Four of the six candidates running for at-large seats on the Brown County Council stepped in front of their cameras for a virtual candidate forum on Sept. 21.
Democrat candidates Kenneth Birkemeier, Melissa Parker and Kevin Fleming and Republican candidate Scott Rudd all participated in the forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Brown County. It was moderated by Brown County Junior High School We the People teacher Michael Potts.
Republican incumbent Dave Critser and candidate Judith Swift Powdrill did not participate.
Candidates answered the same questions that were asked of the county commissioner candidates in the previous forum. Some of the questions were submitted by junior high school students; others came from local voters.
Here are their answers, some of which have been shortened for clarity and length.
Q: What one issue or part of county government would receive more attention if you were elected? (Submitted by junior high school student)
Fleming: Both the commissioners and the county council are not in a healthy place as organizations. These are places where there should be an open debate and scrutinizing of ideas so that the best ideas come forward. There are also places where the public should be participants in their own government. … Let me cite the Indian Hill railroad crossing closure. The county commissioners explicitly used a section of the statute that enabled that crossing to be closed without any public hearing and the residents just became totally blindsided by that. … It seems like decisions have already been made many times before the meeting even started, and it may be that we have more influence from the high-priced lawyers that we pay in Indianapolis than open debate, certainly.
Parker: Our roads are in terrible, terrible shape in areas. I hate to think of how much money I have spent in the past on replacing struts and whatnot on the front end of my vehicles. I know I’m not alone. I would really like to see more input into our highway department, so our roads are properly maintained. … Also, the road sights: There’s a lot of weed growth alongside of our roads and some intersections it makes it very difficult to see. … I think the county highway department really deserves some special attention.
Rudd: Our COVID recovery is going to be very important to our county in terms of how we come out of this pandemic, how quickly we can crawl out of this, and so I will focus on efforts that really will help us crawl out quicker than we were thinking. The slower we crawl out of these sorts of economic situations, the more pain we’re going to feel a little bit longer, so we want to try to shorten this … recovery time so that we start seeing income taxes come back in, etc., businesses opening and hiring, that sort of thing, and doing well so we get the county back on its feet. I would also say mental health and addiction and our infrastructure, really focused areas I think we need to work on.
Birkemeier: It’s really kind of hard to focus on one issue. We’ve heard a lot of them mentioned that just keep continuing over the years here and we have to address it. On the county council, since we’re dealing with the money and the fiscal part of it, we’ve got to stick with budgets. We’ve got to make sure the department heads and the others stick with their budgets, so that we can address the problems we can. We can’t be switching, taking money from somebody and moving it over to somebody else, some other department to solve a problem that shouldn’t be there to begin with. I’ve seen too much in the past the county has spent money rather than trying to solve the problems. The council is going to have to keep the commissioners and others on focus so that they do work to solve these problems, not just spend the money.
Q: As the council, with the power of the purse, what, if any, action can the county take to address the financial health of county government, businesses and residents during and after the pandemic?
Parker: To be honest with you, I am not quite sure. I would hope that with the help of perhaps being able to get grants to help our local businesses. I know that we have a lot of families in need. But other than that, that’s something I would actually have to look into to find the answers to.
Rudd: First thing I’d like to point out is the good work that was taken on to receive the CARES Act funding for Brown County and I believe a separate fund for the town of Nashville that businesses can apply for to offset their losses. That is such a critical thing right now as we look at the financial health of the county and the businesses and residents within it. The more things we can do to secure funding for helpful resources we can bring to bear, I think the better off we’ll be. The other thing I would do is … really looking forward over the next few years and projecting where our budget will be, what are our expenses will be, what our revenues will be and making sure see as far in advance when there’s going to be a shortfall. I do think it’s ‘when,’ not ‘if.’ At some point we’re going to see some drop in revenue, particularly on the income tax side, and I want to be able to anticipate that as a council so that we can prepare in advance and anticipate that to lessen the blow to residents and businesses.
Birkemeier: I want to thank Scott for reminding me, I am on one of the committees for getting those grant applications for the town. … Like I touched on before, we have to keep on the budgets. I didn’t go to the meeting, but I read The Democrat (newspaper’s) report on what the financial adviser is advising to the council. It kind of mirrored what I previously read with Ball State economists and some others on what is happening with COVID. … We have to make sure department heads, commissioners and everyone sticks to the budget. We’re going to have to lower their budgets, make them reasonable, stay with them and be responsible and don’t just throw money at things again.
Fleming: I would oppose any tax increase on Brown County residents. I think this would be an awful time to further strain people’s budgets. There are many areas, though, where expenditures could be cut rather than raising taxes. For instance, the health insurance coverage that the county has had for the last few years has been exuberantly expensive. It was a bad idea. Paying employees to sit down at McDonald’s and eat lunch is something that is not found anywhere. I can attest to from my nine years at the Indiana Department of Labor. … Buying a $400,000 building that requires renovations before it passes code was a questionable idea. I think there are probably many areas where wiser expenditures and refraining from making expenditures could be found.
