ELIZABETHTOWN – Two years after the last town marshal left the job, the Elizabethtown Town Council has voted to permanently abolish the position from the town’s budget.
Essentially, the town is making official a decision from nearly three years ago, council president Rick Mullins said. It was during the Dec. 6, 2021 council meeting that the decision was made not to hire another marshal after Lukas Thorneycroft left the position. He was first appointed in May 2020.
“We already did away with the job,” Mullins said. “Now, we are officially doing away with the ordinance and other official documents.”
When asked why the positions of marshal, deputy marshal and town reserve officers will become permanently abolished on Nov. 4, Mullins said it boils down to what the Sand Creek community of 416 residents can financially handle.
“The marshal’s position was about 40 to 45% of our budget, and that was for an eight hour-a-week job,” the council president said. “You also have to pay insurance — workmen’s compensation, as well as furnish a vehicle and everything. It’s purely economics. We can’t afford it,” Mullins said.
In addition to its size, Elizabethtown also has a median household income of $59,901 – compared to $78,236 in Columbus, according to statistics from Data U.S.A.
The town did have a reserve officer, but that person was able to secure a paying position in another town quite some time ago, Mullins said.
This leaves the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputies and the Indiana State Police as the law enforcement agencies responding to emergencies in Elizabethtown.
But Mullins said his community has been more than adequately served by sheriff’s deputies.
“They’ve picked up their patrols out here,” Mullins said. “When I”m out, I see (sheriff’s deputies) two or three times a day.”
