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HAMILTON COUNTY - Sitting in grid-locked traffic along Interstate 69, Fishers residents might already think of their town as a city.
This sprawling suburb of 65,000 people certainly looks nothing like the burg of less than 1,000 it was three decades ago. But down at the municipal government complex, Fishers is still a town, just as it was incorporated in 1891.
But more residents of this commuter's haven are asking whether their town - which is larger than Anderson, Kokomo and Lafayette - should be governed like a city, with its own elected mayor.
The town-or-city question comes up often in growing communities, said Tom Bredeweg, field services manager for the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns.
"One of the things that drives it is, 'We're big, so why shouldn't we be a city?"' he said.
A new political action committee in Fishers, CityYes, is midway through gathering 1,600 signatures, which would force the Fishers Town Council to put the question before voters for the first time since 1998, when residents voted the idea down. The town council may also decide on its own to hold a referendum.
If a majority of voters agrees to switch, Fishers will replace its seven-member council and full-time town manager with a nine-member common council and full-time mayor.
The question about form of government has sparked a surprising level of interest among residents, Town Manager Gary Huff said. Sixty people have applied for one of 28 spots on a town-council-appointed study committee.
Greg Purvis, a lawyer and Democratic activist who serves as chairman of CityYes, started the movement during his failed run for town council in 2007.
"I've thought about this for a long time," Purvis said. "Why is this a town? It's too big."
Fishers is by far the largest town in Indiana. Its population is twice as great as the next contender, Merrillville, which has...