Q: Could you identify the top two to three environmental concerns facing the county and what actions you could take at the county level to address them?
Rudd: We’ve heard a lot of discussion lately about sewer districts and the need to improve some of the health quality in the streams. I know a lot of people have put a lot of work into those efforts. It is important to provide adequate wastewater treatment for people wherever they may live as long as something like a septic or a public sewer is available. … I think we’ve all got families and we all enjoy the outdoors. When we think about things like environmental concerns being in our creeks, I definitely have some concerns about that. If there’s something the county can do, I will definitely support those efforts.
Birkemeier: The streams, we’ve had tree cutting, you can see it at Bean Blossom. That affects our environment. We’ve had it elsewhere in the county. The wastewater that Scott mentioned. We need fairness in dealing with people in the septic area and monitoring and working with them. Let’s face it, global warming. Local is worldwide. We’ve got good recycling, but you still go up and down the roads and it’s awful if you go out walking.
Fleming: … Worldwide, the climate is in a very precarious position right now. I am not sure what we can do locally about that, except maybe promote good environmental stewardship by county residents. As far as wastewater treatment, we just saw a letter in The Democrat from one of the folks on the regional sewer district who more or less admitted that there’s still no empirical evidence that we have a problem with respect to contamination of water. As Ken pointed out, I think better stewardship of logging is something that we’ve seen some failure with with the clear-cutting at the overlook.
Parker: I have to agree with everybody else as far in this forum as far as the issues with septic, stream issues and the overlook as well. Right now we really don’t know for sure where the problem lies, but we do need clean water and we do need to make sure that septics are working properly. I would hope they are. But right now we don’t know for sure where the pollution comes from, if there is pollution. …
Q: What, if any, is the county’s financial responsibility for the Brown County Music Center and what if any additional action is needed due to the pandemic?
Birkemeier: The music center is based off of the convention and visitors bureau tax. That’s where I feel it needs to stay. I think there are a lot of problems. Venues are supposed to be the last thing to be opened, or music venues nationally, so it’s going to be a while. They will need a lot of money. I think it’s time they look for private financing if they can’t pay for it from the convention and visitors bureau tax. There is also, from my own personal experience recovering from surgery last year, I know there are accessibility and disability problems. I am over my problem now, but other people aren’t. There are expenses to that. They completed a deal and closed it without adequate funding to get the whole thing built and the problems are going to continue. I think the problem needs to be solved by the tax it’s based on.
Fleming: That seems to be open to debate as to whether the county is on the hook, so to speak. This is an area where a couple of our elected officials have really let us down. There were quotes in the Brown County Democrat at the time of the process to create the music center that there would be no taxes used, no burden on Brown County taxpayers in the creation and operation of that music center. One quote was to do so would be a bait and switch. Indeed, we did have tax money that was used to subsidize the music center this year. It has no revenue stream, so that opens to the question how the music center will be able to repay that loan at the end of the year. Right now, the music center is a failed business model and the innkeepers is the only tax that I would support an increase in to help resolve that problem.
Parker: Right now it’s definitely not any raising taxes that would affect any of our citizens. I am completely opposed to that. if anything gets raised, it should be the innkeepers tax; otherwise, in order for it to continue to thrive once it’s able to start opening back up, if there is any money needed, I think they should start looking for private funding. I don’t believe that our fellow taxpayers should be on the hook for this.
Rudd: A lot of people put a lot of time and effort across the community to make that project happen. I don’t want to second-guess any of those decisions. What I do want to do is look forward and talk about how we can support what has now became an Opry-like business in our community. I understand there’s some complications with that. No one anticipated COVID. It’s definitely a tough spot. I think we should at least support them like we do any other business of that magnitude within the county. We definitely don’t want to hurt them. They are incredibly important to our kind of now growing economy. It’s a great place. I would also add that I do believe they received some PPP funding. … There is a COVID testing site there now.
Q: What is your opinion on the number of providers and availability of health care resources in Brown County for medical, dental and mental health, and what role, if any, does the council have in addressing this issue?
Fleming: I have to beg some degree of ignorance as to what medical care is available in the county due to the lack of personal experience. I don’t obtain any of mine here in the county. If that is something that is lacking and that is a hardship on county residents, I would certainly be inclined to consider any options or any ideas that the council could go forward with that would be a benefit to the community in that regard.
Parker: As far as physicians go, we probably could use another physician here in Brown County. I am not familiar as far as dental or vision goes. I know there’s at least one eye care provider. I see my physician in Brown County, but everything else I go to Bloomington for. Not everybody can afford to do that. I realize we do have the clinic out at Eagle Park, but again, not everybody can afford to do that. I know that we definitely need more access to mental health and addiction treatment. That is a serious problem.
