Franklin Union Needham Township Trustee
An Indiana township trustee serves as the executive official for a township, responsible for providing essential services to residents. The trustee administers township assistance to individuals and families in need, manages township property and finances, and oversees services, such as fire protection and cemetery maintenance, where applicable. The term is four years.
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Jodi N. Alvey
(Rep)
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(Yogi) Taelar Christman
(Dem)
What qualifications, experience, and skills have prepared you to serve as Township Trustee?
How would you balance township needs with responsible use of taxpayer dollars?
What are the township's top priorities for serving residents, and how would you address them?
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Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Campaign Phone
8599404169
I run two small businesses (a massage and wellness practice and The Rewilding Collective) so I already manage budgets, serve people with dignity, and keep careful records under real accountability. As Franklin 11 Precinct Chair and an elected state delegate, I've built relationships across this community and learned how local government works from the inside. I've also done the homework: studying Indiana's township statutes, poverty guidelines, and models like Clinton County's coordinated intake system that saved families thousands and got them back on their feet faster. Deep diving into mutual aid work with Food Not Bombs and Blue Martin Community Garden taught me what neighbors actually need - not what a form assumes they need.
Responsible spending and meeting real needs aren't opposites. The most wasteful thing a township can do is help people so late or so narrowly that the same family needs assistance again next month. I'd start by simply following the law we already have: updating the township's eligibility standards, which have sat frozen since 2024, so dollars reach who they're meant to reach. I'd also look at coordinated-intake models like Clinton County's, where combining services with local nonprofits documented over $100,000 in savings while getting families back on their feet faster. And I'd publish township data in easily accessible spots so residents can see their tax dollars at work, not have to dig for information or just trust that they are.
Three priorities stand out for Franklin, Union, and Needham. First, catching people before crisis hits. A benefits navigation concierge that helps residents find every form of assistance they qualify for, not just the one they walked in asking about, plus an early-warning system that reaches families facing eviction before they lose housing. Second, accessibility. Help is centralized in one office, hard to reach without a car; I'd add satellite office hours across all three townships. Third, food security, using our statutory authority to support a community garden and a distributed micro-pantry network, so help doesn't depend on office hours at all. All paired with real transparency about what's working.
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