by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

County Commissioners and County Council members are scheduled to meet in joint session on Dec. 5 in what Commissioner Steve Dillinger calls an updating of projects and issues underway or to be considered in the coming year.

Commissioners say they want to give the council information in hopes of creating a more harmonious relationship with the council, which controls the county purse strings. That relationship has been strained from time to time during the past year, mostly over funding of commissioner-proposed projects.

Expected to be discussed is the planned expansion of the Government and Judicial Center, progress on county jail expansion and possibly the allocation of county funds to community service agencies.

Other topics might include the major upgrading of State Road 37, the planned Pleasant Street bridge over White River and a proposed public safety training center, a subject that has also been debated between council and commissioners.

Next year the membership of the council will be altered slightly with the seating of Ken Alexander who replaces retiring councilman Paul Ayers. Whether this change results in a different outcome for some of the commissioners’ proposals remains uncertain.

The joint meeting is not billed as a decision-making session, but could go a long way toward better relations between the two county elective bodies which would be most helpful in the new year as the county faces continued explosive growth and development.