Jail issue wins big (11/05/2008)

With an OK from voters, the Jay County Commissioners will start preparations for a Jay County Jail expansion.

Voters said yes to the expansion by a count of 4,208-3,567 for the county to issue bonds to finance the approximately $10 million expansion.

The jail referendum, which had been endorsed by all three candidates for county commissioner, passed with more than 54 percent of the vote in Tuesday's election.

Not surprisingly, the referendum fared best in municipalities and worst in farming precincts, which will bear much of the burden of increased property taxes for the project.

The referendum was defeated in Bearcreek, Knox, Wabash, Madison, and Jackson townships, while it was supported strongly in 15 other precincts, including all of Portland, Dunkirk, and Redkey by margins as much as 68 percent.

One township, Jefferson, was tied on the referendum 146-146.

The planned $10.25 million jail project will cause a rise in taxes of about 11.5 cents per $100 of assessed value.

The results caught people on both sides of the political spectrum by surprise as there was some doubt as to how the referendum would fare in the financial squall that has rocked the nation in the past two months.

Several candidates and elected officials said they had no evidence to solidly predict the result one way or the other.

"I thought it would fail because of the economy," said commissioner Gary Theurer.

"I was shocked that it passed," said county councilman Gerald Kirby, who said he predicted a 2 to 1 loss.

"Really I couldn't say if this was going to pass or not pass with the way the economy is now," said Sheriff Ray Newton. "I could see if people would be concerned about doing this project. We need to thank the voters."

With the approval, the commissioners can now begin finalizing plans to begin the project. All were pleased to hear they could go big on the jail fixes instead of trying to fix the facility's problems piecemeal.

"We want to do it and we want to do it right," said commissioner Faron Parr. "What I was hoping they would see ... is how long we got by with what we have and how much it would cost to keep what we got versus putting it towards something better to take us another 30, 40 years in the future.

"I didn't want to spend another dollar on the jail that we have as far as revamping it," he said.

"They done their legwork and they voted for it and I appreciate that, I know Gary and Faron do too," said commissioners president Milo Miller Jr. "So we're going to move forward and we're going to have a nice jail that will last us 50 years or better.

"I hate to put it on the taxpayers, but that's the reason it was good to let them vote for it. Now we know what they want instead of cramming something down their throat," he said.

"It will be a lot of work to really know what we're going to do before we make a decision so we spend that money wisely," said commissioner-elect Jim Zimmerman.

Miller said the next steps will be to sign a contract with engineering firm SchenkelShultz, which has done the preliminary work on the project, and appoint a building committee to oversee the bonding process. The commissioners will be working to make decisions on the new structure and finalize the plans before construction begins. Parr suggested a ground-breaking could take place in spring.

A version of the project schedule shows a public hearing will be held Monday, Dec. 1, where the commissioners will adopt an ordinance approving execution of the lease.[[In-content Ad]]A bruising and often bitter campaign saw Bill Davis walk away the winner in his bid for a third term in the Indiana House Tuesday.

Davis won the local vote by a substantial margin, taking all but three precincts in Jay County, while his Democratic challenger Andy Schemenaur found success in the portion of District 33 that is in Delaware County.

In an election that saw about 70 percent of Jay County's registered voters cast a ballot, Republican Jim Zimmerman won a commissioners' seat, while two Democrats and a Republican prevailed in a six-way race for three spots on the Jay County Council. Long-time Democratic commissioner Gary Theurer, who gave up his seat to run for council, was the top vote-getter, followed by Republican Marilyn Coleman and Democrat Dan Orr, a retired educator.

Final totals showed Davis with 12,697 for 53 percent, over Schemenaur with 11,179 for 47 percent.

Davis received more than 56 percent of the Jay vote to win locally 4,651-3,628 over local school principal Schemenaur.

The election contest between Davis and Schemenaur was marked by scores of direct mail pieces, involving hundreds of thousands of dollars spent by the two state parties.

Davis, who won his third term, said he will continue to execute the plans and keep the promises he made during the campaign.

"We want to just keep doing what we said we would do," he said. "We want to protect taxpayers. ... We want to make sure we continue to create an environment for economic development. ... And we have to retrain our workforce. ... Those are going to be my priorities," he said.

"We are still winners at heart," Schemenaur said at Democratic headquarters. ... We knew it would be a close race to start with. ... I feel very good about our work so far. We worked really hard."

One of the most closely-watched county races saw Zimmerman defeat Democrat Gerald Kirby 4,511-3,638 for county commissioner from the South District. Kirby, a former Jay County sheriff, has been serving on the county council.

Zimmerman said he expected a close race and is looking forward to representing the interests of his district.

"That's why you put your name out there," he said of the win as Republicans gathered at the Holiday Inn Express in Portland. "You think you can do the job. You think you can help to provide a service to your community and be an asset to them and be an asset to the office."

"Jim will do a good job as commissioner. I appreciate everything you did," Kirby told Democrats gathered at party headquarters. "I'm going to go home and congratulate him. He ran a good, clean campaign. He ran a very, very good, tough campaign and the campaign merited a win."

Incumbent Republican Faron Parr did not face opposition for re-election as commissioner from the North District.

In a tight six-way race for three at-large seats on the county council, Jay voters favored two Democrats and one Republican. Unofficial totals gave the win to Democrats Dan Orr with 4,193 and Gary Theurer with 4,281 and incumbent Republican Marilyn Coleman with 4,217. That race shifted throughout Tuesday evening as precincts were tallied, with each candidate running strongly in his or her own part of the county. Incumbent Republican Judy LeMaster finished fourth with 4,033 and was unseated. Republican Jerry D. Monroe received 3,190 votes, and Democrat Michelle McShane 3,075.

"I'm just thrilled to death ... and I look forward to the next four years," said Coleman, who will return for her third term.

With the loss of LeMaster, the council will now have a Democratic majority, though Coleman isn't worried about the political shift causing any problems.

"I'm sure we'll work together well, we all work in Jay County together pretty well," she said. "I'm sorry Judy lost, but I'm sure the other two will do a wonderful job."

"Well, yeah, I'm pleased, surprised," said Orr, who figured the race would be a close one. "I was running against other good people. ... "Obviously I'm a novice. My goal is to do a good job and gain the respect of my colleagues."

"I think the candidates that we elected are going to do fine," said Monroe, who fell short in the voting.

Democratic incumbent Mark Barnett posted one of the biggest margins of victory of the day, defeating Republican challenger Paulette Bonvillian Wagner 4,826-3,320.

"I'll just continue to run a professional office and educate the people in Jay County on the importance of the coroner's office," Barnett said. "It was a lot of really hard work. It was a long year, and it's paid off for us."

Only one race for Jay School Board was contested, and that one saw incumbent Greg Wellman win re-election over challenges from former board member Duane Starr and Dalton VanSkyock. Unofficial totals showed Wellman with 3,033 to Starr's 2,277, and VanSkyock's 1,466.

Michael A. Masters was unopposed for re-election to the school board, and school spending critic Jim Sanders was unopposed for the District 1 board seat.

Several local candidates did not face opposition Tuesday. Max C. Ludy Jr. was elected judge of Jay Superior Court, Ellen Coats was elected circuit court clerk, Robin L. Alberson was elected county treasurer, and Bradley A. Daniels was re-elected surveyor. All are Republicans.