It’ll be hard for area politics in 2016 to match the drama and drastic changes from this year.
Elections do that sort of thing — a heated mayoral election swept in Republican Lenny Curry over Mayor Alvin Brown, a Democrat. Eleven of 19 City Council members also took the dais for the first time.
That doesn’t mean it’ll be a quiet year. In fact, the start of the year promises to begin with some fireworks.
Two opposing bills have been filed on how to decide expansion of the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance. That was done by two council members the same week much-publicized community conversations organized by Curry ended.
Curry hasn’t weighed in on the issue just yet, but said he won’t let anyone or anything dictate his timeline on the issue.
On the financial side, Curry and council still have to find a way to bring pension reform to the finish line. That means money — lots of money.
More than the $1 billion-plus needed to minimize unfunded liability in the public safety plan. Curry has said one option could be turning to the Legislature for help, but has been mum on details of what that entails.
On local legislative side, council President Greg Anderson said he’s ready for council to review any plan that comes forth. But there’s much more the 19-member group will accomplish over the next six months.
Examples: Wrapping up changes to the public service grant process; moving the entire city to a single-stream recycling system; finding a solution to the vehicles-for-hire issues; and finishing a capital improvement review.
He’ll have until July 1 to lead the group — council Vice President Lori Boyer is expected to slide into the leadership role when new officers are elected.