didn’t have time to make copies of the signatures before the deadline.

He could not be reached for additional comment before the holiday weekend.



Dispute over numbers

The heart of the case relates to the number of homes taken in by the annexation.

The city estimated it to be around 3,660 households. Herdt and fellow petitioners estimate it to be around 5,200.

Because the number is off, he argues, city services will suffer.

Herdt has prepared a PowerPoint presentation — to illustrate how the alleged mistake was made — that he wants to present in court or in a public setting.

However, he’d like to have the legal issues regarding the signatures cleared up before doing so.



Services so far

City services have already begun for those in the tracts that did not legally protest the annexation.

“It’s on target and going well,” Mayor Tom Galligan said in a recent interview.

The Jeffersonville Police Department added five new police officers this year, and the department started patrolling the newly annexed areas in August, he said.

More than a dozen new firefighters have been hired and two new firehouses were opened amid fanfare in late June. The fire department began covering the annexed area in October, Galligan noted.

Despite some early trouble, trash service began in October.

The City Council passed an ordinance requiring residents to purchase a certain type of trash can, then subsequently ran out of the cans. All backorders are filled and plenty of extra garbage cans are in stock.

Galligan said there are no immediate plans to hire new trash collectors as a result of the annexation.

However, a new side-loading garbage truck — which can automatically pick up the special trash cans and only needs to be operated by one person — is scheduled to be on the road by the end of the month.

The city has no obligation to provide services to the remonstrating area until the challenge is over, said Larry Wilder, attorney for the city.

If the legal challenge falters and the annexation becomes legal, the city will have one year to provide noncapital services — such as police, fire and trash pickup — to the area, Wilder said.



Numbers in question

Protesters of Jeffersonville’s annexation question the number of households affected.

• 3,660 — The estimated number of households taken in by last year’s annexation, according to the city’s fiscal plan. It represents an estimated 9,000 new city residents.

• 5,200 — The estimated number of households taken in by last year’s annexation, according to those remonstrating.