The party slates are nearly set for the Brown County Council at-large race in the fall.
Four Republicans and two Democrats were vying for three spots each on the general election ballot. Both Democrats will advance to the general election, while one Republican will not, and only three candidates total will win seats on the council in November.
Republican candidate Jim Kemp earned 778 votes, eliminating him from the race. Kemp still intends to stay connected with the county and would not rule out another public office run in the future.
“Over the last three years of being involved in the county, I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of great people who are passionate about their community,” he said.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]“My intent is to continue to stay connected within our county where my skill sets and values can be leveraged for the use of preserving, protecting and promoting our great community. Going forward, if I have the support of our community, and the opportunity is a good fit, then I wouldn’t rule out running for public office,” he said.
Republican candidate and political newcomer Scott Rudd received the most votes among the four Republican candidates, at 1,122. Longtime councilman Dave Critser received 1,115 and Judith “Judy” Swift Powdrill received 1,017 votes.
“I’m honored to get the vote of confidence of the folks in the primary and look forward to campaigning this fall and hopefully being able to step into a leadership role to serve the county,” Rudd said last week.
“I think, in times like these, it’s more important than ever that we have good leadership in place and strong leaders in place who are willing to collaborate with others and be resourceful and creative as we try to deploy limited resources in these intense times of need. It’s something I look forward to hopefully being a part of.”
Rudd currently works as the director of broadband opportunities for the state of Indiana. Previously, he served as the town manager and economic development director for Nashville.
He said his experience working for the town, managing town utilities and town finances, could be “extremely helpful to apply at the county level” while also working to bring the two units of government together.
Rudd also served as the county’s director of planning and zoning, where he had firsthand experience helping families and with the recovery after the flood of 2008.
“Being this is the first elected position I ever sought, this is something that is exciting to me, and if I’m chosen, I’m going to be very happy to really serve all of the Brown County residents, businesses that have such intense needs right now,” he said.
Critser has served on the county council for more than 20 years. He also served one term as county commissioner.
The last time he had campaign materials printed was about 12 years ago. A primary win did not come as a surprise to him.
“I want to serve on the council, don’t get me wrong, but if I hadn’t, it wouldn’t have been no disaster either, because there are good people running,” he said.
“I sort of look like the county council as belonging to the Lions Club or something like that. It’s a service to the community. It’s strictly a service to the community. The knowledge I have from being on there so long I hope is helpful.”
Critser is also proud that he is not afraid of changes that improve county government. “A lot of people get locked into an old thing and I am not afraid of change. We’ve had a lot of changes in the last two or three years. They’ve been good,” he said.
One example is a simplified budget hearing process where department heads submit a summary sheet of budget requests to the council without having to dig into their budgets. “An old-timer that couldn’t change would have just had a fit about it,” he said.
If elected in the fall, Critser said his plan for his next four years would be to maintain the services the county is providing already.
“It’s hard to make any goals with the situation our country is in right now. Our goal would be to just survive and keep up the services we have for the county,” he said.
“In all actuality, I think we were doing really, really good in our county government.”
Swift has worked in county government for 31 years, including as the office manager and administrator in the health department. She is currently the county recorder, and previously served on the county council from 2010 to 2014.
“Educating myself on issues and knowing the regulations that govern us keeps me intrigued. I want to help our community and residents,” Swift said.
She thanked her supporters for voting and for putting up yard signs.
Moving forward, Swift said she will put up more yard signs and hopes to have some face-to-face interactions with voters, contingent upon COVID-19 restrictions.
She said she wants voters to know that plans to research the impact that issues before the council will have on residents and finances.
“I am not a follower, and I will speak out on issues I disagree with, and speak up on issues I agree with,” she said.
“I want the voter to know I will listen. I feel it is important that voters are aware of the county’s issues and possible avenues to solve them. I encourage respectful discussions.”
Swift said she will work to keep the county “afloat with good, sound financial practices.” She also hopes to use her seat on the council to hear from the younger generation.
