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Five men are running for the office of middle district Kosciusko County commissioner.
However, one of the four Republicans who has filed as a candidate for that office in the primary has already stirred up a little controversy.
Some people wonder if Tony Miller has filed for candidacy in the right district. Miller, whose address up to approximately three weeks ago on CR 450N would put him in the northern district, filed with an address at North Detroit Street, placing him in the middle district.
"That's my residence," Miller said Tuesday. "I'm truly living there. ... I'm actually eating, sleeping and living there."
The North Detroit Street address is the headquarters of Instrumedical Technologies Inc., property Miller owns. Approximately 40,000 square feet of it is a business and another 40,000 square feet, he said, is lakefront property that he wants to take advantage of. He said, "Some people would call it a mansion."
Asked if he filed in the wrong district, Miller said if he was still living at his previous residence at CR 450N, he would have had to file for the northern district. But since he isn't living there, he said, he hasn't filed in the wrong district.
Did he move to Detroit Street specifically to run in the middle district commissioner race? Miller said, "That was part of the reason."
"I've been living there since three weeks ago Friday," Miller said. "They said they were going to challenge us. Our attorney, Steve Snyder, said it was legal."
Attorney Steve Hearn, Kosciusko County election board, said there is an Indiana statute defining residency, but it doesn't "give us a lot of help. It's just terribly fact sensitive."
Indiana law defines a residence as the place of the person's true, fixed and permanent home and principal establishment and to which the person has, whenever absent, the intention of returning.
After the election, Miller said, he will continue living at the North Detroit Street address.
To run for a county commissioner position, Hearn said, law only requires a person to live in the county for at least one year before the election and to have resided in the district in which they are seeking election for at least six months before the election.
The term "election" refers to the general election, he said.
"The six months would not begin until the primary," Hearn said.
If someone wants to challenge a candidate's eligibility, Hearn said, there is a procedure to follow. A sworn statement at the clerk's office must be filed, at which time the election board will look at the challenge. However, until that happens, there is nothing the election board can do. To Hearn's knowledge, there are no current challenges to Miller's candidacy.
Other primary candidates seeking the middle district commissioner office include Democrat Joseph E. Banks III, North CR 400E, Warsaw; Republicans Ronald Truex, West Lovette Lane, Warsaw; George E. Klinger, West Lake Street, Warsaw; and Herschel F. Rainwater, North CR 375E, Warsaw.
Eddie Creighton is the current middle district commissioner, and is not running for re-election. Brad Jackson is the current northern district commissioner and is running unopposed in the primary.
Members of the election board include Steve Hearn, chairman and Republican representative; Marsha McSherry, secretary; and Tom Lemon, Democrat representative.
