Introduction

SPEAKER_25 0:02

From the Daily Journal, this is a special episode of Beyond the Headlines on location from the Johnson County Voter Forum at Franklin College.

SPEAKER_20 0:13

I was sitting there putting this together and I realized there's like five people who put together all four of these. It's a safe five people. So I really want to say a thank you to Leanne Norflin and the Daily Journal for their part in putting this together and all the coverage they provide for politics here and bringing every candidate in, interviewing and publishing that information. I think that's just that's just really wonderful. Thank you. Mary Cooney and Karen Lunsford with the League of Women Voters. They have been involved in this to the start. Bonnie Freibus is our connection to Franklin College. And I'll have a room on the road and Amanda Off, who is over there, hopefully going to the right presentation for me.

SPEAKER_18 1:08

And this is the fourth one of these that I've uh that I've uh moderated, and I've never really had to moderate.

SPEAKER_20 1:19

And uh and it's great. We've got, you know, bottom equal split. I haven't seen the final tolls of everybody's here, but when I'm going through these afternoon names, pretty much an equal split between the parties, so that's great. And so that just breaks people out and it breaks people together, which I think is something that uh we probably could use a little work on around the country. Uh so we've got 31 candidates. I had 32 this afternoon, one of them backed out. We have 31 who uh who we've heard from. And this is a uh a flip of the on the traditional candid forum. And we were first started talking about doing this. We said, how can we do things differently? What can we do different? How do we present issues that are important to voters, not what the candidates want to talk about? And so we said, you know, if we say, here's three topics, that can we have four. Here's three topics that we want to address, bring in somebody's knowledge about that topic, about that topic, just to address the issue, not a partisan presentation by any means, just here's the here's all we know about this issue. Then what the candidates pick the issue they want to address, but they get 90 seconds. And uh it worked really well. Rodney Ray, who was running for uh election last time, came and he afterwards he said, you know, I've never read anything like this. He goes, I got the invite, and I went, Really? 90 seconds? I don't get a picketope. I did not do one of those, because I spent a lot of time doing a 90-second speech. And he goes, I think it's great, keep doing them. So we are. And we'll be doing one in the fall too, and just spread the word. Uh love the true not tonight. Thank you so much for doing this. So we flipped it out the head, we flipped this on its hat and said, hey, it's a voter for, it's not a candidate for. This is about voters. Voters are a charge. So you'll have the opportunity this evening to listen to the presentation, to hear the candidates, and then meet the candidates face to face. Afterwards, they'll we sprint around and you can go up and ask particular questions. We are going to try, depending on how the uh timing goes. Um take questions from the audience, that's why you have paper cards. We have note cards on your deck on your chairs. If you have a question you want to ask, you know, about the topic, the candidates, we can address them individually later, but if you have a question about the topics, if we have time, we'll let one of the experts respond to it, or we will um or we'll give a couple candidates a chance to respond to as well. But we don't want to address particular candidates at at that part of the during that part of the meeting. Um, okay, so sometimes decide the topics is been a little difficult, but this year it just kind of really came to us. It was like, wow. You know, if if you live in Indiana, it's pretty clear that things are changing. Some people like what's changing, some people don't have any idea what's going on in the changing, but it's still happening. Uh you've got stable, the relationship between the federal, state, and the local governments, the changing to the last year, people trying to figure out okay, where are we? Uh what's our role? So the first topic that we have is providing an overview of that relationship is Randy Smith, the political science professor at Franklin College. Our second topic looks at how the tax changes of uh SEA won, the Senate and Roll Act of last year, trying to lower your property taxes and saying, and uh therefore cutting funding to local governments and saying, oh, but you can make it up with uh increasing income taxes. And we all know we like to pay higher income taxes. So uh, you know, that hasn't been a controversy at all for the sit on Jones. Uh so our our second topic, our second, that's our second topic is what's the impact of that of that law? And we have uh Adam Stone of Stone Municipal Group, and Adam's job is to go out with municipalities and say, yeah, here's the impact. Here's what you need to be doing. And then the third topic is one that we've looked at before, that is child care. Uh and how the care how the cost of childcare, new pack workers, and what are the options that are out there? You read the newspaper this morning, you saw that the governor has said, here's uh two 200 million dollars that we're gonna put towards uh childcare, and that'll put 14,000 more kids at childcare. Childcare is expensive, even when states do it. So, what exact is that gonna have? Um I I don't know, nobody knows yet, but I mean that's just that's the thing. It's it's always in the news, it's always run. So uh when you talk about it, no one solved the childcare issue. But uh Natalie Pellur, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Johnson County, will share some of the bearers' experiences to talk about their issues and how they operate their session for it. So those are three topics as I'm going to be having. So um, how this works, again. Free specialist who gives the information, the candidates will be given 90 seconds to candidates. You will come up here to this microphone and you'll speak from there. And if you need a drink of water, best water bottles down there, and if you need more water bottles, we'll get them. But if you if you need something, uh feel free to uh to grab one and I'll give us the iceberg. So we do we will have timer on the screen, and since we have 31 candidates here tonight, and only four of them are not speaking, we're really gonna hold you to the 90 seconds. You'll see that counting down, you'll it'll be be you can see it, so you can all yell at it when they go over 90, and uh, but they'll also be able to clock off that screen over there as they speak. Uh we've talked about the note card, and uh the candidates are speaking in turn, and what I decided was we're gonna grookie by the office, so if there's more than one candidate uh foreign office, they will speak in order. And I decided to flip that on its head. And since my name starts, my last thing is velky, I'm gonna start VMOs at the end. So guess what? We're gonna reverse it. And I've got backwards alphabetical order. So if you've got a last thing uh that starts with a higher, you'll be one of the first to speak. And you know, if your last thing would start today, yeah, you're gonna be third. That's ours. So um how do we get started? And so um we wait to have this done uh to be candid. We want to be the part of this program. We hope to finish by eight o'clock, or thereabouts, and then you'll have time to be anonists. We're pretty much gonna kick you out by 8 45. Uh so we have time to tear it out. You gotta be out of the clock. So uh first presenter, Randy Smith, the political science professor, Frank Gollage is gonna talk about the relationship between federal state and local government, and now let's put slide that mic down to him. I'm gonna raise that it's not okay. Yep, no one. You're from Sue.

SPEAKER_06 7:49

Oh, close does it happen to be accurate? Everyone hear it. We're close to these. Get pretty close like this. So pop out singing now.

