Last year, Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard focused on his past accomplishments in his annual State of the City speech. This year, now that the election is over and Brainard is guaranteed another four years in office, he has decided to focus his speech on how to attract new businesses and market the city to others.
“I’m going to be talking about some of my travel and how we bring businesses to Carmel and good jobs and how we market the city to people that are in a position to make those decisions,” he said. “We have some results we can talk about, and we’re going to talk about what I do when I go represent Carmel in other places.”
The speech is part of the October luncheon for OneZone, an organization that reaches across municipal boundaries to combine the chambers of commerce for Carmel and Fishers. The luncheon will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 14 at The Ritz Charles in Carmel. Cost is $20 for members who prepay and $25 for guests and walk-ins, regardless of membership. Pre-paid reservations are required by noon Oct. 12.
Brainard said he believes talking about Carmel’s reputation nationally and internationally makes sense because of the city’s growing recognition.
With more than 60 roundabouts in the city, Carmel has become famous for benefiting the environment. Roundabouts help reduce emissions because cars don’t idle at stop lights.
Brainard was recently asked by the U.S. State Department to represent the U.S. in India to give a series of seminars on how to create environmentally friendly cities. He’s been also asked to do the same thing in Germany. He recently gave a speech in California about emissions and environmentally friendly practices.
Brainard also spent some time in late September in New York City working on an economic development deal. He also traveled to Washington D.C., attempting to get federal grants. Carmel received $25,000 for police vests, and Brainard is “cautiously optimistic” about a Tiger Grant that could help pay for installing a roundabout interchange at 96th Street and Keystone Parkway.
It’s definitely not vacation time, Brainard said. He says his travels are all about business.
“A lot of my job is selling the city to these big decision makers,” he said.
