NEW ALBANY — Public employees would be banned from serving on the government bodies that set their salaries under legislation introduced in the Indiana General Assembly.
Rep. Tom Saunders, R-Lewisville, filed House Bill 1022 Jan. 5. If passed, it would prohibit a county, city or town worker from being a candidate or serving on the legislative or fiscal body that employs them.
For example, a Jeffersonville police officer or firefighter could not be elected to the Jeffersonville City Council.
If passed, the legislation would allow public workers employed prior to July 1, 2011, to serve out the remainder of their elected term up to July of 2015.
Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, said the ban is a part of local government reform gaining consensus among lawmakers.
Saunders’ bill was given a first reading then referred to the house Committee on Local Government.
“I expect that will be one of the issues that receives attention, clearly it’s a problem,” he said. “There are a lot of good people who have served and continue to serve in those dual roles, but it’s unavoidable there’s a conflict of interest we need to address.”
Sen. Ron Grooms, R-Jeffersonville, said allowing public workers to finish their elected terms is a key piece of the proposed legislation.
“At first, I was not in favor of banning the public employees from being public office holders, but I’m leaning more toward supporting that bill,” he said.
Prepared by the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform, the 2008 Kernan-Shepard Report called for the prohibition of employees of a local government unit serving as elected officials within the same entity.
According to the report — which featured 27 recommendations to streamline local government — “it is a clear conflict of interest for public employees to benefit from their actions as elected officials.”
The practice undermines the chain of command and procedures that are critical to public services while undermining the faith that people should have in local government, according to the report.
Gov. Mitch Daniels has consistently called for lawmakers to address the issue, and he again referenced the lack of policy during Tuesday’s State of the State speech.
He said the need for change is obvious.
“The conflict of interest when double-dipping government workers simultaneously sit on city or county councils, interrogating their own supervisors and deciding their own salaries, must end,” Daniels said during his address.
“The same goes for the nepotism that leads to one in four township employees sharing a last name with the politician who hired them.”
New Albany City Councilman Jack Messer is in the final year of his second term, and is also a city police officer. He said his experience has led to his support of legislation proposed by Saunders and Daniels.
“This will be my eighth year, and it’s too stressful for one thing to be in the middle,” he said. “I’ve lost a lot of good friends over it. [I’ve been] chastised and criticized, and politically manipulated.”
There’s a similar story in Jeffersonville.
“If it passes, I'll have a tough decision to make,” said Jeffersonville Councilwoman Connie Sellers, who works as a code enforcement officer for the city. She said she could understand why the bill is being offered, saying that the practice has been problematic in smaller towns in the state.
“They’re trying to correct that and I understand,” she said, adding “sometimes good people get thrown out in the process.”
Sellers is planning to seek office again this year.