Lt. Gov. Holcomb Reflects On 1st Month Of Job, Discusses Stellar Communities
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
“I hit the ground running and I had, obviously, a little bit of an advantage in that I had worked in the Statehouse prior for another governor, former Gov. Mitch Daniels, so I knew where the men’s restroom was and I knew a lot of the folks and had worked with them on issues over the better part of the last decade, so that helped a lot,” Holcomb said at the Kosciusko GOP fish fry Wednesday.
Holcomb replaced Sue Ellspermann, who resigned to become president of Ivy Tech Community College.
His first week as lieutenant governor also was the last week of the legislative session, which was quite busy.
“That’s how it works. In the last 96 hours, 72 hours, that’s when most of the work gets done at the very end. It all comes together and we stuck the landing, so that was very encouraging to be a part of all they did. I don’t want to take credit for it, but all that the Governor – (who) led his agenda through – and all the Legislative leaders who corralled everyone and everyone’s ideas. That was the last week,” Holcomb recalled.
The next week, he spent time getting to know all the folks that he works with intimately including all the agencies, councils and commissions that he oversees.
“In addition to that, Indiana’s lieutenant governor’s portfolio is one of the biggest in the country. And I had always heard that from former Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman and former Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann, and maybe I just didn’t realize how expansive it was: Six different agencies and all of them are involved, in one way or another, in all 92 counties. So I thought it was very important to make sure that I got out to the agencies and went cubicle by cubicle, if necessary, and meet all the people that are doing this good work. So we spent a little over a week doing that, and, of course, met with all the agency heads,” Holcomb recalled.
In the third week, he traveled to Washington, D.C., for about a week to meet with his cohorts from around the country.
“It just so happened that March 22 the National Lieutenant Governors Association met, so I got to meet with Republican and Democrat lieutenant governors from all over the country and share stories, different experiences we were having and talk about solutions, not just problems, and persisting issues, and then came back and I’m here now in Warsaw, Indiana, and it’s great to be here,” he said.
On Tuesday, Holcomb announced that Warsaw was one of three Division 1 finalists for the Stellar Communities Designation Program. SCDP is a collaboration between the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, Office of Community and Rural Affairs and Indiana Department of Transportation to support community planning and development initiatives by streamlining access to available funding sources and capacity building resources.
“No surprise there,” Holcomb said of Warsaw being a finalist. “You have so much to be proud of here, not just in Warsaw, but Kosciusko County. The work that went into that package for the City of Warsaw – and I was able to connect with the mayor yesterday morning and tell him directly, so we had a very good conversation and I told him I’m not surprised because I saw the list of projects – it’s so obvious the work that went into it.”
Asked what it would take for Warsaw to win, Holcomb said he didn’t have any tips other than to say Indiana’s agencies work hand-in-glove with each of the finalists.
“So OCRA, INDOT, Housing, DNR and all these other (agencies), depending on your package, will be working with each community as the process unfolds, leading up to Aug. 18 at the state fair,” Holcomb said.
“The tips are continue to do what you’re doing. It’s just so competitive, that to get this far, it’s a statement in and of itself,” he said.
He said he’s talked to communities that didn’t receive the award on the first try, and they were overly excited that they had a plan in hand and were getting people to get on board with it.
“You get good ideas and good people in the same room, good things typically happen. So I would just encourage Warsaw, and the others, to continue what you’re doing because you’re doing a lot right to get to this point. It’s just that competitive,” Holcomb said.
He also talked about how people and businesses are knocking on Indiana’s door all the time because they know something special is happening in the state.
“The State of Indiana does so much of the basics right,” he said. “We’re a welcoming state, and people know that if they want to come here and invest their capital, that it is not a risky place to do that so we’re getting them. We’re like a magnet anyway.
“And then when you roll out here’s what the Warsaw region has to offer on top of this state that has a triple-A credit rating, a balanced budget, $2 billion in reserves and a Rainy Day Fund, infrastructure. The legislature’s and the governor’s infrastructure plan passed this last session ... somehow Indiana found a way to put $1.2 billion in infrastructure projects.”
Holcomb said when he talked to his co-horts around the country, “They scratched their heads and asked, ‘How do you do that?’ And we didn’t raise taxes to do that. Other folks are sort of forced into this position to raise taxes or not do them or cut them, and we’re doing just the opposite by spending less than we take in and creating this environment that attracts more capital and opportunity. It’s amazing when you offer people more freedom and more opportunity what they can come up with. This community here (Warsaw) was built on these principles, and this is just a jobs magnet for the State of Indiana and just something folks in Kosciusko County should be proud of.”[[In-content Ad]]
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“I hit the ground running and I had, obviously, a little bit of an advantage in that I had worked in the Statehouse prior for another governor, former Gov. Mitch Daniels, so I knew where the men’s restroom was and I knew a lot of the folks and had worked with them on issues over the better part of the last decade, so that helped a lot,” Holcomb said at the Kosciusko GOP fish fry Wednesday.
