By Jason Michael White, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer
Two options have emerged to study the future of the Center Grove area. One option is Greenwood's. The city wants to examine merging with all of unincorporated White River Township and has proposed a joint study committee with the township.
The second option has come days before the White River Township board expected to make a decision on Greenwood's proposal. Bargersville now wants to study merging with the Center Grove area up to Stones Crossing Road and has proposed a joint study committee with the township.
Greenwood's plan doesn't call for any participation from Bargersville, and Bargersville's plan doesn't call for any participation from the city.
Approving both plans and having two different studies at the same time is not an option the township board president wants to consider, because he does not feel it follows the spirit of the new state law that allows for the merger process. The Department of Local Government Finance's legal team is looking into whether conducting two studies at the same time is evenly legally possible.
He would prefer one study with involvement from the township, Greenwood and Bargersville. The study group could propose the best way to divide the township between Greenwood and Bargersville as part of a comprehensive plan for the entire Center Grove area.
The purpose of the merger process is to create more efficient and effective government, and the town's proposal doesn't seem like it would accomplish that goal because it leaves out the northern half of the township.
"They're making the assumption that the northern portion of the township would become a part of Greenwood. That's not known," township board member Mark Messick said. "That's why it's so important that it's one study, one committee, one political plan."
But the town isn't making the assumption that Greenwood will study a merger with the northern half of the township, town consultant Mike Shaver said.
Bargersville wants to study a merger with part of the township because it is more realistic than studying a merger with the entire Center Grove area, he said.
"Bargersville doesn't have any visions of being a city of 90,000 people," Shaver said.
The township does not have to be studied as a whole, he said. Breaking it into pieces to look at and study individually makes more sense, Shaver said.
The Stones Crossing Road boundary isn't written in stone, but it makes a reasonable starting point for a study committee to consider how the town could merge with a portion of the township, he said.
Greenwood could have the option of studying a merger with the northern part of the township if the council chose to do so, town council member Cindy Jarvis said.
Messick said he would rather see the boundary defined by a study group that made a comprehensive plan for the entire township, with involvement from Greenwood and Bargersville.
Board member John Ebert on Friday hadn't had a chance to look at the town's proposal and wanted to speak with town officials about the plan.
He said he doesn't think he could support a plan that called for the southern part of the township to merge with Bargersville without specifying what would happen with the northern half of the township. Ebert wants to read the town's plan and learn more about the town's intent behind the plan.
"I'm not closing the door on anything," he said. "The bottom line is, I'd be interested in doing what is best for the citizens of White River Township."