An often controversial, and many argue unneeded, layer of local government could be eliminated by county elected officials under a bill that has cleared the Indiana Senate and awaits committee hearing in the House.
It's one of many legislative attempts in recent years to allow an outmoded form of government, county solid waste districts, to be put out of their misery. The legislation deserves serious consideration by the Indiana House as we head into the final stretch of the 2016 legislative session.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, would allow each county's board of commissioners to vote to eliminate solid waste districts, which were created by a 1991 Hoosier law to promote recycling in all 92 counties.
The bill has particular importance in Northwest Indiana, where the Lake County Solid Waste Management District has been embroiled in past spending controversies, a failed trash-to-ethanol venture and a breach-of-contract landfill lawsuit from the mid 1990s that cost county taxpayers $9 million in a legal settlement.
The 27-member Lake County waste district board voted to fire the person at the epicenter of the controversy, former Executive Direct Jeff Langbehn, in 2014 amid a spending scandal.
Since then, the board appears to have made honest attempts to clean up the waste, hiring a fiscally minded director who has cut some costs and permanently parked employee take-home cars.
But fiscal responsibility alone doesn't justify the existence of a potentially unneeded layer of government.
When the bill creating waste districts became law 25 years ago, boosting recycling rates and diverting garbage from landfills was the central purpose. Today, private garbage haulers, including Republic Services and Waste Management in the Region, offer their own recycling programs, complete with high-tech sorting facilities.
Keeping a government eye on maintaining or boosting recycling rates still may be needed. But it's time to explore whether existing county government agencies can perform this function.
Lake County's district, the largest in the state with a $5 million annual budget, has only a handful of employees who ultimately answer to an unwieldy board of 27 members, all unpaid officials who hold county or municipal government posts.
Niemeyer's bill will allow the counties to have an important discussion regarding the future of such districts.