Miller facing challenge from Houck (04/19/06)

Republican primary voters will choose between an incumbent seeking his fifth term as a Jay County Commissioner and a two-term Jay County Council member who believes he’s ready to “step up” to the commissioner’s job.

Milo Miller Jr., 65, is facing an intra-party challenge by 42-year-old Jack Houck for Commissioner of the Middle District.

Houck, a self-described “idea man” who says county government should be encouraging entrepreneurial thinking, is executive director of the Jay Community Center.

Miller, who cites his “common sense approach to things,” has been a self-employed general contractor locally since 1971.

A 1982 graduate of Jay County High School, Houck received his bachelor’s degree in recreational leadership and management from Taylor University in 1987. His wife Dora teaches at General Shanks Elementary School. They have four children. Houck is a member of the Portland Morning Optimist Club and attends Union Chapel Church in Muncie.

A 1959 graduate of Portland High School, Miller is a past president of the Northeast District of the Indiana Association of County Commissioners. He and his wife Renee have two children, two step-children, and six grandchildren. He’s a member of the Moose and Elks lodges.

“My goal was that I’d do two terms on the council,” said Houck of his bid for commissioner. He was appointed to complete an unexpired term then was elected to a term of his own. “I view it as a step up. There may be a day when I run for state representative or state senator. I’m not getting any younger.”

“I’d like to do it for one more term, and then I’m quitting,” said Miller. He was elected to the Jay County Council in 1980 and in 1990 was elected to his first term as a Jay County Commissioner. “It gets in your blood.” He too acknowledges that he has thought of higher office. “I thought I’d like to be a state senator some time, but I’m getting too old to run,” he said, adding that as a county official he has often had to deal with problems created by the legislature in Indianapolis.

Both candidates were interviewed by The Commercial Review this week.

Houck, who says he would be a “pro-active, aggressive” commissioner, said a top priority is construction of a new Jay County Jail.

“I don’t mind spending money if you can show me how it’s going to make us money,” Houck said. “If there’s an opportunity out there to make money, I’m willing to spend money to make that money.”

Houck envisions a “brand-new, state of the art” security facility outside of Portland that would accommodate 100 to 150 prisoners. He believes the revenue from housing 50 Indiana Department of Corrections inmates in such a facility would pay for the necessary additional jailers and would allow for higher pay for county deputies. But, he acknowledged, “I don’t know what the expense would be.”

“I don’t want it to be in town,” he added. “You want the city to have a vibrant atmosphere.”

Miller said he favors expanding the current county jail when the county is forced to, something he estimates will come about within the next 8 years. The current jail now houses 57 prisoners on a double-bunked basis.

“Some day, we’re going to have to add on to that (the jail),” Miller said. That was the reason he favored using some of the funds generated by the host agreement for the county landfill to go toward the purchase of the adjacent property which was once the home of Maitlen Motors.

Miller said architects have told the commissioners a 125-bed facility could be sited on the Maitlen property and that making it an addition to the existing jail would cost $5 to $7 million. Constructing an entirely new jail, he said, would cost $13 to $15 million.

Landfill host fees and the expected one-time boost of revenue from the state’s Major Moves leasing of the Indiana Toll road provide two relatively pain-free sources of income for the county, and the two candidates have different points of view on how those funds should be spent or invested.

Houck agreed with the commissioners’ decision to spend a portion of the landfill revenues on roads. “We’re doing the right thing,” he said. But he also suggested using a portion of the funds to encourage entrepreneurial development and perhaps to create a business incubator.

Miller said he’s proud of the way the landfill infrastructure funds have been used so far, noting that the purchase of the county courthouse annex on West Arch Street was done without using property tax dollars. While he’s also pleased that much of the money has gone toward county roads, he said it’s not a long-term solution.

“I can’t see we’re ever going to have enough money to pave all the roads,” Miller said, “unless they raise gas taxes.”

As to the toll road lease distribution from the state, Miller suggested setting 75 percent of it aside in a “savings account” for roads. He estimated that interest earnings would pay for the application of magnesium chloride to harden stone roads.

“I don’t want to just blow it,” said Houck of the Major Moves funds. “There should be a study done (on the road situation in the county). ...There are some county roads out here no one even drives on.”

“I think it’s important to have nice roads,” Houck added. “I don’t particularly care to bond for roads. This is a nice shot in the arm with Major Moves. ... I think we’ve done a good job maintaining what we have.”

Other issues facing the commissioners in the term ahead include the rapid expansion of confined animal feeding operations in the county.

“I’m not for the mega farms,” said Houck. “But I live less than 1,000 feet from a confined feeding operation and it doesn’t bother me. ...That’s the way agriculture is going. I think we do have to have a limit. I don’t know what that limit ought to be.”

Miller sounded a similar note. “Everybody wants to be out on the edge of town,” he said. People build their homes, then a couple of years go by and bang there’s a confined feeding operation next to them. ... Their little piece of paradise is down the tubes. Is that fair? I don’t know. Another question is, when is enough enough?”[[In-content Ad]]