ELKHART -- Calling attention to what the report from the Commission on Local Government Reform does not recommend, former Gov. Joe Kernan promoted making a series of changes to city, town and county governments across Indiana Thursday night.

Kernan was the keynote speaker at the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce 2008 annual dinner at the Matterhorn Conference Center. During his remarks, the crowd of business leaders and professionals was silent, becoming animated only when Kernan closed his speech by talking about the South Bend Silver Hawks, the Class A minor league baseball team of which Kernan is the majority owner.

Appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels, the commission was led by Kernan and Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard. The report, released in December, calls for a major restructuring of local governments that would cut the number of elected officials to 5,100, about half of the current total.

"To make local government more effective and more efficient with the tax dollars we spend," Kernan said, "we have to change the system that is currently in place."

He conceded the recommendations are sweeping but, he said, the structure of local government in Indiana has not been changed in 150 years so any review likely will "come up with significant changes."

The commission, however, does not intend its recommendations to "reflect negatively on the men and women who serve in local governments across Indiana," Kernan told the audience. "They work hard."

Also, he said, the report does not advocate the closure of any schools or public libraries.

The report does recommend that every school corporation in the state have at least 2,000 students. Larger school systems are better able to provide programs like special education and vocational training, Kernan said.

In addition, public libraries should be placed under county control, he said.

Among the changes the commission does recommend is replacement of the three-member board of county commissioners with a single county executive. That county executive then would appoint such positions as county coroner, sheriff, clerk and treasurer.

Doing this would make "it easy to understand who is accountable," Kernan said.

Moreover, township assessors would be eliminated and replaced with a single county assessor. Kernan said doing away with the 1,100 elected township assessors in favor of 92 appointed county assessors would meet the mandate put forth by the state's constitution for "uniform taxation."

Kernan emphasized the portion of the report that calls for coordination among all organizations that provide for public safety -- namely, that they will have the equipment to communicate with each other and a call to 9-1-1 will be met "with all the services and abilities of the community."

He closed by asking chamber members to support of the commission's recommendations. Changes probably will be made to the report, he said, but he asked the members to read it, discuss it and talk about it with their elected state officials.

"Change will not come," Kernan said, "unless people back home are talking to members of the General Assembly."

Contact Marilyn Odendahl at modendahl@etruth.com.

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