Merger of Center Grove area in Johnson County at next step

By Jason Michael White, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer

Center Grove area residents are being asked by their neighbors to the east to study whether they should merge with the city of Greenwood.

Now, the neighbors to the south are asking for a separate study on whether the township south of Stones Crossing Road should become part of Bargersville.

The study would show what types of services Bargersville would offer to the area and how providing those services, such as police protection and street maintenance, would affect property taxes.

Bargersville chose to limit its proposal to Stones Crossing Road because it seemed like a natural dividing line, town council member Cindy Jarvis said. But the boundary line could change depending on the study group's findings; the town wants to be flexible, she said.

On Monday, the White River Township board will review Bargersville's proposal and one from Greenwood, which calls for a joint study to examine the possibility of the city merging with all of unincorporated White River Township.

If the existing proposals were studied and mergers were approved, the Center Grove area could be split into two, with some subdivisions becoming islands that don't join the city or town.

Bargersville chose not to take part in Greenwood's study for a few reasons, one of which is an ongoing lawsuit between the city and town for land they both want to annex in the Center Grove area, Jarvis said.

Greenwood filed a lawsuit against Bargersville when the town planned to annex land up to Stones Crossing Road. The city claimed the annexation was invalid. The lawsuit has not been settled.

"I don't think there's a great deal of trust in Bargersville for Greenwood," town consultant Mike Shaver said. "That makes it difficult to sit at the table together and expect honesty and cooperation."

The town council left the northern part of the township out of its plan with the intention of giving Greenwood the chance to study merging with the rest of the Center Grove area if the city council and township board chose to do so, Jarvis said.

Bargersville is not interested in absorbing the entire township, so the town didn't feel it was appropriate to have a study committee make a plan for the entire township, board president Steve Welch said.

Instead, they picked a boundary line as a starting point for the study committee to work with and adjust as necessary, he said.

People south of Stones Crossing Road tend to identify more with Bargersville, and people north of Stones Crossing Road tend to identify more with Greenwood, Jarvis said.

Also, the road has been suggested as a potential boundary line by township and city officials in the past, she said.

The town's proposal would let subdivisions opt out of a merger if they didn't want to become a part of the town, Shaver said. As a result, a newly expanded Bargersville could have pockets of land not part of the town.

Subdivisions that opted out would not pay town property taxes or receive town services, such as police or street maintenance, he said. They still could choose to hook into town utilities.

The opt-out option was in response to residents who live in unincorporated areas of the township, meaning they are not a part of a city or town, and they want to be left alone and stay that way, Jarvis said.

Bargersville's proposal comes after months of behind-the-scenes work, where town council members talked one on one or individually with their attorneys.

They didn't decide to publicly discuss the possibility of a merger until prompted by Greenwood's merger proposal.

When the township board announced its plans to review Greenwood's proposal Monday, the town decided to discuss whether it wanted to send its own resolution in time for the meeting. The Bargersville Town Council approved the request with a 4-0 vote Thursday.

Bargersville would have been left out of merger discussions if the township approved Greenwood's resolution.

What role Greenwood would play is unclear if Bargersville's resolution were adopted by the township.

The town's plan calls for a six-member study committee with three representatives each from the town and township.

The committee would have to form within 30 days if the town's plan is approved by the township.

Committee members would take a year studying the impact of a merger, and they would draft a report including information such as what services Bargersville would provide and the property tax impact of providing those services.

The township board and town council each must approve the plan. If approved, the public would have final say on a merger through a referendum.