Townships in Elkhart, Kosciusko and St. Joseph counties have recently held public rallies in order to inform the public of the potential legislation in support of the recommendations from the Kernan-Shepard commission.

Included in the Kernan-Shepard Report, titled Streamlining Local Government, is the recommendation to eliminate township government and move all duties to the County Executive. The recommendations call for a County Executive to replace the current county commissioners.

All three rallies have emphasized the importance of signing the on-line petition at the website HoosiersforDemocracy.org.

ELKHART 

The Concord Township Trustee in Elkhart County, Deb Stoffer, took the lead on November 30th by hosting the first rally in support of local government. Trustee Stoffer invited township and county officials, state representatives and

senators, firefighters and, most importantly – the public.

“Our message has been, ‘we just want to educate you so you don’t wake up one morning being governed completely differently than when you went to bed’” according to Stoffer. “We want to let people choose whether or not they support our efforts and if so, how they can help”.

The rally was the fourth in a series of meetings organized by Deb Stoffer for the surrounding townships and legislators. Next on their agenda is a bus trip to rally at the Statehouse on January 13th. Anyone from the area is invited to join in at a cost of $25 per person. For more information, call Deb at 574-293-6889.

ST. JOSEPH

This rally was a “town hall meeting” set up, organized by the New Carlisle Fire Chief, Bill Gumm. Bill got the inspiration for this meeting from visiting HoosiersforDemocracy.org. He arranged for a panel of presenters and then invited office-holders from across St. Joseph County along with a public invitation.

Panelists for the December 18th meeting were former Governor Joe Kernan, State Senator Jim Arnold, and ITA Executive Director Debbie Driskell. During the meeting, held at the fire department, each panelist presented their perspectives on the Kernan-Shepard report and then Chief Gumm opened up the floor for questions from the audience.

Most questions were directed to Governor Kernan and many of them challenged the report’s apparent disregard for keeping local government. After Kernan asserted that the firefighters needn’t worry about potential changes, one audience member retorted that “if there aren’t going to be changes, then you’re just taking away our decision maker – the trustee!”

KOSCIUSKO

Julia Goon, along with several other trustees, organized their December 28th rally which was held at the Atwood Community Center. Julia is the Prairie Township Trustee.

Organizers wore “HoosiersforDemocracy.org” T-shirts and provided sign-up sheets for the website. In attendance along with local office-holders were many volunteer firefighters and members of the public. Richard Uhrick, Northeast Area Director and Trustee in St. Joseph Township, Allen County and Debbie Driskell, Executive Director, represented the Indiana Township Association at the meeting.

Trustee Goon began the meeting by reading responses she received from several state legislators to her request that they define their position on the Kernan-Shepard report. Most of the representatives and senators responded that they were keeping an open mind and yet realized that a “one-size-fits-all” approach will not work. One state representative noted that he would like to hear from the public.

In her remarks, Debbie Driskell noted that the nation-wide push to diminish local government and model after big cities comes primarily from the business community, as seen in Indiana by the State Chamber of Commerce. “There is no public outcry for reform! The public is being told that these changes will bring about efficiencies and yet there has been NO efficiency study per se” commented Driskell. “Assumptions have been made that if you reduce the number of elected officials, you reduce cost. There is absolutely no proof that this will occur”.

PLEASE consider organizing a rally in your county! The only way we are going to be able to stop the “Kernan-Shepard Train” is to educate the public around us as to what they stand to lose if the state legislature adopts the recommendation to replace townships with a countywide system headed by a county executive.

If you would like help in organizing a rally or “town-hall meeting”, please contact the ITA. The ITA will gladly see that you have representation from the association at your event.