Wayne Township Hosts Mayor's Night Out

Sherron Franklin

Photo by Jay Thompson

(posted Mar 22)

Mayor Greg Ballard and his staff of 20 came prepared to address Wayne Township residents' concerns at the March 20 town hall meeting. The Mayor's meeting lasted about 90 minutes at the ESEC center. Abandoned and vacant homes and ex-offender re-entry programs were some of the dominating issues.

Sherron Franklin, the Mayor's newly appointed point person on abandoned homes, is taking an aggressive approach to reduce the abandoned housing problem. Currently it takes about 18 to 24 months for the City to gain ownership of an abandoned home. Franklin wants to cut that number down to 30 days, paring down the Mayor's goal of six to nine months. Franklin was appointed for her experience in working with arsons that often involved abandoned and vacant homes.

Just ten days into her job, Franklin discussed the objectives in her plan which she is presenting to the mayor next week. She is hoping the mayor will adopt the plan that will require legislative changes, but did not go into detail as to what changes. Franklin emphasized the abandoned homes are not the same as a vacant home because those homes have tax delinquent status while vacant homes are just unoccupied for what ever reason. However, both homes are breeding grounds for crime and arson. Franklin is a former arson investigator.

She said it costs about $5,000 per house to demolish. She is also working with Department of Metropolitan Development about establishing a rental property registration because many income rental properties are owned by people out of state. Her plan drew applause from the audience.

Although a point person has not been named for the re-entry program, the Mayor considers this as a key component to reducing crime. Marion County receives about 5,000 ex-offenders released from jail a year.

His plan is to work with offenders during pre-release time to help develop job skills so they will be prepared when they leave prison to be able to assimilate into society. He said he met one individual at Martin University who has 3.8 GPA but he can't find employment because of his criminal past.

One man voiced his concern that these re-entry programs fail to seek advice from the ex-offenders that have been successful with finding employment and main stream back into society.

He said the individuals could serve as role models to help others. Ballard responded by saying that he is the first mayor to address re-entry. The county currently has a patch work of non-profits filling the void. His goal is to unify the efforts with a city plan.

Mark Killgo of the the Eagledale Lafayette Square Weed and Seed welcomed the Mayor's plan and invited him to coordinate efforts with the weed and seed committee. Part of the Department of Justice's requirement to receive Weed and Seed grant money is the establishment of a re-entry program.

Deputy Mayor Olgen Williams said "The Mayor gave me a chance," as he openly shared that he had a criminal past. "It is happening already with Olgen Williams." He thanked the Mayor for hiring him.

The Mayor said he would be willing to look at tax credits to encourage employers to hire ex-offenders.

Speedway Town Councilor Lu Hillmer was concerned about consolidation of the schools. Although the Mayor made no promises, it appears for the time being, he is not interested in school consolidation. "I have bigger fish to fry than that now," he said.

Ballard said 11 school districts in the county is a lot, but Speedway is the model with its high graduation rate and no long term debt. "I hate to destroy what works," he said. He pointed out that the combined long term debt of the districts other than Speedway is $1.8 billion, saying "Speedway does it right."

He assured the audience school consolidation would arise again in 2009 at the state house.

As for now, the Mayor is more concerned about consolidating the fire departments "willing or unwilling" to establish a unified safety standard and equipment.

The Mayor's other change is to eliminate the bottle neck in city prosecution over zoning cases. Chris Cotterill of city legal is working with DMD and Marion County Health and Hospital to coordinate information submitted to the legal department. He also noted they are increasing the size of staff to ease the bottle neck. He expects to have a reorganization plan complete within three months. The mayor encouraged the public to report zoning violations. To report zoning violations call 327-4MAC.