(AP) Two St. Joseph County commissioners have asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to extend the deadline for petitioning the government for a possible switch to the Central time zone.

The deadline expired Sunday, as daylight saving time ended for the year. Five southwestern Indiana counties switched that day from Central to Eastern time, and the federal agency said it would wait at least a year before considering new time zone petitions in Indiana.

St. Joseph County Commissioners Steve Ross and Robert Kovach, both Democrats, wrote to the DOT requesting an extension.

"The economic life and future of St. Joseph County is tied to the greater metropolitan area of Chicago," Ross said of a move from the Eastern to the Central time zone.

DOT spokesman Bill Mosley said the letter requesting the extension had been received and is being reviewed.

The federal agency last year denied a request from St. Joseph County officials for a move to Central time.

Republican Commissioner Mark Dobson said he wasn't consulted about the letter from Ross and Kovach.

"Partisanship is back," said Dobson, who called the squabble over time zones "one of the single most divisive issues" in St. Joseph County. "There's better things for our community to be working on."