Commissioner Candidates Remark On Roads, Parks & Transparency
April 21, 2022 at 2:09 a.m.
Commissioner Candidates Remark On Roads, Parks & Transparency
By David [email protected]
But the first of nine questions asked Don Wiesehan, Elaine Kokenge, Brian Pyle and incumbent Bob Conley what they believe their top three priorities for the county are.
Wiesehan said it was very important for the county to maintain its infrastructure. He’d also like “to see the ordinances being looked at in a way that we can enforce those ordinances, not only adopt an ordinance, but make sure we can enforce it at the county level as well.”
Kokenge said the people should have their rights and be listened to “completely and fully.”
Pyle said the top priority for the county has to be economic development. He said the county needs to look at new avenues of bringing small businesses in and that is through the improvements of infrastructure.
Conley agreed with the three previous candidates’ comments and said the county has been working on all of them for the last 16 years he’s been a commissioner. The priority, he said, is safety.
The candidates were asked to grade the county roads. Kokenge said it depends on which roads you’re on, but she gave them a “B+.” She said they need work, but U.S. 30 was a priority.
Pyle said, “I would grade it an easy C- honestly. Where there’s a lot of attention, roads are really good, but there are taxpayers all over the county.”
Conley gave the county roads a “B” or “B+.” He explained how the roads freeze and thaw in the winter and spring and that causes issues in the roads.
Beginning by thanking the Kosciusko County Highway Department for all that they do and restrictions they have, Wiesehan said he understood the struggles that they have at times. He also graded them a “B” or “B+” and added that they probably needed some extra help. He said he would like to see if the county could possibly put some more funds toward the roads, especially the ones that have a lot of truck traffic that cause a lot of damage to the roads.
The next question asked: The growth and expectation of outdoor activities has grown tremendously over the years. What role do you think the county should take to encourage trails, greenways and blueways for the citizens, and do you support a county park board?
Pyle said he sees parks, trails and greenways as excellent activities for his kids and said they are a great way to connect businesses. He said the county “should definitely” create a parks board and a parks department.
Conley said the County Commissioners and their county attorney are tweaking an ordinance now to develop a parks board for the county. “The purpose of the ordinance is to bring the smaller towns this greenway transportation, bicycle paths, parks.” He said there’s a tremendous amount of parks already in the county, and the key was to develop the parks system where it’s not costly and the small towns can access grants. Security at the parks also was key as parks sustain a lot of damage from vandalism.
Wiesehan “absolutely” supports a county park board, which is the first thing that needs to happen. Kokenge said the parks around the county are excellent and a parks board would be a “wonderful” thing.
In 2021, during the budgeting process for 2022, the County Commissioners wanted to increase their legal services budget to $131,000, but the County Council only approved a 4% increase to $60,320. The candidates were asked if they agreed with the Council’s decision or did they think the Commissioners should have been given more in their budget and why or why not?
Conley said we live in a highly litigious society. At that time, the county was going through a point in time where “we were having that issue” with the Area Plan Commission and the Health Department.
Wiesehan said he didn’t agree with the budget increase and the county needs to be fiscally responsible and conservative in the government and not burden or overburden the taxpayers with budget increases. As a county commissioner, he said he would want to stay within the budget as much as possible. If the Commissioners needed to ask the Council for more money in their budget, he said he’d want to do it in a team atmosphere and not just spring it on them.
“I think we have to work together as a team to be fiscally responsible and be committed to what we’re trying to get done for the people,” he said.
Kokenge didn’t have an immediate answer to the question, but Pyle said as an attorney himself he wished he had $131,000 as an annual income. Pyle did say Conley was correct in that legal expenses do occur but some of the expenses could probably be avoided.
On term limits, Wiesehan said he was a term-limit person and term limits should be enforced at every level of the county to help avoid complacency and moving government forward. If an office doesn’t have term limits, an elected official should impose term limits on themselves. Kokenge agreed there should be term limits and two terms is enough.
Pyle said term limits is a real concern. “Bigger government, I’m all in favor of term limits. At the local level, I’m very concerned that if there’s not a candidate to run against the incumbent and there’s a term limit, all of a sudden that district ... does not have representation,” he said.
Conley basically said the election is a process in which if people want term limits, it’s already there. If the voters don’t think a person is doing a good job, they will put them out of office. He said term limits always comes up during an election year by people who aren’t in office who want to be in office.
Another question asked to the candidates was if they felt the county, and specifically the commissioners, are transparent enough.
Pyle said transparency is a concern. If elected commissioner, he said he does intend to have open office hours in the Justice Building basement. He plans to go around the county to make himself available to explain what the commissioners and their local government are doing for them.
Conley said he himself was transparent. “Transparency to me is being available to people,” he said, and his email and phone number are published. Commissioner meetings are open to the public and the county website at kcgov.com has a lot of information on it. The Commissioners and Council livestream their meetings now.
“I think transparency is a two-prong system,” Wiesehan said. Not only do elected officials need to be visible and be able to be contacted, they also need to be honest and not just blow a person off. If you don’t know an answer to a question, Wiesehan said, you need to be transparent enough to say you don’t know but you’ll go find the answer out.
Kokenge said, in regards to transparency, “You shouldn’t start a project when the lakers or the snowbirds are out of the community in Florida or in parts unknown.”
Wednesday’s candidate forum was the first one of two, with the second scheduled for 5 p.m. April 27 at City Hall. Seating is limited but the forum also is being livestreamed on the city of Warsaw’s website and Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce’s website, as well as aired on News Now Warsaw 1480AM and 99.7FM. The April 27 forum will feature candidates for recorder, County Council and sheriff. The forum was organized by the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce, Kensington Media, the Times-Union and InkFree News.
