EVANSVILLE — The discussion of how to manage law enforcement in a merged local government dominated discussion at a public hearing Wednesday evening with city and county officials.
The 3-1/2-hour hearing, which drew an overflow crowd to the Civic Center, was the public's first opportunity to express their opinions on a draft proposal to consolidate Evansville and Vanderburgh County governments to elected officials.
Those who spoke about law enforcement included the men who head up the three groups that would be affected the most: Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 73 President D.J. Thompson, Evansville Police Department Chief Brad Hill and Vanderburgh County Sheriff Eric Williams. Each had very different points to make.
The current proposal, drafted by the reorganization committee earlier this year, calls for departments to be consolidated under the leadership of the county sheriff.
Thompson, who was the meeting's first speaker, warned that merging the two departments wouldn't be easy from both a practical standpoint — buying new equipment and putting every officer on a uniform pay scale — and could lead to resentment and low morale among former city police officers.
"The solution (should) be to remove law enforcement from the proposal and in the new charter include language that the departments will stay separate but at the same time maintaining the same patrol areas and duties," Thompson said.
Thompson said members of the study committee who crafted the draft proposal were unqualified to make a recommendation on what to do with the police department.
"It would be like me telling you how to do heart surgery," Thompson told City Council member and retired surgeon Dan Adams.
Why overhaul?
Hill said he sees no reason to overhaul the two agencies, noting that some tasks have already been combined when "it makes sense," but there is no reason to tinker with the entire system.
Williams, who followed Hill to the podium, disagreed. While he said he would support leaving the two agencies alone, merging them would allow for efficiency. While he admitted the plan could be a problem at first, he doesn't view the proposed changes as a "hostile takeover" and said that leaving law enforcement separate in a unified government could lead to problems.
"If we're willing to (consolidate) our leadership, our council and our communities, I couldn't imagine that we wouldn't look at our two biggest budget items. It wouldn't make much sense.
Other issues discussed during the hearing, with the County Commissioners and the City Council attending, included taxation, mayoral power, representation and concerns from residents outside of the city limits worried that their needs and concerns won't be addressed as well if there is only one body representing them and the those who live in the city.
Opponents speak
Several of those who spoke were from "We the People," a group of residents both from the county and the city against consolidation. One of the group's members, Bruce Ungethiem, said the city, which continues to lose population, is pushing for the change so they can claim more residents for financial reasons.
A few of the group's members came early to protest outside of the Civic Center wearing red shirts and carrying signs denouncing the potential new government.
Those who supported consolidation — sometimes suggesting tweaks to the current plan — included representatives from the League of Women Voters, the Chamber of Commerce of Southwest Indiana and former mayor and current County Council member Russ Lloyd Jr.
County Commissioners President Lloyd Winnecke and B.J. Watts, the president of the City Council, both said the meeting was very informative for their groups, which must pass the exact same consolidation plan for the issue to go to a voter referendum, which could happen in 2012.