Published: January 18, 2005 12:00 AM, Last Updated: January 17, 2005 7:00 PM

Farm land protection council suspended

MUNCIE - Gov. Mitch Daniels has suspended the activities of the Indiana Land Resources Council, which was created by the state Legislature in 1999 to address open space protection, farm land preservation, urban sprawl, downtown redevelopment, forest preservation, and planning and zoning.

The move mystified Ball State University urban planning professor Eric Kelly, a member of the council, which was soon planning to submit a smart growth proposal to Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman.

Andy Miller, a Weaver Popcorn Co. executive whom Daniels appointed as assistant commissioner of agriculture, asked Kelly and the seven other members of the council to submit letters of resignation. Miller also asked the council's paid staff person, Joe Tutterrow, to resign. He plans to do so.

But Kelly said he would not resign. "Just asking doesn't do it," he said. "If he's got a reason, I'll consider it. Asking us to resign without finding out what we've been doing or hope to do is a little strange. I don't understand why they did not call us together to discuss this. They didn't even bother to ask."

During his campaign for governor last year, Daniels said state government had hundreds of boards and commissions of questionable value, and he promised to eliminate those that were ineffective after a thorough review.

In an interview Monday, Miller said he suspended the "well-intentioned" but under-funded and toothless council. The council never received sufficient resources "to take much action," Miller said.

The issues the council had been addressing, Miller said, were "very important." In fact, he placed a "fairly significant sense of urgency on evaluating how we go forward" in addressing them. "At this point, we don't have that plan figured out," he said.

The council's draft smart growth policy evolved from four years of general discussion by the council and eight months of reviewing drafts, Kelly said.

The professor said of Daniels: "Maybe he wants to start from scratch and take another three or four years. Or maybe he thinks he can come up with a top-down recommendation. Or maybe he'll just ignore the issue."

Council members received $50 a meeting plus mileage, Kelly said. Other members included a mayor, a county executive, an executive of The Nature Conservancy, a developer, a farmer and a forester.

"This council was slow in getting much done because it was a diverse group that took a couple of years to build enough trust to have serious conversations and push some initiatives," Kelly said.

Contact news reporter Seth Slabaugh at 213-5834.

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