Rudd: I think one of the items I want to point out in terms of health and medical service is our ambulance service. That is something that is really a direct impact to the council’s budget, something that is important to our county finances. … In addition to that we’ve got the Access Brown County, which provides some transportation resources to folks going back and forth to the medical locations. I think the county has participated in the past in some ways. … Mental health — there are people in our jails, which is a major portion of the county’s budget, who have mental health issues and should not be there in some cases. That is a drain on taxpayer money and it would be great to find a way to improve that situation. I know we’re not alone in dealing with it as a county, but it’s something we should address.
Birkemeier: We named a lot of things, and I wish the health department was addressing more of them and would encourage that in the budget. I don’t have much personal experience in the county except for rehab and things like that, but doing it inside of the county, it’s been good. We do support the Access Brown County and that needs to be expanded and made more available for even more people. … As I get in the budget and look at things on the council, I would be in support of things that would be better for Brown County healthcare.
Q: What is the role of county council regarding appointed boards in terms of member qualifications, identifying board responsibilities, and monitoring performance?
Parker: To be honest with you, I am not quite sure what the council would have to do with as far as other boards other than making sure that moneys are being spent the way they should be, where they are appropriated.
Rudd: Boards and committees are an absolutely critical role of county government. Very important decisions are made at the committee and board level that are forwarded to, in most cases, a decision-making body like county commissioners or county council. In some cases they operate on their own and are able to make decisions, so it’s a critical function. The council has appointments to those boards and committees. … These are volunteer positions in most cases, or very small payments, and so we need volunteers, we need community engagement and the expertise we can draw from, particularly our retirement community, folks moving here or retiring here with expertise, we want those folks on the volunteer boards and committees to help drive some of those important local decisions.
Birkemeier: I would actively recruit and interview for people for these positions. I would go for qualifications. I wouldn’t go for politics. I think we need people that are strong to get on these boards. In the past, I know it’s been difficult at times for some of the boards to find people, so I think council, commissioners, etc., have to go out and help bring people in and interview them and make sure they are qualified and work with them and support them, make them do their job.
Fleming: The qualifications of the individual considered should be given very high consideration. I would also, in an interview process or any of the process, want to be sure that there’s an understanding that government service is a privilege and it’s a matter of, just like in the private sector, it’s about providing good service to people. I would therefore look for appointees who would accept their responsibilities in that spirit and not be a person who would lack discipline and good customer service skills.
Q: When planning action on county land, what action, if any, should the county council take to verify and oversee compliance with existing land use mandates — for example, the clear cut on State Road 135?
Rudd: There’s a whole set of rules that governs how that activity carries itself out. It depends on what the situation is, who owns the land, that determines who responds. The parks and rec situation, there may be a different avenue for that versus something that may be a road-related issue. It depends. Planning and zoning may play some role in that activity whether it’s related to logging, offering permits to access county roads, that actually may be the highway department, but there is a role there for probably a variety of the agencies involved. … I could be wrong, but doesn’t the council in some way oversee county property, buying property, selling property? I think that’s part of the role of council and seems appropriate.
Birkemeier: Addressing the clear cut on 135 and the council does have responsibilities, I would have to review them to make sure what all they are, but on 135, I was on the park board when we got that property. … There was a clause that it’s supposed to remain as a scenic parkway. The Republican-controlled park and rec board, Republican-controlled council and the commissioners, the council put pressure on parks and rec to increase their income from all the types of funds they could come up with. They, for years, sold trees at different times. This time, it didn’t work out. You got to work with your agencies. You can’t put pressure on them to try to make quick money, and therefore we ended up with the debacle that is up there. We need some Democratic influence in here so we just don’t have a slam on everything.
Fleming: I think we have a pervasive problem and a lack of accountability for the county’s assets. Unfortunately, the accounting is still basically a cash, single-entry style of accounting rather than much emphasis on equity of the county. We lost an untold amount of assets with that clear cutting and that situation was just a total breakdown of chain of command, and it’s something that we need answers about. Exactly where the money did go for all of that timber that was taken down there?
Parker: Regarding the overlook, the clear cut, first off, I don’t believe that the park and rec board should have been put into the position of signing that contract to begin with. I believe that should have been a commissioner issue. As Kevin pointed out, there was a lot of money lost on that and there needs to be accountability for that.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”On the Web” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Watch the forums on YouTube:
Brown County school board: https://youtu.be/hGdapMVrEcA
Brown County Council: https://youtu.be/tnUiPjo1tUM
Brown County Commissioners: https://youtu.be/YGR-FEzHePI
U.S. Congress 9th District: https://youtu.be/rWQTa3-qe4I
[sc:pullout-text-end]
