The Vanderburgh County Area Plan Commission (APC) and staff handle long range-planning to shape the development and growth of the community.
The Area Plan Department is shared between the county and city of Evansville thanks to a cost-sharing interlocal agreement. The department costs about $1.4 million according to the County Commission.
The current agreement was cast in 2014.
A new agreement was passed on Monday but with reservations from the City Council — the final body to vote prior to the December 31st deadline.
A failure to pass could have meant both county and city governments creating their own plan departments, risking the jobs of current department employees.
Council president Zach Heronemus was the only “no” vote on City Council.
“In my opinion, be this mayor, this administration and now this council, be strong-armed into making a decision that has no tangible evidence as to why these changes need to be made, aside from they're upset and maybe they're not getting their way. I don't know.”
The City Council felt they were forced into a new agreement proposed by the County Commission.
When voting, Council member Missy Mosby said, "I don’t like it, but ‘aye.’”
The city was notified summer of 2023 that the county planned to amend the agreement. Negotiations started in August this year between the County Commission, County Council and city administration.
Attorneys for both the city and county were present.
Heronemus said discussions on the new agreement with him only started two weeks prior to the vote.
Highlighted changes include balancing county and city appointed members, adding term limits and reducing the overall numbers. Commission President Justin Elpers said surrounding counties had fewer APC members. The new agreement reduces the APC from 13 to nine.
“Most of the research that I saw, and even with our neighboring county, a lot of the membership was around seven,” he said. “So we settled upon nine members for the total equal membership appointments from both sides of the county and the city being four and four, and then the tie breaker, as we call it, number nine, is the elected county surveyor.”
The extra four members won't be forced out — they will leave as their terms end, and can come back once a year has passed.
Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave said new agreement changes will address concerns from developers heard over the years.
“It won't fix every single one of the problems that they've alerted us to, but I think it will make it a smaller board where they have a better opportunity of reaching consensus with that board and perhaps erasing some of the fear that they have described to me that they have approaching that board.”
Other changes include changing site reviews to video calls, not just phone calls.
The Commission feels the new agreement will save money and spur economic development, drafted in the spirit of compromise. The City Council felt they had no voice in the drafting of the agreement.
They’ll all have to return to the table in three years.
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