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Council introduces cell‑phone MOU and several moratoriums; debate centers on phone-wipe policy
Summary
The City of New Carlisle introduced six ordinances on Jan. 20, including a memorandum of understanding on employee cellphone issuance and stipend policy (Ordinance 2026‑01) that drew questions about wiping city data from personal devices; charter amendments and moratoriums on vape shops, cannabis operations, small solar and data centers were also introduced and set for Feb. 17 hearings.
The City of New Carlisle City Council on Jan. 20 introduced six ordinances and scheduled public hearings and action for Feb. 17, 2026. The most discussed measure was Ordinance 2026‑01, authorizing the city manager to execute a memorandum of understanding with the collective bargaining unit to add a cell-phone issuance and stipend policy.
Vice Mayor Shamie moved the ordinance and Councilwoman Eggleston seconded. During the discussion an unidentified council member asked, “what it means that their phones will be wiped,” expressing concern about employee privacy and fairness between workers who receive city phones and those who use personal devices for city business.
City Manager Mister Hall and staff explained the policy: city-owned phones will be reset to factory settings when returned, and where personal devices accept a stipend or are used for official business the city will extract or preserve city-related records to comply with public-records obligations. Staff emphasized that most city systems (e.g., Microsoft Outlook) are cloud-based, and that text messages are the principal non-cloud record of concern. Council and staff also discussed whether elected officials’ personal phones could be subject to public-record requests or subpoenas when official business is conducted on them; staff said such communications can be public records depending on content and context.
Council also introduced Ordinance 2026‑02 to submit proposed amendments to Article 8 of the City Charter (planning board/department changes) to the electors, noting the changes were recommended by a prior Charter Commission. Additionally, the council introduced moratoria (2026‑03 through 2026‑06) extending or establishing temporary restrictions on new vape shops, cannabis operations, small solar facilities and data centers; each was set for a Feb. 17 public hearing and action.
Votes and next steps: the clerk conducted roll calls on introduced items; Ordinance 2026‑01 was moved and seconded and recorded as receiving affirmative votes from the members present, advancing to the Feb. 17 hearing and action date. The council subsequently moved into executive session to discuss personnel matters and later reconvened and adjourned.
Quotations and concerns recorded in the discussion will be part of the hearing record on Feb. 17.
