That hue and cry to drastically reduce the amount of local government across Indiana may have waned, but the supporters of the movement are ready for another push.
And the biggest cheerleader is Gov. Mitch Daniels, who commissioned the Kernan-Shepard study that recommended 27 ways to change the face of county, municipal and township government, as well as schools and libraries.
Daniels has called local government antiquated -- something that missed out on the last century.
Virtually nothing has been accomplished since the recommendations were issued in December 2007.
"Yeah, we'll roll the rock up the hill again," Daniels told the Post-Tribune editorial board recently in reference to the Kernan-Shepard study. "There are pieces we didn't try to move at all. I am open to any way to approach it."
State Rep. Chester Dobis, D-Merrillville, has been a supporter of the proposed reform.
"I don't think it will ever go away," Dobis said. "I think most legislators feel that way."
And the governor?
"He is hell-bent on that," Dobis said.
The Democratic majority in the House has blocked most of the local government reform legislation. That could change if Republicans take control of the House this fall.
"I think House Republicans would take decisive action for the governor," Dobis said.
While the recommendations talk about doing away with much of county government, there is nothing about merging towns and cities, although that periodically remains a subject of discussion in Lake County where there are 19 municipalities.
Despite the posturing in the Legislature, Porter County political pundit Robert Wichlinski sees it differently.
"People don't want to reform government because there is a whole economy built around it," Wichlinski said. "There are more employed by government than manufacturing in Indiana."
Wichlinski said expectations exceed the ability of government to pay for them in Lake County.
"Do I want a (government-run) water park? I don't know. How do we not clothe or feed our people, but add things to a water park?" Wichlinski said.
While he believes in less government, Wichlinski said the Kernan-Shepard report didn't tell government how to go about making the changes.
"The other half of the problem is that no one took ownership. It never got to the people," Wichlinski said.
Wichlinski also criticized the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns for preserving the status quo.
"It take the public's money and fights reform. We can't afford to keep doing it like this. There should be no sacred cows here," Wichlinski said.
The only Kernan-Shepard recommendations to be adopted are the shift of the cost of welfare from counties to the state and the elimination of most of the township assessor offices.
However, the assessor offices in Calumet, Hobart, Ross, Center and St. John townships survived voter referendums in Lake County. Just Portage Township in Porter County kept its assessor office.
Legislation earlier this year to eliminate township boards died.
Lake County Surveyor George Van Til, a veteran official with a keen insight into local government, caught a glimpse of the township board maneuvering.
Van Til was downstate earlier this year and heard the issue of doing away with the township boards being discussed.
While the group didn't take a stand on defending township boards, Van Til said, "Their decision was, if we don't fight it, it's the first chink in the armor. Who's next?"
Van Til also put the idea of consolidating government into perspective.
"How do you get (to consolidation) when one of the most logical things for regionalism -- library consolidation -- is something you can't even have a discussion about," Van Til said.
In view of the computer age, Van Til also asked, "How many library buildings do we need today?"
More county trims needed
While municipalities aren't consolidating in Lake County, government is undergoing a facelift because of the state-imposed levy freeze, reduced property tax collections and a cap on the amount of property taxes counties, townships and municipalities can raise.
Larry Blanchard, R-Crown Point, the dean of the Lake County Council, said the county has had to cut $17 million from the budget over the last two years. That figure will be up to $40 million in three more years.
Blanchard said more cuts can be made, particularly in the area of the courts -- by putting bailiffs and public defenders in a pool.
"Maybe we will see things that were untouchable before, now being touchable," Blanchard said.
County Commissioner Gerry Scheub, too, said the time may have come to close the county satellite buildings in Gary, Hammond and East Chicago.
"There would be a $5 million savings closing the three courthouses," Scheub said, adding that by eliminating the cost of repairs and upgrading, the savings could approach $7 million annually.
County structure intact
In terms of county government, Kernan-Shepard calls for the elimination of county commissioners, expansion of the County Council and the election of a county administrator who would appoint the county officials who now are elected.
That could be a monumental task for the Legislature, given opposition back home.
Van Til put it in perspective, saying, "When you talk about consolidating county offices, the paranoia is incredible."
Van Til's point was amplified several years ago when U.S. Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-Merrillville, laid his good government study on the doorstep of the Lake County Government Center.
The proposal talked about cutting, consolidating and innovating county government.
Virtually every county officeholder stiff-armed the idea of having an independent consultant do a study of their domains. While they ultimately relented, the results of the study sit on a shelf today.
Visclosky is well aware of the amount of government in Lake County, in that he is the person municipalities turn to for financial help.
In terms of the consolidation of towns and cities, Visclosky said, "I don't know that there is a lot of hope. There are fewer assessors today. I don't think we could have anticipated that."
What's optigov?
Highland Clerk-Treasurer Michael Griffin is considered one of the visionaries when it comes to local government.
"I know 19 cities and towns are too many and one is too few. It is tough to get our own residents open (to mergers). People have a visceral, emotional attachment to a town," Griffin said.
That intensity was clear a few years ago when Highland and Munster were on the verge of voting to merge their fire districts. Because of the potential backlash, a vote never was taken.
The issue grew heated with a considerable amount of fear-mongering.
Griffin said there are very informal talks under way about "re-exploring fire district mergers."
"I have been very intrigued with the lessons of unigov, although we don't have a single city to coalesce around," Griffin said.
"I have been talking about something called optigov," Griffin said.
Under optigov, municipalities would keep their identity and government.
But some local responsibilities would shift to a regional council elected on a nonpartisan vote. The council would have authority over transportation, the arts and economic development.
"The entire region would be one large tax base," Griffin said. "Sixty percent of new development (tax base) would go to the community that earns it, with 40 percent to be shared."
Tax-base sharing would benefit the urban core, Griffin said.
"One of the things that holds us back is that political borders are not aligned with economic borders," Griffin said. "You see tax-base sharing with the collar counties around Indianapolis."
Griffin knows his proposal isn't likely to take root, but says it can provide a starting point for discussion.
Consolidation has a price
We do have experience in Lake and Porter counties with attempts to consolidate government.
Scheub and Wichlinski have first-hand experience.
Scheub knows better than most how difficult it is to consolidate some of the 19 municipal governments in the county.
He tried, and paid the ultimate price.
It was 1994 and Scheub was seeking a sixth term as St. John Township trustee.
He was a popular trustee and re-election didn't appear to be a problem.
But, Scheub said that if he had learned one thing during his 20 years as trustee, it was that there was too much government -- a duplication of services -- in St. John Township.
So he began talking about consolidating St. John, Schererville and Dyer and doing away with the trustee's office as well.
While his call for consolidation seemingly made fiscal sense, something happened along the way. He lost.
"Every worker in the three towns campaigned against me because they said I wanted to take their jobs," Scheub said.
In 2008, Wichlinski was a candidate for Porter County treasurer. His platform included a vow to push for a referendum seeking to do away with the treasurer's office by merging it with the auditor. He was defeated in the primary.
In the early 1980s, Dobis secured a $100,000 state appropriation to pay for a study of Lake County government. It was conducted by an Indiana State University professor.
Many local leaders called the results little more than a push for unigov, similar to what Indianapolis had championed.
The recommendations, which essentially said there was too much government in Lake County, were put on the shelf, never to be heard from again.
There are 19 municipalities in Lake County and 11 each in Porter and LaPorte counties. Winfield, in Lake County, is the newest, having incorporated in 1993, ironically, to avoid annexation by Merrillville.