Compiled by James Feichtner and Robert Herrington
Event: A Westfield political forum was hosted on March 26, 7 p.m. at the Westfield Intermediate School Media Room.
Who attended: Candidates running for the Westfield City Council in preparation of the upcoming election in May. Candidates in attendance: District 2, Bob Beaudry and Steve Hoover; District 3, Joe Edwards and Tom Smith; District 4, Chuck Lehman and Daniel McKinney; District 5, Brian Ferguson and Jim Horkay. The general public was also in attendance.
What Happened: The candidates were allowed an opening statement and were then asked a series of questions by the forum moderator. Candidates were each given a specific time frame to respond to each question and were given the opportunity for rebuttal on certain questions.
The questions focused on each candidates vision for Westfield, the management of growth within the community and balancing the tax base to support growth, what candidates have done in the past to improve Westfield, what is most exciting about Westfield’s future, the financing of Grand Park, the benefits of growth that Grand Park will bring to the city, the focus on revitalizing downtown Westfield and qualities that candidates believe make them fit for office.
Candidate answer highlights:
District 2
Bob Beaudry: A Purdue University graduate, Beaudry has worked at his family’s business, Indy Screen Print, for the past 25 years and spent three years on the Countryside HOA board. Beaudry said he is private industry friendly and is concerned with the amount being spent on public projects like Grand Park and Grand Junction Plaza. “I don’t care what the (sports committee) experts say, it’s our money,” he said. “The pace in which we are moving is not healthy … We need to step back and take a more modest approach.”
Steve Hoover: His public service began before his first term on Jan. 1, 2012. He has been a part of the Grand Junction Task Group, Springmill Station Task Group, advisory plan commission, Westfield Rotary and Westfield-Washington Historical Society. Hoover said his No. 1 priority is public safety and is focused on continuing to grow the tax base, bring in businesses and increasing recreational trails. Hoover supports the Grand Park project and his decision to fund it. “This was built as an economic development tool. We’re already seeing it will do that,” he said.
District 3
Joe Edwards: A Butler grad and long-time Westfield resident, Edwards focused on the importance of growth along Ind. 31 to improve the tax base and add jobs. Working carefully to manage the growth brought on by Grand Park in order to maintain tax caps, was also emphasized. Edwards also specified that the importance of revitalizing the downtown area to add to the cities appeal.
Bob Smith: As a past Westfield Fire Department volunteer, full-time firefighter and fire chief of WFD, Smith has been involved with the city since 1974. Seeking his third year on the council, Smith emphasized he has dealt with the growth of Westfield since his time with WFD, also citing the lowered tax rates over past years. He detailed his confidence in Grand Park attracting new business as well as its contributions to Hamilton County as a whole, but focused on the need for more efforts to retain visitors of Grand Park to local business in Westfield, such as through more hotels.
District 4
*Bobby Smith was unable to attend the forum.
Chuck Lehman: Prior to moving to Westfield in 2011, Lehman served as a county commissioner, town councilor and as president of a multi-county regional planning commission. He was appointed to the city council in 2013 and currently serves as president. Lehman said his goals are to continue to improve the quality of life in Westfield, engage and connect the community, and define “who we are going to be.” While not involved in the original decisions about Grand Park, Lehman said he supports the project. “It’s been successful. The best years are yet to come,” he said.
Daniel McKinney: The youngest of the councilor candidates, McKinney has lived in Westfield for 16 years and in Hamilton County his whole life. After high school, he worked as a correctional officer at the Hamilton County Jail before enrolling at Indiana University where he graduated with a degree from the Kelley School of Business. McKinney said he supports private development that is not done through public subsidiaries and maintaining and improving roads and infrastructure. McKinney said Grand Park should have been privately funded. “Grand Park is not a public park. The public could not use it all,” he said.
District 5
Brian Ferguson: With his academic background in business finance form Indiana University and mathematics from Purdue, Ferguson focused heavily on the lack of public referendums regarding the decision of Grand Park’s indoor soccer facility and that its financing methods should have been looked at more carefully. He stated that the project should not have been publicly funded, but still believes that the park must be managed carefully regarding growth down the road. Ferguson was opposed to heavy modifications to downtown Westfield and believes only slight changes should be made.
