Lawyers for Pleasant Hill -- Earl Gritton, Howard Steele, John V. Synhorst, and Donald L. Beving -- did not agree. They said that since there was a town of Pleasant Hill the people of the town had a right to vote separately on the merger issue. The vote should have been counted as of the situation in 1958, they argued. The supreme court agreed and ruled, February 10, 1959, that the proposition and the election for directors were not valid. The decision was not unanimous. however.

An Eye on Iowa Power

Wasting no time, the proponents of a new district developed a third plan on February 26, 1959. The third plan was different from the other two. This time the new school was to contain parts of all of nine existing districts in Polk County, one in Jasper County, and one in Polk, Marion, and Jasper counties. This proposal would include the Mitchellville and Runnells districts. However, only part of the Pleasant Hill district, the part south of Vandalia Road, was included. That was the part that contained Iowa Power and Light Company's generating plant and the Great Lakes Pipeline Company. This was the Pleasant Hill school's tax base.

A petition in favor of reorganization signed by 1,686 of the 4,036 voters in the proposed district was filed with the Polk County Superintendent. Since the proposal affected only those residents living in the southern part of the community, the majority of Pleasant Hill people had no say in the matter. Some families had only recently moved into the southern Pleasant Hill area. Of the nine voters there, five "were persuaded by Ed Fox and Neal Smith to sign" the petition, according to Ralph Norris, County Superintendent. (Some Pleasant Hill residents contend that the newcomers were moved into the area by proponents of consolidation in order to assure a favorable vote.)

There was one main reason for dividing the school district of Pleasant Hill, leaving the part with most of the people out. As Norris said, “The citizens of that part of Pleasant Hill had fought the plan to be included so they were omitted in this petition." Besides, that part of the community did not have the tax wealth that was in the south. The Iowa Power and Light Company plant had a taxable value of $12,000,000 at the time and Great Lakes Pipeline plant had a "substantial" taxable value.

The people of Pleasant Hill did not just accept having no say in how their school district was divided. During the required public hearing before the Joint County Boards of Polk, Jasper, and Marion counties, four lawyers presented objections to the plan. Representing Sonja Churchill, Murry W. Witzenberg, E. M. Voshell, Floyd Cunningham, Frederick J. Chmura, Ralph Grant, the Pleasant Hill school board and Ipalco were James W. Hall, Earl Gritton, Don Beving, and John V. Synhorst. Neal Smith and James Irish represented those in favor of the reorganization.

At the hearing on April 2, 1959, the objectors' lawyers tried to convince the joint board to nullify the petition. Witnesses were interviewed in an effort to prove the latest proposal was hastily drawn and the proper procedures were not followed. The proponents' lawyers cross examined and made statements supporting the petitions and the proposal. The joint board agreed with those in favor of the plan. The vote of the board was unanimous.