Local Candidates Say Roads Big Issue Facing County
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
At the county level, there are two contested races in the May 3 primary – county council at-large and county commissioner northern district.
Along with incumbent Bob Sanders, the others vying for the three council at-large seats are Ron Robinson, Joni Truex, Evan McKinley, Tressa Nichols and Sue Ann Mitchell, all of whom were working the fish fry.
Mitchell has previously served the county in various capacities.
“Because I’ve done the assessor, the auditor and the treasurer’s job, I understand all aspects of what goes on with the county budget. That’s the primary function of the county council, to be responsible for that budget and the appropriations involved,” she said of why she is running for council. “I feel like because I’ve done the assessment, I’ve prepared the budget as the auditor, I’ve done distribution and I’ve collected the taxes, I’m the full deal and I do understand the process.”
As a councilman, she said one has to be prepared to know how to best take care of your money and spend it wisely and to do those things that are right.
“Every dollar comes from a taxpayer, obviously, and we have to be very careful with those dollars to spend them appropriately,” Mitchell said.
One of the biggest issues facing the county now and in the future is roads. Mitchell said it’s still up in the air as to how the county will continue to address them.
“I think the county needs to look at what the new package of revenue that’s going to come in with this new legislation. They’re calling it somewhat of a windfall, but it has some strings attached to it. We have to be very careful that we spend that money appropriately, but that we also look at the long-term. We need to have a long-term plan and be sure that we’re doing the best we can for all of the roads,” she said.
Other issues the county council needs to look at include job development, keeping Kosciusko County business-friendly so people will want to locate here, and keeping taxes business-friendly so businesses will want to locate here, she said.
Robinson also is a long-time county servant, served previously as sheriff and currently as county administrator. He is retiring as administrator and his job will be taken over by Marsha McSherry.
“I’ve served 25 years in law enforcement, 22 years as county administrator (as of) May 14, and I’m just not ready to slow down, and I think I still have enough to give the county as a councilman,” Robinson said as to why he’s running. “I’m not ready to go to a rocking chair and quit.”
He said he’s had a lot of encouragement to run, and the county has a lot of issues it needs to address which he can help on.
“I think everybody’s been good stewards of the money and taken care of, but there’s things we’ve got to do. Roads are number one. That’s a big priority for everyone and there’s just not enough money,” Robinson said.
He said the county needs to keep looking for money through grants, and that’s what he’s been doing the past 15 years.
“I can still do that to help Marsha. There’s money out there, it’s just hard to get to and a lot of hoops to jump through, and federal dollars keep getting more and more strings attached,” Robinson stated.
Because the state is sending inmates back to the county jails, that’s another issue the county will have to deal with, he said.
“I think the commissioners and the council, I’ve been working with them for now two years, and we’re coming up with a stop-gap. We’re going to do some remodeling at the work release to be able to handle more people that really don’t need to be locked up. I think we’re going to work on that, but eventually ... it’s going to keep escalating. It’s not going to stop. But there’s a lot of new programs (the courts) have,” he said, but it’ll take a while for all those solutions to take place.
In the northern district county commissioner race, incumbent Brad Jackson is facing off against Marcia Baumgartner.
Jackson estimated the last time he had competition in the May Republican primary was about 20 years ago when he first ran for the office. He’s had Democrat challengers in the general election since then, but Baumgartner is his first primary challenger in a while.
In his 20 years as a commissioner, he said it wasn’t just one thing he could highlight as the county’s done many things in those two decades.
“It’s the roundabout, the Justice Building, the work release – we did very economical because we bought a hotel and renovated it. Louis Dreyfus. TruPointe. The Polywood expansion. Things like that,” Jackson said. “Mainly it’s like running a business. It’s just the day-to-day decisions each day that keep our taxes low. I bring the experience of running a business for so many years to the county. And I spend tax money like I spend mine as far as being frugal. I’ll ask many times, ‘If this was your own money, would you spend it like this?’ If the answer is no, then we revisit it.”
Over the next four years, Jackson said the roads issue is going to be the big, main one. The Wheel Tax passed by the county last year will be the main source of revenue to address the roads, he said.
“And that enables us to get more state money, too, because they’ve come to the point where they won’t give you as much grant money and stuff from the state if you don’t have a Wheel Tax. They figure if you’re not taking initiative to have the Wheel Tax, then they won’t give you additional funding,” Jackson said.[[In-content Ad]]
At the county level, there are two contested races in the May 3 primary – county council at-large and county commissioner northern district.
