More on Reforming Indiana's Government

Still have not found time to read the report. Work, work. But I do have some comments below.

From a sidebar to the Muncie Star-Press'Commission recommends massive restructuring of government

Counties
Create a clearer, more accountable structure with fewer elected officials;
Better coordinate public safety services

1. Establish a single-person elected county chief executive.

2. Establish a single, unified legislative body for county government. Expand legislative membership to ensure sufficient representation for included rural, suburban and urban populations.

3. Transfer the responsibility for administering the duties of the county auditor, treasurer, recorder, assessor, surveyor, sheriff and coroner to the county executive. Transfer the varied duties of the clerk to the courts, to the county election board and to the county executive. Establish objective minimum professional qualifications and standards for certain county administrative functions.

4. Retain a local government role for property tax assessment under a county assessor who is required to meet professional qualifications and appointed by the county executive.

5. Create a countywide body to oversee the provision of all public safety services: Police patrol and crime response, fire suppression, emergency medical services, homicide and other major crimes investigation, hazardous materials response, forensics, fire prevention and related inspection services, anti-terrorism preparedness and response (including, for example, SWAT, bomb squad and hazardous materials response), 911 dispatch, sirens and other public warning systems (e.g., reverse 911), jail facility maintenance, operation, and asset management.

6. Consolidate emergency public safety dispatch by county or multi-county region. Require that new, local emergency communications systems be compatible with the Project Hoosier SAFE-T statewide 800 MHz communications system.

7. Transfer the responsibility for all funding of the state’s trial court system to the state, including public defenders and probation.

8. Move the funding of child welfare from counties to the state.
Townships: Transfer all present responsibilities to the county executive.

9. Transfer the responsibility for administering the duties of township government for assessment, poor relief, fire protection, emergency medical services (EMS), cemeteries and any other remaining responsibilities to the county executive. Establish a countywide poor relief levy.

10. Transfer the responsibilities of the township small claims courts in Marion County to superior courts.

Schools
Establish districts that are large enough to provide high-caliber education
at a lower cost and enhance fiscal accountability

11. Reorganize school districts to achieve a minimum student population of 2,000. Establish state standards and a county-based planning process similar to that established in 1959 legislation.

12. Require that school corporation bonds be approved by the fiscal body of the municipal or county government containing the greatest proportion of assessed value in the school district.

13. Prompt joint purchasing by schools.

14. Conduct all non-partisan school elections during November in even years.
Cities and Towns: Strengthen accountability of elected officials, and eliminate the costs of separate elections.

15. Allow the city council to appoint the city clerk in second-class cities.

16. Move all municipal elections to an even-year cycle.

17. Transfer the responsibilities of municipal health departments to the county health department.

Libraries and Special Districts
Establish library districts that are large enough to provide high-caliber services
to every Hoosier at a lower cost, and improve fiscal accountability

18. Reorganize library systems by county and provide permanent library service for all citizens.

19. Require that the budgets and bonds of library and all other special districts be approved by the fiscal body of the municipal or county government containing the greatest proportion of assessed value in the unit seeking approval.

20. Strengthen the current joint purchasing infrastructure for libraries.

All Local Governments
Encourage additional voluntary action to increase efficiency and effectiveness

21. Expand voluntary coordination and consolidation of units and services. Strengthen the power of voters to compel consolidation.

22. Allow local governments to establish service districts with differentiated levels of service and corresponding tax rates.

23. Facilitate local improvement efforts using best management and business practices. Strengthen state mechanisms that support these activities, particularly for collective purchasing.

24. Prohibit employees of a local government unit from serving as elected officials within the same local government unit.

Support and Monitoring
Facilitate the implementation of these recommendations

25. Assign the Indiana Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations to monitor progress toward these recommendations and conduct additional research as needed. Produce an annual report on progress through 2011.

26. Establish a statewide benchmarking system to provide the public and policy-makers with current information about local government productivity and progress.

27. Designate a state office to provide technical assistance to local government.

Reforms could mean a 'big cheese' for counties:

"One of the recommendations of the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform is to elect a single county chief executive -- like a mayor of the county -- and to allow him or her to appoint a professionally qualified sheriff, treasurer, auditor, assessor, coroner, surveyor and recorder -- positions that are now elected."

I wince a bit at this quote:

"We note that no other law enforcement leader is elected within any local, state or federal governments," the commission wrote in its report released Tuesday. "We do not elect the chief of police or the director of the FBI."

No, but the sheriff was and is more than just a law enforcement officer.

Under the commission's proposal, "we would end up with a pyramidal structure in county government versus a horizontal line with a whole bunch of itty-bitty kingdoms reporting to nobody," explained Bill Haan, executive director of the Indiana Association of County Commissioners (IACC). "This gives you an authority figure, someone in charge, someone to blame. I think you'd see a lot better delivery of services."

Which raises a question about power and the mechanics of power. Our theory of government has as its more important feature the idea of checks and balances against power. This streamlining of government might be more efficient and cost less dollars in the short term but what are its costs in terms of power?

IACC generally supports the commission's recommendations but favors continued election rather than appointment of sheriffs and coroners. "We excluded sheriffs primarily for political reasons," Haan said. "We didn't think we could fight that battle. And the coroner we felt needs to be more independent, like the prosecutor."

Indiana's coroners have one great power - the ability to arrest the sheriff. They do not hold inquests and most farm out the autopsy work to pathologists. On the hand, getting rid them requires a constitutional amendment.

John Brooke hits on a similar point to one I made above from the same article:

As president of the Board of Delaware County Commissioners, John Brooke feels like a king with no real power "because of all these princes below me who can do their own thing." He added, "The only way you can get anyplace is by diplomacy and schmoozing."

Brooke calls the commission's proposal "an interesting concept worthy of discussion," though he likes the fact that having three county commissioners "forces us to talk, compromise and reach consensus as opposed to someone being the big cheese."