St. Albans Township and Village of Alexandria Merger Commission members voted unanimously to place the conditions of a merger between the township and the village on the ballot in November.
If approved by voters in November, St. Albans Township and the Village of Alexandria would become one municipality. If approved, the municipality would be referred to as the Village of Alexandria and go into effect in January 2026.
The commission, made up of local members, worked on the merger conditions for 18 months. The final task of the commission – to vote to put the merger on the ballot in November – concluded during the commission’s Wednesday, May 14 meeting. About 2,500 residents will be impacted by the merger vote in November.
Commission co-chair and Alexandria Village Council member Carianne Meng believes the merger would give more power back to the residents of Alexandria and St. Albans.
Read more: St. Albans-Alexandria merger commission granted year extension for research, writing ballot language
“Our role was to investigate whether a merge of St. Albans Township and the village of Alexandria would give us increased local control, both in zoning and in governance and in finances,” Meng said.
The merger would increase local control for residents of St. Albans by becoming a municipality, according to commission member Jeff Baer from St. Albans Township. The unincorporated township is either managed by the township trustees, or by the county commissioners directly Baer said.
“An example is the 208 plan, the county commissioners gave away a large swath of land to a water company that wasn’t even near us,” Baer said. “They can’t do that in the village.”
The vote on Wednesday does not approve the merger, but puts the merger decision in the hands of community members.
“Ultimately, it’s not our decision. It’s just our decision whether or not it lands on November’s ballot,” Meng said.
If approved by voters, the merged government will have a statutory mayor-council form of government, according to the merger conditions posted to the commission’s website on May 1. Elections for mayor and six village council members will also occur in the November election, and elected officials will take office on Jan. 1, 2026 if the merger passes.
Additional conditions of the merger are available to view on the merger commission’s website. Each member of the commission will also upload a voting statement to the website, explaining the reasoning for their decisions.
In November 2023, 60% of St. Albans Township and 79.2% of Alexandria voters opted to explore a merger by creating the commission. The vote was not for the township and village to merge, only to form the commission that would research what would happen if the two municipalities merged. The commission is made up of five St. Albans residents and five Alexandria residents.
Maddie Luebkert writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.