Current at-large Warsaw city councilman and mayoral candidate Kyle Babcock discussed his run for mayor Thursday afternoon at the Times-Union office. He said he feels he is the best mayoral candidate to move the city forward. Each mayoral candidate has had two opportunities to speak to the Times-Union about why they will make the best mayoral candidate with this being Babcock’s second. The primary is May 3 and the Times-Union will run an election section on all Warsaw mayoral, clerk-treasurer and wards 1-5 candidates and Winona Lake candidates during the week before the primary. Babcock is serving his fourth year on the city council, and was elected to the at-large seat in 2007. He is an entrepreneur and life insurance agent and founder of thewarsawguide.com, an online business directory that promotes Warsaw businesses. Babcock said he is not just concerned about bringing new jobs to the county, but also keeping what businesses are currently in the county. “We have a lot going for us, but we need to prepare for the future as the orthopedics industry changes,” Babcock said. As councilman at-large Babcock worked with the Warsaw-Kosciusko County chamber of commerce government issues committee to bring the local Jump Start economic development initiative to Warsaw. He said he drove with Mark Dobson, Warsaw-Kosciusko County chamber president, to Ohio to learn more about the program and encourage the program to come to Warsaw. “I didn’t wait for the program to come here, I went to Ohio to bring the program here that will help diversify our employment base for the next 5, 10, 15 and 20 years,” Babcock said. Babcock said the city needs to do better in supporting all employers in the county and helping them grow in employee numbers. Babcock said if he is elected he would like to work with local people who have ideas to foster economic development. “If I become mayor I will reach out to these people who have ideas because there are a lot of people in this community with good ideas,” Babcock said. “It’s not just about looking to the past, it’s looking to the future.” Babcock said serving as councilman at-large for the last 3-1/2 years has allowed him to learn resident’s concerns and attend neighborhood meetings and address quality of life issues. “It is our job as a city councilman to go out and find out what people’s concerns are. This is a great city and there have been neighborhoods that have been neglected and I have been there for those people and worked with them the last 3-1/2 years to try to make their lives better,” Babcock said. He said if elected he would like to improve transportation for senior citizens. “The KABS program is phenomenal, we have a lot of seniors in our community that have paid taxes for a lot of years and may have moved out of their house and live in an apartment or retirement community.” Babcock said. Babcock said the legislature is cutting public transportation funds, and public transportation is a quality of life issue. “We as a city need to step up and help our senior citizens and other citizens so there is great transportation and expand on the services we have,” Babcock said. He spoke about the city’s purchase of the National City Bank building. “When I voted on the purchase that night it was $3.7 million for renovation costs, now I am hearing it will be $1.3 or $1.8 million, that still is over $3 million. I’ve never known anything in government to come in under budget,” Babcock said. “We can’t just buy every building because it becomes available.” He said it’s not about having the fanciest car or fanciest building, it’s about having functional work spaces. He said government has a problem spending money and the spending needs to stop. He said the vacant Gatke property is in rundown condition on Argonne Road and is an eyesore and the city needs to decide what it will do with the property. Babcock said if elected he will make sure there is transparency in government and use technology to better communicate with residents. He said he would like to stream meetings live on the Internet. “We are behind the times in Warsaw with technology, I will bring the meetings into resident’s living rooms on their computers that isn’t costly,” Babcock said. He said money should be spent to fix streets and money should be spent wisely. He said as mayor he would like to have monthly mayor meetings that would allow residents to express their concerns. “It’s time people can talk to the mayor and see what is going on,” Babcock said.