Along with incumbent Bob Sanders, the others vying for the three council at-large seats are Ron Robinson, Joni Truex, Evan McKinley, Tressa Nichols and Sue Ann Mitchell, all of whom were working the fish fry.
Mitchell has previously served the county in various capacities.
“Because I’ve done the assessor, the auditor and the treasurer’s job, I understand all aspects of what goes on with the county budget. That’s the primary function of the county council, to be responsible for that budget and the appropriations involved,” she said of why she is running for council. “I feel like because I’ve done the assessment, I’ve prepared the budget as the auditor, I’ve done distribution and I’ve collected the taxes, I’m the full deal and I do understand the process.”
As a councilman, she said one has to be prepared to know how to best take care of your money and spend it wisely and to do those things that are right.
“Every dollar comes from a taxpayer, obviously, and we have to be very careful with those dollars to spend them appropriately,” Mitchell said.
One of the biggest issues facing the county now and in the future is roads. Mitchell said it’s still up in the air as to how the county will continue to address them.
“I think the county needs to look at what the new package of revenue that’s going to come in with this new legislation. They’re calling it somewhat of a windfall, but it has some strings attached to it. We have to be very careful that we spend that money appropriately, but that we also look at the long-term. We need to have a long-term plan and be sure that we’re doing the best we can for all of the roads,” she said.
Other issues the county council needs to look at include job development, keeping Kosciusko County business-friendly so people will want to locate here, and keeping taxes business-friendly so businesses will want to locate here, she said.
Robinson also is a long-time county servant, served previously as sheriff and currently as county administrator. He is retiring as administrator and his job will be taken over by Marsha McSherry.
“I’ve served 25 years in law enforcement, 22 years as county administrator (as of) May 14, and I’m just not ready to slow down, and I think I still have enough to give the county as a councilman,” Robinson said as to why he’s running. “I’m not ready to go to a rocking chair and quit.”
He said he’s had a lot of encouragement to run, and the county has a lot of issues it needs to address which he can help on.
“I think everybody’s been good stewards of the money and taken care of, but there’s things we’ve got to do. Roads are number one. That’s a big priority for everyone and there’s just not enough money,” Robinson said.
He said the county needs to keep looking for money through grants, and that’s what he’s been doing the past 15 years.
“I can still do that to help Marsha. There’s money out there, it’s just hard to get to and a lot of hoops to jump through, and federal dollars keep getting more and more strings attached,” Robinson stated.
Because the state is sending inmates back to the county jails, that’s another issue the county will have to deal with, he said.
“I think the commissioners and the council, I’ve been working with them for now two years, and we’re coming up with a stop-gap. We’re going to do some remodeling at the work release to be able to handle more people that really don’t need to be locked up. I think we’re going to work on that, but eventually ... it’s going to keep escalating. It’s not going to stop. But there’s a lot of new programs (the courts) have,” he said, but it’ll take a while for all those solutions to take place.
In the northern district county commissioner race, incumbent Brad Jackson is facing off against Marcia Baumgartner.
Jackson estimated the last time he had competition in the May Republican primary was about 20 years ago when he first ran for the office. He’s had Democrat challengers in the general election since then, but Baumgartner is his first primary challenger in a while.
In his 20 years as a commissioner, he said it wasn’t just one thing he could highlight as the county’s done many things in those two decades.
“It’s the roundabout, the Justice Building, the work release – we did very economical because we bought a hotel and renovated it. Louis Dreyfus. TruPointe. The Polywood expansion. Things like that,” Jackson said. “Mainly it’s like running a business. It’s just the day-to-day decisions each day that keep our taxes low. I bring the experience of running a business for so many years to the county. And I spend tax money like I spend mine as far as being frugal. I’ll ask many times, ‘If this was your own money, would you spend it like this?’ If the answer is no, then we revisit it.”
Over the next four years, Jackson said the roads issue is going to be the big, main one. The Wheel Tax passed by the county last year will be the main source of revenue to address the roads, he said.
“And that enables us to get more state money, too, because they’ve come to the point where they won’t give you as much grant money and stuff from the state if you don’t have a Wheel Tax. They figure if you’re not taking initiative to have the Wheel Tax, then they won’t give you additional funding,” Jackson said.[[In-content Ad]]
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