Kokomo — Howard County’s Township Consolidation Study Group voted Wednesday evening to move forward with a proposal to reduce the number of townships from 11 to five.
The study group voted unanimously to recommend the townships consolidate using school district boundaries.
The proposal has Center and Taylor townships as remaining unchanged based on the school boundaries. Harrison, Honey Creek and Monroe would consolidate along the Western School Corp. boundaries; Clay, Ervin and Howard along the Northwestern school lines and Liberty, Jackson and Union following the Eastern school boundaries.
Center Township Trustee Jean Lushin, chairman of the study group, said a public opinion survey showed 61 percent of county residents supported consolidation of the townships, and 35 percent of those in support favored using the school boundaries.
Lushin said the next step is for each of the county’s 11 township boards to pass a resolution in favor of the consolidation proposal so that residents can vote on it in a referendum question on the November 2012 ballot.
If approved by voters in 2012, the consolidated township boards and trustees would be elected in November 2014 and take office in 2015.
If a board votes against adopting the resolution, 5 percent of the voters in the township can petition to have the referendum question included on the ballot.
Lushin said if two of the three township boards vote in favor of the resolution, they could still consolidate.
“It has been found that after two or three years of operating with a consolidated township, there would be a savings through a more efficient operation,” he said.
As proposed and adopted by all the townships, the number of township board members would be reduced from 33 to 15. Trustees would be cut from 11 to five.
Currently Monroe and Honey Creek townships have not been a part of the formal discussions.
Lushin said those township boards would receive a copy of the recommendation.
“I’m sure they will be asked about it,” he said. “Every township should receive a copy. If they decide to pass the resolution, we can start moving toward consolidation.”
Lushin said there is still a long process ahead before the consolidation can take place.
Howard County is the only county in the state where townships are moving toward consolidation under the Government Modernization Act.
Taylor Township Trustee Dianne Kuntz recommended a meeting be scheduled with all the township board members to answer any questions about the consolidation plan.
Last week Gov. Mitch Daniels called the Howard County effort an interesting idea and one being talked about elsewhere in the state.
Daniels said he has no problem with the approach of consolidating along the school boundaries.
“If Howard County took the lead and it’s seen as a successful step forward, then it would be imitated elsewhere,” Daniels said.