Tip Line Ordinance Clears Committee

The Louisville Metro Council Oversight Committee has approved an ordinance that calls for the creation of a tip line to report allegations of wrongdoing in Metro Government. It goes before the full council in two weeks.If the legislation passes, it will allow the city to partner with a third party to establish the tip line.Ordinance sponsor Kevin Kramer says a third party line is preferable because it is staffed by experienced call screeners who can protect caller anonymity and weed out frivolous and baseless claims."If you only take 14 calls, it's hard for a person who only takes that number of calls to get any experience. So a third party tip line, where this is what they do, the persons who are sitting at the phone, this is their experience and they have a good deal more," he says.Mayor Abramson has said he will support the ordinance if the tip line is indeed secure. Committee co-chair Kelly Downard says one possible obstacle to passage is the tip line’s annual cost of about $20,000.