City-County Councilor Jesse Brown says he will ask his colleagues Monday to immediately remove three members of the Metropolitan Development Commission, escalating a months-long fight over data center development in Marion County.
In an email sent to all 25 councilors Wednesday afternoon, Brown, a District 13 Democrat, said he intends to move to amend the agenda at the full Council meeting on August 10 and force a same-night debate and vote on removing Brandon Herget, Daniel Moriarty and Gregg West from the commission.
All three are Council appointees. Brown wrote that they have “repeatedly disregarded the will of our constituents” by continuing to approve data centers and declining to advance a moratorium.
“Failing to act would make this body culpable in the continuing and escalating disrespect for our bosses, the taxpayers and constituents,” Brown wrote.
Brown is relying on Indiana Code 36-7-4-218(g), a provision that applies only to the Metropolitan Development Commission. Unlike the subsection governing plan commissions elsewhere in the state, which requires cause and permits a removed member to appeal to the local circuit or superior court, the MDC provision requires no cause at all. The appointing authority must mail notice of the removal, with written reasons “if any,” to the member’s residence address. The statute states that a removed member may not appeal the removal to a court or otherwise.
Brown’s reading of that statute is largely accurate. The obstacles are procedural and political.
The appointing authority under the statute is the Council as a body, not individual members, meaning Brown needs a majority of the 25-member Council behind him. Council appointments to the MDC have historically been made by proposal, which is then retitled as a Council resolution, and Council rules ordinarily route proposals through committee. Brown’s plan to amend the agenda and vote the same evening would require his colleagues to set those rules aside.
The statute also makes mailing, not the vote itself, the operative act. Brown’s email asks for removals “effective immediately,” but the Council would still need notices mailed to each commissioner’s home address.
Even if the removals succeed, they would not change the balance on the commission. The MDC has nine members: five appointed by the mayor and four by the Council. Replacing three Council appointees with moratorium supporters would still leave that bloc short of a majority absent movement from Mayor Joe Hogsett’s appointees. Brown’s email does not address the mayor’s appointments, nor does it mention the Council’s fourth appointee to the commission.
Moriarty’s term expires August 11. Brown acknowledged the timing but argued the Council should act anyway to make its wishes clear. State law provides that a member serves until a successor is appointed and qualified, meaning Moriarty could continue voting past the expiration date if no replacement is named.
The email was copied without the other councilors’ knowledge to IndyPolitics.org. Brown closed by inviting his colleagues to discuss the proposal with him and said he welcomed support “from anyone and everyone.”
The Council meets Monday at 7 p.m. in the City-County Building.
