County, city hopeful Area Plan Commission will remain one department after first talks

EVANSVILLE — The conversation around the future of the Area Plan Commission continued Tuesday during joint budget hearings between the city and county councils.

Ron London, the director of the APC, spoke in front of the mix of officials to present his budget, at which point Evansville City Council President Zac Heronemus asked if there was any new information about the proposed split.

"For me personally as president of city council I was kind of caught off guard at coming right into budget hearings and trying to look forward, that we're having an intense debate behind the scenes on this," he said.

The Vanderburgh County Commission voted unanimously last week to send a proposed budget to the Vanderburgh County Council for a potential new, county-only APC.

Currently a joint department, APC is split evenly between the city and county. The action to send a solo budget for review comes after the relationship between the APC and county commission has become acrimonious, including tension over the APC's leadership.

The APC handles how land is used for the city, county and the town of Darmstadt. It has a 13-member board and meets once a month. During those meeting, members discuss zoning and subdivision requests. It's also tasked with future land-use planning, meaning it focuses on growth and development of the community

London said he couldn't offer any information on where the conversation stands.

"I'm kinda just the little fish in the pond," he said.

Vanderburgh County Council President Jill Hahn said County Council members had just met with Evansville Mayor Stephanie Terry earlier in the day.

"I think there is a plan to try to seek some cooperativeness in trying to keep it status quo," Hahn said. "But there needs to be some changes possibly for the good of the community."

County Councilman James Raben said during the conversation Terry and her staff were open to change and compromise. There was a true openness to working this issue out, he said.

"While all the boxes haven't been checked yet, a lot of them were today," Raben said. "I left very confident they're not going to divorce each other. We're going to stay together I hope."

The Courier & Press reached out to Terry's office and the city is also optimistic about the ongoing discussions.

"Talks between the city and county are still ongoing, and we remain optimistic that any issues can be resolved without a split," spokesman Joe Atkinson said. "The discussion will continue until we reach that resolution in a way that best positions us for smart, efficient development in the city and county."

Heronemus said when he first came to Evansville, he heard people talk about how the city was ahead of the curve in some ways with having joint departments.

"I'll say this as a city elected official, and also as a taxpayer as well," he said, "I think it's good to bring everybody to the table and talk about things and work for improvements for our community."

Heronemus said it's important for the city and county to work together.

"When we all live in the same community, whether you're incorporated or unincorporated. I think a lot of people think we live in Evansville, we live in a community," he said. "Glad to hear you all are hearing good discussions."

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: County, city hopeful Area Plan Commission will remain one department after first talks