New Cloverdale council member looking to bring fresh ideas

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

CLOVERDALE -- Cloverdale will be seeing some change following Tuesday's election as one long-time council member is set to depart on Jan. 1.

In a somewhat surprising turn of events, long-time council member Dennis Padgett, an Independent, was defeated by Cindy Holland, Republican, by 30 votes.

Holland, who is set to replace Padgett after 12 years, chose to run for the council position in hopes of helping Cloverdale grow.

"I want this town to grow and be something instead of exploding on itself," Holland explained. "The town is falling apart and I really hope we can help it to grow and make it a place where people want to live."

Holland, who moved to Cloverdale in 1982 from Indianapolis, also expressed disdain over the number of businesses closing throughout Cloverdale, especially around Interstate 70.

"I don't want it to be a ghost town," Holland added. "My son was born and raised here and I want his kids to be able to be proud of this town."

In the future, Holland is hoping to get the ball rolling on the town council by making several much-needed improvements throughout the town itself.

"I'm just so excited," Holland said. "I've never done this before, but I just wanted to try to have new faces and new ideals on the board. I've been to meetings and it just seems like we table everything. We need to get stuff done."

Coweta Patton, Republican, was re-elected as the council member at-large position, leading the race with 240 votes and defeating former town council member Cathy Tipton.

Patton, who was elected in 2011, hopes to continue moving the town forward by addressing several issues.

"We've got lots of plans for the future -- for Cloverdale not only to grow some, but to fix up the town," Patton explained. We'd like to some day have the sidewalks and do the streets and everything. These things have been held back for so long and we're hoping that we can get in and really do for Cloverdale what needs to be done."

Patton also added that she hopes she and the council can address several of the issues at Stardust Hills as well such as

"I want us to be known as a problem-solving board," Patton said. "I'm looking forward to working with Cindy (Holland). She has such a sweet nature and she's a very sweet lady. I'm really looking forward to working with her."