Among the 23 citizens, elected officials and public safety officers appointed to Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer's Merger 2.0 task force is state Representative Darryl Owens.Owens opposed merger, and he says many of his constituents are critical, too."As I've talked to a lot of folks, they haven't seen any change in what existed before and after, other than the merger of the governments and the merger of the police departments," he says.The task force is meant to find the problems and successes of the consolidation and recommend changes. Owen says it's too early to say what exactly the task force will do, but there are several issues he hopes it will take on."There are some areas we could look at," he says. "I think we need to look at the economic development area, we may need to look at the structure of the government. I don't know if that's going to be part of the charge to this group. What I would like to look at and what we will look at might be two very different things."The panel will hold four public hearings next month:7 p.m. April 4th at the Kentucky Center for African-American Heritage, 18th and Ali
7 p.m. April 11th at Southwest Government Center, 7219 Dixie Highway
7 p.m. April 13th at Central Government Center, 7201 Outer Loop
7 p.m. April 18 at East Government Center, 200 Juneau Drive
Here is a full list of task force members. The panel is chaired by former Mayor David Armstrong and former County Judge-Executive Rebecca Jackson.
- David Allgood, citizen at large
- Metro Councilman Rick Blackwell
- Ish Burks, citizen at large
- Charlie Clephas, Greater Louisville Central Labor Council
- Dolores Delahanty, citizen at large
- Todd Eberle, the Mayor of Prospect
- Chief Greg Frederick, Louisville Fire
- Col. Yvette Gentry, representing Chief Robert White
- Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton
- Julie Hardesty, representing the County Attorney
- Ellen Hesen, chief of staff for Mayor Fischer
- Councilman Dan Johnson
- Anchorage Fire Chief Walter Lage
- Jeffersontown Fire Chief Randy Lawson
- Kristen Miller, chief of staff for Louisville EMS
- Codes and Regulations Director Jim Mims
- State Rep. Darryl Owens
- Councilman James Peden
- Ted Pullen, Director of Public Works and Assets
- Businessman Ben Ruiz
- Tierra Kavanaugh Turner, Greater Louisville Inc.
