EVANSVILLE —What to do with Vanderburgh County's two law enforcement agencies — the sheriff's office and the Evansville Police Department — under a potential unified government remains a major hurdle for local officials trying to draft a final plan to merge city and county governments.
It remains an issue even though they have reached an agreement to leave the operations of the two agencies largely unaffected if voters were to approve the measure.
The issue now is the definition of "leave it alone" and how jurisdictional lines should be tweaked if the two governments are merged.
Members of the Vanderburgh County Commissioners and the Evansville City Council — the two bodies who must pass identical proposals for their plan to go to a referendum, possibly as soon as November 2012 — have already agreed on two points about the future of law enforcement if the new government is formed.
They quickly stripped out the language from the initial reorganization proposal that called for the that immediate merged the two departments under the direction of the elected sheriff.
That move, one of the first changes the joint committee made, can be attributed to a combination of public outcry, pressure from the Fraternal Order of Police and Evansville Police Chief Brad Hill as well as concerns from the officials themselves.
D.J. Thompson, the president of the FOP, was the first person to address the first public meeting the joint committee held in March, saying the change could result in low morale and that both officers and deputies were already worried about how the change would affect them.
During that meeting, both Sheriff Eric Williams and Chief Hill implored the committee to not just leave law enforcement out of the proposal and to the whim of the leaders of the possible new government if there was no possibility of an immediately combining them.
Williams, though, continued to push for a unified department.
After much debate during subsequent meetings, the committee finally agreed to include language in the resolution that forbade the new government from addressing the issue until 2022, possibly in the form of another referendum that wouldn't go in front of the voters until 2024, a time frame Hill and Williams agreed was fair.
With that protection, the issue appeared nearly resolved. All that remained was tweaking the boundaries of the two departments' jurisdictions, a responsibility the committee gave to Williams and Hill.
But what FOP President Thompson classified as "a very minor part" of the larger law enforcement issue, has now become a source of gridlock with both administrations telling the committee there is very little "wiggle room" in either of their proposals.
While both plans eliminate some "islands," that exist in present jurisdictional borders, Williams' proposal is broader and includes the sheriff's office covering Evansville Regional Airport.
Hill's proposal largely leaves jurisdictional lines as they are now.
Assistant Police Chief Rob Hahn, attending a consolidation meeting on Hill's behalf earlier this month, responded to Williams proposal by saying the department would not compromise on the airport, though if there were a crisis at the airport it was acknowledged that multiple law enforcement agencies would be automatically involved.Thompson has said he believes the jurisdiction discussion is of little importance to most non-administrative members of either agency. He also said that the FOP has no plans in getting officially involved in pushing for either one plan over the other.
"I don't know of anyone that has a problem with taking a little away here and giving it there and the city taking a little bit of what the sheriff's department patrols," Thompson said. "At this level, I think that is a non-issue really that has been made into a larger issue at different levels."
Gone, too, are the throngs of citizens who spoke against the proposal when a combined police agency was an immediate possibility.
"My feeling, and I can speak for the neighborhoods, is that they just want this settled and get everyone back to business, and I don't think those jurisdictions should be such a big issue, said Charlene Williamson, president-elect of the United Neighborhood Associations of Evansville. "I think they're making an issue out of something that is just dragging it on."
Councilwoman Missy Mosby said her constituents are also inquiring why an agreement hasn't been reached but seem to be understanding once she explains the hang-up. While she said it has been frustrating the goal with a the final law enforcement plan, like the entire proposal, isn't speed, but one that is the most beneficial solution for residents.
A third option proposed by Councilman H. Dan Adams ties police department protection as part of the urban services district. Under the current consolidation proposal an urban services district would encompass the current city limits and residents would pay higher taxes for services they already receive, which could be expanded in the future. While the initial jurisdiction lines would mirror current ones that proposal would possibly expand the police department's jurisdiction before the 2024.
What happens next is unclear. The committee meets again at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Room 301 of the Civic Center. Because the meeting has yet to be officially adjourned the only timetable the committee is working under is that they must pass identical proposals by January 2012 for it to appear on the ballot that November. Commissioner President Lloyd Winnecke, who has been presiding over the meeting said he was not worried that an agreement has not been reached and council President B.J. Watts said he still believed the it should be resolved the administrations themselves, not the committee.
But just like Commissioner Marsha Abell reminded Hahn, Williams and the rest of the committee of at last meeting, if the two administrations can't compromise, the committee has the final decision of how jurisdictions would work if the voters choose to merge.