Yet another live report: Nov. 5, 2009

The meeting is about to begin and I am sitting here wondering “why bother”. Will things change; will the plan come together with a reasonable and acceptable tax increase? Will it answer the many questions residents and leaders still want answered? Will they provide a vision for the new community that will make the tax increases acceptable? Will they have plan that even has a chance of passing? As you may recall after the last meeting I wrote the plan appears to be dead on revival, can it be resurrected? More important, will the citizens of Greenwood and Whiter River Township begin to pay attention, look at the information, read the plan and vote on the facts? Or are they going to follow the lead of our congress and senate and place a vote for or against something they haven’t even bothered to read.

The Meeting:

Pat Sherman has just called the meeting to order, time to find out if we learn anything new tonight. Forest Chambers is the only member missing.

Pat Sherman opens with a couple of issues that he wants to make sure the committee has discussed. He wants the issues to be clear when the plan is finalized. The first is the “right to farm”.

“Right to Farm”

The community of Greenwood will be a mixture of urban and rural lifestyles. A right to farm amendment includes that the tax rate for except the rural homestead will remain the same. Current agricultural activity will be grandfathered indefinitely. Changing agricultural practice to one that produces offensive odors will not be permitted. The agricultural designation will be determined by the county assessors designation.

The “Justification for Recommendation” is a section of the plan where each subcommittee stated why they believe that the reorganization is necessary.

Township Board requested this change. The May 4^th election will include the reorganization vote. In addition, four people will be running in the primary for township office. (Editors note: it is possible that more than four Republicans and four Democrats could run in the primary although that has usually not been the case) The winners of the primary for each party, should the reorganization pass, would then be running, in effect, for the city council. The change would state that the general election in November would then be an election for council members of the “new” Greenwood, rather than township offices. Should they win in November there term would end in December of 2011. If they wanted to continue to serve on the council they would have to run again in 2011 the normal cycle for city council elections.

The current members would continue to serve from July1 until their current term expires on December 31. The winners of the November election would then take office January 2010. The committee is taken advantage of the flexibility of the reorganization law by stating that primary winners for one office, township offices in this case, would then be running for council offices in the general elections. As current state law allows members of the Libertarian Party, which has automatic ballot access in Indiana and Johnson County, and independents, who gain access by petition, would be able to appear on the November ballot to run against the winners from each major party primary winners. (Editor’s note: Could make for a very interesting general election, with significant political change comes opportunity and you can expect people to take advantage of that opportunity to work elect new faces to a “new” city council.)

The current mayor will continue to serve as mayor of the new city until the end of 2011, the expiration of the current term.  In the 2011 election cycle a new mayor will be elected and begin to serve in January 2012. The committee also outlined a straightforward method to select a new mayor should the mayor be unable to serve out their term. This provision would take the control from the precinct committee people and put it into the hands of an appointed committee. The new mayor selected by the committee could not be from a different political party than the departing mayor. The committee added a line that says the new committee must be formed within 60 days.

Joe Acker asked if in this case “Wouldn’t the deputy mayor fill-in?” The consensus was that the mayor needed to be an elected official. It appears that the council president would act as the interim mayor.

Changing Political Districts

The plan specifies 11 members of the council. After at least two election cycles the council, could with a super majority, propose a change of no less than six districts and three at large positions. The proposal then would be voted on in a public referendum.

There were also refinements to the Parks and Zoning boards in the composition based on residency such as rural, current Greenwood, or the former White River Township. The proposal calls for the boards to drop back to second-class city standards in 2019.

Public safety rules shall apply to urban areas and land designated as homestead. There was a lot of discussion about the rules and which should apply, barbed wire, firearms and more. (Editors note: Changes in the plan are expected but not anything that is likely to change anyone’s vote.)

44% of the land in the new city would be in the rural district. Most of that area would be west of State Road 37 and on the eastern side of the current Greenwood. Two residents of ten acre “rural” areas on the north side of Stones Crossing west of Mullinix Road comment that they don’t want their life to change. They want to continue to use firearms for “varmint” control. The discussion now is focusing on prohibiting hunting but provide an exemption for the landowner to use firearms in a safe manner. The committee takes their comments seriously and seems to realize that these residents, and most likely their neighbors, have legitimate concerns and rules should be revised to accommodate them.

Nuisance Control:

The rules will take effect in the unincorporated area starting October 1, 2010. The feels that provides plenty of time to bring property into compliance since land owners would know following the election that things need to change.

The committee voted to approve the measures as amended. Pat Sherman stated he would try to get the revised documents to the members tomorrow.

Timeline Review:

Meeting for next week will remain on schedule but may not be required. They will try to take action “electronically” to avoid the meeting next week.

On the 16^th, the Plan of Reorganization will be presented WRT board and Greenwood Common Council at the Greenwood city building. The committee will meet at 6pm, “in the basement” before the presentation for signing the Plan of Reorganization to be presented.

The committee plans to form a communications committee including some members of the community to present the plan, (Editor’s note: actually work to sell the idea) to the community.

Pat Sherman would like consider the residential subdivision, Timber Heights, on Stones Crossing Road, to be included along with the homes to the east of the subdivision, down the hill to be included in the urban area so the city would provide trash services. The area is currently in the rural designated area.

The discussion returned to the ten-acre farms on the north side of Stones Crossing Road, west of Mullinix. The thought was that the land should be part of the rural district. The exact boundaries will still need determined. It appears the urban would extend to the south end of Deerwood, skip the ten-acre farms and include the south side of Stones Crossing west to Timber Heights in the urban district.

(Editor’s Note: Of course Bargersville has already annexed that area and the annexation will go into effect on January 2 unless there is some magical appearance of a lawsuit to stop it.)

Meeting adjourned – 8pm

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