Vanderburgh County commissioners on Nov. 1 approved a third amendment to the interlocal agreement with the City of Evansville that will restructure the Area Plan Commission and take effect Jan. 1, 2025.

Unidentified Speaker 1, who opened the special meeting, described the amendment as a negotiated compromise and thanked staff and city officials for their work. "The membership in this agreement is moving down from 13 to 9," the speaker said, adding that appointments will be split evenly between the county and the city (four each) and that the ninth seat will be the elected county surveyor to serve as a tiebreaker.

The amendment also sets term limits, which the speaker described as two four-year terms (a total of eight years) followed by a mandatory one-year break before reappointment, and requires equal funding from the city and the county. The contract length will be three years; the speaker noted the previous renewal occurred in February 2014.

Several commissioners voiced support during the brief discussion. Unidentified Speaker 2 said the Area Plan Commission has been "dedicated" and called the composition changes reasonable; Unidentified Speaker 3 thanked staff and the county attorney and said the smaller board should improve the commission's ability to reach consensus. "I believe that this agreement will fix some of the problems that have been brought to this board over time from developers," Unidentified Speaker 3 said, while noting it will not resolve every concern.

Unidentified Speaker 4 explained the next steps: the amended interlocal agreement must be signed and ratified by participating bodies, including the City of Evansville (city council, board of public works and administration) and county entities. "It will get sent out to all the participating agencies, to get their approval, and ratification of this amended interlocal agreement," Unidentified Speaker 4 said. Unidentified Speaker 5 added that both the county and city ordinances will need amendment to reflect the change.

The board stated the reduction in membership is timed with four seats whose terms end Dec. 31 so current members will not have terms shortened. A motion "to approve the third amendment to the interlocal agreement between the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County concerning the area plan department" was offered, moved and seconded. When asked, Commissioner Gable answered "Yes," Commissioner Musgrave answered "Yes," and President Elpers' vote was recorded as "Yes," approving the motion.

The amendment now moves to the City of Evansville and other participating agencies for review and ratification and will require ordinance amendments in both jurisdictions. The commission adjourned following the vote.