Members of the county Republican Party will select another new Greenwood City Council member tonight.
Three of the candidates who sought an open council seat earlier this month are trying for a second time. They are joined by six additional candidates, including a local attorney, retired teacher and veteran.
Two council seats opened up last month after former council member Chuck Landon died, and former council member Brent Corey resigned. Former police chief Bob Dine won Landon’s seat on Sept. 5.
The 51 Greenwood Republican precinct committee members will cast secret ballots to pick the next council member. Greenwood council members made $12,120 in 2017, and make decisions such as setting annual spending for the city, creating or changing rules or policies and deciding whether to implement new taxes or offer tax breaks.
The open seat is at-large, meaning whoever is chosen to be the new council member will represent the entire city of Greenwood until the end of 2019.
Local attorney says she’s a problem solver
Linda Meier, a local attorney for three decades, knows Greenwood well, she said.
She has owned her downtown practice, gent & Meier, for more than 30 years, lives in White River Township, is a member of several local women’s organizations and has served on local non-profit boards. She is also the attorney for the Greenwood Police Merit Board, a position she knows she will have to resign if she is selected to serve on the council.
“I have a good overview of the city because I live and work in different areas,” Meier said.
Her law practice focuses on matrimonial and family law.
“I deal with people and their issues and concerns every single day. I am a problem solver. My experience listening to people and helping them work through tough situations has given me the skills to continue to listen,” Meier said.
That is why she wants to be a council member, she said.
“What I have heard over and over is (people) just don’t feel like anybody listens to them or cares about their opinions. Greenwood is growing so rapidly. It is so important that we have a forum. People just want to be heard, so it’s very important that elected officials take the time to listen,” Meier said.
Because she is self-employed, she said she understands budgets and spending and taxes.
She has no agenda in running other than to be a voice for the people. She would ask Dine to let her join him in the meetings he plans to conduct with the public every few months, she said.
Meier is from Texas, but settled in Greenwood in 1987.
Retired teacher wants to help Greenwood continue to grow
Larry Atkinson retired from Greenwood Community Schools after teaching and coaching for 43 years, the last nine at Greenwood Community High School where he taught government among other social studies classes and was the varsity baseball coach.
He interacted with thousands of students and parents during those four decades, which he said makes him a great candidate for the city council.
He managed the Greenwood Community Center for two years, and serves on his church’s finance committee. After he retired from the schools, he continued to serve as an aid for students with special needs and as a volunteer with several area sports teams.
He has four adult children, all of whom attended Greenwood schools, nine grandchildren and a couple great-grandchildren.
“I’ve studied the council for the last five or six weeks, and I am so proud of what’s brewing,” Atkinson said. “I’m really impressed by what they’ve done so far. Everything seems to be going full blast.”
Now that he has time to serve, he wants to join current council members and help navigate upcoming growth and development projects, he said.
“It would be an honor to serve my hometown of 46 years,” Atkinson said.
Pharmacist says he can help council members, community understand opioid crisis
Don Russell has lived in Greenwood for two years.
The Columbus pharmacy manager is ready to step into an active role is his community, and he hopes to do that by serving on the council, he said.
“(My family has) always lived around the Indianapolis area. We’ve lived in Franklin. We have roots in Johnson County. We moved to Greenwood because we liked what’s happening downtown with the growth and restaurants and shops and everything,” Russell said.
His family lives in one of several new communities in Greenwood, and he is his homeowners association’s president. He said he represents the 138 homes in his neighborhood and has been reaching out to neighboring communities as well to help them with whatever they might need.
“We’ve always been active in helping our neighborhoods and communities,” Russell said.
“I have a lot of experience in strategic planning. It is probably my biggest desire to look at plans and find the best way to go about working towards them.”
Being a pharmacist, he said he understands the opioids crisis local communities are facing better than others on the council might.
“I bring a very professional perspective, so I think I can help other council members understand what we’re facing here,” he said.
Retired veteran, avid volunteer says he would ask the people’s questions
Britton Shoellhorn is a retired veteran who likes to helps out wherever he can.
He and his wife, who also retired from the military, moved to Greenwood in 2014. They own more than five acres in White River Township. Shoellhorn is still a member of the National Guard and is a past commander of the Greenwood VFW. During that time, he was recognized nationally and served as the national veterans organization’s deputy chief of staff.
Now, he spends most of his time volunteering. He is a volunteer minister at Victory Christian Church in Franklin, a volunteer chaplain for the sheriff’s office and a volunteer at the Interchurch Food Pantry of Johnson County.
He has run for public office before, but did not win.
“I want to make sure we’re sharing information with the public, whether that be through the newspaper or social media or other ways. The biggest thing that I’ve noticed in talking to people is they don’t know what these council (members) do and that’s a shame,” Shoellhorn said.
“If I win this seat, I plan on being open and available and hearing those concerns. When they ask questions, I want to make sure I am asking those questions for them during the meetings if they can’t be there, and that goes for any question. I don’t have to agree with them to ask the question.”
He and his wife are foster parents. They welcomed a young girl into their home last year who lost three parents in the military, and they just took in another child a week ago.
