Early voting started April 5 and election season is now in full swing.
Last month, the League of Women Voters of Brown County hosted two candidate forums on Zoom.
Both forums for the Brown County Commissioners District 2 and Brown County Council District 4 races took place over Zoom and were recorded for the public to view afterwards. The forums were moderated by Brown County Community Foundation CEO Maddison Miller.
Candidates for the District 4 county council seat answered questions on April 2. Democrat Marcia Grooms Taylor, Republican Jim Kemp and Republican Scott Waddell participated in the forum.
Absent from the forum was Republican Kyle Clark.
The following are some of the questions asked which weren’t already answered in the candidate questionnaires published in the March 23 Brown County Democrat election guide. Look for answers from the District 2 commissioner race in the April 20 newspaper.
Q: What one issue or part of county government would receive more attention if you were elected?
Taylor: My focus would be on transparency, I think a lot of decisions are made behind closed doors and without the community having the chance to talk, discuss or voice their concerns before these decisions are done. Primarily look at what was done on Indian Hill. That’s one thing I would focus on, is making sure that government is responsible to the people and that they have an input as to what decisions are being made.
Waddell: The big picture focus, I see this county as moving in a direction and it’s like the flow of the river and you’re not going to change the flow of that river. You have more retirees, 10% more than the average county in Indiana. I can’t tell you how many people since I’ve moved down here that I know in Indianapolis tell me, ‘Oh my gosh, I love Brown County, I want to move there when I retire.’ We’re becoming a retirement community, we’ve been a tourist community. I think a bigger picture needs to be dealt with county government on where we’re headed so residents here can survive. It’s very costly tax wise and we need to figure out a good way to support it. That would be a focus. I think the state park brings in millions of dollars for Indiana, I would be one to lobby the state, if we got a dollar per car that went in, it would be fantastic. They’re making an enormous amount of money off of that park. That would be a focus.
Kemp: For me, it’s simple. We need to go from a emotionally reactive, near-term mindset to a long-term, proactive and begin to look at where’s the county going to be five, 10, 15, matter of fact let’s take it to the year 2050 — 28 years. If we don’t manage our expenses, it’s going to cost everyone an enormous amount of money. We’ve got a lot of people in this county that have more month at the end of their money. If we don’t keep a lid on these expenses, it’s very likely that Brown County can get so expensive a lot of people won’t be able to afford to live in the county. I’d hate to see that happen.
Q: What do you see as the top economic development opportunity in our county and what do you believe is the county council role in facilitating this opportunity?
Waddell: County council controls the funds, responsible for requests to funds from the commissioners and everyone in county government. I think tourism is here, and the Brown County Music Center – some like it, some don’t – it has the potential to draw in the revenue for all the local shops. As far as bringing revenue, helping tourism grow is a major factor, making sure we have proper accommodations here for them and that everyone’s prepared to greet those folks when they come in and be hospitable. Other areas I’ve mentioned are park entrance fees, if we could tap into that and the state would agree to give us some of that, all of our infrastructure supports everything around that park and we don’t take any money from the state for that.
Kemp: Are you asking about increasing tax base? You ask the question of economic development, what’s the purpose of economic development in Brown County? Is the purpose to increase the tax base, is the purpose to increase the population in the county? The people in the county, how do they feel about that? There’s a lot of talk that goes on about providing affordable housing, the challenge with it. To me, let’s go back to near-term reactive one we’re trying to fix, move to long-term proactive and work on a shared vision on what people in Brown County want for people in Brown County before I can even attempt to address that question.
Taylor: I think we have to build on what we know, and that’s tourism. I don’t think we should be looking at bringing in new development or new businesses, I think that would greatly diversify Brown County too much. We should focus on what we do and we are the recreation part of Indiana. Based on what Scott was saying, we need to look at services we provide, protection we provide, the state parks and forest areas and ask the state to cover those expenses. We’re providing a lot of infrastructure there, and they need to have our backs and we need to build off of that. When 45 was rerouted and traffic was put on Lanam Ridge Road, we were supposed to get that money from the state, and that money was to be used to repair Lanam Ridge Road, we need to make sure that was done.
Q: As the council — with the “power of the purse” — what (if any) action can the council take to address the financial health of county government?
