Term limits, increasing the number of members of a consolidated city-county council and shifting elections to odd years were among questions discussed Thursday as Evansville and Vanderburgh County officials held the first of several workshops to work out a consolidation plan.
While the Evansville City Council and the Vanderburgh County Commissioners aren't obligated to have such workshops, commissioner president Lloyd Winnecke and council president B.J. Watts have said they are necessary to achieve required identical plans.
For an Evansville-Vanderburgh County merger proposal to go to a voter referendum the two governmental bodies must pass identical reorganization plans.
Winnecke also said he hopes residents appreciate the opportunity to watch the steps of the process — a point he reiterated at the end of the meeting to about 30 attendees. That number was far less than the crowd for the first public meeting in March, which drew an overflow crowd and comments from more than 40 people.
"We hope that you appreciated the style of this. It's very different. We just thought it would be a good, transparent way to watch how we're considering this," he said.
There appeared to be widespread support for increasing the number of proposed council members. The current plan, which was put forth by a citizen committee in January, calls for an 11-member common council, though it was unclear if the council wanted to keep a system using at-large members.
Initially, Councilman Dan McGinn, who represents Ward 1, said he supported getting rid of at-large members, while increasing the number of members to 13 or 15. But he reconsidered after hearing from at-large councilmen H. Dan Adams and Curt John. Adams called at-large members "mini mayors."
"We are like their back-up councilman," John said.
There were also discussions about moving the proposed government's elections to odd years, like it is currently in city government.
There were discussions of term-limits for both the mayor and council members as well as the need to stagger the council's terms so all members aren't at risk of being replaced at the same time, a possibility more likely if term limits are implemented.
Several officials expressed the desire for more fiscal control over many of the proposed appointed government boards, whether that was achieved through approval of mayoral appointments or more fiscal oversight. The scope of executive power was also a major concerned for residents who testified at the public hearing in March. Commissioner Marsha Abell said every board with fiscal powers should have an elected council member on them.
"We should be mindful of the ones that have a lot of power and affect tax dollars," she said. "I would hate to think that we have a board that can spend taxpayer money, and a taxpayer call me and I say, 'I'm sorry, I don't have anything to do with that because that's a board spending it.'"
Winnecke said the group would start Thursday's meeting talking about the judicial branch of the new government and could get to section 7, the part of the plan that addresses proposed taxing districts, another hot button issue, especially for current non-city residents.