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Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Ind. Gov't - Farm land protection council suspended

The Muncie Star-Press reports today, in a story headlined "Farm land protection council suspended," that:

MUNCIE - Gov. Mitch Daniels has suspended the activities of the Indiana Land Resources Council, which was created by the state Legislature in 1999 to address open space protection, farm land preservation, urban sprawl, downtown redevelopment, forest preservation, and planning and zoning.

The move mystified Ball State University urban planning professor Eric Kelly, a member of the council, which was soon planning to submit a smart growth proposal to Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman.

Andy Miller, a Weaver Popcorn Co. executive whom Daniels appointed as assistant commissioner of agriculture, asked Kelly and the seven other members of the council to submit letters of resignation. Miller also asked the council's paid staff person, Joe Tutterrow, to resign. He plans to do so.

But Kelly said he would not resign. "Just asking doesn't do it," he said. "If he's got a reason, I'll consider it. Asking us to resign without finding out what we've been doing or hope to do is a little strange. I don't understand why they did not call us together to discuss this. They didn't even bother to ask."

During his campaign for governor last year, Daniels said state government had hundreds of boards and commissions of questionable value, and he promised to eliminate those that were ineffective after a thorough review. * * *

The professor said of Daniels: "Maybe he wants to start from scratch and take another three or four years. Or maybe he thinks he can come up with a top-down recommendation. Or maybe he'll just ignore the issue."

Council members received $50 a meeting plus mileage, Kelly said. Other members included a mayor, a county executive, an executive of The Nature Conservancy, a developer, a farmer and a forester.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 18, 2005 06:40 PM
Posted to Indiana Government