Lt. Governor Becky Skillman’s Report on the State of Local Government

Letter from the Lt. Governor to Indiana legislators. 

Dear colleagues:

In July, I announced that I was embarking on a 92-county tour of Indiana that we called the Hoosier Crossroads Tour. As part of this tour, I decided to do something that – as best we could tell – had never been done by a state executive.   I planned to sit down with local elected leaders in as many counties as possible for a frank discussion about the state of local government in Indiana.

During the late summer and fall of 2011, I held these meetings in 27 counties.  In each county, I took the opportunity to meet with local elected officials in a roundtable brainstorming session to discuss running the business of the city, town, or county.  The meetings have been open, honest, and a frank assessment of local governments’ successes and challenges.  The following pages contain the results of these discussions and my recommendations, but first a few things to note.

This report is not intended to replace any work done before, including the Kernan-Shepard Report.  My work was different due to the face-to-face discussions with local officials.  However, the Kernan-Shepard Report recommendations were discussed during the meetings.  We also talked about other topics, such as ways state government can eliminate red tape and the locals’ best practices that can be replicated throughout the state.

This document is not intended as an endorsement of everything mentioned by local officials.   As a former county official, (decades ago) I agreed with some of the responses reported here and also disagreed with some, and some are not feasible.  My recommendations appear on the next page.

Finally, I’d like to thank those who participated in the discussion. With rare exception, Hoosiers are electing thoughtful and caring men and women to local office. 

I enjoyed facilitating a conversation about providing services to our mutual constituents.  In 2012, I will visit the remaining 65 counties. I hope this type of communication between state and local government continues well into the future.

Read the entire report.