ATWOOD - Kosciusko County Township Trustees Association will gather Sunday for a rally to show opposition to proposed changes to the structure of county government.
Prairie Township Trustee Julie Goon said the rally is part of a statewide effort to fight the proposals that will come before the Indiana legislature early next year.
The proposals come from a state panel led by former Gov. Joe Kernan and Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard.Last week, Gov. Mitch Daniels said he is in favor of 20 of the report's 27 proposals and is pushing for some of them to be brought before the Indiana Senate in the next legislative session.
Daniels said he is in favor of replacing the current county commissioner structure with one county executive and transferring the commissioners' duties to an expanded version of the county council. Daniels said he also would like to see school districts with less than 1,000 students combine with another district, unless they are already part of a countywide district.
The report suggests making the county assessor, auditor, coroner, recorder, sheriff, surveyor and treasurer posts appointed by the new county executive. Daniels said he wants the sheriff, auditor and county clerk posts to remain elected positions, but favors making the other positions appointed positions.
"We're basically all against that," said Goon. "You're losing your right to vote for who you want."
The proposals also include an elimination of township government positions.
Goon said she doubts the proposals will save money as the governor claims.
"If you transfer the duties to someone else, they're going to want more money," she said. "How can it save money?"
According to Goon, in 2007, the average salaries for township trustees was $9,842.35. For township clerks, it was $4,968.29, and for township board members, it was $640.51. She said township employees don't make enough money for the county to realize savings proportional to the loss of local service.
She said she feels local residents should speak out and let their state legislators know what they think about the proposals.
"I'm not doing this to save my job as a township trustee," she said. "I don't get paid enough for that. I do it because I care about the people of this community. I believe they need representation."
Sunday, Goon and other area residents opposed to the proposals will rally at the Atwood Community Building at 4 p.m.
Goon said, Matt Norris, of the Indiana Township Association, also will attend the rally.
For more information about the effort to oppose the Kernan Shepard Report recommendations, visit www.hoosiersfordemocracy.org
For more information about Sunday's rally, call Goon at 574-858-2253.
