city of fort wayne

Allen County’s Republican Party leader has a new proposal to protect workers he says will “smooth the edges” of Fort Wayne’s recent ban on collective bargaining for most city employees.

Chairman Steve Shine sent a letter to Republican members of the Fort Wayne City Council Friday urging them to create an appeals process for city workers that would ensure fairness in firing and disciplinary decisions.

Shine says he was initially approached on the matter by Jeremy Bush with the Fort Wayne Professional Firefighers union, who asked him to intercede with a proposal.

The Fort Wayne City Council meets again Tuesday to discuss and possibly vote on a series of proposals aimed at limiting collective bargaining for city employees.

Councilmen John Crawford and Russ Jehl introduced the measures earlier this month, citing the high cost of both the collective bargaining process and union employee benefits.

The debate has been heated, and before the council convenes, both sides were given a chance to share their views with WBOI News.

Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry delivered his annual State of the City address to a packed room of mostly municipal employees at the Grand Wayne Center Wednesday.

Henry used the forum to highlight some of his administration's victories in 2013 and announce new plans for this year.

His speech touched on everything from business growth to infrastructure improvements to the $71 million Ash Brokerage project coming to Downtown Fort Wayne.

Henry also acknowledged there's work to be done, especially in containing the violent crime Fort Wayne experienced in 2013.

The City of Fort Wayne and Allen County are letting the State of Emergency declared Monday to expire at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday. But they're leaving a Winter Weather Travel Watch in its place.

The advisory means residents are being encouraged to stay off the roads, many of which are still hazardous, but essential travel will be allowed for things like getting to and from work.

City and county offices will be open on Tuesday, along with state government facilities, which open at 10:00 a.m.

Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry announced his appointment Monday for the city’s new police chief. Garry Hamilton will be the first African-American to hold the position, replacing outgoing chief Rusty York, who was recently named the city’s new public safety director.

At a press conference, Mayor Henry said Hamilton’s priorities will be to improve communication with other law enforcement agencies and the community, and to instate a strategic plan to address homicides and violent crimes in the city.

Each week, WBOI's Sean Bueter sits down with Bob Caylor from the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel and Dan Stockman from the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette to look back at the biggest metro and statewide stories of the week.

This week: Superintendent Glenda Ritz sues the State Board of Education; the City of Fort Wayne has a new budget; new Legacy projects are up for consideration soon; and the region loses one of its most successful entrepreneurs.

Dan Stockman and Bob Caylor join WBOI's Sean Bueter each week from the Fort Wayne Newspapers building.

Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry announced his newly appointed Deputy Mayor Tuesday.

Karl Bandemer has a long history with Mayor Tom Henry. In the early 80s Bandemer was in charge of economic development when then city council member Henry served. Henry attributes Bandemer with encouraging a diversity of industry in town, after Fort Wayne had lost thousands of manufacturing jobs at that time.

He also lauds Bandemer for his leadership, government experience, and aptitude for economic development.

The City of Fort Wayne has outlined details of its contribution to the recently announced $71 million development in downtown. It is designed to take up nearly an entire city block and include a new national headquarters for Ash Brokerage, and a residential development led by Hanning & Bean Enterprises. 

Of the 71 million dollar public-private partnership, the public portion is 19.5 million.

Only 1-to-2 million dollars of the city’s investment will come from Legacy Funds. The rest is coming from two different sources.

From the City of Fort Wayne –

Leaf pick-up in the City’s 355 neighborhoods begins Monday, October 21, 2013.  The Street Department will collect leaves in two separate sweeps through each neighborhood.  Crews will roll into the neighborhoods between October 21 and December 6, 2013. 

The 2013 Fort Wayne Leaf Pick-up schedule will be:

Oct. 21-25                   South

Oct. 28-Nov. 1            North

Nov. 4-8                      Central

Nov. 12-15                  South

Nov. 18-22                  North