The appeals court said a 1981 Indiana law authorizing the council to take over the county s purchasing from the commissioners remains valid, even though the council waited nearly 40 years
The Indiana Court of Appeals has agreed to hear oral arguments June 24 in an unprecedented legal clash between the Lake County Council and the Lake County Board of Commissioners.
The Lake County Commissioners soon will file their arguments in an appeal of a Lake Superior Court ruling authorizing the Lake County Council to take control of the county s purchasing
HAMMOND â Lake Superior Judge John Sedia holds in his hands the future of Lake County government operations.
In coming days, Sedia will decide whether to renew his April 16 decision giving the Lake County Council control over purchasing and data processing, or to revise his prior ruling as requested by the Board of Commissioners that currently manages both departments.
Sedia heard arguments Thursday by two attorneys intimately involved in Lake County government for decades: John Dull, for the commissioners; and Ray Szarmach, for the council.
Dull passionately, but politely, made the case Sedia got it wrong three months ago when the judge concluded a 1981 Indiana law assigns authority over purchasing and data processing to the Lake County Council, regardless of whether the council has chosen to exercise that authority in the years since.
The filing lists five reasons for the “court’s order to be corrected” because it’s ruling is “contrary to law by not correctly applying the statutory language in the relevant statutes” given that, in large part, the 1980 law at the center of the case was repealed.