In a rare split vote, the Evansville City Council voted five to four to deny a $175,000 expenditure for a new and upgraded city website.
Funds were from interest earned from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds waiting to be spent.
Council members like Missy Mosby who voted "no," though she agrees that the website needs work.
“… but I feel like right now we need to kind of slow our roll on this type of spending and focus on the needs of our constituents,” she said. “I would really love to see this money be spent for weatherization of homes, supporting local agencies that do provide food and assistance.”
According to the Mayor's Office, the current website was launched in September of 2012.
Council members who voted “no,” did so for several reasons. Some felt it was poor timing especially with the possibility of Evansville losing income due to state-level tax cuts.
All public comments were against spending money on a new website. According to spokesman Joe Atkinson, the Mayor’s Office has put this project on hold. “While we are committed to improving access to city services, these projects are on hold with no immediate further plans to pursue them,” he said via text message.
Members in favor included Mary Allen who saw this website as a way to efficiently help a lot of residents while making city services easier to navigate.
Allen decided to support the measure based on resident feedback.
“I had someone walking in here today saying, ‘I've tried to get on and see what boards and commissions are available, but it's too difficult and frustrating to locate.’ So we will have more people engaging. It's better service to serve a lot more people. So I have come full circle in support of this, to be honest, in the past two weeks.”
Allen said the website is "embarrassing," due to its difficulty in navigation and finding items.
Voting for the plan was Zac Heronemus, Paul Green, Ben Trockman and Mary Allen. Against were Tanisha Carothers, Angela Koehler Lindsey, Courtney Johnson, Missy Mosby and Jim Brinkmeyer.
City Controller Robert Gunter explained other uses for the earned interest of about $4 million. He said
approximately $1 million has been used so for. Among the projects are blight removal, and demolition and debris removal.
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