I traveled to Indiana’s smallest county – Ohio County – earlier this month as part of my Hoosier Crossroads Tour. Ohio County is home to one of our best Real Estate Capital Access Programs (RECAP), in picturesque Rising Sun.
But I want to take a moment to highlight an important part about how Ohio County government operates. On this tour, yes, I’ve been visiting projects the state has partnered in or funded, but I’ve also been meeting with local elected officials to talk about how government works.
I’ve learned a lot, and you’ll be hearing more about results of these conversations soon. In Ohio County, there’s a great example of what we are trying to do. Due to the county’s size (86 square miles and 6,100 residents), the only city and the county government work well together.
In Indiana, we have multiple layers of local government. For years, we’ve been talking about ways to streamline that government so it spends taxpayer money more efficiently.
In Ohio County, the collaboration is everywhere. Folks say “one size fits all” government is not good for our 92 counties. That may be true, but it’s amazing the similarities I see between the officially consolidated government of Marion County (Indianapolis) and Ohio County, where you sometimes can’t tell where county government stops and city government begins.
A lot of counties could learn a thing or two by seeing how far cooperation can take you.
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