SPEAKER_17 8:08

So, uh good evening, and on behalf of the political science department and Frankfurt College, welcome. Welcome. Well, great to have you here on campus. Um I was asked to speak on the topic of federalists to see me. Uh my discussions with other partners supporting this evening's event uh gave me some good direction. But I wanted to make certain that I really focused my comments to address the current political moment. So I did what any good student of the 20th set late 20th century would do, and I asked Google. And of course, Google gave me a 21st century answer. Gemini detailed areas of expansive federal power in state participants. It talked about immigration, rewards for states who do the executive's bidding, and control the National Guard. To that, we might add the issue of policy differences across states in areas like reproductive rights, LGBTQ plus E rights, education, social issues, and vaccine policies. Also relevant are the issues of economic development and debates over the locus of regulatory power over things like AI, energy, and health care. And perhaps most pertinent as we move into this midterm election season are conflicts between the states and with the federal government regarding voting rights and election administration. I thought, oh, but no pressure all. One thing that I've learned in the twenty-six years that I've been teaching American government is that in one respect, our American education system does a fine job of teaching us about the separation of powers, right? Americans generally understand Madison's Federalist 51 conception of ambition countering ambition. Americans might not always keep these checks and balances in mind, but when prompted to recall it, that what we might call horizontal federalism, our relationship makes sense to us. What I often find, though, is that our school system is come up a bit short in conveying how ambition must also check ambition in a vertical sense. Truth be told, the American Constitution would not have been passed without state protections from the overreach of federal government and from neighboring states. The ratification deal required barriers, keeping everyone in their lane. And the barrier is most clearly a right to the Tenth Amendment, which reserves powers to the states. And it permits the sealing of that ratification deal. Without it, we might not have the constitution that we have today. This final amendment to the Bill of Rights was not the last word of this issue, not by a long shot. And Americans have struggled to navigate and perfect this relationship ever since. But what what really is federalism? Political scientists will give you this fancy definition that they'll say something all lies if it's a relationship between a centralized government and semi-sovereign sub-units. So in our case, what we're talking about is the government in DC, the national government in DC, and the governments of each of the 50 states, which are somewhat independent. And that was a requirement in order to seal the deal. Of course, the U.S. Constitution takes a precedence here. But even the supremacy clause of the Constitution permits states to work within some very broad guidelines. And those very broad guidelines allow states to grant more rights and design governance in a manner that best befits the stage. In our political dialogue, we often get lost in the myriad of different governments that federalism creates. There are quite literally thousands of governments, local, state, federal, in the United States. And when we talk about this relationship, we typically focus on concepts like big government or paralyzing bureaucracy or taxes or red tape. But that system, this federalist system, this federalism, has significant benefits. Which should not be taken for granted. First, citizens have multiple places to go if there's a problem. The opportunity to access government in a federal system is unparalleled. You can email your mayor, pony admission, state representative, state senator, governor, U.S. House member, U.S. Senator, and even the President of the United States. And if that doesn't solve your problem, you can start in on each and every single one of those government engines. Second, is what Justice Bradis referred to as laboratories of the Mars. He suggested that states could, quote, try novel and economic social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country. If what Ohio does works, great. Then maybe we'll adopt it too. And if it doesn't, well, at least we didn't do that. Third, federalism permits states and localities that are closer to their citizens to address the local problems, which they inherently do much more into It would be inefficient, for example, to apply the same fix to housing problems in both Manhattan and the city of Franklin. And all this is not to say that these governments operate completely separate grounds. Early on, American federalism operated in a manner that we might refer to as a lair cake. The federal government's here and the state government's there. And the federal government addresses the national policy, states address the local and more local concerns. But over time, the United States has benefited from serving up more like a marble cake. When disaster struck, the federal and state governments assisted the city of Franklin with flood recovery. That's the way it's supposed to work. That's what we call cooperative federals. When several states realized the benefit of enacting a right to council, more states started to enact a right to council, and eventually it got to the point where we looked around in 45, I don't think it was at that point, 45, the states had already done so, and the federal government was like, yeah, you know what? Uh maybe there should be a right to council. We enact that then on the federal law. So perhaps the greatest benefit of federalism is that it grants each of us multiple layers of government to protect our liberties. To protect equality. And to protect a voice in government. And really, that's the big takeaway from our founding fathers. Liberty, equality, and voice when we talk about the founding fathers. But, you know, really that's the concern that's articulated in the Declaration of Independence. It's not just urged liberty. But the Founding Fathers felt inequality. They weren't treated the same as the Brits overseas. They also obviously had a concern about lack of war. It's near taxation without representation. That's lack of force. So the colonists felt these three things. And over the sub subsequent centuries, we have clarified that this liberty and equal protection of the law extends beyond the privileged few who sat in Independence Hall that day. And that extension comes from learning some very hard lessons as the United States struggled for democracy. And that's my parting message tonight. My students will no doubt recognize it, insert the reference to Green Burger page here. And the way we protect it is by continuing this struggle started by our founding fathers. We have to ask not just for ourselves here in this room, not just for Hoosiers, but for the United States more broadly. What policies can we pursue that enable political liberty, protect political equality, and increase popular sovereignty? How do we, as individuals, cast ballots that take up the flag raised by the founding fathers, torn through hard-fought battles, and mendy to protect our liberties, to protect equality, and protect a voice in Gummer.

SPEAKER_20 18:58

Alright, I'm gonna call free up a time, and then you and we'll just keep people waiting so we can move through faster. Cynthia Worth, David Boyd, and Sarah Brown, if you would come up. And then uh and then Amanda Coger, one more time. Counter starts, so don't start. Oh, sorry. The mic to the right of the stage. The mic to the right of the stage.

SPEAKER_17 19:34

Go ahead and write it.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

So hi, I'm Cindy Worth. Um Dr. Cindy Worth running for Indiana 6th Congressional District. And states like Indiana do better when they run when we run our cities and towns according to help from the federal government and with help from the federal government. We can use that tax money from corporations of billionaires who are currently not paying their fair shares so that everything starts to work right again for all of us. And this can be for programs like universal single-payer health care, it can be for creating an infrastructure for child care and child care programs from births on up. And as you were talking about the cooperative federalism, this interdependence is critical in keeping our communities thriving and our communities working together, whether it's you know money coming down from the federal level to the states, which goes to the local level, that helps all of us. There are some progressive bill score child care and universal health care that can really benefit from going back to this system and really valuing the money that's coming from the federal government and the assistance that's coming from there. Um when we have state property tax cuts, those will only uh those those serve to really uh undermine what we're trying to do in our communities, and that's make all of our communities thrive. So again, I'm Dr. Cindy Worth running for Indiana 6th Congressional District.

SPEAKER_20 21:22

Oh man, I'm not like a date. Okay. And you are ready, you know, whenever you're ready.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

All right, uh, I'm David Boyd. I'm running for the 6th Congressional District as well. Um, I am concerned about the consolidation of the townships inside of uh the state of Indiana. We know the state house wants to consolidate them. Um I actually have a different background than a lot of people in Indiana. I grew up in Texas, only had counties. So when I moved to Indiana, I kept seeing this word township. So what is this? And I started to realize it's almost like a government within inside of a government. And it's actually a good thing. Um they have their own school systems, their own fire departments, and it's more of a family. So the way I see it. I live in a big city because I live in Franklin Township in Indianapolis, but I also have uh I live in a small town at the same time. So I think it's very important. The concerns I've heard from other people is that if we do consolidate those, we know that it's going to be hard for people to get help with their utilities or their rent, and they feel like they're going to be further away from their local officials if we consolidate it. So I don't think that we should. I think it's important that people can uh feel comfortable inside their townships and that each township should keep its uh sovereignty. Uh again, on David Boyd, it's nice to see you all today.

