Post-Tribune
It was with a broad brush that the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform painted the future of municipal, township and county operations last week.
The majority of the commission's 27 recommendations are solid and should be embraced by the General Assembly over the coming years.
Some of the key recommendations include:
-- Reorganizing libraries by counties.
-- Eliminating all township government -- assessors and trustees -- and rolling those responsibilities into county government.
-- Forcing school districts with fewer than 2,000 students to merge with larger districts.
-- Creation of a countywide body to oversee public safety, including law enforcement, fire protection, emergency medical services and 911 dispatch.
-- Replacing the three county commissioners with a single, elected county administrator. The other county officials we currently elect would be appointed by the administrator, except for the prosecutor.
While we intend to comment on a number of these proposals in the days and weeks ahead, it's obvious that not every proposal would be good for every county.
As Ross Township Trustee John Rooda said, one size won't fit all government operations. Clearly, more study is needed on some of the proposals before they should be implemented.
However, some of the recommendations should be adopted during the coming legislative session, including moving the cost of child welfare and the superior courts from the counties to the state and shifting municipal elections to an even-year cycle.
Meanwhile, we encourage legislators and local officials to keep an open mind rather than reject the proposals out of hand. Doing the right thing is often the most difficult.