After four years serving as mayor of the Town of Zionsville, Emily Styron chose not to run for a second term in the Nov. 7 municipal election. Her reason is simple.
“I don’t love politics,” Styron said. “I like the work of local government, but I’m not really a huge people-person in a lot of ways. I would be in the grocery store, and people would either want to yell at me or hug me. I am thrilled with what I did, but I am 55 years old, and I just want to do what I want to do. I don’t want to have a 24/7 job.”
Styron, who did not expect to win election in the first place, was elected as the first Democratic mayor of Zionsville in 2019 by an 88-vote margin against Republican incumbent Tim Haak. She said she can’t stress enough how surprised she was that she won.
“I have lived in Zionsville since 2000, and I have been involved in local government and community organizations since 1993,” Styron said. “My passion for local government, community development and issues that hit close to home has been a part of my DNA since I was a Girl Scout. I had no intention to win. I am a single mother, female Democrat.”
When Zionsville began electing mayors, Styron said she decided to pay more attention to local politics. She had been deputy director of Indy Parks in the 1990s, been involved in statewide higher education through Ivy Tech and had been involved in local economic development projects.
As the 2019 mayoral election approached, Styron said she decided to enter the race. She wanted to knock on all the doors of her neighbors and introduce herself to the community and explain what they could expect of her as mayor.
“I think that first and foremost, the mayor needs to hire really strong folks to manage departments, and those departments need the resources and the support to achieve as much as they can within the community,” Styron said.
Styron found a book called “Run for Something” that she said was an analytical breakdown of politics and political races across all levels of government.
“What astounded me was that over 60 percent of all local elections in America are uncontested,” she said. “I don’t know how that fits into our idea of democracy.”
The 2023 Zionsville mayoral race was uncontested, and Republican John Stehr is set to become the next mayor. Styron said it has been tough working with seven Republican men on the seven-member Zionsville Town Council. She said tension stemmed from fundamental disagreements on issues.
“I have been determined from Day 1 to be a mayor, not to be a town council president, not to be a town manager, not to be someone that was perceived as reporting to town council because this job does not,” Styron said. “We have two separate governing rules that manage us — one for the executive and one for the legislative body.”
Styron said the council had an open forum on television to talk about whatever members wanted, and that is all they have done.
“They have gotten absolutely nothing of substance pushed through their own council, and it has been a bunch of bellyaching,” Styron said. “And that’s too bad. In the meantime, I have ignored them to the best of my ability and continued to work on all the positive projects that we have budgeted and had the ability to do.”
When asked about the tension, Zionsville Town Council President Jason Plunkett said
good government requires teamwork.
Styron said one of her accomplishments as mayor she’s most proud of is creating an annual report for the community. According to Public Information Officer for the Town of Zionsville Amanda Vela, the report is an overview of the year, which highlights successes and statistics for each department, including parks, public works, public safety and others. Residents have
been mailed a copy each year since 2020 and it is posted online.
“Every year of my administration, we have delivered an actual prospectus of what the local government has provided to our visitors, the employees that work here and the residents that live here,” Styron said. “We care about the progress and achievements that our community can enhance or create, and that gets to be the final word, in my opinion.”
Another area Stryon said she worked to enhance was parks and recreation. Early in her term, she replaced the parks and recreation director and several park board members.
“It is not enough for us to have children’s programming and have passive parks to call it a finished parks system,” Styron said. “When I was campaigning, I had women
coming up to me on trails and asking for adult programming. That was a box that we wanted to check, which we have.”
Styron said her most significant accomplishment was acquiring the land to establish the Carpenter Nature Preserve, which was recently dedicated to the Town of Zionsville.
“I firmly believe that if that piece of property had not been purchased by the town for the purpose of creating a nature preserve, it would have eventually become houses and a development,” Styron said.
Styron said one thing she did not accomplish was creating a community center for the town. She hopes Stehr and his administration can establish one.
“We have identified land, partners and early investors in this approach, but it is not going to be something we can announce in my term,” Styron said.
If she could do anything differently, Styron said she would not have used profanity on Facebook toward a commentator and referenced being mayor of the town in a highly publicized incident in May 2022.
“That was an impulsive move that was born out of extreme frustration and anger over gun violence towards children,” Styron said. “But it was still inappropriate and truly the one thing that I look back on and am dissatisfied with.”
Styron is confident Stehr and Deputy Mayor-elect Kate Swanson will continue to serve Zionsville as they have in previous community-oriented roles.
“I believe they are going to focus on many of the same things former Deputy Mayor Julie Johns-Cole and current Deputy Mayor Andy Pickell and I have focused on, including economic development, growth and working to provide jobs for residents,” Styron said. “I am excited for them and wish them all the best in the world.”
When Stehr becomes mayor, Styron said that’s when she’ll likely step back and map out her future.
“I am a bit of a hobby artist and plan to spend a lot of time in my studio,” Styron said. “I would love to travel. If the right job came along, I would certainly be serious about pursuing it, but I don’t need to move into another job right away. I just want to spend time with friends and family and wander a little bit. I am very intrigued with what the future holds.”
