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Candidates for City Council ward seats clash
With less than a month to go before the City of Greencastle municipal election, Council hopefuls in the city's four wards went head to head Wednesday night in the first of two Candidates Forums.
Airing over live TV and WGRE radio, the forum was sponsored by the Greencastle League of Women Voters, WGRE and the Banner Graphic. The second of the two public forums will feature city candidates for mayor, clerk-treasurer and the three council-at-large seats on Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m.
Wednesday night was left to the Council candidates in the four city wards with only two incumbents -- Democrat Adam Cohen, First Ward, and Republican Tyler Wade, Fourth Ward -- among the eight fielding questions.
Republican Danny Mesecher, running against Cohen in the First Ward, opened the proceeding by telling an audience of 40 at Watson Forum of the DePauw Media Center that "I'm here to say it's time for a change."
"My opponent will tell you that business as usual is good," he said, but Mesecher suggested that selling water to high-volume users at below cost isn't fair to city residents and called the current administration a "rubber-stamp City Council."
Cohen took exception to those remarks, especially the latter, noted that the Council is split politically (three Democrats and two Republicans). Resenting the rubber-stamp remark, Cohen said the Council does have unanimous votes but those come after dialogue and agreement and out of respect for both sides of the argument.
"You're going to hear a lot about the need for change," Cohen said, indicating that the Council's experienced leadership is a good thing and has been responsible for the city being able receive grants, like the Stellar project, establish a second local college in Ivy Tech and add three new police officers.
Mesecher did not mention DePauw by name but it was clearly on his mind when he said the city needs to "spread the wealth around" and not let "one entity in town be running everything."
In his closing statement, he noted that if you're always "robbing Peter to pay Paul," you're always going to be able to count on the support of Paul. "Our citizens feel that way," Mesecher, a 57-year-old Walmart employee, said. He also said the City Council "has to think outside the box" when it comes to issues.
Cohen, 53, who is a DePauw swimming coach and instructor in kinesiology, felt the need to address "the elephant in the room." He suggested that perception isn't always reality and the notion that "DePauw gets and others don't isn't true." He used sidewalks as an example, noting that DePauw pays for its own.
"And just saying 'think outside the box' isn't an answer," Cohen said.
The Second Ward debate between a pair of newcomers, Republican Stacie Langdon and Democrat Brian Cox was less contentious.
Both candidates talked about the good things in their ward, with Cox saying the city "has done a lot of great things in the last eight years" and wanting to capitalize on that "positive momentum."
Langdon, a 52-year-old Old National Bank employee, stressed neighborhood and safety issues in the Second Ward. She said the section of Indianapolis Road between Kroger and McDonald's is in need of sidewalks to keep pedestrians safe.
And in talking to constituents, she said there is a concern for better and more streetlights in the area with a number of those in place going on and off regularly, while large trucks using the Shadowlawn Avenue/Fawn View Lane corridor are both a safety and maintenance issue that cries out for weight restrictions on the streets.
Cox, 39, is the Greater Greencastle Chamber of Commerce executive director, who suggests listening "is going to be important" as a member of the Council.
"Our budgets are getting cut more and more all the time," he said, adding that consequently the city will be challenged to "find ways to pay for" things in the future.
Langdon, who called the city water plant and the quest for WT-5 operators the "most critical issue" facing the city, noted that two million people live within 50 miles of Greencastle and that city officials should use that to their advantage.
"On Friday night, instead of going to Avon," she suggested, the city should work to become an attraction that would bring those people to Greencastle, which she called":a great place to visit, work and raise a family."
Cox readily agreed, noting that he and his family chose to come here to live. "We should all be very proud of Greencastle," he said.
The Third Ward Council debate was between another pair of political newcomers, Democrat Steve Fields and Republican Harold Barger.
Fields, a 35-year resident of Greencastle, said one of his strengths is an ability to talk to "anybody, any place at any time." He vowed to bring that strength to the position by "listening and taking that to City Hall."
Barger, a local resident since 1970, said while he may not know all the problems or have all the solutions, he "guarantees to give 100 percent of what I have."
The candidates suggested that dwindling state and federal funding is the biggest problem facing the city.
Barger, a 66-year-old retired Marine and disabled veteran of Vietnam, said Greencastle needs to expand and suggested it look to annex areas like the Edgelea and Greenbriar subdivisions in order to create a larger tax base. "That would be something I'd be interested in finding out," he said.
Fields, 60, who serves as a marketing representative for Jameson Coffee and still covers and writes sports for the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, took issue with that idea, noting that trying to annex Edgelea has been explored and seen as cost-prohibitive because "adding sewers would be a serious financial problem and an extremely expensive" proposition for the city.
Trying to tackle the age-old issue of traffic through the heart of Greencastle, Fields suggested that no matter what solution has been suggested, there are always objections from areas affected. He said making Franklin Street one-way might ease traffic and letting trucks use Jackson Street to access Veterans Memorial Highway is an old idea but now that DePauw has developed students housing in that corridor that's probably not an option.
"Eventually a decision will be made," he said, "and not everybody is going to be happy. There is an answer, it's just not a perfect answer."
Barger, meanwhile, said Jackson Street worked well as an unofficial option soon after Veterans Highway was built.
"Unless something else comes up," he said, "Jackson may be out best option."
In the Fourth Ward debate, incumbent Tyler Wade, at 26 the city's youngest ever councilman, went toe to toe with Tanis Monday, 34, the Beyond Homeless shelter executive director and agreed more than they disagreed.
Wade, an admissions counselor at Wabash College, admitted "I fully know I don't have all the answers," but vowed to ask questions
He said he'd like to see a City Council that's involved "in deeper ways with the community" and suggested a revitalization of "young professional groups" within the community such as the Jaycees.
"I think our greatest days as a city are before us, not behind us," Wade said.
Monday, meanwhile, said she would bring a "different perspective to some of our issues," having dealt with women and children without shelter in her work with Beyond Homeless.
She also addressed the perception of there being a town-and gown issue with the city and DePauw.
"It's an incredible working relationship," Monday said, noting there remains an "opportunity for growth" and that it is a relationship that needs to be fostered.
"DePauw brings so much and is so vital to our community, I don't see it conflicting at all," she added.
Wade noted that "Greencastle does not do well without DePauw doing well, and DePauw doesn't do well without Greencastle doing well."
Both Fourth Ward candidates agreed that the addition of two more at-large councilors is a positive change.
"More heads, more better," Monday said. "As silly as that sounds, I think it's going to be an incredible opportunity to bring more experience to the table and keep Greencastle moving in the right direction."