Case manager Bethany Skaggs watches the front desk of the Franklin Township Trustees office in this August 2020 file photo.
Franklin Union Needham, or FUN, Township was named the Township of the Year at a statewide conference last month.
The Indiana Township Association, or ITA, on Sept. 20 named the township Indiana Township of the Year. Both the high level of service the township offers residents and township officials’ leadership in being the first in the state to merge, played into the award.
The township officially merged on Jan. 1, which pooled the money of all three townships and moved services to a centralized location in Franklin. The move was made to increase the level of services offered to all three townships and save money for taxpayers by lowering overhead costs, officials said at the time.
Prior to the merger, then Franklin Township Trustee Lydia Wales was named the 2019 Indiana Trustee of the Year and then Franklin Township Case Manager Nichole Boston was named the 2021 Indiana Trustee Staff Member. Wales and Boston work for the merged township in the same positions.
FUN Township did what has been talked about since 2007. That’s when township mergers were first suggested by the Kernan Shepard report commissioned during the Gov. Mitch Daniels administration.
Though Indiana townships have been able to merge since 2008, none had attempted it until 2021.
Following a joint meeting in April 2021, the township merged this year with approval by all three trustees and all nine members of the three township advisory boards.
The townships still have their name and borders but services are centralized at the former Franklin Township office led by Wales and three board members representing each township. Two trustees and six township board members stepped aside and surrendered their elected offices to facilitate the merger, which Wales said is admirable.
On Nov. 8, the township will have its first election following the merger, with six vying for the three seats.
At the conference, Wales also shared her experience with the merger with other township officials interested in learning about the process.
“With the first successful merger, many of the fears and concerns were lifted and now a successful blueprint can be followed,” Wales said in a statement on the award. “This, coupled with a new study commissioned by the ITA on which townships should consider merging will allow for trustees, the grassroots of governance, could lead to multiple mergers across the state. These mergers will create tremendous cost savings while improving the services available to the most vulnerable in our communities.”
Critics have said that mergers are needed because many township governments are not very active — people don’t know how to find township services and elected officials aren’t good at spreading the word.
FUN Township does more than many across the state, providing 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, Wales said.
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 offers the JAKI program through partnerships with Franklin and Bargersville police.
Wales hopes to take the thought behind the JAKI program further by offering transitional housing for township residents. She’s been looking for a location in the township and recently asked the Johnson County ARPA Committee — a committee of county officials who are deliberating how to spend the county’s allotment from the American Rescue Plan Act — if they would be willing to help fund transitional housing. The ARPA committee approved the request for $3 million in funding and the search for a location is still on.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the ARPA committee denied the request for funding.
