chronicle-tribune, marion, ind.

sunday, november 1, 2015

D3

Election Guide
Q

Jess Alumbaugh

John Lawson
By Ben Quiggle
bquiggle@chronicle-tribune.com

Be specific on what some of

your top priorities are going to
be if you are voted in office. If
your priorities require spending, describe where funding
will come from.
In visiting with the citizens of
Marion these past few weeks,
they have indicated three areas
they are most concerned about,
roads and streets, police and fire,
and Economic Development. My
administration will be very aggressive with our current funding
to address these problems. It is
time to think outside the box.
We need to build relationships
with our current small businesses
to insure stability and growth.
We also need more jobs and better wages.
Do you think Marion Utilities
should be paying some sort of
payment to the city, like a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes?
I do believe in payment in lieu
of taxes. In my meetings with
Marion Utility officials, we believe there needs to be a comprehensive study to determine
what it would take to generate
additional monies for the City of
Marion. Does such a payment re-

quire a water rate increase, and if

so, what would that rate increase
be? How will that rate increase
impact the consumer? Our question is simple. What is reasonable, efficient, effective and affordable?
With contracts set to expire
in the police and fire department during the future mayors
term, do you see the potential
to have to decrease the number
of officers in both departments
due to funding and population
changes?
Our police department is experiencing increases in drive-by
shootings, heroin use, heroine
sales and heroin over-doses. The
police department, currently,
is working officers overtime to
maintain a safe level of officers
on the street. Our fire department
is working hard to make sure that
the insurance costs are under
control for our community. Both
departments are working hard at
maintaining a safe environment
with the present staffing levels.
The funding in the 2016 budget
supports the current numbers of
public safety employees.
Are you in support of a Public Safety LOIT or wheel tax to
raise revenue?

By Ben Quiggle
bquiggle@chronicle-tribune.com

Lawson

I hope that the additional monies released by the state of Indiana for roads and streets will
eliminate the current need for a
local wheel tax. My fear is that
the state will mandate that if we
want the additional monies, we
must pass the wheel tax. Public
Safety LOIT is a new tax and I
am not in favor. Here again, it is
important that the mayor and city
council work together to propose
what is best for the City of Marion.

Be specific on what some of

your top priorities are going to
be if you are voted in office. If
your priorities require spending, describe where funding will
come from.
We must get back to the basics.
My priorities will be fixing our
streets, cleaning up the neighborhoods, public safety, and working
with local businesses to help them
grow. I will also prioritize bringing in new jobs that provide living
wages. Any available city funds
will be used in these areas first.
Do you think Marion Utilities
should be paying some sort of
payment to the city, like a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes?
No. Our citizens pay their money on utilities expecting it to go toward utilities. The city should pay
back the loan owed to the utilities.
With contracts set to expire
in the police and fire department during the future mayors
term, do you see the potential
to have to decrease the number
of officers in both departments
due to funding and population
changes?
That would be determined by negotiations and the budget process.

Alumbaugh

Public safety will be a priority.

Are you in support of a Public Safety LOIT or wheel tax to
raise revenue?
As I have been walking the
neighborhoods for the past twelve
weeks, our citizens have continually told me that they dont trust
the city government with their tax
dollars. They have also told me
their money doesnt go as far as
it used to go. Therefore, I cannot
support an increase in the LOIT or
a wheel tax.

Council candidates tackle issues: Insurance, roads and debt top priorities
By Ben Quiggle
bquiggle@chronicle-tribune.com

people that can say the always went positive.

Republican at-large candidate David Homer said that
it will take everyone working together to make things
happen.
It may take time, and we
may have to make some
tough decisions, said Homer. I have no idea yet what
I am walking into, maybe
some of the current members have a better picture,
but I am mainly concerned
about working together.
Good things are happening
in Marion, and I still believe
we can turn things around.
Democrat at-large candidate Adam Binkerd said
he feels Marion is closer to
turning the corner then most
think.
I think it is more of an
issue of how we perceive
things, said Binkerd. We
can get his turned around.
Democrat at-large candidate Lynn Johnson reiterated the fact that all progress
is going to take time.
It is going to be a long
process, said Johnson.
There is no quick fix out of
the situation we are in.
All of the candidates also
reiterated their stance on
what they believe are the
major priorities that need
looked at first. Lewis said
roads are the biggest issue
he is hearing from the citizens of Marion right now.
I want to focus on the
road issue first, find out
how we can fix our infrastructure, said Lewis.
From there I want to focus
on finding ways to attract
new business, and how we
can fix the issue of neighborhood blight. There are a
lot of issues that the council
will have to work on, but
those are definitely my top
three right now.

