Business as usual: Organizer says high-quality services exist

You wouldn’t have to switch utilities, sign up for town trash pickup or follow any new rules that Johnson County doesn’t already have if the Center Grove area became a town.

The proposal to turn the area into a town would mean new elected officials and taxes, and a government office where you’d go to get a building permit or voice a concern. But where your kids go to school, who would come to put out a fire on your block and where you’d get your electricity from wouldn’t change.

If you called 911, you’d still get a visit from a Johnson County Sheriff’s Office deputy and White River Township or Bargersville firefighters. The new town wouldn’t have its own police, fire or street department.

The proposed town would adopt all the same rules that Johnson County has, unless elected town council members later decided to change them, said Jody Veldkamp, a board member with the group that’s calling for a new town. A town council also could decide to build parks and trails or require that sidewalks be added with all new homes and businesses.

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