Bob Horkay: A current member of the town council and former member of the plan commission, has lived in Wesfield with his wife since 1988. Horkay was pleased with the progress that Westfield has built but feels there is much more progress to be made, especially in terms of growth. Horkay mentioned Grand Park as a center for growth that will help versify the tax base and that it has already shown the benefits of attracting interest in development for the community. He stated that the funds for Grand Park were appropriate and that residents must continue to look at it as an economic development generator. Looking forward, Horkay is excited to get Grand Junction started and that improvements to make downtown more attractive to visitors is crucial in order to play off Grand Park’s visitors.
At-large
*Cindy Spoljaric was unable to attend the forum.
Jim Ake: Serving on numerous committees in Westfield, Ake was fully supportive of open door policies and transparency within government stating that all records are open to the public. “We are as transparent as we can be,” he said, and added that council meetings are open to the public, encouraging the public to show up and get involved. In regards to the bidding process, Ake cited that other companies were considered but Holiday was the best option. Ake is excited about downtown and the visitors Grand Park has and will bring, expanding restaurants, the youth assistance programs, efforts of the Monon trail systems and the city’s positive notoriety through the press. He stated that the utility sale funds were invested in city security accounts which are being used to fund infrastructure improvements such as roads, and that the sale was necessary to keep up with the growth of the city.
Barry Jones: A native Hoosier, Jones detailed local government’s function is representing taxpayers to utilize funds to support public safety, school systems, infrastructure and small business. He cited the importance in providing a bid process that’s open in order to find the best company/entity that provides the greatest option for finance programs for the city and that he had concern with transparency within the existing administration. He noted the request for some open door documents took far too long and stressed the importance of open door laws and transparency, as well as open communication with the people. Jones spoke of his excitement of downtown growing, the great hometown atmosphere and top-notch school systems Westfield holds, and the future of Grand Park. He felt the utilities sale was a “bad idea” and that “the only thing that really belongs to you in a community is our resources.”
Tom Smith: Serving previous roles on the city council, Smith is supportive of the direction Westfield is heading. Smith cited that several bidders were involved in the indoor sports facility bidding in order to find the best deal for the project. He is supportive of open door laws and transparency, but cited the possible perception of a lack of transparency within the council and assured this was not true. He stated the perception was due to lack of communication and that these perceptions needed to be dealt with immediately. Smith cited several special city events that attract residents that had not existed before 2008, and that the city has attracted several new restaurants in recent years because of Grand Junction.
Ron Thomas: A Westfield resident and former town councilman, Thomas stressed that there are transparency and financial issues that need to be looked into, including debt. Thomas was supportive in an open bid process, stating there are too many opportunities to inflate cost when there isn’t an open bidding process. He cited an instance where, as town councilor, he filed an open door violation against the town and encourages citizens to do the same if they feel their open door rights are violated. Thomas’ excitement for Westfield was for the community itself and the children growing up locally, as they are the future, but was disappointed with tax rates and the utility sale stating, “we are not getting any benefit from this service that’s costing us debt.”
Mayor
In the debate between mayor Andy Cook and challenger Jeff Harpe discussion was raised about the perception of transparency, recent litigation (filed by Harpe) concerning the alleged violation of the state’s open door law by the city council/administration and the city’s finance committee for the indoor soccer facility at Grand Park.
“I would venture to say that no city in Indiana has a more transparent government than Westfield,” Cook said. “There are many opportunities if our citizens choose to become involved.” The amount of transparency was debated by Harpe in his rebuttal.
“People think that sometimes things are just fine, but you know, it’s not until there’s an actual issue that people start realizing … there hasn’t been any transparency.” he said. “As citizens, I challenge you to start connecting the dots. Follow the money. You’ll actually start to see that things haven’t been transparent. Things haven’t been open, and you can’t get the information that you want.” “There’s been a lot of talk about information available,” Cook said. “Let’s be very clear. Any citizen can receive any document they wish. State law determines how we disseminate that information. You heard some of the challengers say they didn’t get answers … We can’t necessarily interpret them because (the challengers) have these different questions, and our councilors thoroughly reviewed all those when they passed those laws.”
*An expanded preview of council at-large and mayor races will be in a future edition of Current in Westfield.