SPEAKER_20 22:37

Sarah, and then uh hang on. Sarah and Nick and then Greg Walker. So if you guys want to come up there in line, you do that, and Sarah, you can start when you're ready.

SPEAKER_28 22:49

I'm Sarah Janice Brown, and I'm running as a Republican in District 6. I appreciate you all coming here because you're the ones who decide the future for the next generation. So this is a big deal. You're the ones who showed up. I'm here because I believe that the federal government, the state government, and our local government should serve the people. We are representatives of you. I first got involved in politics 16 years ago when the police showed up at my door and said, You can't have goats. And I said, What do you mean I can't have goats? Show me the law. The police officer showed me the law. It said, no horses, cows, pigs, chickens, bees, and rabbits. And I said, I don't see goats on this list. And they said, well, the town council agrees that you can't have goats because they're implied. And I'm like, Well, I really need the milk for my children. They're allergic to the milk from the grocery store. And so I ended up taking the town to court. And the judge said to me when I took the town of Fortville, Indiana to court that goats are not on the list, and if Fortville wants to say no goats, they need to change the law. At that point, people began to say, you need to run for town council. I ran, I won, and then I began going to the state house, and people began saying, you need to run for state or federal, because the people need to be represented by people who understand. I'm a grandma of seven, I'm a mom of 15, farmer, educator, hoosier, and I will represent you.

SPEAKER_20 24:29

Thank you to all candidates. Dang on time. Really appreciate that. Um Nick Baker.

SPEAKER_07 24:38

Thank you all for being here, for having us, Professor. Thank you for your comments. I'm a huge believer in federalism and protecting the Constitution. I'm running in the Indiana 6th Congressional District as one of the four Democratic primary uh candidates. I'm born here in Indiana, Bloomington, Indiana. I'm a I've been a trial lawyer for the last 20 years, and I have seen the erosion of a lot of our government or what used to be a laired cake and how it should be. I'm a small government Democrat, one that would like to see the federal dollars that go to Washington come back to these communities in the 11 counties throughout the 6th Congressional District, because these towns like Franklin and the Connorsvilles and Richmonds and Rushville's and Shelbyville's and Greenfields, they would all just thrive if they could get a little bit more of their own federal dollars back into their local copers. And I want to do all I can to get to Washington to cure the disease they have there in Congress, and that is running deficits, continuing to never balance the budget. The only way we're going to do that is through reforming health care across the board, and that is a national issue that needs to be controlled on pricing. And that's what you can take advantage of is that the national government can do things on a broad scale. That's why we have environmental laws because there is no border to environmental contamination. And we need to strengthen those resources back up, but we also need to strengthen our local government. And we need to get the United States House of Representation approval rating back up. It's been under 20% for now 25 years, and it's an absolute problem and a threat to our bicameral government and the three branches of it. So I would love to have your vote. And if you need any more information from us, we have signs and more information in the back. Thank you.

SPEAKER_15 26:39

And I represent you, if you live in Franklin, Johnson County, parts of it, in the Indiana State House. I've been there for five terms. I was talked into running 20 years ago, and I have learned a lot along the way. My wife became ill and died in 23, late of 23, and I was kind of sick of the game. Said I was not running again, and then I saw the state of the nation focusing their attention on Indiana. And I saw how we were having pressure, Cajol threatened to abide by Washington politics and bring that to Indiana. Indiana's not perfect in terms of the General Assembly. I've been there, I can tell you it's not. But I will tell you this. Anything we can do to prevent the spirit of lack of cooperation, of uh a tax vitrol, and politics as usual. If we can keep that out in Indiana, that's better for all of us, Republicans, Democrats, etc. I was willing to challenge the Oval Office, and now I'm being uh somewhat attacked for it. There's a lot of money being spent. You've seen the ads. Many of you are nodding your head, yes. Yeah. I'm not running against any Democrats in May. I'm running against Washington. And I ask for your support to be re-elected to the NN State Senate. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_20 28:13

David Waters and Michael Potter. If you want to come, David are going to speak first, followed by Michael and Ron, I'll bring you the mic.

SPEAKER_15 28:25

Hello, I'm David Waters. I'm running for State Representative for District 60. Ladies and gentlemen, home rule, the idea that cities and counties should govern themselves, is supposed to be representative a representative republic at its most local and responsive. But in Marion County, our most populous county in the state, that promise has become a shield for inaction. Let's look at Marion County Election Board record on campaign finance. City County Councillor Bopasilli quietly amended 12 years of reports to claim over$175,000 in previously unlisted personal loans and expenditures, which triggered reimbursements back to him. The board said nothing. Former mayoral candidate Abdul Hakim Shabazz reported$77,622 at the close of business on April 7, 2023, and then$33,156 the very next morning. A citizen filed a complaint. He responded by suing the complaint for defamation and lost. Again, the board stayed filed. Marion County Republican Party Chairman, Natalie Goodwith, transferred her leftover 2023 campaign cash to a 527 political organization that promptly listed her as a recipient of those funds.

SPEAKER_20 30:29

Thank you all for coming out tonight. Like they said in the intro, this is a voter forum, not a candidate forum. And these folks bring some great topics that voters are concerned about, as well as I am. I'm here to listen to the voters. We've seen at the State House then try to push through redistricting. They've tried to uh bully their way to environmental deregulation. And I am an environmental scientist. I've been an environmental scientist and geologist for 25 years. And to rank at the bottom of the country for environmental protection is embarrassing. Important topics for me besides the environment, which I look through everything I do through the lens of environmental protection. I mean, why wouldn't we? That's it's the planet we live on. It means everything to us. Health care is also important. We need to do something about the rising and uncontrollable cost of corporate health care. Two, child care. GOP obviously sees that there's an issue. Too little, too late.

SPEAKER_16 31:44

We need to do something about childcare across the board. Number three is affordability.

SPEAKER_20 31:50

We need to come up with better paying jobs or a way to lower costs for everyday hoosers. My name is Michael Potter. I'm running as a Democrat for the Indiana House of Representatives, District 47. And I ask you to give me some time during this season to talk to you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 32:16

Good evening. My name is Ron Deer. I'm a former city councilman for 24 years in Greenwood or four years on the county council. And my oldest at the age of 76, I decided to give her a chance. My legs don't give it a chance, but I do. I learned a long time ago that politics are local. And that's certain city councilmen or with their county council. And if those county council might not dedicate to each other, be able to describe what they want and what they believe in, and to other goals. The next is the county commissioner that you have to be able to communicate with and have a relationship with, even if you don't agree or disagree with them. And of course, the next is the fire departments that are in within the county and the libraries from the county that you can communicate with all of them. And I have done that for my past four years. And of course, the state legislators reaching out to them. And then I don't typically end up with a lot of federal issues because you know all old politics is low flowing. That's trash, that's not the grand flambourus thing. My name is Ron Deere. I appreciate you. If you live there, Franklin, New Wyvalin, you're New Waivelin or the southern part of Greenwood.

