Portage Township Trustee Joyce Webster blasted her predecessors on Wednesday at an Indiana Senate Local Government Committee hearing on abolishing township government.

Webster said the Democrats who ran the office before her treated it like a sheltered workshop for friends and family.

"When I took over as trustee in January of 2007, I walked into disarray that was left over from the past few 'good ol' boys' trustees that undermined that office and the taxpayers."

Can you tell Webster is a Republican?

But that could just as easily have been Democrat Frank Mrvan, who made a number of personnel changes when he was named North Township Trustee in neighboring Lake County.

A strong two-party system in both Portage Township and Lake County would help with the "good ol' boys" problem.

But what both situations point to is the need for greater accountability in government.

So I side with the people who want to streamline government by eliminating the township form of government.

I'm not saying the services the townships provide aren't necessary, and I'm not saying some township trustees haven't done remarkable jobs, but there are other ways to deliver those services that would provide more accountability and accessibility.

Which township do you live in? Who's your township trustee? Where is his or her office? What does the trustee do for residents of your township?

If you can answer all these questions, chances are you've got a dog in this fight. The typical resident might not even know what township he lives in, let alone what services are available and how to access them.

Often, this is because the township trustee operates the office out of his home instead of a commercial building. How accessible is that?

Think like a businessman, which is to say put yourself in the customer's position. If you need poor relief, would you go to the state welfare folks or to the township trustee? Why not provide a single intake process instead of multiple channels? Wouldn't that reduce the opportunity for fraud and make it easier for the aid applicant at the same time?

And why not have the county take over the cost of mowing township and abandoned cemeteries? The county already has crews to do mowing. Or perhaps county jail inmates could provide that labor in exchange for some fresh air.

The county could take over fire protection responsibilities, which after all is simply a matter of providing adequate funding for the local fire departments.

Some townships operate parks, but why? Each county has a park department that would be able to take over that role as well.

The bottom line, it seems to me, is that these responsibilities could be addressed in another way, and with more accountability.

The Senate Local Government Committee should nudge this legislation along -- making sure there is a transition process in place but not letting this opportunity for a more accountable, more efficient, more streamlined government be missed.