By Rusty Nixon Correspondent
PLYMOUTH — State legislators heard their constituents on Saturday as Representatives Nancy Dembowski, Bill Friend and Senator Ed Charbonneau listened to Marshall County residents talk on changes proposed in local government.
The Marshall County Township Trustees along with the Marshall County Commissioners sponsored the meeting in the County Building to allow residents to speak to changes proposed to streamline local government by last year’s Kernan-Shepherd report. Many of the reports suggestions have been included in upcoming legislation in the Indiana General Assembly.

The Commissioners Meeting Room may have been the safest place in Marshall County on Saturday morning as many of the capacity crowd in attendance were volunteer firemen and EMS personnel. One of the biggest concerns of those in attendance was the possibility that if Township Trustees are eliminated, as proposed by the Daniels Administration, that would also mean the elimination of Township Volunteer Fire Departments in favor of a centralized county fire department.
“You can’t email a fireman to a fire,” said Perry Olshein of Bourbon Township. “A fire doubles every minute. If a house is more than ten minutes away from the station there is very little chance of saving that home and maybe even a life.”
Fire and emergency personnel are concerned that if fire and EMS service is centralized in a county the response time would result in greater tragedy, especially to those who live in outlying areas around the county. Currently Townships supply such service to their residents and are assisted by all other fire and EMS personnel in the county.
Elected officials in the county such as Township Trustees, the Commissioners, the Surveyor, Auditor, Treasurer, and Clerk were concerned about the report that suggested that their offices be either done away with, or appointed.
The Kernan-Shepherd Report advocates doing away with the three county Commissioners and the appointment of a County Executive Officer who in turn would appoint the other positions.
Surveyor Larry Fisher and Commissioner Jack Roose expressed concern about the accountability of officials who were not subject to election. Along with former Marshall County Clerk Jan Fisher, they were also very concerned with the speed with which the state house appears to wish to proceed with sweeping changes to local government in the state.
“At least slow the process down,” said Jan Fisher. “I don’t believe they know what these officers do or what services they provide.”
Others urged similar restraint and suggested that changes were not necessarily a bad thing.
Speaking to one specific change for township emergency services, John Oliver of U.S. Granules in Plymouth suggested that change could be a good thing for the county.
“Specifically on recommendation number five (of the Kernan-Shepherd report) The whole idea is to provide better resources to local volunteer departments while providing all Marshall County residents more uniform protection. Does it make any sense that Plymouth has more police officers than Marshall County?” he said. “We need to educate ourselves and understand what is being provided for in these suggestions.”
“What’s happening here is good because we need to start talking,” said State Senator Ed Charbonneau. “We need to know what this does say and what it doesn’t say. How do we make providing services more efficient and effective.”