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City Council candidates tackle variety of city issues
A dozen candidates for seven Greencastle City Council seats faced questioning in the recent Greencastle League of Women Voters-WGRE Candidates’ Forum at the DePauw University Center for Contemporary Media.
Five of those were on hand in a quest for the three at-large seats on the Council -- Republicans Mark Hammer and Katherine Asbell, Democrats Kim Fidler and Gary Lemon and independent Derek Jorgensen. A sixth candidate, incumbent Republican Darrel Thomas, was unable to attend due to a prior commitment.
The at-large hopefuls were first asked by panelist Rhoda Alexander of the League of Women Voters -- who joined Banner Graphic Editor Jared Jernagan and Ryan Amer of WGRE as questioners -- what city officials could do to mitigate impact of the U.S. 231 construction work on local businesses. Although none of the candidates offered a definitive answer, they generally acknowledged the problems the lengthy detour has caused.
“It’s a great question, I wish I had an answer,” offered Lemon, who is seeking a return to the Council where he served in an at-large capacity for one term until losing a re-election bid in 2019.
“It’s a state problem, not a city problem,” he added. “It’s tragic. And it’s going to be bad next year, too, going to the north. It’s going to have major impact on the businesses on the north side. I wish I had the answer, I don’t.”
Hammer, who is seeking to continue his 28-year tenure on the Council, called it “unacceptable” that there was a two-month period of time with “no activity at all” along the Bloomington Street corridor that is restricted to one-way traffic northbound.
“We’ve lost a restaurant (the Double Decker) and we’re losing a used car dealership,” Hammer added. “That’s not acceptable.”
“It would behoove us as a City Council and an administration to hold their feet to the fire,” he said of INDOT (the Indiana Department of Transportation officials.
Next year, Hammer said, the U.S. 231 work will include replacing a waterline along Jackson Street that is more than 100 years old. “It’s going to be a huge improvement.”
Fidler agreed that the community has been impacted but noted it has been “very necessary ... a short amount of pain for a good return.”
“They should have been working on parts of it, not everything all at once,” Fidler asserted.
She noted that First Friday and other events in the community have given great exposure to local businesses as city officials “do whatever they can to help promote businesses.”
Independent hopeful Jorgensen also said “too much stoppage was unacceptable.” However, he made the point that as the construction work moves north, businesses there will at least be accessible by other side streets.
“The city can make sure,” he said, “that they’re not doing projects on those parallel streets while (231) construction is going on.”
Meanwhile, Asbell suggested “it’s an inconvenience right now, a temporary thing” that’s going to “be beautiful when it’s done.”
“We have all these wonderful things here in our community,” the longtime educator noted, adding that we can “look at the glass as half-full right now and look at all the beautiful things we have here."
The at-large candidates were also asked about future management and assurance of success for the community center/YMCA now that a 30- or 40-year dream is coming true on the city’s East Side.
Hammer pointed to the structure of the partnership involved with the city owning the 71,000-square-foot building and the Wabash Valley YMCA and Putnam County Hospital holding long-term leases for their sections of the facility. “Tenants will provide all the operating expenses going on in the building,” he reminded. “The city provides the structure, they provide all the maintenance.”
The goal for the city is to “work with the YMCA to hopefully get a lot of memberships,” Hammer added.
Lemon, a member of the Greencastle Redevelopment Commission that has shepherded the $28 million project toward reality this time, said the city can be the “head cheerleader, making sure the people doing this make it a facility we can all be proud of.”
Tackling one of the public criticisms, lack of a swimming pool, Lemon said, “You might ask, ‘Where’s the swimming pool?’ It’s very expensive to have a swimming pool and maintain it.”
Meanwhile, Jorgensen took issue with calling the project “a community center.”
“Calling it a community center seems a bit off if you have to pay a membership to use it,” he suggested. “It would be nice to make sure it’s available to everyone. Since it’s already a building owned by the city, it would be nice if we all could use it.”
Asbell, saying she was “super excited about it,” termed the community center “a win-win situation for all of us.”
