Education
M.S. Natural Resources
Occupation
Program Manager, Eppley Center for Parks and Public Lands, Indiana University
County government in Indiana is tasked with providing specific essential services: the justice system and courts, public health, and roads outside the cities and towns. These services are our mandated priorities and they undergird our collective quality of life. Right now, we are challenged with navigating the state and federal changes to our revenue sources while we actively respond to serious crises surrounding housing, affordability, and health. My priority is maintaining essential services in accordance with our community’s values. For example, working on longer-term financial planning to help us fill the voids in mental health services and safe, affordable housing stock, while supporting a humane and rehabilitative justice system.
Yes. Our leadership no longer has regular meetings to discuss upcoming issues. There are times that we appear to be communicating via proclamation at our meetings rather than through meaningful dialogue. George Bernard Shaw said, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place," and without a consistent, recurring time and space for discussion, that is our plight. Recently, our two bodies have had to acknowledge that we have been talking past each other with respect to building a new jail. We are having more honest discussions regarding our visions for the justice center. I fervently hope that this can set the stage for a resumption of regular discussions across the many issues both bodies must navigate.
The first step is to find a new location and begin planning a facility that reflects the values of Monroe County. The April 15th deadline imposed by the ACLU is a reminder that the current facility is not suitable. We are working with key government officials to jumpstart this process and make up for lost time; however, in the face of state legislation that has limited our ability to finance construction, everyone involved must be open to compromise. There are strong feelings about location, size, amenities, costs, and co-located offices. Any plan that moves us forward will require that we enumerate specifics on each of these and that we do it as soon as possible.
Responding to the impacts of inevitable disasters in the face of little or no federal resources requires money and protocols for rapid, strategic coordinated emergency services as well as ongoing support for impacted residents and businesses. The county has no program for renters who are displaced by disasters. Our emergency management works to coordinate post-disaster operations among agencies, but it is not designed to reach out to affected residents. We must develop a plan that works outside the normal confines of government operations – effective emergency response is going to take emergent thinking. We do not have the right things in place to assist people when tragedy strikes.
Zoning and development policy is critical to addressing housing affordability as well as quality of life in our community. I am in favor of policies that allow redevelopment, diversity, and increased density in urban areas. In our more rural areas, we must allow development that protects our forests, streams, and lakes. The suburban and small community hubs in our county that present the greatest opportunity for careful development. Here, we should be working with residents to protect the neighborhoods they have while encouraging retail and transit hubs to connect with the employment centers closer to Bloomington and Ellettsville.
