> SOUTHERN INDIANA — I recently had the opportunity to attend four local government meetings. They were the New Albany City Council’s Special Meeting on Annexation; Jeffersonville’s regularly scheduled City Council Meeting; the Floyd County Commissioners’ meeting; and the Floyd County Council’s meeting.

In general, these meetings were very orderly and addressed what I would consider to be “procedural” issues such as transferring funds from one account to another for budgetary purposes. There was an opportunity for the general public to speak on agenda topics and to ask for a ruling on various items.  

Unfortunately, the first meeting I attended was the New Albany City Council’s special meeting on annexation. I was so disappointed by the tone of the Council members and the confusion regarding meeting procedure. The meeting was intended for the Council members to vote on annexation of commercial property along Charlestown road. There were several local business owners in attendance who wanted to speak against the annexation plan. However, prior to anyone getting an opportunity to address the issue, Mayor Doug England asked to take this issue off of the agenda. He went on to say the city needed more time to evaluate police protection for the proposed annexation area.

As a citizen of this community, it appeared the Mayor was making a political speech for re-election as he addressed financial concerns for the coming 2011 city budget.

All of this led to a heated discussion with some of the council members regarding pay scale of city police and firemen. The Mayor took this opportunity to “take charge” of the meeting and essentially detailed his plan to either get the county to pay more for communication services or he would dissolve the department.

All of this seemed to be reactionary instead of planned out in advance of existing conditions. I asked myself, “Where is the vision for running this community?”

I found all of this disappointing. I kept thinking to myself, why are these issues just now being discussed?  

Isn’t it the responsibility of elected government officials to provide efficiency in government and not just be care takers? Shouldn’t our elected leaders have vision for the betterment of our community through economic development, cooperation with each other, and “thinking outside of the box” to find creative solutions to issues?

When attending the Jeffersonville City Council Meeting, I found the members much more professional in their demeanor and the meeting was very efficient. However, the common theme was still budgetary concerns on how to pay for a new fire boat and fire truck. It occurred to me at this point that New Albany, Clarksville and Jeffersonville are all within a few miles of each other’s government centers. When each of these local communities is having the same issues with funding, why not do what business is doing and become more efficient? That is, why not combine services that make sense? For example, why not have one ambulance service to cover these communities? Have one fire department and police department to service the Southern Indiana area? Where is the vision for efficiency and providing a better future for our families?

These issues are not new to our local area or Indiana. Studies, dating from the 1990s to the present, have noted numerous areas where local government efficiencies could be gleaned. Most of these studies were penned long before the current recession — and their prescriptions are needed now more than ever.

Perhaps the best known and most thorough of these was released in 2007. The Shepard-Kernan Commission report outlined 27 areas of local government that could be simplified or consolidated, most of them fairly simple and easily implemented. Let’s face it, Indiana local government structure comes from the 1851 state constitution.

There are numerous areas where savings through efficiency could be considered: outsourcing of poor relief, consolidated departments of finance and administrative services; consolidated department of local roads and bridges, multi-county correctional facilities, joint planning and purchasing, and the list goes on.

Despite numerous studies and recommendations, there has been little proactive movement on the part of local government within Southern Indiana. Local government leaders need a catalyst to spark their creative side and make them open to productive changes. Leaders, by definition should lead and not just be complacent with the status quo. They should demonstrate vision and seek to provide productive change in advance, versus reactionary efforts that are often too late to make a real difference.  

Our local leaders can look to Klamath County, Ore., as one example for local government vision. This community published “Vision for Our Community 2020 Klamath County” in July of this year. A committee made up of 15 government officials, law enforcement officers and local citizens met for six months discussing ways to improve local government. The government committee which was only one part of the community’s vision listed a dozen key ways to improve local governance. Most of these were from consolidation of services, improved inter-government cooperation and expanded public communications.

As the citizens of Klamath County, Ore., and our neighbors across the Ohio River have done, I challenge our local government leaders to show vision and provide the leadership needed to make tough decisions that will provide for needed efficiency and a brighter future for our community.    

Steven Santana is a Sellersburg resident (New Albany Township).