Holcomb replaced Sue Ellspermann, who resigned to become president of Ivy Tech Community College.
His first week as lieutenant governor also was the last week of the legislative session, which was quite busy.
“That’s how it works. In the last 96 hours, 72 hours, that’s when most of the work gets done at the very end. It all comes together and we stuck the landing, so that was very encouraging to be a part of all they did. I don’t want to take credit for it, but all that the Governor – (who) led his agenda through – and all the Legislative leaders who corralled everyone and everyone’s ideas. That was the last week,” Holcomb recalled.
The next week, he spent time getting to know all the folks that he works with intimately including all the agencies, councils and commissions that he oversees.
“In addition to that, Indiana’s lieutenant governor’s portfolio is one of the biggest in the country. And I had always heard that from former Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman and former Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann, and maybe I just didn’t realize how expansive it was: Six different agencies and all of them are involved, in one way or another, in all 92 counties. So I thought it was very important to make sure that I got out to the agencies and went cubicle by cubicle, if necessary, and meet all the people that are doing this good work. So we spent a little over a week doing that, and, of course, met with all the agency heads,” Holcomb recalled.
In the third week, he traveled to Washington, D.C., for about a week to meet with his cohorts from around the country.
“It just so happened that March 22 the National Lieutenant Governors Association met, so I got to meet with Republican and Democrat lieutenant governors from all over the country and share stories, different experiences we were having and talk about solutions, not just problems, and persisting issues, and then came back and I’m here now in Warsaw, Indiana, and it’s great to be here,” he said.
On Tuesday, Holcomb announced that Warsaw was one of three Division 1 finalists for the Stellar Communities Designation Program. SCDP is a collaboration between the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, Office of Community and Rural Affairs and Indiana Department of Transportation to support community planning and development initiatives by streamlining access to available funding sources and capacity building resources.
“No surprise there,” Holcomb said of Warsaw being a finalist. “You have so much to be proud of here, not just in Warsaw, but Kosciusko County. The work that went into that package for the City of Warsaw – and I was able to connect with the mayor yesterday morning and tell him directly, so we had a very good conversation and I told him I’m not surprised because I saw the list of projects – it’s so obvious the work that went into it.”
Asked what it would take for Warsaw to win, Holcomb said he didn’t have any tips other than to say Indiana’s agencies work hand-in-glove with each of the finalists.
“So OCRA, INDOT, Housing, DNR and all these other (agencies), depending on your package, will be working with each community as the process unfolds, leading up to Aug. 18 at the state fair,” Holcomb said.
“The tips are continue to do what you’re doing. It’s just so competitive, that to get this far, it’s a statement in and of itself,” he said.
He said he’s talked to communities that didn’t receive the award on the first try, and they were overly excited that they had a plan in hand and were getting people to get on board with it.
“You get good ideas and good people in the same room, good things typically happen. So I would just encourage Warsaw, and the others, to continue what you’re doing because you’re doing a lot right to get to this point. It’s just that competitive,” Holcomb said.
He also talked about how people and businesses are knocking on Indiana’s door all the time because they know something special is happening in the state.
“The State of Indiana does so much of the basics right,” he said. “We’re a welcoming state, and people know that if they want to come here and invest their capital, that it is not a risky place to do that so we’re getting them. We’re like a magnet anyway.
“And then when you roll out here’s what the Warsaw region has to offer on top of this state that has a triple-A credit rating, a balanced budget, $2 billion in reserves and a Rainy Day Fund, infrastructure. The legislature’s and the governor’s infrastructure plan passed this last session ... somehow Indiana found a way to put $1.2 billion in infrastructure projects.”
Holcomb said when he talked to his co-horts around the country, “They scratched their heads and asked, ‘How do you do that?’ And we didn’t raise taxes to do that. Other folks are sort of forced into this position to raise taxes or not do them or cut them, and we’re doing just the opposite by spending less than we take in and creating this environment that attracts more capital and opportunity. It’s amazing when you offer people more freedom and more opportunity what they can come up with. This community here (Warsaw) was built on these principles, and this is just a jobs magnet for the State of Indiana and just something folks in Kosciusko County should be proud of.”[[In-content Ad]]
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