Kemp: As I said earlier, if by chance I’m honored by being elected – keep in mind I’m one person out of seven – the only thing I can do with my skill sets and my capacity (is determine) what is lacking. We need someone in the county that internalizes the total cost. But in addition to that is what are we paying for before we go to make any decision? My experience the last five years, there’s people from all over that want to spend a lot of money. Everybody’s got their own pet projects and things they want to do. If we don’t understand how much we’ve got coming in, who it’s coming from and where it’s going and what we’re paying for, then how in the world could we ever make a rational decision to manage our resources wisely?
Taylor: I think we just need to look at where the money is coming from and how it’s being spent. It seems like there’s some disconnect right now between the council and the commissioners. I think we need some transparency, some directive so they’re working together and not independently of each other. I think that we need a grand plan or development project plan so we know how much money we can expect to receive on a yearly, five year, 10 year basis and where that money should be spent. Not on projects that have not been fully vetted or that don’t meet the immediate needs of the citizens. I think we need to be really careful about where we’re spending our money, just as you would be when you’re looking at your own personal income. We need to look at this income and treat it carefully, this is our taxpayers’ money we’re dealing with.
Waddell: Transparency has been spoken of a lot here and as I said I’ve been to several council meetings as well as commissioner meetings and I’m all for transparency. I think a lot of times the people that aren’t attending the meetings or they’re hearing a lot of hearsay and they aren’t sure what’s going on so I think transparency is helpful to get all of us on the same team. I’ve not seen a lot of issue with the council and commissioners being on the same page. I think more people need to be bold as Dave Redding was when he came in and said something has to be done here for our budget and he took a good look at what everyone does and said “Is there any cuts here we could do?” And then also look at the health insurance and you know (he) basically had everyone looking for what could be done differently here to save the county taxpayers money on the health plan for county employees and they did that. They made some major good moves to help lower risk and cost of health insurance for the county employees so I think we need more politicians to be bold in those (moves).
Q: Could you identify the top environmental concerns facing the county and what actions you could take at the county level to address them?
Taylor: I think the governor has put out that he wants to have a state trail system throughout Indiana. That trail system builds off at the Tecumseh Trail. But the actions that were taken at the Tecumseh Trail to hikers and forced them to go five miles out of their way causes an environmental concern. Another concern is the burning that happens in the county specifically when the county puts out a warning not to be burning at a particular time of year or particular day and the fire engines and the fire stations in this area — volunteer fire departments — gets called out on six or seven different calls in one day. We need to have some actions or some accountability in that area where if you are caught burning or if you require that the county volunteer fire department come out and take care of a fire that you started on your property, that you are responsible for that. I think those are two areas where we could be more environmentally friendly and responsible because of the amount of timber and brush that we have in this area.
Waddell: I think burning is certainly an issue. Also I get so frustrated in my role for the school, I’m on the roads all the time and I see people just dumping trash, you know, they think ‘It’s on the country road. Nobody is down here.” And they dump off things and I think the county is doing a great job of picking up a lot of those things, but I’d still like to see more enforcement in how to stop that, but it’s just very frustrating to see our county, trash being thrown there. The bigger picture, we have a lot of watershed issues. I would be very concerned about how people are responding to that and doing it in a way that protects our environment. I know there’s several things being looked at for the watershed on the northern part of the county and possibly a new lake that’s needed you know so I’d be very involved in making sure that the environment was protected with any changes.
Kemp: Over the last five years one of the most contentious subjects in the county is this subject over septic systems and wastewater treatment. I’ve actually have had conversations in the past and what I would really would love to be a catalyst for positive change would be in the area of the health department and the area planning commission. When I say that, it’s simply this: we have ordinances and our health department and our area Planning Commission should be there. Their role should be to help the people, the community members in the county to stay in compliance with the ordinances. Those departments should not weaponize the ordinances and use those against county members.
Q: What (if anything) should the county council pursue to promote social and racial equity in our community?
Kemp: Yeah, again, I don’t believe that would be an area of responsibility for the council so that’s all I’ve got to say on that subject.
