Thomas Hasbrook, Richard G. Lugar, and Mike Carroll

Thomas Hasbrook and Richard G. Lugar (seen in this photograph with Michael Carroll) were principal participants in developing the strategy of city-county consolidation, later to be known as UniGov. Weakening economic conditions and shrinking populations were creating what many observers described as “urban crises” in metropolitan regions, particularly in the Midwest and Northeast, where shrinking manufacturing economies were exacerbating issues of urban poverty. Beginning in the mid-1960s, public officials in Indianapolis expressed frustration that local government was too divided into agencies and municipal districts to effectively address the comprehensive problems facing their metropolis. Lugar and Hasbrook, who was then Indianapolis City Council President, joined other Republican leaders and began outlining a plan for consolidated city-county government as a solution to economic and social problems in Indianapolis. Participants in the discussions included Lugar and Hasbrook, as well as John Walls of the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, Marion County Council President Beurt SerVaas, business leader John Burkhardt, Republican Party leader Keith Bulen, Lawrence Borst and John Mutz of the Marion County Council, and Carl Dortch of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce.