July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Six in race for council (10/17/2008)
Jay County Council
A total of six candidates - three Democrats and three Republicans - will be on the ballot Nov. 4 for three at-large seats on the Jay County Council.
The top three vote-getters on the ticket will be elected to the seven-member council.
The field includes two incumbent council members, a longtime county commissioner, a longtime township trustee and two relative newcomers to politics.
Candidates for the at-large seats include Democrats Gary Theurer, Dan Orr and Michelle McShane, along with Republicans Marilyn Coleman, Judy LeMaster and Jerry Monroe.
Coleman and LeMaster currently hold council seats, while Theurer is giving up his position as Commissioner of the South District to run for council. Monroe served for many years as Jefferson Township Trustee, while McShane and Orr have not held a political office.
Here is a brief summary of all six candidates, followed by their responses to questions submitted recently by The Commercial Review.
Coleman, 54, is a resident of 16 S. Union St., Redkey. An acquisitions accounting fiscal control supervisor at Ball State University Libraries, she is a graduate of Pennville High School and Ball State.
She has been a member of the council since 2000, along with service as Jay County Clerk (1992-2000) and auditor (1982-1991).
She has one child and is a member of Redkey Faith Ministries Church, Redkey, Delta Theta Tau, Association of Indiana Counties and Association of County Councils of Indiana.
LeMaster, 66, lives at 516 W. Race St., Portland. A graduate of Madison High School, she is retired. Her husband is Leland LeMaster and the couple have four children.
She was elected to two terms each as Jay County treasurer and recorder, and is in her first term on the council.
She is a member of the Jay County Republican Women, Portland Evening Optimist Club and Southside Church of Christ.
Monroe, 60, lives at 6421 West 300 South, Portland along with wife Susan. The manager of the meat department at a grocery in Gas City, he has five children.
Monroe is serving his 24th year as trustee in Jefferson Township. He is a member of Collett Church of the Nazarene.
McShane, 37, is a business analyst. She lives at 231 N. Charles St., Portland.
The widow of James M. McShane, she has one child. A member of Portland Kiwanis Club and Jay County Democrat Women, she is making her first bid for public office. She has a bachelor's degree from Indiana University.
Orr, 66, is a resident of 4023 South 800 West, Redkey. He is retired from teaching at Jay County High School. He also farms and is an auctioneer. He has two children with wife Anita, along with four step-children.
He has a bachelor's degree from Hanover College, and master's degrees from the University of Missouri and Penn State University.
Board memberships for Orr include Jay County Soil and Water Conservation District, Jay County Hospital Foundation, Arts Place, Midwest Health Strategies. He also serves as president of the Jay County Solid Waste District Citizens Advisory Committee.
Theurer, 54, lives at 7163 South 700 East, Union City (Madison Township in Jay County). A graduate of Portland High School, Theurer is a farmer. He and wife Sarah (Teeter) have two children.
Theurer has served as Jay County Commissioner for nearly 12 years. He also had a seat previously on the Madison Township Advisory Board.
He is a member of the Portland Elks Club, Salamonia Volunteer Fire Department and St. James Lutheran Church.
Here are questions and responses from the candidates to a questionnaire submitted by The Commercial Review:
1. A referendum regarding a proposed jail expansion project will be on the general election ballot Nov. 4. Are you in favor of issuing approximately $10 million in bonds for the project, and what should the county do if voters reject the referendum?
Theurer: We can no longer overlook the fact that it's going to cost money to make improvements at the jail.
If the referendum fails, the county commissioners and county council will need to see how much funding is available to alleviate the biggest concerns the sheriff deems necessary and most urgent to fix.
Orr: Having toured the jail and observed firsthand the issues that exist, I can definitely see, at a minimum, the need to expand and upgrade the facility. The present unit was built in 1984. In terms of technology and space, it is outmoded. Having said that, I am impressed with the job Sheriff Newton and his staff have done to maximize the efficient use of the existing jail. It was originally built to house 25 male and 6 female prisoners. The inmate population as of Oct. 8 was 49 inmates (six women).
No way exists within the present facility to segregate prisoners. Violent, non-violent, sex offenders, suicidal inmates, teenagers picked up for DWI and hardened-habitual criminals are all, for the most part, co-mingled due to space limitations.
All offices are shared because of space limitations. Interrogations endure external distractions affecting the tone of the interrogation. All interviews lack privacy unless an office mate consents to leave the room to do his or her work elsewhere. Extra care must be taken to safeguard the integrity of crime scene evidence due to lack of space. I could recount many other examples of how crowded and constructed the quarters and facilities are.
I am supportive of a new correctional facility, and the plan proposed which would be covered by the referendum. Many times stopgap measures turn out to be more costly than taking the long-term view and committing to the new construction.
If the referendum should not pass, I believe it is imperative that an upgrade to the present structure be done. There is a limit to how many more prisoners we parcel out to other counties for housing at the rate of $35 per day. The funds expended to house our prisoners in other jails might be significant enough to offset the costs of, at least, improving and expanding our present facility.
It is my belief that if changes are not initiated in our county jail, two things are likely to happen:
1. An incident will occur in the jail between inmates which will result in a lawsuit which could cost the county large sums of money. This would be due to our inability to property segregate, supervise and observe inmates.
Or ... 2. The state of Indiana will mandate the significant modifications be made, which could cost us even more than the proposed plan.
Monroe: I think the county needs to look at all the options on upgrading and funding for the jail project. I do believe there is a real need for this project and I hope the voters of Jay County see for themselves by touring the jail and seeing this need. If we expect to have a safe and secure system for Jay County, we need to support our law enforcement officers with the means to make it happen.
McShane: If the people of Jay County approve the referendum, we should follow their wishes. The council members are the elected officials and voices of the people. To ignore the will of the people would be to go against the foundation of democracy. If the referendum does not pass, perhaps there is a way to scale down the project to complete it in smaller phases but eventually achieve the same end result.
LeMaster: I will vote for the new jail expansion. I do not like the idea of bonding the county, but other avenues for funding this project has been researched and could not generate the money needed. We will still have to do repair even if the referendum is rejected.
Coleman: Yes, after studying the needs and condition of the jail, I feel we should issue bonds to expand and remodel the jail. There are many areas in the jail which need to be updated and this project seems to be the most efficient way to comply with the state guidelines for prisoners and achieve a workable area for jail personnel.
If the referendum is rejected, repairs will have to be made as funds become available. At this time, due to property tax reform, it will be very difficult to fund the necessary repairs.
2. Many are forecasting uncertain economic times for governmental units in the wake of property tax reform that will phase in over the next several years. What would be your approach to tackling those issues as a member of the council?
Coleman: The council has been studying this issue for quite some time and has implemented some changes to tackle these issues. The council decided to spread the homestead reimbursement from the state over budget years 2009, 2010 and 2011 to balance out some of the financial burden over the three-year period. The council also passed a local option income tax last year to replace some of the funding lost through property tax caps.
The first phase of the property tax cap affected the 2009 budget, and the council was able to approve a budget within the constraints of this cap. This was one with help from department heads who submitted reasonable budgets. I believe the council should continue to evaluate options which become available and plan for the county's financial future in a conservative and deliberate manner.
LeMaster: Many things are uncertain and will have to be addressed when necessary. It might come to a point where certain services would have to be cut back. Sometimes new laws do not leave much choice for local government. I would like to hope our economic times are on the road to recovery.
McShane: As a member of the council, I would want to know precisely what the tax reform meant in terms of the budget. All projects would need to remain within that budget. It might mean scaling back some projects to ensure funding is available to complete them appropriately. It would mean prioritizing and taking the ones most critical to the community first. Portland used to use the slogan, "A Place to Grow." I think that can be said of all of Jay County and I would like to help make it happen.
Monroe: The property tax reform will definitely create many new challenges for the county council. No one knows yet what affect the tax reform will have on local government funding from the state. We will just have to wait and see and it will be the county council's job to sort it out in the budget requests submitted by the local government units.
Orr: As I understand the definition of the term "forecasting," it means to project a possible. It may not necessarily mean that the event being forecast will ever become a reality.
My notion is that anyone forecasting, or even worse, purporting to know with any degree of certainty what the economic situation is going to be in the next six months, year or five years does not exist.
In economic times such as these, anyone who posits a plan for dealing with these economic conditions is, in all likelihood, a guesser. I am not wise enough to have a "plan," for I have no idea how deep the issues go that were to be addressed by the buyout.
My approach would be to remain financially flexible and prudent, while at the same time remaining focused on the future needs of the county. Obviously there will be times when we need to tighten our belts and sort our "wants from our needs, but the circumstances which evolve out of these present economic uncertainties will be the guide to what we do and which direction we take. This economic mess will take some time to sort itself out and when it does we will have a more clear vision of what we need to do and what we can afford to do about those needs.
In the meantime, we need to be patient and cautious.
As a postscript to those who may think this position is somewhat contradictory to the answer I gave on the jail issue, I can only say that I believe it is possible for the new jail to offset at least the interest on the bond. The Jay County Sheriff's Department has already been contacted by other departments in the area stating that if Jay County builds a new jail the other counties will use it for overflow prisoners. Figure the revenue generated by building a facility with enough capacity to house 40 inmates from other counties at the rate of $35 to $40 per day at 365 days per year.
Theurer: I would lobby for the council to keep taxes as low as possible without jeopardizing the services provided for the taxpayers. The council should be very cautious about budgeting money for unnecessary capital items and special projects.[[In-content Ad]]
The top three vote-getters on the ticket will be elected to the seven-member council.
The field includes two incumbent council members, a longtime county commissioner, a longtime township trustee and two relative newcomers to politics.
Candidates for the at-large seats include Democrats Gary Theurer, Dan Orr and Michelle McShane, along with Republicans Marilyn Coleman, Judy LeMaster and Jerry Monroe.
Coleman and LeMaster currently hold council seats, while Theurer is giving up his position as Commissioner of the South District to run for council. Monroe served for many years as Jefferson Township Trustee, while McShane and Orr have not held a political office.
Here is a brief summary of all six candidates, followed by their responses to questions submitted recently by The Commercial Review.
Coleman, 54, is a resident of 16 S. Union St., Redkey. An acquisitions accounting fiscal control supervisor at Ball State University Libraries, she is a graduate of Pennville High School and Ball State.
She has been a member of the council since 2000, along with service as Jay County Clerk (1992-2000) and auditor (1982-1991).
She has one child and is a member of Redkey Faith Ministries Church, Redkey, Delta Theta Tau, Association of Indiana Counties and Association of County Councils of Indiana.
LeMaster, 66, lives at 516 W. Race St., Portland. A graduate of Madison High School, she is retired. Her husband is Leland LeMaster and the couple have four children.
She was elected to two terms each as Jay County treasurer and recorder, and is in her first term on the council.
She is a member of the Jay County Republican Women, Portland Evening Optimist Club and Southside Church of Christ.
Monroe, 60, lives at 6421 West 300 South, Portland along with wife Susan. The manager of the meat department at a grocery in Gas City, he has five children.
Monroe is serving his 24th year as trustee in Jefferson Township. He is a member of Collett Church of the Nazarene.
McShane, 37, is a business analyst. She lives at 231 N. Charles St., Portland.
The widow of James M. McShane, she has one child. A member of Portland Kiwanis Club and Jay County Democrat Women, she is making her first bid for public office. She has a bachelor's degree from Indiana University.
Orr, 66, is a resident of 4023 South 800 West, Redkey. He is retired from teaching at Jay County High School. He also farms and is an auctioneer. He has two children with wife Anita, along with four step-children.
He has a bachelor's degree from Hanover College, and master's degrees from the University of Missouri and Penn State University.
Board memberships for Orr include Jay County Soil and Water Conservation District, Jay County Hospital Foundation, Arts Place, Midwest Health Strategies. He also serves as president of the Jay County Solid Waste District Citizens Advisory Committee.
Theurer, 54, lives at 7163 South 700 East, Union City (Madison Township in Jay County). A graduate of Portland High School, Theurer is a farmer. He and wife Sarah (Teeter) have two children.
Theurer has served as Jay County Commissioner for nearly 12 years. He also had a seat previously on the Madison Township Advisory Board.
He is a member of the Portland Elks Club, Salamonia Volunteer Fire Department and St. James Lutheran Church.
Here are questions and responses from the candidates to a questionnaire submitted by The Commercial Review:
1. A referendum regarding a proposed jail expansion project will be on the general election ballot Nov. 4. Are you in favor of issuing approximately $10 million in bonds for the project, and what should the county do if voters reject the referendum?
Theurer: We can no longer overlook the fact that it's going to cost money to make improvements at the jail.
If the referendum fails, the county commissioners and county council will need to see how much funding is available to alleviate the biggest concerns the sheriff deems necessary and most urgent to fix.
Orr: Having toured the jail and observed firsthand the issues that exist, I can definitely see, at a minimum, the need to expand and upgrade the facility. The present unit was built in 1984. In terms of technology and space, it is outmoded. Having said that, I am impressed with the job Sheriff Newton and his staff have done to maximize the efficient use of the existing jail. It was originally built to house 25 male and 6 female prisoners. The inmate population as of Oct. 8 was 49 inmates (six women).
No way exists within the present facility to segregate prisoners. Violent, non-violent, sex offenders, suicidal inmates, teenagers picked up for DWI and hardened-habitual criminals are all, for the most part, co-mingled due to space limitations.
All offices are shared because of space limitations. Interrogations endure external distractions affecting the tone of the interrogation. All interviews lack privacy unless an office mate consents to leave the room to do his or her work elsewhere. Extra care must be taken to safeguard the integrity of crime scene evidence due to lack of space. I could recount many other examples of how crowded and constructed the quarters and facilities are.
I am supportive of a new correctional facility, and the plan proposed which would be covered by the referendum. Many times stopgap measures turn out to be more costly than taking the long-term view and committing to the new construction.
If the referendum should not pass, I believe it is imperative that an upgrade to the present structure be done. There is a limit to how many more prisoners we parcel out to other counties for housing at the rate of $35 per day. The funds expended to house our prisoners in other jails might be significant enough to offset the costs of, at least, improving and expanding our present facility.
It is my belief that if changes are not initiated in our county jail, two things are likely to happen:
1. An incident will occur in the jail between inmates which will result in a lawsuit which could cost the county large sums of money. This would be due to our inability to property segregate, supervise and observe inmates.
Or ... 2. The state of Indiana will mandate the significant modifications be made, which could cost us even more than the proposed plan.
Monroe: I think the county needs to look at all the options on upgrading and funding for the jail project. I do believe there is a real need for this project and I hope the voters of Jay County see for themselves by touring the jail and seeing this need. If we expect to have a safe and secure system for Jay County, we need to support our law enforcement officers with the means to make it happen.
McShane: If the people of Jay County approve the referendum, we should follow their wishes. The council members are the elected officials and voices of the people. To ignore the will of the people would be to go against the foundation of democracy. If the referendum does not pass, perhaps there is a way to scale down the project to complete it in smaller phases but eventually achieve the same end result.
LeMaster: I will vote for the new jail expansion. I do not like the idea of bonding the county, but other avenues for funding this project has been researched and could not generate the money needed. We will still have to do repair even if the referendum is rejected.
Coleman: Yes, after studying the needs and condition of the jail, I feel we should issue bonds to expand and remodel the jail. There are many areas in the jail which need to be updated and this project seems to be the most efficient way to comply with the state guidelines for prisoners and achieve a workable area for jail personnel.
If the referendum is rejected, repairs will have to be made as funds become available. At this time, due to property tax reform, it will be very difficult to fund the necessary repairs.
2. Many are forecasting uncertain economic times for governmental units in the wake of property tax reform that will phase in over the next several years. What would be your approach to tackling those issues as a member of the council?
Coleman: The council has been studying this issue for quite some time and has implemented some changes to tackle these issues. The council decided to spread the homestead reimbursement from the state over budget years 2009, 2010 and 2011 to balance out some of the financial burden over the three-year period. The council also passed a local option income tax last year to replace some of the funding lost through property tax caps.
The first phase of the property tax cap affected the 2009 budget, and the council was able to approve a budget within the constraints of this cap. This was one with help from department heads who submitted reasonable budgets. I believe the council should continue to evaluate options which become available and plan for the county's financial future in a conservative and deliberate manner.
LeMaster: Many things are uncertain and will have to be addressed when necessary. It might come to a point where certain services would have to be cut back. Sometimes new laws do not leave much choice for local government. I would like to hope our economic times are on the road to recovery.
McShane: As a member of the council, I would want to know precisely what the tax reform meant in terms of the budget. All projects would need to remain within that budget. It might mean scaling back some projects to ensure funding is available to complete them appropriately. It would mean prioritizing and taking the ones most critical to the community first. Portland used to use the slogan, "A Place to Grow." I think that can be said of all of Jay County and I would like to help make it happen.
Monroe: The property tax reform will definitely create many new challenges for the county council. No one knows yet what affect the tax reform will have on local government funding from the state. We will just have to wait and see and it will be the county council's job to sort it out in the budget requests submitted by the local government units.
Orr: As I understand the definition of the term "forecasting," it means to project a possible. It may not necessarily mean that the event being forecast will ever become a reality.
My notion is that anyone forecasting, or even worse, purporting to know with any degree of certainty what the economic situation is going to be in the next six months, year or five years does not exist.
In economic times such as these, anyone who posits a plan for dealing with these economic conditions is, in all likelihood, a guesser. I am not wise enough to have a "plan," for I have no idea how deep the issues go that were to be addressed by the buyout.
My approach would be to remain financially flexible and prudent, while at the same time remaining focused on the future needs of the county. Obviously there will be times when we need to tighten our belts and sort our "wants from our needs, but the circumstances which evolve out of these present economic uncertainties will be the guide to what we do and which direction we take. This economic mess will take some time to sort itself out and when it does we will have a more clear vision of what we need to do and what we can afford to do about those needs.
In the meantime, we need to be patient and cautious.
As a postscript to those who may think this position is somewhat contradictory to the answer I gave on the jail issue, I can only say that I believe it is possible for the new jail to offset at least the interest on the bond. The Jay County Sheriff's Department has already been contacted by other departments in the area stating that if Jay County builds a new jail the other counties will use it for overflow prisoners. Figure the revenue generated by building a facility with enough capacity to house 40 inmates from other counties at the rate of $35 to $40 per day at 365 days per year.
Theurer: I would lobby for the council to keep taxes as low as possible without jeopardizing the services provided for the taxpayers. The council should be very cautious about budgeting money for unnecessary capital items and special projects.[[In-content Ad]]
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