City and County feud on Homeland Security funding

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE)--Fort Wayne and Allen County have both been funding the area's Department of Homeland Security since 2006, but the City hopes to pull funding which has left county commissioners with questions.

The department is technically the county's responsibility.  But, since February of 2006, the two have been in an Exchange of Services agreement. Mayor Henry thinks the City needs to save money and wants out of the agreement.

In a letter to county commissioners on February 2, Henry wrote:

"While the past six years have been a valuable experiment, with the challenges of budgetary constraints, the City must work to find more effective service solutions for its residents."

Allen County Commissioners were pretty surprised by the mayor's message and want more specifics on his reasoning.  That’s why they sent him a letter Thursday. It said, “Before we dismantle in 60 days what we've built over the past six years, let us be certain that our decisions are well vetted and in the best interests of our community.”

Commissioners said Henry’s letter offers “little specificity.”  They’re urging Mayor Henry for a written response to their letter by February 17.  They hope to get more detail on why he thinks “it is in the best interests of citizens to discontinue the joint Office of Homeland Security.”

Allen County Commissioner Nelson Peters said city's decision could put Bernie Beier’s job as the director of the Fort Wayne-Allen County Homeland Security in jeopardy.

“You'd take a guy that's a real expert in Homeland Security, put him in a position where he doesn't know his future because the budget would go from $278,000 a year to $144,000 a year,” Peters said.

A spokesperson from the City said Mayor Henry had already spoken with each of the commissioners on the issue before Thursday’s letter, and he looks forward to ongoing discussions.

Indiana State Senator Tom Wyss said he’s received calls from people from the state to the national level who want to know what's going on with the Department of Homeland Security in Fort Wayne and Allen County.  Wyss thinks there's no way it could be about the budget.  Like the county commissioners, he doesn't know why the City would want to hinder a program that's going so well.