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"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," is how the old adage goes.
Earl Howard is taking that advice to heart. He wants to take his frustration over his recent dealings with Warsaw's building and planning department and put it to a constructive purpose: an independent run for a city council at-large seat.
"I'm doing this because I'm frustrated with what I see going on in city government," he said. "I worked at Donnelley's for 38 years and I really didn't know about what was going on around town in terms of the restrictions on the small businessman.
"It was the petty little things in building a new place of business that finally made me think I need to run for the city council," Howard said. "They tell you to move a sign here, don't put it there. And then, when I was building my new place, they made me do things I consider to be unnecessary, like paying $150 for an inspection to see where storm water would drain to when we're building in a sand field."
In addition to restrictions on commercial developments, Howard said, he's concerned with what he sees as misplaced priorities in spending some of the public's tax dollars.
"If the city can afford to spend $10,000 on a bike trail, why should I, as a small businessman, have to pay $15 for a building permit?" he asked. "The city could waive a lot of permit fees with that $10,000."
Howard said he would serve on the council without a preconceived agenda, but he would be the only "common man" representing the taxpayers of Warsaw.
"I think I can represent the people of Warsaw in an unbiased fashion," he said. "Sometimes in politics, people have personal agendas. And, if I'm elected, I'd be the only one on the council that's not from the 'professional' class. I would have a better understanding of the middle-class people and their needs."
Howard said he also would encourage Warsaw residents to become more involved in city government, so the council can do a better job at representing its constituents.
"A city councilman is supposed to be the voice of the people, but the people need to attend some of these meetings and provide their councilmen input on what they think in order for the council to truly represent them," he said.
The key issues Howard sees as facing the city involve economic development, with a new sewer treatment facility and increasing the commercial and industrial sectors in the city being at the top of his list.
"We need to get that new treatment plant so we can have additional industry and residential growth - they go hand-in-hand," he said. "I'd also like to see someone do something about recruiting businesses into the downtown area. The city needs to offer some kind of incentives to businesses to locate downtown.
"The mayor and the council need to sit down with the downtown merchants and see what they need," Howard said.
Howard said he will use the time between now and the November general election to meet and talk with as many Warsaw residents as possible. If elected, he said, he knows they won't be sorry.
"I'd appreciate the support of the community," he said "Then they'd have four years to make up their own minds."