“It’ll be an opportunity for older people to be able to walk the indoor track,” she added. “I just wish it was more accessible to people who don’t drive.”
Whether it’s a success or not, Fidler said, will “largely depend on the programming we offer.”
“I’d like to believe, as Council members we would have a say-so in some of the programming,” she added. “We need to be thinking in advance about how we welcome members of the community in. Programming will be very important.”
The individual races for the four ward seats tackled just one question apiece, while Stacie Langdon, who is seeking a third term as Second Ward councilor, is unopposed and spoke only briefly about her background.
“I love being involved and I love this community,” Langdon said in succinct remarks.
In First Ward, incumbent Democrat Russell Harvey, who was appointed to succeed Adam Cohen last year, is opposed by Republican David Masten, a former Council member 1996-99 who served as Council president during his tenure but did not seek re-election. They were asked what about city government they might revise.
“I think we have to do better with human relations,” Harvey said. “We need to make sure we’re known as friendly for all to live and work in the community and make sure we clearly represent we are a truly welcoming community.”
Masten took a different tact.
“The first thing I’d revise would be the zoning ordinance,” he said, indicating it hasn’t been changed in 20 years. “The code is a legal document and probably needs a revision moreso than the comprehensive plan. I would like to focus on clearing up our city code.”
He noted that the housing study currently under way could have an impact. If the suggestion is more apartments downtown, the question, Masten said, is “where’s it going to go?” If it is apartments and they’re three stories high and high-density, Masten worries about the effect it could have when subsequent traffic “dumps out onto our limited streets.”
“The community looks to be at a crossroads with there becoming more challenges,” Masten added. “Be careful what you wish for ... growth creates opportunities.”
Greencastle is a strong community, Harvey reasoned. “With these changes that will come, it’s the people, it’s the community. As we build housing, parks, etc., we know there’s an encroachment. We have to build the community around those or it doesn’t matter.”
In the Third Ward, the pairing is incumbent Democrat Veronica Pejril and Republican political newcomer Tina Nicholson. They were asked specifically what they see as the most important issue facing the Third Ward, which encompasses the majority of the city’s East Side.
Pejril said there are “a milieu of intersecting challenges” in the area, listing housing and zoning issues, longstanding drainage problems and even substance abuse concerns.
Toward the latter, although not an issue specific to the city’s Third Ward, Pejril said, “I’ve been using my platform as a city councilor to work to ensure better outcomes and more pathways to recovery. And I’ve been beating down our mayor’s door about the water problems on the East Side.”
Nicholson pointed toward the lack of sidewalks and other amenities in The Avenues as well as flooding issues.
“I think the housing there is fine,” she commented. “We need to get some updates for them. I think a playground there would be good. It’s not just housing and mental health,” she added, “I feel good about the community.”
The Fourth Ward City Council race is between Republican incumbent Cody Eckert and local business owner and self-proclaimed “community advocate” Vince Aguirre, a Democrat. They were asked about balancing city budget needs versus those for the Fourth Ward.
Aguirre said he would hope to lean on the experts for help in that area, noting that his philosophy is to “try to not spend tax dollars when we don’t need to spend tax dollars.”
He said he was a “big supporter” of not expanding far and wide but “growing within the city and not overextending our public services. And making sure Greencastle has the necessities for growth.”
Eckert, meanwhile, noted that the housing issue will continue to be important as “more housing brings more kids into our schools and increases the tax base,” adding that the city administration recently passed housing project-related abatements in an unprecedented move.
In closing statements, Eckert said he has three basic philosophies in regard to city government -- “do more with less, be open to new ideas and be pro-active.”
“Greencastle is a good place to live and work,” he added. “I’m excited. There’s more to do and I want to be part of it.”
Aguirre likewise said he is “really excited about the future of Greencastle.”
“Regardless of what happens on Nov. 7,” he added, “I hope Cody and I can continue to collaborate.”
Editor’s note: Debate remarks from the candidates for mayor, Lynda Dunbar and Brian Cox, along with the unopposed candidate for clerk-treasurer, Mikayla Johnson, were included in an article in the Friday, Oct. 13 Banner Graphic.