Delaware County’s three commissioners voted unanimously to keep the county on Eastern time during a special meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Since the state legislature voted to move Indiana to daylight-saving time, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Indiana’s 92 counties must each have hearings to decide whether they want to be on Eastern Daylight Time or Central Daylight Time. Indiana has 77 counties that have been operating under Eastern Standard time since daylight-saving time was introduced more than 30 years ago.
Five of the 12 county residents present at Tuesday’s meeting spoke in favor of staying with the Eastern time zone. Two people who spoke preferred Central time, but said they didn’t care too much either way.
Central time zone supporter Charles Jones said that where Indiana is on the map, being in the Eastern time zone puts the state “way out in left field.” He said that being on Central time puts Indiana’s time closer to the movements of the sun.
“I do think there is something to be said of the cadence and the rhythm of our lives tied to sunlight,” he said.
But business owners want Eastern time’s longer evenings because it benefits their operations, said Randy Ballinger of the Eastern Region Tourism Marketing Co-op.
Because the commissioners voted to stay in Eastern time, they do not have to petition the U.S. Department of Transportation because nothing is changing. Only those counties that move from Central to Eastern time or Eastern to Central time need to take further action.
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