Court filings continue in Lawrence mayor, council dispute

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City of Lawrence Mayor Steve Collier has filed a response to specific allegations raised by the Lawrence Common Council in the ongoing civil court case filed by Collier in late March. 

Collier’s administration filed a petition March 23 in Marion County Superior Court over the council’s decision to appropriate $250,000 to investigate who was at fault when the city’s 2022 budget was not submitted to the state by deadline. 

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Collier

Collier’s petition asks the court to declare the appropriation null and void, based on state statutes that say an appropriation cannot be made without the mayor’s recommendation. Collier’s petition also asks the court to rule that the council was at fault for the 2022 budget issue, because it allegedly failed to provide details needed for that budget to be submitted on time. 

In its late-May response to the petition, the council alleges that through the petition and other actions, Collier’s administration is attempting to avoid investigation. On June 7, Collier filed a response to those allegations. 

“The council falsely suggests that the mayor has refused to ‘submit to the council’s legal authority to investigation [sic]’ and retained lawyers to ‘impede the investigation,’” Collier’s response states. “The council’s own counterclaim belies these false assertions, as it quotes from documents the council received from the mayor and his administration in response to its investigation subpoenas, as well as testimony from depositions of the mayor and two senior members of his administration that the council took over the better part of three days.”

Collier asserts that he has not refused to submit to the council’s legal authority to investigate, but is standing by his statutory authority to refuse to recommend an additional appropriation to fund the investigation beyond what the council previously budgeted for the 2023 fiscal year. 

“The council claims that unless this court gives it the authority to unilaterally appropriate unlimited funds for its lawyers, its investigative authority is meaningless,” Collier states. “However, the fact that the council has obtained numerous subpoenaed documents and several days of deposition testimony from the mayor and his administration belies those claims as well. The mayor has cooperated with the council’s investigation into the budgetary reversion, demonstrating that the council’s investigative authority is not ‘useless and meaningless.’”

The mayor’s response adds that he does not have the authority to dictate who the council can hire as its attorneys nor the financial terms of that particular contract, as long as the council has sufficient appropriated funds in its budget. If the council wants to increase its appropriation though, Collier argues that it then needs the mayor’s recommendation, as required by state statute.

In his response, Collier also states that case law cited by the council to support its position actually supports the mayor’s arguments. In the City of Gary case, that city’s council won, but Collier argues that it prevailed because state statutes give a council explicit authority for that particular disputed expense — police, fire and appointee pay. 

“There is no statute expressly withdrawing the mayor’s recommendation authority for additional appropriations for any city budget matter, including the council’s legal services,” Collier argues in the response. “The legislature has not clearly expressed that such appropriations should be outside the scope of the mayor’s recommendation authority. The court should reject the council’s invitation to disturb that system here.”

A court hearing has not yet been scheduled in the case. It has been assigned to a five-judge panel comprising Judges Kurt Eisgruber, Cynthia Ayers, Timothy Oakes, Heather Welch and Amber Collins-Gebrehiwet, according to court documents.

For additional coverage of this topic, see earlier Current stories at youarecurrent.com


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