From a lengthy article in the Muncie Star-Press:

With a November referendum on Delaware County government reorganization only weeks away, proponents and opponents are marshaling their forces and preparing campaigns to sway voter opinion.

The referendum — drafted last year — would literally change the face of local government: It would eliminate the positions of Muncie mayor, Delaware County commissioners and city and county councils, and replace them with a 14-member city-county council, and an elected county executive.

The revamped council would also contract with professional managers to run local government operations.

The current members of the city and county councils in June 2011 voted to put the measure on this fall’s ballot.

However, they also put a significant obstacle in its path — to be enacted, two-thirds of voters, rather than a simple majority, must support it.

Perhaps because of the challenge that must be overcome to pass reorganization, the pro-consolidation campaign has been low-key so far.

...

There’s a lot of skepticism about the reorganization among current officeholders.

“I have some very serious reservations about it.,” Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler said last week. “About the potential, I believe, of Muncie losing its identity as a community and a city.

“I think it's very important for us to have somebody that represents Muncie. Doesn't represent the county, doesn't represent the townships. Represents Muncie.”
...

The reorganization plan appears to be no more popular in the Delaware County Building than it is at City Hall.

“I’m opposed to it,” said Delaware County Commissioners President Todd Donati. “I don’t think it was properly put together. It doesn’t save any money.

“We’re not opposed to some kind of consolidation,” Donati added, noting an interlocal agreement between the city and county on animal control. “But it needs to be something that people who understand government work on, not people rushing to meet a deadline.”
...


See the full article here:

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012308260025