It’s no wonder my to-do list has been piling up.
Feb. 8 was the day the list of news projects I wanted to tackle had to take a backseat. That was the deadline for residents who wanted to become city or town council members, mayors, judges or clerk-treasurers to file for office. That was the day we began our election coverage.
When the filing was complete, we counted 70 contested candidates for office in the May primary election.
We counted them again. Seventy candidates for contested offices in Greenwood, Franklin, Whiteland, Trafalgar, Bargersville, Edinburgh and Prince’s Lakes — we would have to start now.
Five of us in the Daily Journal newsroom divvied up the races and the candidates and interviewed (or tried to interview) each candidate. We’ve gathered their biographical information and photos for starters, but we’ve looked for potential conflicts of interest and we’ve poked into backgrounds when necessary. We’ve asked them to take a stand on the issues of the day and the timeless issues that every community wrestles with.
Should Franklin borrow money to help the state with a massive plan to redesign U.S. 31?
What, if anything, should the city be doing differently as the community navigates the environmental contamination situation?
What types of development should be allowed — and not be allowed — in southeast Greenwood?
In what areas should spending be increased, or decreased? Think police, fire, parks, streets.
Nothing can be simple.
One candidate said he didn’t want his name in the newspaper, so we couldn’t ask him why he was seeking office, what issues mattered or how he would gauge what the public wanted.
And yes, we did include his name.
In Trafalgar, we had to navigate the literal brouhaha of two town council members getting into a verbal, then physical, fight at a town council meeting where personal jabs were exchanged. An effort was underway after that to recruit more Republican candidates and give voters a choice.
Across the county, regardless of the community, the men and women who are elected this year will decide how to grow police and fire departments, maintain safe utilities and repair streets.
These are the men and women who will decide how to spend your tax dollars, which businesses should get tax breaks and how to spend the cash (property tax dollars) that builds up in the tax-increment financing districts.
They will decide whether businesses that want incentives, such as a cash handout or a property tax break, are quizzed about how much they’ll pay their new employees, and what hourly wage or number of jobs is worthy an incentive.
And if a company doesn’t live up to its promises, these officials decide whether to do anything about it.
We’ve also written about the question that Franklin schools is posing to its residents, and had to understand, then explain, the impact on your property tax bill, how the school district will use the money and what difference it will make for your student and your community in one year or five years. Context is key, and we’ve looked at what other schools pay their teachers.
Readers have been calling for weeks asking when stories about specific races will be published because they want to know more about the candidates and their stances before they head to the polls.
Who says newspapers aren’t relevant?
We will conclude that coverage this week and give you another primer on how to use the new voting machines, where and when you can vote and everything that is on the ballot.
All this coverage comes after the debacle with voting in the November election, when voters stood in line for hours as equipment stalled. In the aftermath, we contacted other counties to find out what equipment and companies they used, we poured over the state’s investigative report on what went wrong and we kept asking questions, because we believe Johnson County residents deserve better. We are willing to go it alone when need be.
If we can’t master the basic tenet of democracy — your right to cast a ballot and elect your leaders — what else matters?
This election is a sort of test-run for the new equipment as the county prepares for a massive presidential election in 2020. In the days after May 7, we’ll ask what worked and what didn’t, and what needs to be done next.
We’ll mark our calendars for July 1 and 3. Those are the deadlines for an independent candidate to get on the November ballot and for the Johnson County Democratic Party to slate a candidate to fill a vacancy on the ballot, respectively. Then we will start covering races again so that you are informed before casting a ballot in November.
And in the downtime, we’ll turn to our to-do list and focus on reporting and writing meaningful stories that shed light on your communities, the challenges they are facing and how they are growing.
I want to revisit the 170 suspects who were targeted in the drug roundups in November and earlier this month. How many have never been found? What kind of jail time have they received? How many have been charged repeatedly in recent years?
I want to explore the dangers of U.S. 31 through Franklin and understand how the state’s plan to redesign the road will make a difference.
A Greenwood City Council candidate thinks that crime could be curbed if hotels are better regulated. We need to understand what that means, what regulations are possible and how it would make your community safer.
Clark-Pleasant Schools is implementing its own police department and developing a mental health program with the increased tax dollars that residents agreed to in the 2018 election. I want to explore how that is taking shape, who is leading it and how the new programs and police department will be measured to know what differences they are making.
County officials are wrestling with tax increases to pay for a jail expansion and roadwork that’s needed in the Center Grove area. Which options will they settle on and how much will you pay?
This quick glance at my to-do list is ripe for improvements and suggestions. You help us decide what questions to ask candidates for public office, and what news stories we spend time on. Keep your ideas coming.
