Indiana treasurer visits Putnam County

Friday, September 30, 2016
Putnam County Treasurer Sharon Owens (left) and Indiana Treasurer of State Kelly Mitchell visit on the second floor of the courthouse Wednesday morning. Mitchell was in Greencastle in a bid to visit all 92 Indiana counties in 2016.
Banner Graphic/CHELSEA MODGLIN

It’s not a campaign year for Indiana Treasurer of State Kelly Mitchell. It also wasn’t a long session of the Indiana General Assembly.

And so it is that Mitchell is using 2016 as a chance to visit all 92 counties in a year. With three months to go, she’s more or less on track, having visited about 70 percent of the state’s 92 counties as of this week.

Mitchell marked three off the list on Wednesday, visiting Putnam, Warren and Tippecanoe counties, along with a brief stop at Wabash College in Crawfordsville to visit her son who is matriculating there.

Even in running for her first statewide elected office two years ago, Mitchell did not manage to make it to every county. Mitchell explained that the second year of her four-year term is the best to try an accomplish the feat. Odd-numbered years are long budget sessions at the Statehouse and she’ll be running for re-election in 2018.

“So this is the year I get the chance to try and see all the counties,” Mitchell told the small gathering outside the Putnam County Treasurer’s Office Wednesday morning. “I don’t think I ever got to do 92 counties in one year before.”

That gathering included County Treasurer Sharon Owens as well as City of Greencastle Clerk-treasurer Lynda Dunbar and deputy Sue Kass, as well as a brief, incidental visit from Sheriff Scott Stockton.

Besides traveling around the state, Mitchell’s schedule is pretty full. Along the way she is promoting various programs in her capacities chairing the Indiana Bond Bank, the Statewide E-911 Board, the Indiana Education Savings Authority and as sole trustee of the State Police Pension Trust.

In those roles, Mitchell spoke of various programs including the statewide text-to-911 program, College Choice 529 savings plans and the 529 ABLE account, which provides a way for parents with disabled children to save for them without making the recipient ineligible for federal programs such as Medicaid.

“We’re not bored,” Mitchell said of her office. “It’s squeezing in the trips to the counties that’s a challenge.”

Along the way, Mitchell doesn’t struggle to find enrichment outside here job either. She is currently a student of the U.S. Army War College — the only state official in her class of 400. It’s an added challenge that had her up at 4 a.m. on Wednesday before making the long trip around West Central Indiana.

Mitchell is also currently a Rodel Fellow with the Aspen Institute, one of just 24 public leaders nationwide currently in the program.

“And when do you sleep?” Owens asked.

“I don’t know,” Mitchell said with a smile.

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