But the first of nine questions asked Don Wiesehan, Elaine Kokenge, Brian Pyle and incumbent Bob Conley what they believe their top three priorities for the county are.
Wiesehan said it was very important for the county to maintain its infrastructure. He’d also like “to see the ordinances being looked at in a way that we can enforce those ordinances, not only adopt an ordinance, but make sure we can enforce it at the county level as well.”
Kokenge said the people should have their rights and be listened to “completely and fully.”
Pyle said the top priority for the county has to be economic development. He said the county needs to look at new avenues of bringing small businesses in and that is through the improvements of infrastructure.
Conley agreed with the three previous candidates’ comments and said the county has been working on all of them for the last 16 years he’s been a commissioner. The priority, he said, is safety.
The candidates were asked to grade the county roads. Kokenge said it depends on which roads you’re on, but she gave them a “B+.” She said they need work, but U.S. 30 was a priority.
Pyle said, “I would grade it an easy C- honestly. Where there’s a lot of attention, roads are really good, but there are taxpayers all over the county.”
Conley gave the county roads a “B” or “B+.” He explained how the roads freeze and thaw in the winter and spring and that causes issues in the roads.
Beginning by thanking the Kosciusko County Highway Department for all that they do and restrictions they have, Wiesehan said he understood the struggles that they have at times. He also graded them a “B” or “B+” and added that they probably needed some extra help. He said he would like to see if the county could possibly put some more funds toward the roads, especially the ones that have a lot of truck traffic that cause a lot of damage to the roads.
The next question asked: The growth and expectation of outdoor activities has grown tremendously over the years. What role do you think the county should take to encourage trails, greenways and blueways for the citizens, and do you support a county park board?
Pyle said he sees parks, trails and greenways as excellent activities for his kids and said they are a great way to connect businesses. He said the county “should definitely” create a parks board and a parks department.
Conley said the County Commissioners and their county attorney are tweaking an ordinance now to develop a parks board for the county. “The purpose of the ordinance is to bring the smaller towns this greenway transportation, bicycle paths, parks.” He said there’s a tremendous amount of parks already in the county, and the key was to develop the parks system where it’s not costly and the small towns can access grants. Security at the parks also was key as parks sustain a lot of damage from vandalism.
Wiesehan “absolutely” supports a county park board, which is the first thing that needs to happen. Kokenge said the parks around the county are excellent and a parks board would be a “wonderful” thing.
In 2021, during the budgeting process for 2022, the County Commissioners wanted to increase their legal services budget to $131,000, but the County Council only approved a 4% increase to $60,320. The candidates were asked if they agreed with the Council’s decision or did they think the Commissioners should have been given more in their budget and why or why not?
Conley said we live in a highly litigious society. At that time, the county was going through a point in time where “we were having that issue” with the Area Plan Commission and the Health Department.
Wiesehan said he didn’t agree with the budget increase and the county needs to be fiscally responsible and conservative in the government and not burden or overburden the taxpayers with budget increases. As a county commissioner, he said he would want to stay within the budget as much as possible. If the Commissioners needed to ask the Council for more money in their budget, he said he’d want to do it in a team atmosphere and not just spring it on them.
“I think we have to work together as a team to be fiscally responsible and be committed to what we’re trying to get done for the people,” he said.
Kokenge didn’t have an immediate answer to the question, but Pyle said as an attorney himself he wished he had $131,000 as an annual income. Pyle did say Conley was correct in that legal expenses do occur but some of the expenses could probably be avoided.
On term limits, Wiesehan said he was a term-limit person and term limits should be enforced at every level of the county to help avoid complacency and moving government forward. If an office doesn’t have term limits, an elected official should impose term limits on themselves. Kokenge agreed there should be term limits and two terms is enough.
Pyle said term limits is a real concern. “Bigger government, I’m all in favor of term limits. At the local level, I’m very concerned that if there’s not a candidate to run against the incumbent and there’s a term limit, all of a sudden that district ... does not have representation,” he said.
Conley basically said the election is a process in which if people want term limits, it’s already there. If the voters don’t think a person is doing a good job, they will put them out of office. He said term limits always comes up during an election year by people who aren’t in office who want to be in office.
Another question asked to the candidates was if they felt the county, and specifically the commissioners, are transparent enough.
Pyle said transparency is a concern. If elected commissioner, he said he does intend to have open office hours in the Justice Building basement. He plans to go around the county to make himself available to explain what the commissioners and their local government are doing for them.
Conley said he himself was transparent. “Transparency to me is being available to people,” he said, and his email and phone number are published. Commissioner meetings are open to the public and the county website at kcgov.com has a lot of information on it. The Commissioners and Council livestream their meetings now.
“I think transparency is a two-prong system,” Wiesehan said. Not only do elected officials need to be visible and be able to be contacted, they also need to be honest and not just blow a person off. If you don’t know an answer to a question, Wiesehan said, you need to be transparent enough to say you don’t know but you’ll go find the answer out.
Kokenge said, in regards to transparency, “You shouldn’t start a project when the lakers or the snowbirds are out of the community in Florida or in parts unknown.”
Wednesday’s candidate forum was the first one of two, with the second scheduled for 5 p.m. April 27 at City Hall. Seating is limited but the forum also is being livestreamed on the city of Warsaw’s website and Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce’s website, as well as aired on News Now Warsaw 1480AM and 99.7FM. The April 27 forum will feature candidates for recorder, County Council and sheriff. The forum was organized by the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce, Kensington Media, the Times-Union and InkFree News.
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