District 2
1. Why are you seeking elected office and what are your strengths and weaknesses as they apply to the skills needed to serve in this office?
Diana McDonald Biddle (R): Experience is my strength. Having served on the county council for over six years and having served as your District 2 county commissioner for two terms, I have learned and studied the many facets of county governance. Presently, I am serving as the president of the Indiana Association of County Commissioners, board member for the Association of Indiana Counties, emergency management board, president of the solid waste board, member of Maple Leaf Management Group board of directors, community corrections board and I currently serve as the Brown County historian. As for a weakness, I would have to say that my desire to be involved in all aspects of a project sometimes hinders my ability to delegate some of my responsibilities.
John Kennard (R): I did not want to run again and kept asking Mark Bowman if anyone else I could support had decided to run. I feel we need open and straight forward leadership and I don’t feel that has been the case. All decisions must be made in a public meeting and for the good of the county. Strengths: strong leadership and decision making skills. Weakness: difficulty with people that are not willing to make intelligent decisions and take a stand.
Stephanie Porter Kritzer (D): N/A.
Ronald A. Sanders (R): N/A.
2. What are the top three challenges facing our county and how would you address them?
Biddle: 1. Infrastructure. The recent receipt of American Rescue Plan funding will help us address the long-standing issues of stormwater drainage, wastewater disposal and broadband. Likewise, our continued applications for Community Crossings grants will continue to help us address our road and bridge paving and maintenance. In the last seven years we have paved approximately 120 miles of our 200 miles of paved county roads. 2. Attainable housing. 3. Mental health.
Kennard: Music center; become more involved and investigate the opportunity of selling it to an investment group. Roads; concentrated effort in determining a long-range plan to fix all the roads including grant dollars and state and federal funding. Sewer system expansion; seriously push for IDEM (Indiana Department of Environmental Management) assistance in moving this project forward.
Kritzer: N/A.
Sanders: N/A.
3. What changes, if any, would you advocate to help Brown County improve living wages, affordable housing, transportation, infrastructure and a vibrant economy?
Biddle: It is my opinion that the recent trend of increasing wages as we navigate our new post-COVID world environment has had a positive impact on the area’s wage scale. Affordable housing initiatives in the last six years have resulted in at least three affordable apartment complexes. As we look toward rebuilding a vibrant post-COVID economy, our focus needs to shift to attainable market-rate housing, that combined with ARPA infrastructure funding will give Brown County the attractiveness that investors and new residents desire when seeking a family-friendly community.
Kennard: With sewer expansion we might be able to have investors purchase blocks of land to build more affordable housing on reduced acreage lots. Petition the state to share revenue from visitors to our state park. Determine if we could charge service or maintenance fees to nonprofits, classified forest, military base, state and federal forests and church camps.
Kritzer: N/A.
Sanders: N/A.
4. What are current underfunded needs you would like to see supported in our community?
Biddle: I am concerned about the lack of funding available for our ever-expanding need for mental health and substance abuse services.
Kennard: Drug rehabilitation programs. Stiffer jail times. Work release programs. Elder care.
Kritzer: N/A.
Sanders: N/A.
5. Rank strongly disagree to strongly agree: The Brown County Commissioners should improve transparency of county finances concerning tax revenue and expenditure. What action, if any, should be taken on this issue?
Biddle: Neither agree nor disagree. The county commissioners represent the legislative and executive functions of the county government. The responsibility of setting tax rates, budgeting tax revenues and tracking expenses for all county expenditures belongs to the offices of the county council and the county auditor. Taxpayers have a multitude of reports and information available to them on the Indiana Gateway portal located at www. gateway.ifionline.org. “Gateway collects and provides access to information about how taxes and other public dollars are budgeted and spent by Indiana’s local units of government.”
Kennard: Strongly agree. Our entire government process should be more open door. I feel very strongly that many decisions are being made behind closed doors. I feel some of the decisions seem to be made before the public meeting and the finality in these decisions comes as a surprise.
Kritzer: N/A.
Sanders: N/A.
5. Rank strongly disagree to strongly agree: Brown County should take action to address climate change. What action, if any, should be taken on this issue?
Biddle: Neither agree nor disagree.
Kennard: Neither agree nor disagree. My feeling on climate change is we as human beings will adjust to whatever happens and we can make plans to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, but we are many inventions away to something that really works. I do suggest a more aggressive use of our solid waste department in recycling as one solution, put more into offering some more positive actions in getting people to recycle. Can we get home-owned recycle bins or maybe county-owned and picked up recycle bins?
