Board member shows his frustration

A journalist’s job is to report the news, we do not claim to be journalists, the meetings are covered by journalist and by us. We view our job as providing perspective, we admit it is our perspective and you are welcome, in fact encouraged, to challenge it or comment on it.

Thursday night’s meeting included some comments that took me a while to think through and provide some perspective. I purposefully left them out of the “real time” reporting, and commentary posted Thursday night. After all, we see our purpose as not to inflame but to encourage analysis and participation. I know that at times I have written too quickly (I have lost track of the times I have been “reminded” of that) and in retrospect should have taken more time and revised my comments. We have that luxury; people speaking at public meetings do not. That does not excuse their comments just as it does not excuse mine.

White River Township Board member Joe Acker was present at Thursday’s meeting. When the issue of why no questions about the reorganization plan were raised by the WRT Board Mr. Acker had a simple answer. The White River Board went into this expecting the committee to develop a plan and to present it to the board. The board will wait to see what the committee recommends and will not suggest changes in the plan until presented to them.

He stated that he believes the committee is going too far by dealing with issues such as mosquito control and other things better left to elected officials. He went so far as to state, “That if the final financial plan resembles what was presented at the last Greenwood Common Council meeting the reorganization is dead in the water.” He expressed his opinion that the 16% increase sourced to the Daily Journal is too high. Later he stated he believes a 10% increase is the most that WRT residents would accept for the additional services they would receive through reorganization.

Not a lot of controversy in those statements however, Mr. Acker also stated his opposition to the actions of the town of Bargersville. He went on to state that, in his opinion, the White River Township Board went into this to stop Bargersville from taking control of the township. “Bargersville is a company town” he stated and continued to say that he feels Bargersville is a utility company looking to build subdivision after subdivision and then raise utility rates. Since the municipal utilities in Bargersville are no longer regulated by the state, they can adjust rates as they deem necessary. He continued by stating that his goal is to “stop unregulated growth as we have experienced over the past 15 years.” He believes a well-designed reorganization plan offers that opportunity. Not in any manner did he express support for any reorganization plan that may be presented to the board, he is waiting for the final plan before making a decision.

Mr. Acker also attacked Bargersville’s motives in other ways stating that the community has no retail or entertainment to offer it residents and only exists due to its close proximity to grocery stores, retail stores, and other amenities outside its city limits. Following the meeting, he went on to say that Bargersville would not be able to sustain the newly annexed area, “They are spending money on utilities” but not on roads and infrastructure.

Is he right? Time will tell, the first time will be when the Greenwood Common Council or White River Township board votes on the reorganization plan, if they approve both approve it then the citizens of Greenwood and White River Township will have they say. If majorities of both areas say “yes” then time will tell who made the right decision. Just one more reason you need to be informed and get your friends and neighbors involved as well. If you do not agree with me, every article on our site includes a comment link. Please use it, our future depends on it.

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