A headline in Friday's Courier & Press, "Mayor's merger power eyed," suggests we may be overlooking one of the most important reasons for considering consolidation in the first place — single, focused leadership for the entire community.
It is the essential key needed to turn Evansville and Vanderburgh County into a progressive Midwestern city that speaks with one voice in seeking growth, development and jobs.
Without a strong executive branch leading local government, we are just playing games trying to cobble together a new government from the old. We tiptoe around the heart of the consolidation question.
When the subject of consolidation resurfaced again several years ago — Vandigov was badly beaten in 1974 — this was one of the first reasons mentioned most often by those who recognized the need for a downsized, streamlined city/county government that could lead a ramped-up economic development effort.
Instead of the taxpayers supporting separate city and county governments that competed for jobs, it made sense — and it still does — that one voice representing the entire community would be more effective. That voice most logically should sound from a one-stop executive branch, not multiple county commissioners and two separate councils, all manned by individuals seeking re-election.
Somewhere along the line, sometime since the League of Women Voters first proposed a consolidation study in 2009, we lost sight of the necessity for a strong mayor in this consolidated government.
Obviously, that has something to do with the current political climate of distrust in Evansville and Vanderburgh County. Consider these issues: The unrest of some citizens over Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel's decision to push forward with a Downtown arena to replace Roberts Stadium; the unrest of other citizens over the Convention & Visitors Bureau's attempt to build a softball/baseball complex on the Roberts Stadium site; the attempt by Weinzapfel and some other public officials to deny homeowners the homestead tax credit; and Whirlpool production's exit from Evansville.
Yes, things happen in government and politics. But we must plan for the future. We must put our community in the best position to succeed by looking forward.
We will not be successful if we spend our energy restructuring our local government so as to render it impotent to progress. We will not do that if we spend our time preoccupied with naysayers opposed to any change.
We should focus our current efforts on creating a consolidated government designed to give us the best opportunity for leading our entire community out of the doldrums; it would then be up to the people to elect the right candidates to lead this smaller, more user-friendly consolidated government.
At a workshop of city and county officials on Thursday, County Commissioner Marsha Abell said she was opposed to the mayor having the power to appoint all boards and commissioners.
We take no issue with tweaking the appointments provision. But remember: In the end, for consolidation to work as envisioned, its mayor must be allowed the latitude to lead.