By ADAM PINSKER & ASHLEY FOWLER
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
Voters living in the town of Sheridan and in Adams Township will have to decide in November’s election on whether they want to reorganize into a single local government. The question will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot.
In a press release announcing the proposal last year, Town Council President Silas DeVaney III said annexing into a larger community is a “major first step in the process of planning for growth along the U.S. 31 corridor.”
Currently, Sheridan is within the township’s boundaries but it has a separate government. In Adams Township, which includes Boxley and Bakers Corner, the sheriff’s office is in charge of law enforcement and Hamilton County is in charge of government services. If Sheridan annexes the township, it would also have a much larger area to govern.
If reorganized, Sheridan’s borders would extend to cover the entirety of the township. The population would go from about 3,100 to roughly 5,200 and the five-member Sheridan Town Council would expand to seven members.
On June 18, the Sheridan Town Council and the Adams Township Advisory Board approved the merger.
Hamilton County officials talked to residents about the merger at a meeting Thursday. County Commissioner Steve Dillinger warned that a lot of things the county pays for in Adams Township would become Sheridan’s responsibility.
“If that’s what (residents) want, I support them 100 percent,” Dillinger said. “I just want to make sure they have all the knowledge on what the costs will be.”
Dillinger said if Sheridan annexes Adams Township, it would lose out on for federal money and grants designated for roads that the county is set to distribute. Instead of using the federal money, Sheridan would have to pay for road projects itself.
“The $30 million for the road work, and the grants … we have plans to redo different roads over there, that we won’t be doing,” Dillinger said.
Sheridan would also be on its own for snow removal, Dillinger added.
Hamilton County Sheriff Dennis Quakenbush says Sheridan’s annexation plan doesn’t provide enough funding for his deputies to patrol the community.
If the ballot initiative passes, the city’s police department would be responsible for patrolling an even larger swath of land, with the same amount of officers it has now.
“Just this past year our officers [deputies] have done a lot of assisting the Sheridan Police Department because they’ve been so short,” the sheriff said.
A few residents at the meeting were skeptical and told the county commissioners they did not think they were being provided accurate numbers from the county on how much revenue Sheridan would need to run a reorganized government.
“You’re not thinking that we’re not all farmers that don’t have an education, and these farmers are probably more educated than half this panel,” one resident told the commissioners.
Others were afraid if Sheridan doesn’t grow, it will be annexed by Westfield. Westfield Mayor Scott Willis said his city is not considering annexation any part of Sheridan.
If the ballot measure passes, the reorganization would take effect on Jan. 1, 2025.
This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/local-news/sheridan-prepares-for-vote-about-towns-future.
As a homeowner that lives in Washington Twp. just north of 146th Street, I never expected to be annexed into the City of Carmel. But in 2004 I and 800 other homeowners in my neighborhood received official notification that, indeed, Carmel would annex us.
In spite of an inter-local agreement between the then-Town of Westfield and Carmel City (which Carmel unilaterally broke), Carmel was annexing north of 146th Street. It took a huge amount of negotiating between Carmel, Westfield and many neighborhoods before Carmel retreated and Westfield made an offer we couldn’t refuse (to phase-in new tax rates) that paved our annexation into Westfield.
Under Indiana law, the nice residents of Adams Township might remember that Cities are superior to Towns. That means if the City of Westfield wants something that the Town of Sheridan also wants, Sheridan and Adams Township loses. Sheridan may think its destiny (eventually) is the whole of its home township (like Carmel/Clay and Westfield/Washington), but unless this merger happens don’t count on it.
Westfield doesn’t want something until it wants it.
No dog bites until it does.