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Commenter urges council to revise municipal code after public-access rulings, calls for city attorney review
Summary
Logan Foster told the council that a municipal ordinance conflicts with state law and cited rulings by Indiana public access counselors, urging the council to assign the issue to the legal department and to consider terminating the city attorney over alleged misconduct.
Logan Foster, of 1138 College Street, told the South Bend City Council during public comment that a city ordinance he cited—"article 2, chapter 1, section 2 10 1" of the municipal code—has been ruled in conflict with state law by two Indiana public access counselors and should be amended.
"This ordinance has been ruled in violation of state law not once, but twice by 2 respected Indiana public access counselors, Joseph Bihaj and Luke Britt," Foster said. Foster urged the council to assign the topic for legal follow-up and said Clerk Toronto had sought clarification from Counselor Britt about whether a rules committee meeting should have been public.
Foster also called for the council to terminate Attorney Bob Palmer, alleging Palmer "has played a central role in enabling illegal executive sessions" and citing a past incident in which Palmer sought to have a council member arrested. "Let's not mince words," Foster said. "For this, Palmer collects nearly a $100,000 in taxpayer funded salary." Foster described Palmer's actions as potentially constituting attorney misconduct and asked President Kenneth Lee to follow up.
Foster's remarks are recorded in the meeting’s public comment period. The transcript records his requests to assign the matter to the legal department and his allegations; the council took no formal action on the record during this meeting to amend the ordinance or to remove the city attorney.