SPEAKER_20 33:34

Have uh questions that you write on your card, if you will open them up, and we will have uh somebody come around and grab them. And uh next, Lydia. Lydia Wales, he is our next speaker, and that'll be followed by Siad Tohi. So, Siad, if you want to come up.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

I had to write this down because this 90-second thing, this thing's got me got it's got me anxiety all over it. This that countdown. Good evening, everybody, and it's really nice to see such a huge turnout for this type of um election. My name is Lydia Wells, and I have proudly served as your Franklin Union Edom Township trustee starting my 12th year, and it has truly been one of my greatest privileges in my life. Over the past decade, we have worked hard to do things differently. Fun Township made history as the first successful township merger in Indiana. Because of that, we have been able to increase efficiency, expand services, and be better stewards of taxpayers' dollars. And the township was named Township of the Year because of that. Senate Bill 270 passed this year, and it was modeled after what we did here in Fund Township. It streamlines township government across the state while protecting critical services that we provide. We work closely with local government, nonprofit, churches to support those who need it most while keeping tax rates low and staying fiscally responsible. I am proud of what we have accomplished over the past 12 years, and I am asking for your continued support for the next four. Together we can keep delivering results and upholding the care and values that make our community strong. Thank you, you think that it's fair.

SPEAKER_17 35:23

I know. Yeah. Wonderful. Saad.

SPEAKER_29 35:27

Everyone, my name is Saad. Excuse me. My name is Saad Taofik. I'm for a pleasant township trustee because I believe in local government should work clear and responsible and always for the people of SERS. Township government is a close level of government to our residents. While federal and state leaders leader creating our programs on law, it is the township that ensures service actually reach families, seniors, and community who help the most. Right now, many pleasant township families are feeling real pressure. Property tax are racing, child care costs are challenging working families, and many seniors are concerned about living on fixed incomes. Residents deserve to know their tax dollars are being spent responsibly. My commitment is simple to my community. Every decision I make, I will put Pleasant Township resident first. And as a trustee, I will focus on protecting taxpayer dollars and strengthening township services and making sure help is different people need it with the transparency and accountability and coming sense leadership. So I'm asking for your trust and your support and your vote. Thank you, Saa Telfi Crime for a Pleasant Township Trustee.

Impact of SEA 1 on local government

SPEAKER_20 36:55

All right, thank you. Um first topic, we want to thank you. Um the question we got is really directed to Reputant Canon, so we're gonna save that. You can ask him afterwards. Once you guys see it. So we're moving on to number two, and that is the impact of SEA1 on the county and local governments. And as I introduced before, our presenter is out at Stone. Stone going to spoke out. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_16 37:20

Yeah, thank you. You know, can everyone hear me? Yes. All right, cool. I'll uh I first off, I I just echo the other comments. I appreciate everybody coming out on our writing night, talk through this and think about these things. I have a different perspective. Uh I'm a practitioner, I'm a licensed CPA in state of Indiana. My entire career up to this point. I've worked predominantly with cities and towns in Indiana. Uh so from from my perspective, I want to I also get the hard part of I'm right on the tip of the spear on on the budgets and how property tax revenue and those types of things are formulated or prioritized within uh these communities. So uh I'll I'll kind of approach it a couple different things. I'll continue with the K Lary concept here, and the first thing I want to do is make sure we're all on sort of equal footing with respect to uh what is focus on local government specifically, in this case, city towns, etc. to the backyards component. You know, predominantly, uh I would say on average, about 90% of the general operating revenues almost across the board are made of one of two sources. They're either property tax revenue, both real property and business personal property, or local income taxes. If you look across the averages, that's about what's funding most general funds across uh the units of government, yeah, local units of government. The really the wild card to that is if you look at property tax, it historically was the number one revenue source for most communities. It has been under a multi, multi-decade tread of caps and reductions by the Indiana State legislator, um needing back all the way to property tax cap legislation, uh, and then there were maximum bloody growth controls as well, and cementing, those types of things. So that revenue source has been capped and restricted before the 2025 legislation multiple times. Communities have tried to react to that, respond to that. Uh, and as a quick overview there, those the cap protection is one percent for residential homestead, one percent of the gross assessed valuation, two percent for non-residential and farm, and then three percent for everything else. Uh across Indiana, on average, a little over two dollars or two percent by the average tax rate effectively uh across the board. So most communities were somewhere in between that. Well, fast forward to uh you know the spending side, it was we get into 2025's legislation. The challenge is while the while those revenue sources were capped, the expenses certain expenses and the needs of that community certainly were not. Like a prime example I always give is you know, if if you got invoice for your fire burning gown, for your house burning gown by the fire department, nobody could pay that bill. You know that would be a that the cost per fire effectively is astronomical. Uh say they. The communities can't charge always exactly for what the cost of service is. They have to share across uh the tax base, and that creates some challenges. And I just wanted to set that as we get into them the specific adjustments that happen to 25, and then I'll touch up 26s as well. So enter in Senate and Road Act 1 from 2025. Uh it's an expansive build, it's 300, almost 350 pages, covers a lot uh of sections. It probably I'll I'll summarize it, and uh it really effectively does two things. One is it dramatically changes and alters the real property deductions and credits, specifically for homestead and non-homestead properties. So, my my guess is the majority of you are homeowners and cling homestead on your property. Well, the bill is very good in that respect as it it essentially doubles the amount of deductions that you get from gross assessed valuation uh between now and 2031. It's phased in. Uh it rotates out the existing homestead and it replaces it with an expansion. But I'll save all the technical for the simple fact that by 28031, if you held your assessed value flat, your taxable assess value would be about half as much as it was in 2025. Okay. Uh it also expands and creates a deduction for non-residential, uh, not homestead residential, which was new. Uh, that works out to be about a third reduction in its gross assess values by 2031. Again, phased in uh over time starting this year. Uh it adds a new homestead tax credit. So it's tax day, so I could use deductions credits, uh, reminder to file. They uh the uh so uh here's your accountant's friend thing. You want credits beat deductions, right? So um so on the homestead side, you get a new credit on your property tax bill starting this year as well. And it works out to be the lesser of 10% or 300 offers per year. So uh if you have a two$2,000 annual property tax bill, all in net to you, you get$200 off, 10%. You have a$4,000 property tax bill, you get$300 off. Okay. And that goes into effect immediately, fully phased in this year. So that is really the first, we switch to impacts. That's really the first impact that cities and towns and communities are are dealing with this year, is that they're realizing and recognizing 100% of that new credit, uh, which works out to be effectively about a 10%, you know, you know, 10% savings to you, and they're basically reducing their revenues uh portion. Okay, so they're working through that. Uh the other change, and I'll go a little faster on this one local income tax got completely overhauled statewide as well. It's moving from its current distribution, it's actually not place, it's it's all withheld based on where folks live. Uh, but it's actually changing to where right now is instead of being distributed on accounting pool, it's moving more towards a home rule uh place space uh structure. So some changes there are pretty profound. In short, on the local income tax perspective, assuming communities all in the future take action to replace that, that's a choice. Um, it's about 50-50. I don't have the exact split, but just in working this and seeing the numbers and working the community dollars, it's about one out of two of 50-50. There's some communities that fare better in the future, there's some communities that aren't. And it breaks down to were they a net importer or a net exporter of income taxes today based to the county averages. It's just an interesting, interesting thing. So I will say uh last week I was with uh City of Fort Wayne, which is the second largest city in Indiana, and they are estimated to lose in 2029 somewhere between 10 to 24 million dollars per year just as a result of that change, and that assumes that they at their council in the future adopts the maximum rate. So uh so bringing all this down to you all tonight. Basically, 2026, the media impact is really just trying to absorb that near homestead credit and also planning for what the next few years is going to look like. The challenge with all this is at the same time, you know, cities and towns buy gas too. They have um, you know, they their police and fire is is under kind of it's a really uh challenging time for them to actually staff and and and keep up with that component. So uh there's this dynamic between operating costs needs and and residents wanting more and expecting more, while also more and more revenue reductions. And that has been a long-term trend, but it's it's now perpetuated out to 2031. So it makes budgeting really important, it makes prioritization really important, it makes all the new uh candidates and that the these offices much more important. So, what I would leave you with before my time runs out is we've got this forecast where we have deferring potholes, right? I hit one on the way here. Uh uh and I work in this area, and I'm like, come on, guys, yeah. So they uh you have growing public safety costs, specifically labor costs on that with their pension and retention and recruitment, etc. You have a situation where these communities continue, have to continue to try to grow it. They have to create that opportunity for their residents, especially the low income tax model. Uh, and how do they do that and compete uh while while maintaining these services? So, my last thing I'll say before we open it up is around September, whatever council you reside in, whatever is your fiscal body, about the mid-September meeting, they will have what's called a public hearing for their 2027 budget. That happens every year. It's statutorily direct, it's a public hearing. If you have never participated in one of those, I would encourage you to put it on your calendar right now to try to go. They have to notice that as well. It is usually around the mid-September, uh, whatever the regular schedule meeting is. It's a great way to see it in real life. They'll be discussing it, you'll hear all the departments, what they're asking for. You'll be able to see directly how your local decision makers are making decisions on these topics, on the funding, and they'll specifically probably be talking about some of these dynamics. So I hope that helps, and I hope for any of the meetings in the fall that I'm in on budget, I would love to see the route this packed.

