WRT Board defies resident comments

Only Acts on Greenwood Merger Proposal

In a packed White River Township Board meeting the crowd, unruly at times, made its opinion clear “We want options” and that taking action to only respond to the Greenwood merger proposal is not what they wanted. Despite the repeated comments requesting to leave all options on the table by not responding tonight to the Greenwood proposal, or by also saying yes to the Bargersville merger proposal, the board voted two to one to accept the Greenwood proposal with virtually no changes. No residents expressed support for the final board action.

Board members Mark Messick and Joe Acker voted yes while John Ebert voted no. Although Ebert he did not make his opinion clear it appeared to this observer that he was not against the merger negotiations with Greenwood, but did not support acting on the matter might not be the best decision at this time considering the last minute Bargersville offer. Indiana’s new law allowing incorporated towns and cities to propose mergers with unincorporated areas is not clear on exactly whether, how or if an incorporated area can proceed with two merger proposals at once.

Tonight’s special meeting was called before the Bargersville merger proposals (read all THREE pages here) was presented to the board. Therefore the Bargersville proposal was not on the agenda, and although clearly related to the matte of the Greenwood merger proposal, legal council for the board did not offer a clear opinion as to if the Bargersville proposal could be considered at the meeting.

Playing it safe the board only acted on the Greenwood merger proposal and scheduled another meeting for December 17, 2008 at 5:00p.m. to consider the Bargersville merger proposal.

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