Government: Open Questions

CARRIED OPEN, WITH SETTLING SOURCES · AS OF NOVEMBER 11, 2026

The depth standard is the current seat or the named gap; this section's gaps are these: GAP-GOV-1 — the township results of November 3, 2026. The winners of the Harris trustee race (Vos v. Lindsay), the Harris board (three of six), the Clay trustee race (O'Brien v. Clayton), and the Clay board (three of six) were not carried by any results source reached — the broadcast service carried county races only, the Tribune's coverage did not print township outcomes, and the county's results journal printed only its profiled races. Settler: the St. Joseph County Clerk's certified precinct summary report for the November 3, 2026, general election (the document the county posts to its official DocumentCenter, as it did for the May 5, 2026, primary), or the Indiana Election Division's county results download. Until it is pulled, both trusteeships and both boards print as held through December 31, 2026, with successors taking office January 1, 2027 unnamed. GAP-GOV-2 — the Clay Township succession, 2011–2026. The trusteeship is anchored at Robbie M. Thomas (2003–2010, State Board of Accounts) and Mike Dobson's election of November 2010; the holders across the 2015–2018, 2019–2022, and 2023–2026 terms, the sitting boards of those years, and Sean O'Brien's incumbency or non-incumbency in 2026 are unverified. Settlers: the State Board of Accounts' examination and compliance reports for Clay Township, St. Joseph County, which print schedules of officials term by term; the Clerk's canvasses of 2014, 2018, and 2022; the township's Indiana Gateway annual financial report filings. GAP-GOV-3 — the Harris Township Fire Department's founding and volunteer-era course (the Story of Granger section's GAP-SPINE-1, re-searched for this section and standing): Clay Fire's official departmental history, read whole, takes the Harris department up only at the January 1, 2010 merger; the township's own site and published history remember the volunteer era without a founding date. Settlers: the department's own records in Clay Fire's archives; the Harris Township trustee's minutes; the Tribune archive. GAP-GOV-4 — the Clay Fire chief's line before 1997 and the date of Jaren Kilian's appointment. The record carries Schabbel (1997–2024) and Kilian in office by March 2026, with Kilian as assistant chief in February 2024; the appointment date and all earlier chiefs are unprinted in the record reached. Settlers: the fire commission's minutes and the department's releases and annual reports. The fire commission's own current membership is likewise unprinted in the record reached — Harris Township's two seats are stated by the township; the five names are not — and rides the same settler. GAP-GOV-5 — the Clay Township library district. Library service is settled for the Harris Township ground (Mishawaka-Penn-Harris, 2001); the district serving the CDP's Clay Township portion was not settled. Settler: the Indiana State Library's district map and legal file. GAP-GOV-6 — County Council District A's precinct composition. District C's composition is sourced (all of Harris Township, four Clay precincts, three Mishawaka precincts); District A carries the balance of Clay Township at district-map strength, its exact precinct list unpulled. Settler: the county code's district precinct lists and the county GIS district descriptions. GAP-GOV-7 — the Harris Branch dedication date. The opening year 2004 is settled from the Tribune's dedication-year coverage; the day and month are not. Settler: the library's board minutes and institutional history (the Story of Granger section's GAP-SPINE-4 settler, now narrowed to the date). GAP-GOV-8 — the Granger post office's present street address. Settler: the U.S. Postal Service's facility record. Two variances also ride open from the entries: the Clay board's Republican line as printed in February, July, and October 2026 (Connery/Conery; Steve Weldy/Lloyd Weldy — settler, the Clerk's candidate record), and Larry Beehler's board tenure as printed in 1996, 2018, and 2026 (settler, the corporation's minutes). One gap of the Story of Granger section's is narrowed by this section and one is closed: the Clay trustee item of GAP-SPINE-5 is anchored and re-stated as GAP-GOV-2, its commissioner item is settled whole in the county entry, and the Harris successor item rides GAP-GOV-1; GAP-SPINE-4's library year is settled at 2004 and narrowed to GAP-GOV-7.

Sources:

1. The search record of this section, November 2026, as itemized in the elections, fire, county, and library entries above; the Story of Granger section's named gaps GAP-SPINE-1, GAP-SPINE-4, and GAP-SPINE-5.