The New Albany City Council narrowly moved the 2026 budget ahead Thursday, despite unanswered questions about what the administration has spent related to a low-head dam.
The council voted 5-4 to advance the budget to a final reading Oct. 6. Members who voted against it said they want more information before passing the budget.
Earlier this month, the council requested that Mayor Jeff Gahan provide information on what his administration has spent to litigate and preserve the Providence Mill Dam, also known as the Glenwood Park Dam, in Silver Creek. The council also wants to know what the administration has budgeted for these efforts. Council President Adam Dickey said they requested an executive session to discuss litigation, too.
Gahan has been fighting removal of the dam for four years, and the city is involved in multiple court cases. The city has in part challenged the permit granted for removal. It’s also a defendant in multiple cases.
The council did not have the requested information as of the council meeting Thursday.
“I think we need that in order to…approve a budget that has funds in there for the dam,” Council Member Scott Blair said before he voted “no” on second reading of the budget ordinance.
The mayor could still respond before the final budget vote next month. Dickey said the board had not yet received a response by Friday morning. LPM News asked the mayor Thursday if and when he plans to respond, and followed up with additional questions Friday. He did not respond by the noon deadline.
Gahan declined a similar request from the council last year, saying in a letter it could hurt the city’s legal strategy. The administration has also not yet provided information requested by news outlets, including LPM News.
Gahan said in a recent statement that the city has been able to make the dam safe and fight legal challenges “while not overspending a single penny.”
He has cited historical, recreational and environmental concerns with dam removal, and challenged the legitimacy of the permit to remove it. The city has brought forth multiple legal challenges to keep it in place. River Heritage Conservancy, which is overseeing plans for nearby Origin Park, wants to take the dam out for safety and to restore the natural flow of this Ohio River tributary.
Last August, Gahan had rocks placed in front of the dam to stop the hydraulic current that can be deadly at some low-head dams. That came two months after 14-year-old A.J. Edwards, Jr. drowned there.
Since then, the dam has become a focus of legal and other concerns.
State and federal agencies say Gahan didn't have permitting to do that. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has an ongoing case against the city. Edwards’ mother is suing the city and others for her son’s death. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is also assessing conditions at the dam with a report expected by mid-October, according to a Corps spokesperson.
Council Member Greg Phipps — who voted “no” along with Blair, Stefanie Griffith and Louise Gohmann — said he would like the dam spending information, but is willing to compromise. He wants assurance from Gahan that he won’t escalate recent appeals cases the city lost by taking them to the state Supreme Court. Gahan has not said whether he plans to do that.
“I'd be willing to let what's been spent go by, but I do need to know if more money is going to be spent taking this to the Indiana Supreme Court,” Phipps said.
Some council members also want more information supporting the city’s proposed 10% pay raises to non-union city employees and elected officials, such as data from comparable municipalities.
Advocacy group pushes council for accountability
An advocacy group in Southern Indiana is asking the New Albany City Council to push harder for the spending details.
Cisa Kubley, Transparency Chapter Chair for Hoosier Action, spoke at the budget hearing Thursday. The group focuses on community and civic issues. Kubley said residents deserve to have more information on where their tax dollars are going, and said the council needs to hold the mayor accountable for that information.
“We would like to remind the council that the city is not a private corporation. It is a public institution, and the administration has a duty to this community to be ethical stewards of the funds that we pay in taxes,” she said. “Nationally, we are struggling with so much fractured trust, and if we're going to rebuild that, it is critical that we have really strong ethical leadership at the local level.”
She told LPM News the board has a responsibility to answer to their community.
“What we want to get from the council is a commitment, not only to insist the mayor disclose that information to them, but that that be publicly available information,” she said.
Council Member Gohmann said at the meeting that the city council’s request for information on spending was reasonable. She said they weren't asking where their funds came from, just how much has been spent and “what the endgame is for this debacle.”
“By not being open with the council and the public about it, the administration is giving the impression that they are doing something underhanded, which I absolutely do not believe,” Gohmann said, adding, “I will continue to talk about the dam until the day the dam goes down. The people want answers. Enough is enough.”
Coverage of Southern Indiana is funded, in part, by Samtec Inc., the Hazel & Walter T. Bales Foundation, and the Caesars Foundation of Floyd County.
