Wales
Three local townships are combining their efforts to improve their services.
The three centrally located Johnson County townships merged into Franklin Union Needham — or FUN — Township.
The merger took effect Jan. 1, after a flurry of activity to launch the new consolidated government following a unanimous vote in favor of the merger by all three township boards last April.
The merged township is the first in the state, and was created to efficiently and cost-effectively provide services to 29,885 residents and 12,185 households covering 106.7 square miles.
Lydia Wales, who was serving as Franklin Township’s trustee before the merger, was chosen as the merged township’s trustee. The merged township board members are Jeannie Barnett of Franklin Township, Tara Payne of Needham Township and Dawn Barr of Union Township.
Wales and the board members were chosen by the former township governments to continue serving until voters elect new representatives in November. Wales and the board members have all filed to run for re-election.
For this year’s election and future elections, residents of all three townships are eligible to run for the trustee office, and the three-member township board must be composed of three members, with one representative from each township, Wales said.
Franklin Township residents will notice very few changes to their experience requesting services, while Needham and Union township residents have access to several new services, she said.
The biggest change for Needham and Union township residents is having a physical office space where they can go to meet face-to-face with township employees, Wales said. The former Franklin Township office, 20 Circle Drive, is open Monday through Thursday, by appointment.
The office space is an advantage because residents are able to go over their situations and needs and get personalized help from township staff. Employees will also work with residents to find other solutions if they don’t qualify for township aid, or if they could get more aid from another organization, she said.
The office provides housing, utility and burial assistance, help with transportation to job interviews in Johnson County, and a community pantry with clothing, food, toiletries, and diapers. The office also provides free notary services and will act as a payee for Social Security Administration benefits.
Another service is the Joint Assistance Kare Initiative, or JAKI, named after a township client who was the inspiration for the service. The township trustee is on call to help find temporary housing for victims of domestic disputes who need to get out of the house for a night, or for homeless people that law enforcement officers encounter on the job. The office previously worked with Franklin police on the program, and has now expanded the partnership to include Bargersville police.
With the merger, Wales has also taken on maintenance of rural cemeteries in Union and Needham townships. Since Franklin’s Greenlawn Cemetery is not taken care of by the township, the duty is new to her office. When the weather warms up, she plans to tour all of the cemeteries and take stock of what maintenance needs each one has, she said.
To create the new budget, tax rates for the townships were averaged together to create a new tax rate for the joint government, which consists of $308,350, plus $65,000 that is split between the three fire departments that serve the merged township, according to Indiana Gateway.
Since fire protection for each township is already governed by fire organizations independent from the township boards, the merger did not impact fire protection, Wales said.
