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Vendor proposes recodifying Logansport ordinances; council expresses interest
Summary
A representative from American Legal Publishing presented a proposal to recodify the city code, offering legal review, housekeeping, online hosting and ongoing updates; the quoted project cost was $12,575 with additional online setup and per‑page update fees.
Joe McDonough of American Legal Publishing presented to the council a written proposal to recodify Logansport’s code of ordinances, update provisions that conflict with state law, add ordinances adopted since the last update and produce an online, searchable code.
McDonough said his firm, headquartered in Cincinnati and working with roughly 350 Indiana local governments, would review the existing code, identify conflicts with Indiana law, provide a research report with recommendations, and not change any ordinance without the city’s permission. He said the company would also provide model ordinances for topics the city lacks and would prepare a single adopting ordinance so the city need not pass dozens of separate ordinances to effect the update.
McDonough provided a cost and timeline: $12,575 for the legal research and update project (which can be spread over two budget years), an initial $695 fee to create the online version, and $5.95 per year thereafter for hosting. He described a standard draft timeline of five to seven months to prepare a draft of the revised code for the city attorney to review and said ongoing updates are available on a schedule the city chooses. He explained update pricing for edits is charged on a per‑page basis (he cited $19 per page for a typical single‑column page and a higher rate for double‑column formatting).
Council members asked questions about whether the city would need to pass multiple ordinances; McDonough reiterated the company would provide a single ordinance adopting the revised code. City staff said the clerk‑treasurer’s office had been concerned about the time required to extract pertinent ordinances from the current, out‑of‑date online presentation; McDonough said his firm would handle the extraction and create and maintain the new online version.
Several council members said the quoted cost seemed reasonable and asked staff to circulate the proposal; no formal procurement action or contract award occurred at the meeting. The council asked staff to review the proposal and bring it back for consideration at a future meeting.