“Our 20- to 40-year-old demographic will be the ones sitting in these seats in the future. We need to hear what they want our county to look like for them,” she said.
‘New blood needed’
The Brown County Council has had a majority of Republican members for more than a decade. The last Democrat elected to council was Debra Guffey in 2014 and she lost her re-election bid in 2018.
This time around, two other Democrats have thrown their hats into the ring for the at-large seats: Kevin Fleming and Melissa Parker. Since there were only two of them, they will both appear on this fall’s ballot.
Fleming lives in the southeastern part of the county, not far from the Jackson and Bartholomew county lines. He lives the same distance from Columbus and Seymour as he does Nashville, so he said one “campaign chore” heading into the fall election will be to get name recognition among voters.
“I’m sure I’m a stranger to a lot of people, so I will have to do what I can to overcome that,” he said.
Because of that, Fleming said he hopes that candidates are able to participate in forums before November, either virtually or in-person. The League of Women Voters’ forums were canceled because of the pandemic.
Fleming said the fact that the county council and the Brown County Commissioners are both Republican-controlled now creates a “systemic problem with the decision-making process in county government.”
“It seems like they are birds on a wire. Somebody who is held esteemed as a leader presents an idea, takes off with it, and all the other birds immediately go along with it,” he said.
“There’s just not enough diversity of perspective, and ideas don’t get challenged and vetted out. We end up with some ideas that turn out to be not such great ideas.”
Fleming said he hopes the voters in Brown County cast their vote for the candidate who will do what’s best for the county, not necessarily based on a candidate’s party affiliation, because national politics do not have any bearing on local offices.
“Ideology has nothing to do with good local government,” he said.
“Take a hard look at the record of the current officeholders, and if they like the way things have been going, they can return them into office. If they don’t like some of the things that have been happening … then they need to vote to make changes.”
“I think new blood is needed. I think much more vigorous and thoughtful debate on the issues is needed. Right now, it’s just a rubber-stamp operation,” he said.
Both Fleming and Parker said they were surprised at the number of votes cast in their favor. Parker received 910 votes and Fleming 756.
“I wasn’t sure how many people would come out to vote. But I also noticed that on the other side, there were also a lot more votes for those who are still in current positions. I kind of expected that, but I’d like for people to start being able to see what’s really going on in the county,” Parker said.
Parker said she will focus on a social media campaign since door-to-door campaigning is not ideal right now due to COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
“I know there’s a lot of people in the county who don’t really worry much about it, and there’s another set of people in the county that really take it seriously. I want to be able to respect everybody’s wishes, but it’s hard to know who those people are unless you see them on Facebook or something like that,” Parker said.
As a way to limit going to homes to ask people to put up political signs, Parker said the Democratic Party is considering putting up large signs featuring all of the candidates on well-traveled highways like state roads 135 and 46.
Parker said she wants voters to know that she hears them and sees their comments on social media expressing frustration about the current local government.
“It’s almost as if the county, the various county boards that we have, already have their minds made up before they even go into a public meeting. The Q&A from those that do who attend those meetings is merely a formality,” she said.
If elected, Parker said she would ensure that every tax dollar spent is for the betterment of the county. She also said fixing and maintaining infrastructure, like roads and bridges, is important to her along with considering input from the public for all decisions, especially financial ones.
“Anything that is done has to be done with, No. 1, citizen input. I want to hear what citizens want. I want to hear their opinions,” she said.
“I would listen to them. I want to take people’s thoughts and opinions into consideration before making any kind of decision because that’s what’s important. Everybody should have a voice.”
She also would like to see more research done regarding important topics in the community, like a sewer system being installed in Bean Blossom.
But she knows she cannot do that alone. “My goal is to be able to work with my Republican counterparts as well,” she said.
“I just want to do what’s best for the county.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”How You Voted” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Brown County Council at-large
Republican
David Critser 1,115
Jim Kemp 778
Scott Rudd 1,122
Judith “Judy” Swift Powdrill 1,017
Democrat
Kevin G. Fleming 756
Melissa K. Parker 910
[sc:pullout-text-end]
