By Eric Berman
2/4/2009
A Senate committee has narrowly voted to do away with two-thirds of Indiana's county commissioners.
A bill authored by Sen. Phil Boots (R-Crawfordsville) would require the state's county commissioners to choose this fall between a single elected county executive, or a revamped county council which would wield executive and legislative power, and appoint a county manager for day-to-day operations.
If the commissioners couldn't agree on which method to use, the county's voters would choose for them in a referendum next year.
The bill is one of the cornerstones of the 2007 Kernan-Shepard Report on local government reform, which contended a single executive would be more efficient and more accountable for county policy than the three-commissioner system. The report argues every other level of government answers to a single executive, from president to governor to mayor.
Boots' bill also replaces elected county assessors with an assessor appointed by the council. Governor Daniels has endorsed both changes.
A parade of commissioners and council members argued the existing system works, and that it has the advantage of requiring consensus from at least two of the three commissioners.
The current system gives the commissioners both executive and legislative power, with the county council responsible only for fiscal matters. Boots' bill and Kernan-Shepard call for the council to become a legislative body similar to city councils.
The proposal squeaked through the Senate Local Government Committee 6-5, with three of the yes votes warning they want to see additional changes to the plan before supporting it in the full Senate.
The panel is not done with the Kernan-Shepard recommendations. Next week, the committee considers abolishing township government, and the offices of county recorder, coroner, surveyor and treasurer.
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