The committee attempting to craft a proposal for the consolidation of Evansville and Vanderburgh County governments may have found the structure of local government they want and an established timeline to get to that goal.
Tuesday night, the 12-member committee expressed support for a local government blueprint that would eliminate county commissioners and merge the city and county councils into one body, which then would be considered a common council.
The committee also voted 6-5 to finalize a proposal by the end of May, seven months before the committee's statutory one-year deadline of Jan. 11.
If approved by then, a question for voters on the merger of local governments could be on the Nov. 2 ballot.
"We want to really work very diligently over the next eight weeks and get this thing done," said Kurt Jourdan, committee member and 911 dispatch employee.
Tuesday's proposed structure calls for a single-mayor government with additional deputy mayors, as well an undetermined number of common council members.
Jourdan said the common council would have either 11 or possibly 15 seats, three of which would be designated as at-large members.
The committee will not augment positions that are constitutionally mandated, such as the county sheriff and auditor.
However, by eliminating the county commissioner seats, Jourdan estimates the county would save at least $90,000.
While it would not save the county money initially, he added that the merger plan would slow government and create fiscal gains in the long term. In addition, he said the switch would create more checks and balances within the county's government system.
"There's no reason for us to have two executive bodies here," he said.
Rebecca Kasha, committee president and development director of Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden, said the final proposal would go to the County Commissioners and the mayor's office.
By statute, the commissioners can accept the proposal as it is, accept it with modifications or send it back to the committee for further review. The next consolidation committee meeting is April 27.