If you are of a mind to pay close heed to the opinions of your favorite local elected leaders, then the two rosters of current and former officials who have chosen up sides on the Evansville-Vanderburgh County consolidation issue should interest you.
A Courier & Press news story on Wednesday reported on just who is in favor of merging the two governments and who is against. Not surprising, the pro-list includes a number of current and former city officials, while the con-list included a sizeable number of county and township officials.
We have said here for years -- long before consolidation was placed on the ballot -- that much of the opposition to consolidation would come from local officials who might lose their government positions in a merge of the two layers of government. That's why citizens weighing the issues in this debate should look beyond who loses power and position and instead look at how consolidation would benefit or hurt taxpayers and their community.
Of course, townships would be unaffected by consolidation, given that their offices were created by state government. Several attempts in recent legislative sessions to eliminate township government or greatly reduce its functions have failed to come close to passage. Regardless, it appears a majority of township official are lining up with those opposed to change, and that's no surprise.
The opponents list five current township officials and one former township official. On the other side, proponents of consolidation list one current township official.
In addition, the opponents list five current county officeholders, including one county commissioner, Steve Melcher, and one county councilman, Ed Bassemier. Also in that group is County Treasurer and County Clerk Susan Kirk.
But the proponents group includes two current county commissioners, Joe Kiefer and Marsha Abell, and County Sheriff Eric Williams, a leader in the campaign to pass consolidation.
Current Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, a former County Commissioner, has long been an advocate for consolidation, and he is joined on the pro-list by three former Evansville mayors, Jonathan Weinzapfel, Russ Lloyd Jr., and Mike Vandeveer. Also lining up in favor of consolidation are three current city council members and three former city council members.
These folks and others, on both sides, have considerable experience in local government, so listen to what they have to say in the coming weeks.
However, the most important person to listen to is yourself. Try to decide if you and your community will be better off or worse off as a result of this decision and then resolve to vote in the Nov. 6 referendum.