News Release

PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP — Julia A. Goon, who has served as Prairie Township Trustee for 45 years, has announced she will seek re-election to that position.

Julia Goon

Goon was appointed as trustee on Jan. 1, 1981, to fulfill the term of June Thomas. She was then elected to office in 1982 and has been re-elected every four years.

She was township trustee/assessor when she became trustee in 1981 and served in that position until 2009 when the state assigned the assessor position over to the county level. She has assessed real estate and personal property, sold Amish buggy plates and dog tags.

She has served as president, vice president and secretary/treasurer several times for the county trustee association over the years. She has also served on the awards committee and task force for the Indiana Township Association. She also served as the NE Area Director for the Indiana Township Association beginning in the fall of 2022 for a two-year term.

“I’ve always been willing to help any trustee out in our county and any other county with their job if they ask me. I send out many emails and texts for reminders, documents, spreadsheets, phone lists of all trustees that I have created to help others,” said Goon.

“We are Grassroots Government and know our community needs better than any other level of Government. Northwest Territory was divided into survey Townships in 1787. We have been around for a long time, some say we are antiquated but I believe in township government taking care of your own community. Indiana had 1,008 townships but since we have been allowed to consolidate we now have 1,001 townships and expecting more merging of townships to take place in the future,” she added.

Prairie Township has a population of 1,774, according to the 2020 census. It is an agriculture-based township with no cities or towns, except half of the unincorporated town/village of Atwood. There are several businesses in the township.

There is a volunteer fire department that serves Prairie and Harrison townships. The cost for the fire station and equipment is shared with Harrison Township. The township contracts with the Atwood Volunteer Firemen to operate the fire department.

Since Goon has been trustee, she has experienced the building of its current station, remodeling of the department’s meeting room/kitchen/office area, re-roofing of the station and new trucks, radios and gear, along with purchasing radios, gear, and repair of the concrete floor, without borrowing any monies.

The township has two cemeteries, Clunette, which is currently inactive but may be reopened, and Pleasant View. The trustee sells the grave sites, marks the graves for burials and maintains both properties. Both cemeteries have had monuments restored and continue to clean and restore monuments in need.

The township has very little township assistance and Goon has never expended over $2,000 in a year. In the last several years, the disbursement has been minimal or zero dollars with no tax rate, since the balance in the fund is over $12,000.

The township also contracts with Lutheran EMS for ambulance service; Atwood Fire Department for fire protection; Atwood Community Building for civic clubs in the area to use the building free of charge; cemetery maintenance, home office rent with trustee; and has several township policies in effect including travel, telephone/cellular/internet, township assistance, nepotism, materiality policy and internal controls.

The township purchased its first weather siren in 2022, which was placed on the north side of the old Atwood School. Another siren was purchased in 2024 and placed in Clunette. Goon has also been responsible for assisting in applying for grants for the restoration of the Atwood Community Building and helping with contracted funds to accomplish the goal of the restoration in 2007.