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Last updated on Tuesday, July 12, 2011
(UNDATED) - Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman will hit the road in a final push to enact some form of local government restructuring next year.
Local government reform was the one piece of Governor Daniels' agenda rejected by this year's legislature.
With one last legislative session next year before Daniels and Skillman leave office, Skillman plans brainstorming sessions with county officials in about 30 counties over the next six months, seeking ideas for local efficiencies. Skillman says they'll discuss the recommendations of the bipartisan commission headed by former governor Joe Kernan and Chief Justice Randall Shepard to merge or eliminate several governmental units and offices. Most of those recommendations have stalled in the legislature since the panel issued them four years ago.
The former Lawrence County Recorder and Clerk says she doesn't believe county officials have been properly heard in the debate over whether to transfer some or all the functions of township government to the counties. But Skillman says she's mainly looking for new approaches.
Skillman plans to continue the county-by-county tour next year, visiting all 92 before her term ends. She says it's a chance to look firsthand at how communities have spent grant money her office administers. The tour begins today in Medora in Jackson County.
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