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Dems to appoint Murray, Snyder to city ballot; Fidler drops out to seek school board posts
Nearly a month past a primary election day that featured no primary in the city, Greencastle’s fall municipal ballot continues to take shape.
In a meeting of the Putnam County Democratic executive committee this week, at-large city council candidate Kim Fidler announced her plans to remove her name from the ballot.
Instead Fidler, who taught at South Putnam High School for 16 years before becoming a Uniserve director for the Indiana State Teachers Association, will seek appointment to the Greencastle School Board.
In her place on the ballot, Fidler, who also chairs the county Democrat Party, will name incumbent Dave Murray, who will be seeking his second term.
Additionally, Fidler announced her plans to appoint DePauw music professor Steve Snyder to the vacant Fourth Ward spot on ballot.
Fidler said the move not only gives her a chance to pursue her passion, but appointing Murray should put the party in a strong position for November.
“Really my passion is the public schools and I would be very excited to be appointed to either of those two positions that are becoming vacant,” Fidler said. “Not that the city council wouldn’t have been something that I would have been excited to do, but we also have a Democratic majority on the council and we want to hold onto that.”
In the interest of holding onto that majority, the Democrats now have incumbents in three of the four positions they currently hold, with Murray and Gary Lemon again seeking at-large positions and Adam Cohen seeking another term in First Ward.
Murray had actually been interested in appearing on the primary ballot as he seeks a second term. However, he was out of the country at the time of the filing deadline.
Fidler noted that it was not a unilateral decision to appoint Murray and Snyder to the ballot.
“I didn’t make the decision alone,” Fidler said. “We have our executive committee and we’ve been talking for several months about what would be the best fit and everyone agreed on this.”
At this juncture, the full city ballot shakes out as follows:
• Mayor: Democrat incumbent Bill Dory is unopposed.
• Clerk-treasurer: Republican incumbent Linda Dunbar is unopposed.
• Council Ward 1: Democrat incumbent Adam Cohen is unopposed.
• Council Ward 2: Republican incumbent Stacey Langdon is unopposed.
• Council Ward 3: Democrat Veronica Pejril will face off against Republican Haywood Ware. Current Democrat Councilman Steve Fields is retiring.
• Council Ward 4: Democrat Snyder is unopposed. Current Republican Councilman Tyler Wade is seeking an at-large seat.
• Council At-large: Incumbents Lemon (D), Murray (D) and Mark Hammer (R) all seek another term, along with Matt Cummings (D), Wade (R) and Harry Maginity (R).
Both parties have until the end of June to fill any vacancies on the ballot.
With proper paperwork from the Putnam County Voter Registration Office, Fidler hopes to have her withdrawal and the two appointments made by June 3 or 4.
Fidler talked about the decision to step aside being difficult. She ultimately chose the position where her expertise lies.
“It would be exciting for me personally to do either, but I do want to help the local schools because we are not getting what we need from the state,” Fidler said. “I cannot do both, legally, so when I had to choose the school board was what I would like to do for the community.”
Currently, both Greencastle Township Trustee Steve Butts and the Greencastle School Board itself are in the process of naming members to the school board.
The trustee’s office has until June 30 to name someone to the position currently held by board president Mike White. The appointee — which could be White himself — will serve through June 30, 2023.
Meanwhile, Lisa McCoy recently announced her resignation from her Greencastle City Council-appointed post, effective June 30.
By law, the school board itself must appoint a replacement within 30 days, giving the board until July 30.
That position will have another three years in office, through June 30, 2022.
Fidler said that she is aware that she and Russell Harvey are both seeking the position, not necessarily to run against each other, but both out of an interest for education.
School board positions are non-partisan.