SPEAKER_20 47:43

Thank you. And just if you want to have an exciting Monday evening, the second Monday of every month, you can go to the county council. You think you think the bunch is fine? Yeah, I'll tell you. All right. Um Gary says low. I get that even low. Carrie is gonna speak. And followed by Mike Bore if you line up and John Young.

SPEAKER_07 48:06

And then uh we'll move on from there.

SPEAKER_12 48:22

Good evening. Thank you for caring about our democracy. I do as well. Hello, good evening. I am Carrie Sacello. My last name, I need to buy a vowel. But it's like uh sit with a T silent and the instrument cello suchello. I am a 25-year resident of rural Morgan County, and I'm kind of rural to my bones. I grew up in Shelbyville, Indiana. Um, I am a local business owner. I own um a business in Monrovia, I own a business in Cloverdale and in Martinsville. I am passionate about humanity, and I'm passionate about doves, and I'm passionate about coffee. So that kind of sums up my business. But um I am here to be a voice for all people, and I believe that Hoosiers deserve good things, and I especially believe that rural Hoosiers deserve good things. Um I stand for a moratorium for data centers and small modular reactors for the state of Indiana, and I stand for no elected officials um having the ability to sign a non-disclosure. Um, when elected officials sign a non-disclosure, they are no longer working for their constituents. They're then working for the big corporation, and I am here to work for you and to serve you and to be your voice. Um I am concerned about our health care accessibility and um the price of our health care. And the reason I'm concerned about that is because my oldest daughter, our oldest daughter, is getting ready to practice rural health care as nobi guyne. So um that sums me up. But I am Cari Sicello. Please visit uh Carrie CaresHD60. I will be your voice, and we do need a moratorium for a day isn't there's mom.

SPEAKER_20 50:23

Next up, Mike Moore and Eric. You want to get in line?

SPEAKER_19 50:31

Hi, I'm Mike Moore. I'm running for uh House of Representative District 60, I believe in term limits. Um I'm not a politician, I'm a law enforcement officer. I've been there for 27 years, I'm a lieutenant. Um this SCA1, um, it really affects the departments, especially smaller departments. As a fleet manager, I upfit the vehicles. A regular patrol car costs about$50,000 on a state bid, and then you add another$10,000 to$20,000 depending on what you're putting on it. If it's a canine vehicle, obviously it's a lot more. So these smaller departments are gonna struggle under this new bill. Uh I I I think it was needed. I don't like property taxes, uh, but I think uh I think it could have been rolled out better with a plan ahead of time so these small governments could handle business and not have to sacrifice what they provide to us as citizens. So I uh like I said, I've been a police officer for a long time. I've seen how these bills that seem so ambiguous and a good deal on the surface end up affecting down the way to the smaller government, how how that hurts us and how we have to find different avenues and different directions to get this money from. So my name is Mike Moore. I'm running for District 60, I'm a Republican. I appreciate the vote. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_20 52:08

And up next is John Young.

SPEAKER_21 52:14

Good evening, everybody. My name is John Young. I'm running for District 58. That's better, hopefully. Uh I want to thank Franklin College, thank the League of Women Voters and the Daily Journal for uh hosting this tonight and everybody that came out. Uh I did serve in the legislature from 2016 to 2022 for District 47, which was this area, Franklin, Johnson County, and now running for 58, which is white one to green one. Regarding Senate Bill One, everybody could agree that trying to lower taxes is absolutely a worthy cause. We don't want any more of that burden than we have to have. However, and it's what the pr Professor Smith said earlier as well, uh we can't take for granted what government provides. And in summarizing it what Mr. Stone tried to talk about, you could hear how complex the issue of property taxes are. Franklin Schools was the poster child for property tax caps under Mitch Daniels. So we don't know exactly where it's going to go, but it can't come at the sacrifice of the local services that everyone expects. You want to be able to call 911 and have the police or fire, you know, come to your house quickly. So we have to monitor it, but pushing it on to locals through the local income taxes after a couple of years, we'll see whether or not municipalities survive and whether our taxes are ultimately lowered. Thank you.

