14 News, The Tri-State's News and Weather Leader-Public Safety Committee votes 3-1 to recommend Sheriff's plan

Public Safety Committee votes 3-1 to recommend Sheriff's plan

By Nathan Ryder - bio | email | Twitter
Posted by Sarah Harlan - email

VANDERBURGH CO., IN (WFIE) - In a three to one vote, the Public Safety Committee studying a city-county merger favored the Sheriff's plan. Now that recommendation heads to the full consolidation committee.  

It was no secret that Police Chief Brad Hill and Sheriff Eric Williams didn't like each other's plan on how best to consolidate local law enforcement agencies, but both agree to work through consolidation which ever way it ends up going.

In past meetings they'd heard what Evansville Police Chief Brad Hill thought a merged law enforcement agency should look like.  They also heard Sheriff Eric Williams' proposal.   On Thursday, it was time for the Public Safety Sub-Committee to make a recommendation.  

"I think we evaluated and assessed the proposals that were given," Reverend Adrian Brooks with the City/County Merger Committee said.

Reverend Brooks kicked it off with his idea: creating a police commissioner appointed by the Mayor that would oversee all law enforcement operations.  The constitutionally protected sheriff, elected by the people, would have to report to that commissioner. That didn't sit well with many members of the committee or the Sheriff.

"It was creating another layer of bureaucracy and it was creating an appointed chief as opposed to an elected official," Sheriff Williams said.  "As an elected sheriff, I become one of the checks and balances against the rest of government."

Members of the committee didn't make a move to vote on that plan put forward by Brooks.

They the voted on the status quo, which failed, causing the committee to make some sort of recommendation.  That's when they voted on Sheriff Williams' plan and approved it three to one.  

It was disappointing to Chief Hill, who proposed phasing out sheriff's deputies over a 20-year period and relegating the Sheriff to running the jail and serving court orders.

"We presented a pretty reasonably, well thought out plan to reorganize law enforcement," Chief Hill said.  "0I thought it made sense.  I thought it made sense for the larger agency to absorb that smaller amount of dispatched runs."

"It's not a takeover," Sheriff Williams said.  "It's not a wholesale change in one day. What it is is a consolidation of two wonderful agencies full of super people that would employ best practices over time to make a single agency that best serves this community."

Under the Sheriff's plan, if voters choose to consolidate, the Sheriff would oversee law enforcement while a series of committees formulated how exactly the two agencies would combine using each of their best practices.  

The larger City County Merger Committee accepted Thursday night's plan but won't vote to approve it for the ballot until a later meeting.

While the broader City-County Merger Committee didn't take a vote on the law enforcement merger proposal they did approve some other items tonight. 

The combined government would be called Evansville Vanderburgh.  The chief executive of Evansville Vanderburgh will continue to hold the title of mayor and the governing body would be called the Common Council. 

There will be no term limits for the mayor or members of the Common Council.  Constitutionally mandated term limits for other elected officials would be left in place.  Terms are for four years and not staggered.  Elections would be partisan. 

Represented areas would no longer be called wards but instead would be named districts. 

The mayor's chief financial officer would be called the director of budget and finance.  Paying bills would fall to the consolidated government's auditor.  The name of the mayor's second in command would be deputy mayor.

©2010 WFIE. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.