The at-large candidates

in Tuesdays election have
plenty of issues to face if
elected to office on Nov. 3.
A crumbling infrastructure, financial questions,
slow economic development, and neighborhood
blight are just some of the
concerns citizens are taking with them to the polls.
Every council member feels
that Marion is at a critical juncture, and that good
leadership is needed to ensure the future of the city.
I believe we can change,
If I didnt I wouldnt be running to be on the council,
said Republican at-large
candidate Herschel Lewis.
Current Marion Council
President, and Democrat
at-large candidate, Joselyn
Whitticker, believes the key
lies in helping local businesses.
I believe Marion is still
a great place to live, said
Whitticker. We need to diversify to attract businesses
and families, while at the
same time offer more programs to help support the
businesses we already have.
We also need to do a better
job of verifying the credentials of any business that
wants to settle in Marion.
Some wont come without
wanting everything from
the city, and we have to be
careful what we give them
because sometimes we are
just left with the debt if that
business fails.
Libertarian at-large candidate Chris Rayment says
he is holding onto hope that
Marion can transform itself.
Some financial experts I
have talked to have painted
a pretty grim picture, said
Rayment. Change is not
going to occur overnight, it
is going to take some work. Taking on debt problem
It really will depend on
Whitticker said part of her
whether the new adminis- priorities involve finding a
tration and the council can solution for the amount of
work as a team. I hope we debt the city is in.
get there this time around.
Roads and infrastructure
are the number one priorFinding a way forward ity, said Whitticker. After
Republican at-large candi- that I believe we need to
date Brad Luzadder said his take an honest look at the
focus has, and always will debt. We need to create a
plan to rectify our debt sitbe, on moving forward.
The last four years have uation. After that we need
been very rough for me be- to tackle our economy. We
cause we have not moved need to get higher paying
forward, said Luzadder. It jobs for our citizens here
has pretty much been a fight in Marion. We need to
between a couple of council work with our local busimembers and the adminis- nesses and make sure they
tration and some of us oth- are getting the support they
er council members were need.
dragged into it. We have
Rayment said financial
to move forward. I havent stability is key in order for
swayed from that position, Marion to make any progand there are not too many ress.

We need to cut spending,

and really see what is going
on with our budget, said
Rayment. We also need to
tackle the issue of why the
city is divided. It is divided
both economically and racially. How can we hit those
topics head on so that we
can move forward?
For Luzadder mending
broken relationships is one
of his priorities, something
he feels needs to happen in
order for the city to move
forward.
Infrastructure is definitely a big issue right now,
said Luzadder. But we also
have broken relationships
that need mended. Our local businesses feel disenfranchised from the council.
The democrat led council
has really broken some of
those important relationships that the city needs to
move forward.
Homer said that he wants
to take a good look at what
was proposed for 2016 in
the budget before he tackles
what the city can accomplish next year.
I think the insurance issue is definitely one of the
bigger things we will need
to take a look at, said Homer. I also want to take an
inventory of the equipment
we have, and talk with department heads about their
needs.
The relationship between
the council and the mayor tops the priority list of
Binkerd.
We need to work together
to make things happen, said
Binkerd. We also need to
have a better understanding
of how the budget works,
and we need to be more realistic with our budgets. After that if we have additional
funds we need to pay back
the utility and work on our
streets and roads.
Johnson said everyone
involved in the city government will need to establish
common objectives in order
for any real change to take
place.
If we want to do something like roads and streets
then we all need to get on
the same page, said Johnson.
The city is in rough shape
financially with debt issues
swirling around; most of
the candidates agree that
changes are going to have to
be made in order for Marion
to see any progress into the
future.
We are going to need to
look at every avenue for
funding, said Lewis. We
need to make sure that the
things that need to change
will change.

Keeping the
burden off citizens
Whitticker said the important part of the puzzle is
making sure the city doesnt
put any extra burden on its
citizens.
I am concerned about
how much we spend, said

Whitticker. We spend a lot

on contractual and miscellaneous services. We need
to look at our personal and
see if any are going to retire here soon. Attrition may
be our best bet to making
cuts in our personal areas.
We also need to look at the
citys travel budget, and the

amount of money we are

giving the Board of Works.
Most importantly we need
to set up plans on how we
are going to move forward.
Rayment said he would
like to analyze the incentive
tools the city uses.
See council / Page d4

WE
ENDORSE
THESE
CANDIDATES

VOTE
NOV.
3rd

The Marion Fireghters Political Action Committee has met

with the slate of candidates for Mayor and City Council and
is endorsing the following candidates:

John Lawson

MAYOR

Herschel Lewis

At-Large

Alan Miller

District 2

Chris Rayment

At-Large

Jim Brunner

District 3

Bradley Luzadder

At-Large

Henry Smith

District 4

Don Batchelor

District 5

Steve Henderson

District 1

Deborah Cain

District 6

Marion
Firefighters
PAC

Paid Political Ad Paid for by the Marion Firefighters Political Action Committee