SPEAKER_11 54:10

Thank you for having me. Uh my name is Eric Reingart. I am running for District 58 at the Indiana State House. I got involved because of the housing crisis. I got involved because we don't have an economy that works for everyone, that doesn't work for average people, it works for the very few, it works for corporate interests, it works for financial interests. The problem with our housing crisis is inextricably related to the property tax issue. We can spend a lot of time doing these deductions or these small tinkerings with the with the tax system like Senate Bill 1 from 2025 does. I proposed something a little more radical, but it's been done before. And on the topic of uh laboratories of democracies, this has been tried in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania implemented what's known as a split rate property tax system. The issue we have with the current property tax system is that it punishes people for improving their property by building up or improving their house. Why do we tax that when we could only tax the land value? I support the split rate property tax because it separates the building value from the land value. If we exempt the building value, this incentivizes builders to build more homes, increases the housing supply, lowers the cost of housing, the cost of living, and because it's still a tax on land value, it is a sustainable public revenue source. We don't have to tax income, we don't have to tax workers. My website is called Reingardforediana.com. Please check it out to learn more about my policies. Thank you.

SPEAKER_25 55:51

If I'm tall enough here, uh I'm Suzanne Fortenberry. It's a lot of uh friendly, familiar faces out here on both sides of the aisle. So thank you all for showing up. I am running for House District 57, uh north side of uh Indianapolis. I'm sorry, Greenwood, right up next to Indianapolis into Morgan and Hendricks County. Uh we can talk about the number 49. I just turned 52, so it's not me. It's where we rank in states in the United States. Indiana is 49. We have had several decades of Republican majority rule, and we are stuck at number 49. So unless we do something different, we're gonna make it all the way to the worst state in the country. And we need to keep our kids safe. We need to keep affordability there. We talk about having all the answers. If somebody tells you they have all the answers, they're lying to you. If they tell you on day one, we're gonna change and make everything more affordable, they're lying to you. It's not gonna be an easy answer. We're gonna have to fight back for decades to get back what we've lost over these past 27 years. Okay? So I am not a politician. I worked for FedEx for 27 years, working class. My sign says somebody has to be the responsible adult, so we're gonna talk about taxes real quick in these 17 seconds. We need fire, we need police, we need schools, we need affordable health care. Why is Franklin shutting down their women's program? Where are you gonna have your kid? You're gonna call the uh ambulance and run to Indianapolis when you have something wrong? We have got to take care of our communities first. Thank you.

SPEAKER_10 57:36

Rob Thomas.

SPEAKER_13 57:38

Oh, Ross Thomas. I like Thomas.

SPEAKER_14 57:45

I'll go by Rob, it's all right then. I am Ross Thomas, I'm gonna be the Democratic candidate for State Senate in District 41. Um, so after uh Senator Walker and his opponent get done fighting it out over who's more loyal to Donald Trump, well, I'm gonna face one of them. Uh we we can watch how that happens. Uh I I guess it's a loyalty test, it's a politics thing among Republicans. It's not about policy because their voting records are basically the same. Um, and as Suzanne said, you know, what we have to show for 20 years of Republican supermajority rule is that we're nearly last in many, many categories. Uh voter turnout nearly last, uh environmental quality nearly last, quality of life nearly lasts. And that's really what government is about is improving our quality of life. Uh to talk a little bit about SB1, I think it's kind of indicative of a Republican approach to these problems. There's a disconnect with those folks between taxes and government, as if taxes are just some evil thing that they're sticking that money away and flushing it down the toilet when we all know that we have to have revenue in order to improve our quality of life. So what ST1 did when property values rose unexpectedly, all of a sudden people had sticker shop uh for their property taxes, right? And so people complained. And instead of using a scalpel, they used a sledgehammer. Uh the average person gets about$2 a week in property tax relief, while hedge funds with thousands of homes get millions of dollars. We're taking away almost$800 million from schools over the next three years. So the average person paid$2 a week. It's a bad approach. There are ways to protect homeowners with a homestead exemption. There are ways to protect folks who are affected by property taxes without just giving a stop to the rich. So we have to change that whole approach. Thank you.

SPEAKER_24 1:00:20

Good evening. This issue, the impact of Senate Enrolled Act 1 on our county and its ability to provide services, is the exact reason I decided to run for County Council District 4 this year. I believe county councilors should be informed and active during state sessions that impact at the local level. As a former firefighter and current staunch supporter of the library, I look forward to the opportunity to chart a new proactive course that will eventually eliminate the need to be reacting to decisions at the state level that negatively impact our community. However, we are now in a place where we're forced to be reactive or risk funding for public schools, as mentioned, police and fire, road maintenance, and the service Dear to My Heart Public Libraries. The best communities are safe and provide opportunities for enrichment for their residents. Prioritizing the funding of police and fire, excellent roads and trails, and strong public library system will serve current residents as well as attract entities for economic development, thus increasing local tax revenue and offsetting our loss in property tax income due to recent state legislation. So a year when we're facing decreases in property tax revenue for county operations, things like tax abatements and tax increment districts, which freeze tax revenue would only add to the problem. At this point, we're going to have to make some difficult decisions, and that may mean starting with rethinking tax abatements for corporations who don't contribute their fair share.

SPEAKER_20 1:02:03

So it's there the microphones. All right, and we're trunkling. That brings us to the end of uh section two. And uh questions we were getting ourselves for individual phantosets, so I'm not gonna ask them from the uh from the podium. And so um you can bring those up. So we're on to section three, which is about child care. And uh Natalie, what are you up?

