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Mayoral candidates face off on Greencastle’s future
The two candidates vying to succeed Bill Dory as mayor of Greencastle agreed more than they disagreed Wednesday night during the Greencastle League of Women Voters-WGRE radio Candidates’ Forum at Watson Forum of the DePauw University Center for Contemporary Media.
Current City Clerk-Treasurer Lynda Dunbar, the Republican candidate trying to end 36 years of Democrat rule in the mayor’s seat, and Democrat Brian Cox, a member of the Greencastle School Board and Greencastle Redevelopment Commission, tackled questions about the future of Greencastle, pressing issues within the community, local infrastructure and the collaboration with DePauw on the quest for a $25 million Eli Lilly grant.
It was perhaps a question from WGRE panelist Ryan Amer that produced the biggest disparity in their response to a query about the most important issue facing the city over the next four years.
Cox, the former Putnam County Chamber of Commerce executive director, answered first, focusing on potential growing pains.
“We need to be looking at how we’re going to grow,” Cox said. “Greencastle is going to grow whether we want it to or not.”
Focusing on city amenities, Cox stressed the importance of the YMCA/community center construction that is under way and added that “we need to continue to grow our parks and our trails system.”
Dunbar, meanwhile, steered it to a more social issue for the city chief executive’s concern.
“Tonight children in our community will be hungry,” she said, noting that there are local families who don’t know where their next meal will come from.
“I want to implement a mayor’s task force,” Dunbar said, listing mental health, drug addiction and housing specialists among those needing a seat at the table.
“We do a lot of talking about the problem,” she added. “It’s time we start solving the problem. It’s affecting our community and I think it’s time we really stop talking and the solve the problem.”
Both candidates addressed their reasons for running for mayor in their opening comments.
“I’m running for mayor because I have a vision for Greencastle,” Dunbar said, adding she wants “Greencastle to be an inviting place to live and work and play.
“We are a great community and great communities don’t expect the status quo.”
She added that she’s “really excited” about the housing study being undertaken by the university and what it may mean for the city’s future.
“Growth is coming,” Dunbar assured. “Growth is coming. It’s really not as cut and dried as you think it is.”
Cox, meanwhile, said he wants to “give back to the community that has given so much to me.”
Explaining that he met his wife here and has raised his children here, Cox said he sees the mayor’s job as “an opportunity to help the community grow and position itself for the future.”
Saying he has set high expectations, Cox said “the mayor needs to be person who sets the tone for the community.” He added that he wants to be mayor because he “understands how important it is for Greencastle residents now and in the future.”
Jared Jernagan, editor of the Banner Graphic, who joined Amer and Rhoda Alexander of the League of Women Voters as panelists, asked Cox and Dunbar their take on the biggest specific needs for the city’s ubiquitous infrastructure issues.
Cox noted the “infrastructure is a word people running for office” like to use even though “there’s nothing exciting about it because most of it is happening underground.”
He pointed to the need to resurface Albin Pond Road following recent waterline work that has turned the pavement into “a roller coaster.”
Noting that a waterline leak sent water soaring in his front yard recently, Cox said “we seem to have geysers popping up all around the city. We need to figure that out.”
Above all, Cox said, the city needs to make a plan to start repairing infrastructure problems and “put it in place and make sure our water and sewer system is in a good place.”
Dunbar essentially agreed. “The main thing we have to do,” she said, “is put together our infrastructure plan. We need to go out five years, not just one.”
The city can apply for another $1 million Community Crossings grant next year to help remedy infrastructure issues, Dunbar said, “but you’re not going to get a $1 million grant by not having a plan. The key is to know where the money is coming from and be able to have a local match for Community Crossings.”
As an example of infrastructure issues, Dunbar pointed to Locust Street which has recently seen a major upgrade on both sides of Washington Street.
“It’s beautiful,” she assured, “but the waterline is old underneath it.”
Cox agreed, noting that “I wasn’t here when they put it in but running waterlines under a road that we’ll have to tear up to replace is not a good plan.”
Tackling a question about the collaboration with DePauw on the potential Lilly grant, both Dunbar and Cox expressed their excitement for what it could mean for the community in the long run.
Dunbar said she hopes the housing study being done will “tell us what other amenities we need in the community” to draw new residents and further development.
Cox suggested the city needs to “be creative in how we get the money” for the 70-30 match, a share that could approach $8 million. He also cautioned that the city needs “to be careful about using city dollars for building houses.”
In closing remarks, Dunbar and Cox remained positive about Greencastle and its future.
“I hope this election is not about whether I have an R or a D behind my name,” Dunbar stressed. “I hope it’s about who can lead Greencastle the next years.”
“I’m humbled and grateful for the people supporting me,” Cox said. “Greencastle is a special place. You should be proud of Greencastle.”
During a question from the audience following the debate taping for later broadcast over WGRE’s website and on its public affairs program at 91.5 FM, city officials were asked about the proposed stormwater utility creation, a move that could add about $6 a month to city residents’ utility bills. It was postulated that people on fixed incomes or the poor or elderly will be hit hardest by the proposed user fee expected to be implemented on every piece of property in the city, whether churches, schools, not-for-profits or not.
“The reason is we need to upgrade our stormwater system,” Cox answered. “The reality is, we need this money for leverage to go out for grants.”
Dunbar, completing her 12th year as clerk-treasurer, noted that “very few communities don’t already have a stormwater utility. Fillmore has had one for years.
“We’re behind the eight ball,” she added. “We have lots of areas with severe flooding.”
The city “barely has enough” money to do basic work on city streets, she said, noting that flooding deteriorates other infrastructure and causes street repaving to be needed sooner.
“The Council is working really hard to keep (the monthly fee) as low as possible. It started out at $10 and now it’s in the $5-$6 range.”
Republican Mikayla Johnson, who is unopposed to succeed Dunbar as city clerk-treasurer, got a few moments to share her story, noting that she has worked with local governments the majority of her career after earning a master’s degree in leadership development.
She said she started with the State Board of Accounts where she “learned her love of local government.”
The quality of candidates on display Wednesday night, Johnson said, “speaks volumes for the City of Greencastle. I have been fortunate enough to audit the City of Greencastle through many good and clean audit reports.”
Remarks by candidates running for positions on the Greencastle City Council will be addressed in a separate later article.