INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said Thursday that he'll write a letter and take sides on the time zone debate once all of the local hearings are done.
Daniels said he would express his opinion, specifically recommending Central or Eastern time, on all counties that applied for a switch.
"I plan to write a letter for the formal record to the U.S. Department of Transportation after the four hearings are over ... to state my own point of view about each of the requests that are still pending at that time," Daniels said.
He said the main conflicts are around South Bend, where neighboring counties want St. Joseph County to remain in the Eastern Time Zone but federal officials have tentatively recommended them to switch to Central.
But Daniels said he saw some opportunities to weigh in for Southwestern Indiana, where he said there are some "unanswered questions" about the federal recommendations.
The U.S. Department of Transportation, in its initial recommendation, suggested that Knox, Pike and Perry counties be moved to Central Time but declined to move Daviess, Dubois, Martin, Lawrence and Sullivan counties.
When asked which counties he thought raised issues in Southwestern Indiana, Daniels said: "Those counties that wrote a letter but weren't included in the proposal."
Hearings on those recommendation start in northern Indiana on Sunday. A hearing is planned for Jasper on Wednesday with the last public forum scheduled for Nov. 21.