SPEAKER_23 1:02:28

Good evening. Thank you guys so much for everyone that's coming. Uh, thank you uh or Amanda for saying, hey, can we chat for a minute? And then at the end of it, here I am. So thanks, Amanda. Uh I'm Natalie Falor and the executive director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Johnson County. Uh, I have served with this role for 10 years, and it is a blessing every day, even on days when I may or may not get fit. That happened like two weeks ago is a comic being. Um but uh childcare is something that affects really all of us. Uh, whether you have children, had children, or never did, uh what we do with kids in after school time and when they're not with their parents, um, affects who we are. The mission of the job of the Boys and Girls Club is uh to enable all youth to have a positive role in our society when they become adults. We do that through supportive mentors through offering a safe option for parents when they need to be at work. And uh we are blessed uh to do that at a very affordable cost. We are the most uh inexpensive. We don't like to use a work child care because we do a lot more than that, but we are. Uh we are the most uh inexpensive option to jobs to count. The sad thing about that is we're in Franklin. Uh we have our main clubhouse, which is about a quarter of a mile to your that way, north. And uh we have six other sites uh through Franklin Schools in their before and after care. We're blessed to serve about 2,000 kids a year, and it's a wonderful thing. Um, but I get calls every day for beer and who can't afford child care. And when they're choosing between uh a parent staying home because they can't afford to put their kids in a place, and then they're not able to buy groceries and they're not able to do the things that they're doing, um, you know, it it affects everything else. And I um the need that we have as cuts are coming down, federal cuts, state cuts, and now we're gonna see local cuts that those are going to come. Uh, we get affected first. So when they cut from the federal budget, they cut the education budget, in that case to upper school care, uh, the first, the first um step in it. The new thing that came out this morning with the 200 million is great for vouchers. Uh that's mostly early childhood and daycare, which is great and wonderful, but for after school time, kids should not be going home alone. We need they need us, so they need that support. The way that uh we do that and we keep it in extensive is because of the I'm gonna start my locks. Uh the uh but the way we do that is through the support of the community. Uh we are blessed to be part of the GI, the United Way of Joseph County, and receive funding from men that allows that. We receive funding from the city of Franklin. Uh our building is owned, it is a city-owned building, and we are blessed with that, and the overhead of that is taken on by the city. Um, but I am not naive that Elise and fire are important and it changes are coming, and we're ready for that, and what that's gonna affect is going to affect families. And so um the way that I guess for tonight and for this forum to understand that the impact of childcare is not just that parent's project, it's all of our problems. We all need to support our youngest because they're going to be us someday, right? Uh, I talked to someone earlier who I knew 20 years ago, and we thought we were kids then and now, like, oh wow, uh, we're the adults now. It is we have to think about these things, right? And how that affects. So I think the the biggest thing and the biggest impact is just uh as as the funding is coming through and the things are changing, how that affects our our you know at-risk population of kids, um, all families deserve to have child care that's affordable. We do a sliding scale. We help people that are uh in the lower income brackets that can't afford to put their kids in childcare. But I also argue, you know, parents who are blessed and have a home and and might have two working parents and are doing okay, and they also it shouldn't be an insurmountable thing to put your kids in child care. I talked to a mother not too long ago about opportunities like when are you gonna be in Greenville? When are you gonna be here? I pay, she pays for three kids after school. They're paying$3,000 a month. That's more than her mortgage. And they've had the conversation, but they know the value and they know what they need, and they know their kids need that. They also both need to work and they shouldn't have to. They worked hard to get to where they are in their careers, um, and they shouldn't have to pay that. So uh the support of local, state, and federal government to keep those costs low and to support entities like myself um are what allow us to do those things.

SPEAKER_20 1:07:22

Full of costs with the real people stories, and if you've looked at those, I think your shock climate daughter's 36, my son is 31. I don't remember what we paid, but it certainly wasn't that much. It's kind of crazy. Alright, now um question we we have three speakers on childcare, but my less my list tells me that two of them are not here, but I'm gonna check on that. Michelle Hennessey Sears. Okay. Michael Chiopetta. All right, William Corey Amex is here because I talked to him, so I know he's here. He's gonna help speak on child care.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:58

All right, good evening, everybody. Uh so childcare is one of the biggest economic challenges families in Indiana's 6th district is facing right now. Across our communities, parents are paying anywhere from$8,000 to$15,000 a year for child care. Obviously, more like what we just saw. For many families, that's more than their mortgage or rent. And when child care costs more than a paycheck, parents, especially mothers, are forced to leave the workforce. That's not just a family problem, that's an economic problem for our entire country. If elected to Congress, I will fight for a universal child care system that ensures every family can access safe, high-quality child care without going work. My plan focuses on three things. First, we expand federal child care funding to help states create affordable child care options for before and after school programs so families pay no more than about 7% of their income. Second, we invest in the child care workforce. Child care workers are some of the most important professionals in our economy. Yet many of our many are underpaid. We need better wages, training programs, and career paths so we can grow the workforce and open more child care centers. Third, we support local child care providers and small businesses with grants and tax incentives to expand child care availability in communities where child care deserts exist today. And the rest you can come talk to me about because I'm out of time.

Other topics

SPEAKER_20 1:09:48

We're on schedule, and we've got seven more speakers left, and they've chosen other topics. For example, uh, we've got uh Sheriff's Can coming up, but this really didn't apply to him, so we left pick their own topic. They all get 90 seconds. So, first on the list, um, let's do Bark Franco.

SPEAKER_13 1:10:18

Thank you all for being here. Uh, it's an other topic because I'm in the township government. Uh I'm running for the White River Township Advisory Board. My name is Mark Branco. I'm a captain of the Indianapolis Fire Department. I've served both White River Township and the city of Indianapolis for 24 years. My wife and I, my wife Kate and I have three kids, Ben, Matthew, and Hadley. And we live in a carefree neighborhood in northern Johnson County. We enjoy giving back to the community. We're active in scouting, and we run the Carefree Crocodile Swim Team, which is a neighborhood swim organization. Go Crocs, in in uh in northern Johnson County. It's an amazing organization. Um I'm running for the Wire River Township Trustee Advisory Board. Uh I'll bring a spirit of cooperation. We'll break down walls, stop police, stop morality policing, and end the gatekeeping of funds to people in need of assistance. Johnson County has a bounty of aid associations, including the Bridges Alliance, Johnson County Senior Services, Food Pantries, and many more. We at the trustee's office should be assistance experts. Collaborating with these various organizations, we will prioritize giving assistance over paying for salaries. Most important, we'll use taxpayer funds responsibly and ethically by giving them to our neighbors who are in need of assistance.

SPEAKER_20 1:12:04

Next on the list is uh Rob style or the analysis to Sava, is Rob here? None on my checklist. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:28

Greg Noble Not, you can go to my website and check out uh what noble is. It's a it's a group of six policies, six six problems with six concrete solutions that work elsewhere. So the website is contractwithhoos.com. Again, that's contractwithhoos.com. How many of you have had your electric bill rising last year, two years? Yeah, quite a number. Yeah. We we we've actually had them raise$28 a month on average the past two years. That's the largest spike in 20 years. I had neighbors that had to move out of their house because they couldn't afford their electric bill. They moved in with their parents. Yeah, it's it's crazy. Why why is this? Why why have we gone from fourth most affordable on electricity to 28th? Well, number one, that the legislature has passed a couple of really bad laws. And number two, the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission is not protecting ratepayers like they're supposed to. We we pay them$160,000 a year to protect ratepayers and they're not doing it. So what what do we do? First of all, we we repeal those two bad laws. 2017 they passed the uh a re repeal of true net metering for solar energy on your rooftop. In 2025, they they passed a law that basically mandated coal power plants stay in use longer, which are they're more expensive and they're less reliable and they're they're dirty. So just thank you.

SPEAKER_20 1:14:15

Andy Fisher, Jason County Sheriff Canton, is coming up next. And he will be followed by Carrie is not here, so that would mean uh sure I'd be able back for Andy.

