Kokomo — Deadline approaching
With all the recent talk concerning the consolidation of Kokomo and Howard County government services, there is a deadline looming that could delay the efforts for two years.
State law requires that if a consolidation agreement is reached, voters of the impacted governmental units have to approve the measure in a referendum vote.
The first thing that has to happen is both the city and county have to approve resolutions to consider consolidation. The Kokomo Common Council has passed such a measure and the Howard County commissioners have tabled it.
Once the resolution is approved by the two entities, a government consolidation committee has to be formed to work out the details.
For any referendum on consolidation to appear on the Nov. 2 ballot, the question has to be certified with the Howard County Clerk’s Office by Aug. 1, according to Dale Simmons, an attorney with the Election Division of the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office.
Currently, it appears unlikely that the deadline could be met.
Should that deadline be missed, the next election cycle where a consolidation referendum could take place would be in November 2012.
Where’s My Man?
Rumors were swirling that Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels might be present at Wednesday’s Chrysler Group LLC’s announcement of a $300 million investment in Kokomo.
Daniels, however, had a prior engagement in Lansing, Ill., with Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn.
According to his schedule, released Tuesday, Daniels had an 11:30 a.m. jobs announcement in Marion, and then flew to Lansing for a 12:30 p.m. announcement with Quinn. The Chrysler announcement was at 2:30 p.m.
We would normally call it simply a scheduling issue, but there is the prior history of Daniels’ opposition to the Chrysler bailout, along with his support of Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock’s attempt to scuttle Chrysler’s bankruptcy reorganization.
Daniels spokesman Brad Ratike said more prior notice from Chrysler would have helped.
“Because we received official notice the day before about the Chrysler event, we were unable to reschedule the event with Governor Quinn,” Ratike said.
In a radio interview with WIBC, Daniels sounded upbeat about Chrysler, saying “Chrysler thrilled us all with a terrific announcement.”
Another deadline
Both major political parties in Howard County have until June 30 to fill vacancies on the November ballot for local political offices.
The Republican Party has openings in only three races for offices in Howard County and Center Township.
The party has no candidate running against Democrat Les Ellison for the 3rd District seat on the Howard County Council and is not likely to contest that election. The other two are for Center Township trustee where Gene Lushin is seeking re-election and against Shelia Pullen for the Center Township Assessor’s Office.
Craig Dunn, party chairman, said there is a potential candidate to run against Lushin and the announcement could be made in the near future.
The Howard County Democrat Party has nine ballot vacancies. Democrats need candidates to run for Indiana House Districts 32 and 38, judge of Superior Court 1, prosecuting attorney, clerk, Howard County assessor and for the 1st, 2nd and 4th district seats on the county council.
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