ROC Investigating Committee Approves Resolution Seeking Court Order To Enforce Subpoena

It's been close to a month since the full Indianapolis City-County Council approved a resolution authorizing the issuance of a subpoena to the Indianapolis corporation counsel's office requesting production of documents the ROC Investigating Committee has sought from city officials for the past five months. Tonight, the committee voted on party lines to send a proposal to the full council seeking permission to file an action in the Marion Circuit Court to compel production of the requested documents regarding the controversial 25-year, $20 million lease agreement for the regional operations center.

According to information provided to the committee by the council's counsel, Fred Biesecker, the City has failed to produce close to three-quarters of the dozens of documents requested by the committee either because it says it doesn't have the documents or has just failed to produce them. The building's landlord, Alex Carroll, produced those documents that he says he alone possessed and that the City did not have. His attorney said the council should seek the balance of the documents from the City because they are public records in its possession. If tonight's resolution is approved by the full council, Circuit Court Judge Louis Rosenberg will be asked to determine whether an order should be issued to compel production of the documents. Republicans continued to challenge and question the motivations of Biesecker and Democratic council members in seeking production of the documents. They believe the City will eventually produce the documents if given more time.

Interestingly, Councilor Ben Hunter, who sits on the committee despite sponsoring the original resolution approving the controversial lease and collecting campaign contributions from the politically-connected owner of the ROC building, suggested tonight that the committee should back off its push to investigate the lease because of a separate criminal investigation that he says has been launched. Hunter said he was surprised the media had not yet reported on the criminal investigation. Councilor Joe Simpson, who chairs the committee, said he had not been apprised of a criminal investigation when Hunter queried him about it. Apparently, the Indiana State Police is investigating, which could mean a political cover up is underway. ISP, a highly-political law enforcement agency that operates at the whims of the state's governor, might give a pretense of a serious investigation simply to clear everyone of any criminal wrongdoing so the Ballard administration can argue case closed. These people are too predictable.

Hunter also pushed the idea of passing an ordinance to modify the process for entering into leases to prevent city officials from ignoring long-standing practices followed prior to the ROC lease, which he said should include a requirement that the services of commercial brokers be retained for the negotiation of any city leases. Of course, the commercial real estate brokers are stuffing a lot of money in the politicians' pockets so that idea from Hunter comes as no big surprise. The use of a commercial broker for the redevelopment project for the Mass Avenue block now home to IFD headquarters and IFD Station 7 has turned into a total boondoggle that is costing taxpayers a fortune, while rewarding the broker more than a $1 million fee for performing the absolute worst negotiations possible from the public's standpoint.