SPEAKER_08 1:14:27

Hello. I really don't have a topic to talk about, but I want to introduce myself a little bit and uh open myself up to anything after this. And uh appreciate y'all having me here. My name is Andy Fisher. I am running for Johnson County Sheriff. I first off want to say that I am running to be the sheriff of this county for every person in here. I don't care if you're a Republican, a Democrat, what side of the fit you're on, I'm here for you all. Um I have been at the Sheriff's Office for 24 years. I selected this place out of an internship when I was graduating from Bald State. I grew up in Bloomington, have made this my home. I love this county. I have been involved in multiple serious situations that have probably involved loved ones of you all. Um if I've not met you along the way, I may meet you at some point and hopefully it's on good terms. I want everyone to know here as sheriff that I will be there for you if there are ever any questions. I'm an open book, I am easy to get a hold of. Uh you can call me day or night and I will speak with you. Um I will tell you that my goal is to continue to protect this county to the best of our ability, work with every local agency that we have, work with state and federal if need be, but to make sure that this county is protected in the best way, and if you have a loved one that happens to be staying with us for whatever reason, their safety is priority to us, and we want to make them better before they get out of there. Um, like I said, I'm Andy Fisher. I'm I'm I'm not a politician by any stretch of the imagination. I'm the sheriff's deputy that has worked his way up to the position and I am now.

SPEAKER_09 1:15:56

And I will be the sheriff for all of you, not just one side. So if you have any questions for me, I'll be here and appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_18 1:16:08

Charles, uh next.

SPEAKER_26 1:16:10

Thank you. Good evening. My name is Charlotte Onsbach, and I'm proud to be running for the White River Township Trustee. I bring over 20 years of experience as a dental hygienist treating a diverse population. I have strong skills in organization, communication, problem solving, and compassionate care. My education at Indiana University School of Dentistry gave me a solid foundation in science, ethics, and public health. Like many of you, our community in Johnson County isn't just where we live, it's home. It's where we raise our family, build relationships, and look out for our neighbors. I'm running because I believe our local government should be responsive, responsible, and rooted in the needs of the people it serves. The trustee's office plays a critical role, whether it's providing essential assistance to families, supporting senior citizens, or ensuring our township services are strong and reliable. I'm at a place in my life where I can dedicate my time and skills to the community and give back in a meaningful way. I am prepared to bring a practical, people-focused approach to the trustees office, working to ensure that assistance is accessible, resources are managed wisely, and struggling residents are treated with dignity and respect. I believe in listening first and making decisions that are thoughtful, transparent, and fiscally responsible. This isn't about politics for me. It's about service. I want to make sure that every resident knows where to turn when they need help, so our township is a place where people feel supported, safe, and proud to live. This is our community, and I'm invested in doing the work for White River Town Sheriff.

SPEAKER_20 1:17:56

Well, we are back to our new speakers. And we uh Judge Peter Dugan and Judge Barla Clark, and Judge Nugent will be first.

SPEAKER_10 1:18:23

My name's Peter Nugent. I'm a judge in Johnson Superior Court 2. I've been a lawyer for almost 40 years, a judge going on eight. Um, you know, in my court I have a couple rules I live by. You get to be you. Fair is fair and right is right. It's pretty simple. You know, tonight I've listened to everybody, and and first off, I think this is great. One of the things we tell young people in high school, engage. I don't care who you vote for, engage. Know what you're doing, do your homework, and go with the way you think it should be. It's so important nowadays. But let's talk about what's good because we've talked about what's bad. We live in a country where you call 911 and they come to your house. EMS, fire, police, they don't ask if you have a checkbook, they don't ask who you voted for in the last election, they take care of your problem. We have a court system I'm proud of. You come to court, and whatever issue you have gets heard. You may not like the result, but it gets heard and it gets weighed. Judges, we're referees. We're like umpires in a baseball game. We call balls and strikes. Our community. What I love about being down here, we communicate. And guess what else? Compromise. We compromise. I go into a council meeting, I don't get my way every time, but we can sit and talk and figure something out. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose, but we compromise. This is a great place to live. We live in a great county and we can make it better. But let's think about the things we've got that are great here, because there's a lot of them. We're very, very lucky and blessed. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_26 1:20:08

The shorter one at the judges.

SPEAKER_28 1:20:10

Hi, my name is Marla Clark. I'm the judge of Johnson Security Court 4, and I and I'm asking for support on my re-election bid this year. Um most of you guys probably don't have any experience being in court, um, except for maybe a parking ticket, maybe a divorce. Maybe some of you have done jury duty. Um, but by and large, the voters uh go to vote for judges in this county and they don't know very much about us uh and what we do. Um because of our position, it's not um uh appropriate for us to take a stand on issues. So um I can't really tell you a lot about my uh you know my personal beliefs about stuff because in my job, my personal beliefs are irrelevant, right? My job is to hear the evidence and apply the law to the evidence, and what I personally believe really doesn't factor into it that much. But um, as I said, since most of you don't know too much about the courts, I just want to explain a little bit about our court system. In Johnson County, we've chosen to specialize and we've done that to create efficiencies for the taxpayers and for the customers, right? So if I'm only doing a certain kind of case, I get so I can do it very well, very quickly, uh, and handle a lot of cases. Right now, the statistics are that we have seven judicial officers and we had a work for about eight and a half of us. So it's really important that we create those efficiencies when we get the chance to. So I do civil civil cases, so uh divorces and uh jury trial issues, uh like car accidents, dog bites, take a fighting through a neighbor over a fence. You'll come to me. Uh and if you uh get in trouble and um uh sheriff Fisher has to arrest you and bring you to court, you'll you'll see one of my colleagues, not me. Um I'm from uh White River Township. I live here in Franklin. I have four grown kids uh that I adore, and um and I would like tender support. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_20 1:21:55

All right, that was not our fun speaker. We had uh several people who uh decided who were not planning on speaking, and one of them would equ would like to. So uh Jennifer Cutters Pinnick, who's running for Johnson County prosecutor, is gonna come up and speak.

SPEAKER_27 1:22:10

Good evening, everyone. My name is Jennifer Pennock. I am a third-generation Johnson County resident. Um I'm born and raised here. Um I am married, I have three daughters. Um over the past 23 years, I've had the privilege of serving Johnson County as a deputy prosecuting attorney. My current role, sorry, I'm not that tall. My current role in the prosecutor's office, I'm the assistant chief deputy, and I'm running for to be your Johnson County prosecutor, and I am running um unopposed in the primary, so I'm running for that nomination. Thank you. I have there's many priorities. My first priority as a prosecutor is protecting people. Everyone in Johnson County deserves to feel safe in their homes, in their workplaces, and in their schools. Um I will, and I currently do, aggressively prosecute violent offenders, sex offenders, drug dealers, and our repeat offenders who threaten our peace. I will support law enforcement. Um I am proud to stand with my friends who wear the badge, um, and they deserve a prosecutor who has their backs. That does not always mean we always agree, um, but just that we support and um are there to listen and have open dialogue and some transparency between departments. Um I will be a leader that you can trust. I believe in personal responsibility, strong families, and respect for the rule of law. These values have guided me and my life, my career, and how I've raised my family. Um, again, my name is Jennifer Pennick. Um, I ask for your support and your prayers and your vote on May 5th. Thank you.

SPEAKER_20 1:24:04

Katherine Gleason, town of Princess Lake Council at large, and Anne Guthrie, the White River Township Advisory Board candidate.