“We’re really big into giving back to our community and just helping people, even if it’s as simple as neighbors needing work done at their house. We will gladly do it for free,” he said.
Shoellhorn is working towards master’s degrees in clinical mental health counseling and divinity.
Long-time marketing guru wants to be voice for local businesses
Lenore Terek has been a member of the local business community for many years.
Currently, she is an account manager at Sly Fox Creative, an advertising and marketing agency in Greenwood. She previously worked at the Daily Journal for more than a decade.
“With my background in advertising and marketing, I have networked with a lot of businesses in this area and I know their wants and needs,” Terek said.
She graduated from Center Grove High School and Indiana University and has lived and worked in Johnson County for more than 40 years. She served on the Greenwood chamber’s board of directors and ambassador team, as a member of The Old Towne Greenwood Association and on the city’s events committee.
“I want to be more involved in what is going on in the city and be a voice for local businesses. Honestly, I just felt a calling to do it,” Terek said.
“I am open to having conversations with anybody who wants to have them … I like seeing all of the growth, but I do think we need more controlled growth. I don’t like seeing businesses fail.”
‘Average Joe’ wants chance to represent people of Greenwood
John Lindstrom wants voters to know he’s just your average Joe, he said.
He has lived in Greenwood since 1974 and works as a regional sales manager for Advantage Engineering, Inc., also based in Greenwood. So he knows what it’s like to live, work and play in the community, he said.
“I travel a bunch so I get out and about, but I tell you what, every time I pull back into town, I’m awful happy to be back,” Lindstrom said.
He and his family live in Crystal Lakes subdivision off of Smith Valley Road, and he is president of his homeowner’s association. Both of his kids attended Greenwood Community Schools.
He believes the council lacks focus, he said. As a concerned resident, he watches closely as issues come before the council.
Recently, members of the Tuscany Village Homeowners Association asked the council to approve ordinance that would ban parking between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. on streets in the neighborhood. Several members of the community came together to urge council members not to approve the parking ban.
“Why that even got a sponsor, I don’t know. It was defeated unanimously. Even the (council member) who sponsored it voted against it. It’s just amazing to me,” Lindstrom said.
“Unlike a lot of people who are there or have been there … I am not a politician. I am not a lawyer or an accountant or a businessman. I’m just a guy who gets up and goes to work everyday and does his job and pays attention to what’s going on in his community — a common-sense voter.”
Former long-time council member ready to serve again
Ron Deer, who served on the city council for 24 years, was defeated in 2012, and again when he ran in the 2016 election. He applied for Landon’s seat a couple weeks ago, and now Corey’s. He wants to serve again.
Now that he is retired from the Indianapolis Airport Authority, where he was parking and transportation director for two decades, he has even more time to dedicate to his constituents, he said previously.
“When you do it for that long, sometimes you just need to take a break … You have to have a heart for it. You can’t be self-serving. You have to think about what is good for a community as a whole,” Deer said.
“I’m not going into this with a particular issue I want to take on. I want to continue to make sure what we’re doing is appropriate for a community our size.”
As a conservative, his No. 1 priority has always been making sure the city is not overspending, and that taxpayer dollars are going towards needs, not wants, he said.
“You don’t have to worry about a learning curve with me,” Deer said. “I know what I’m doing. I’ve been there, done that, so I can hit the ground running.”
Local deputy prosecutor wants to make community safer
Andrew Foster, a local lawyer for nearly two decades, wants to serve his community in another way, he said previously.
Foster, a deputy prosecutor, has worked cases primarily in the Johnson County Circuit Court for 15 years. He graduated from Greenwood Community High School before attending Franklin College and law school in Indianapolis.
For the past few years, Foster has been the on-call prosecutor. So he knows firsthand what is happening on the city’s streets, he said.
“Basically everything that happens after hours, the deputies will call me, so I get all of the 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. calls,” Foster said.
If he wins the seat, he hopes to encourage some changes in areas he says feed nuisance activity, such as several motels near the Main Street exit of Interstate 65.
“From drug overdoses to theft-related crimes, search warrants and shootings … I’d like to draft an ordinance declaring those nuisance areas. Obviously we would give the businesses a chance to remedy the problem, but take legal action if they don’t,” he said.
He would also encourage more development in the downtown area and make sure the city is spending money wisely, he said.
“I just see this as another way to serve the community I grew up in. I’d like to see the city and community continue to grow, but grow responsibly. Just because we have the money doesn’t mean we should spend it.”
Former Johnson County council member has served in various roles
Paul Reed served on the Johnson County Council in the early 2000s. His priorities then were keeping taxes low, avoiding new taxes and improving public safety. Reed has also served on the Center Grove school board.
He did not respond to calls seeking comment.
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What: Greenwood’s Republican Party precinct committee members will conduct a caucus to select a new at-large city council member to replace Brent Corey, who recently resigned
When: 7 p.m. tonight
Where: Greenwood City Center
Who picks: 51 Republican precinct committee members from the Greenwood area will cast secret ballots
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