Taylor: I’m not sure what role that the council would have either, but I do think that it is a little contradictory when you are a county that is based on tourism and relies on tourism for folks to arrive in the county and pass unwelcome signs rather than a welcome sign. I think some of the places or the areas that have or are flying certain flags I think that that can be seen as an unwelcome sign to people of different colors or nationalities, but I am not sure what the council’s role in in doing anything about that is. But I doubt it lends to a friendly nature by having that type of signage around particularly when you’re we’re relying on tourists.
Waddell: I’m like the other two candidates, unsure what the council role could be, but from a personal aspect of my experience here in the county, I’m all about inclusivity and making everyone feel welcome. I think there’s been a couple of incidences, unfortunately with a couple of people and the media caught on to that and blew it way out of proportion, but being a tourism community, we do have to watch our reputation and as I said everyone needs to be a good host to everyone that is wanting to come visit our county.
Q: What is the role of county council regarding appointed board in terms of member qualifications identifying board responsibilities and monitoring performance?
Taylor: It’s my understanding that the council has a role to appoint different people to different boards. I think the commissioners also get to appoint people and I would hope that there is a wide number of people applying for these roles. I know I have applied in the past, but was not deemed ‘worthy’ I guess, which is fine, but I think we also need to draw from a wider pool and make more people aware of the role and the ways that they can serve their community by being on a board. We should look for a broader pool of applicants and by educating people that they can be on a board then we get a larger pool of candidates to choose from.
Waddell: I think some of these appointments are absolutely critical and bringing on new ideas, new energy, new perspectives, again being all inclusive, so I think it’s critically important to think outside the box on those. I’ve been in a lot of organizations and I’ve seen it happen because the person has been in a certain role for such a period of time, but then they just automatically get moved into the next level up whether they’re qualified or not and so I’m all about looking outside. Democracy is not a spectator sport, so I’m new to politics jumping in head first and I would encourage new folks to consider getting involved.
Kemp: I think that’s a wonderful question because I think this issue is extremely important to the health and welfare and the long-term health of the county. I’ve got a list in front of me, there’s 27 different boards, what I don’t know is — both on the council side and on the commissioner side and along with the community foundation and other entities — what are we doing proactively? What policy do we have in place? What criteria is used in trying to recruit people for these board appointments? What are we doing to try to get the message out within the community to proactively look for those that want to get involved? I was surprised when I heard Marcia say that she’s applied for different board appointments and has not been appointed, so this is an area that that I personally would be very interested in getting a committee and some people together to address this issue.
Q: As a council member, what role (if any) would you play in determining priorities for road paving and repair?
Waddell: Oh you hit the hot button with me on that one. Being responsible for all the buses running the roads in this county, oh boy. I’ve heard from many folks that have lived here their whole lives that the roads have been way better. It is absolute priority of making sure we’re seeking all the grants that we can possibly get to help us with our roads and having a long-term plan and sticking to that plan. If you go back and see the promises that were made on the roads to be paved I don’t believe we’ve measured up and met those goals, so we have a lot of roads that need a lot of work and I think the the council and commissioners made some good moves in raising the pay for the county workers. I know in trying to hire school bus drivers there’s a shortage of drivers across the country so upping the wages will help us have the employees that we need in that department, but boy we need to get super creative because our roads need a lot of help.
Kemp: I’ve already had conversations on this subject with a number of different people in the past and I’ll just say this: I absolutely resent the reality that the state of Indiana leverages Brown County. They own over 50% of the real estate in Brown County. I figured at minimum they’re pulling $14 million a year in revenue, but they do not give us enough money from the state legislature for our county roads. Specific of what we need is we need three to four to maybe even five really competent people that can learn that subject matter forwards, backwards and sideways and we need to be a thorn in the side of state legislature. The squeaky wheel gets the money and we’ve got to stand up for ourselves and tell the state of Indiana “You owe us more money because you’re making a ton of money off of us every year” and because they don’t give us enough money because that money comes from the state legislature we’ve only got four gas stations for goodness sakes. It’s insane.
Taylor: I think the priorities need to be on based on how many people live there or how many people are traveling on the roads. Looking at what happened earlier this spring or this winter with roads not getting paved, kids not being able to get to school, I think we need to look at where those kids are and make sure that those roads get paved so those kids can get picked up by the school bus and get to their school. I saw something recently where the state wants to limit the number of snow days you can take. That’s really going to affect us if we go beyond that three day limit. We can hit that in one week — we can hit that in three days — so we need to look at a lot of these different things that we’re dealing with, with the number of tourists that are using the roads, the number of school kids that are using roads and we need to take place some priority on the roads where those kids and those people are and make sure that they’re getting taken care of because right now they’re not.
Q: What (if anything) should the county council do to address county water sewer and septic needs?
Kemp: I’ve only got a minute and to be honest with you, I can’t even begin to address that question in a minute and so I guess I’ll just go back to my original statement: 38%. That’s the bottom 38 counties in the state of Indiana represent 10% of the total population of 6.8 million. These issues of infrastructure, water, wastewater treatment, affordable housing, all of these subjects are all interdependent and there’s no quick fix to any of them, but if we really genuinely want to take a hard look at the year 2050 let’s back up to where we are and we’ve got to come together as a community and make a decision of what do you want Brown County to look like in the next 10 to 15 years? Because what you’re talking about here I mean you’re talking about hundreds of millions and millions and millions of dollars. There’s been a huge fight over the regional sewer district especially right now with Bean Blossom and Lake Lemon and so there’s a lot of contentious feelings because there’s a lack of trust in the leadership within this county.
Taylor: I think the county council’s role is to make sure that the adequate funding is there for the services that the county provides. I don’t think the county needs to be extending or creating new roles for themselves and I don’t think that we need to go beyond or provide additional funding for additional studies for additional services that we cannot provide at this time and if we do decide that we want to go with a sewer system then there is state funding available for project management and there are different services that we can tap into without taxing our own citizens or requiring them to pay for these studies.
Waddell: I’ve only got a minute. It’s not a quick fix. I was stating that we need to have a long-term picture, whoever is in our county government needs to be looking long term and they weren’t for so long. We had a water line break in the parking lot of the transportation building at school last year and the guys came out to fix it and they just replaced the little section, but that pipe is so old it’s breaking in places all over the place and to hear about all the septic systems in the county that are past their usable life and therefore are not functioning properly and are leaking into our waterways is frightening and sad and it’s not a quick fix. I would be looking at every possible grant or state health because the Brown County residents there’s only 15,000 of us. We can’t afford to make all these repairs on our own, unfortunately.
Q: What do you see for the future of Brown County firefighters? Some examples are continuing as volunteer organizations, seeking funding for paid firefighters through taxes, using existing the county budget or other alternatives.
Taylor: I don’t have it in front of me, but I was surprised to learn how many other counties and communities rely on volunteers. I don’t think that Brown County needs or could support paid firefighters at this time. I think we do need to look at the services that we do provide to the forests and the state park and I think that we need to look at the state to consider helping with the funding for our volunteers to making sure that they have the adequate equipment and that we take care of them. But I don’t see right now where we can afford any full time paid firefighters in Brown County
Waddell: I think it’s the firefighters, you are kind of behind the scenes and forgotten about until you have a major fire. They responded incredibly well with the fires that occurred over on Green Valley that took some special technology to figure out where it was all spreading to. I think providing good equipment is critical. I would love to get to the point somehow where we could pay for some, but again it can’t be on the burden of the 15,000 of us in this county so we’ve got to find a great way to help. We had a fire in town just last week (March 21) that was started at a little shop. It just so happened that the volunteer firefighters were having a meeting at the firehouse so they were just minutes away. Were they not just minutes away we might have lost several buildings in downtown Nashville, so that was just luck. I would love to see them have more equipment and I don’t know how to pay for it. I don’t know how to pay for the firefighters, but I think that we should work towards having some (paid) firefighters.
Kemp: Personally I would take your question and go talk to all the fire departments and start there. What do they want to do? Because they’re the ones with responsibility, that’s what they do, they’re the fire department, so I think they are the ones that need to make the decision of what they seek for the future and where they need support and how to give them the tools that they need. Or maybe our homeowners insurance premiums would decrease a little bit, but that you start with conversations with the people that are involved. You know I’m not a fireman so I have no idea.
An earlier version of this story indicated the forum took place on March 31. That was incorrect and updated to the correct date of April 2.
