Two seats are up for grabs on the Edinburgh Town Council, and four candidates are on the Republican primary ballot, including two current council members and two newcomers.
Incumbent Marshall Ryan Piercefield is seeking reelection, while Debra K. Buck, who joined the council via caucus in July 2019, is asking residents to elect her for a full term.
Newcomers Ryan Blaker, a county correction officer, and Maryann Gallagher-Little, a dispatcher, are also on the ballot.
Gallagher-Little missed the deadline to withdraw her candidacy but no longer wishes to run for the office, she said. She reconsidered due to a conflict of interest. She is married to Edinburgh Police Chief Doyne Little.
The candidates are competing for two at-large seats on the council.
The Daily Journal asked the candidates questions about their experience and vision for Edinburgh. Since Gallagher-Little no longer wants to be on the council, she declined the interview.
Why are you running for office/re-election?
Blaker: I grew up in Edinburgh and I’m wanting to do my part to make a difference and make things better for the youth of the town coming up and our citizens now. I would just like to improve things the best I can.
Buck: I’m a lifelong resident and for several years, I wondered why the town council made decisions the way they did. So, I decided to run in the caucus to have a part in the process. As a (council member), I was involved in placing three key leaders in the community: the new town manager, the new chief of police and the new fire chief. Additionally, I was very instrumental in restructuring the trash services to include monthly big trash pick-up. There are many more projects in the funnel that I would like to see come to fruition. I will continue to provide the most efficient and transparent guidance on working with the team to make Edinburgh the best community possible.
Piercefield: I kind of wanted to see a vision for the town and try to direct that vision. My family has always been here. I love Edinburgh. It is my community and I wanted to have input on the future of (it). It seems like if you don’t have new and fresh ideas, things can kind of go stagnant. I’m really proud of the direction we have gone. We are really looking into the future … it is not just me, it is the vision of the shared board. That’s why I’m running again, so we can continue that positive movement. We are looking at new homes. We’ve done amazing things with public safety in the police and fire departments. We are a really unique entity because we carry so many different departments for the town.
How would you make your decisions if elected/re-elected to this office?
Blaker: I would honestly take the citizen’s opinions in mind. The people who vote for me, I work for them obviously. I would factor in what I’m hearing from them. I would look into those and make the best decision overall for the community.
Buck: You always have to do your research and have as much background information as you can before making a decision. For me to cast my decision, I look to the other members and try to determine why they’re making that decision. I also talk to town employees and residents about how they feel.
Piercefield: There’s nothing done on a whim, and that’s true. One thing I had to learn pretty quickly is there isn’t a true black and white decision. Everything – and this might sound a little bit cliché – is a little bit methodical and it has to run through the legal process. I like to research things. I’m not a spur of the moment person. My wife gets on me a lot about it. I beat that horse to death. When you’re making a decision, it doesn’t just affect the next five minutes, it could be the next five years or the next 50 years.
What are three strengths of Edinburgh?
Blaker: A lot of improvements in infrastructure and roads. I would like to continue to improve on that. There was a long time when there wasn’t a whole lot done with that, but it has improved. Our local police department is pretty good and I’d like to help build and improve on that. Our town parks department also does a good job with the events they put on throughout the year.
Buck: Public safety. We grew the police and fire departments. We continue to support the improvement of our infrastructure. We are implementing a new fire station, new water plant and street improvements. We continue to support the revitalization of our downtown area. We also own all of our utilities so there’s never a long response time to get those fixed when they go down.
Piercefield: We are very self-dependent. We aren’t relying on other agencies or private organizations to get things done. The other thing that is great to me is the community. The town has always been able to really get together and get things done, and that’s what I like about the town employees. If one department is in dire straights — like the fire department if they’re having a fire or the water department if they’re having a leak — everyone will come together and help. The small town has its downfalls, but it has a lot of positives and that’s one of them. We have a vision to grow. That is a huge strength.
What are three weaknesses of Edinburgh, and what ideas do you have to tackle those?
Blaker: I’d like to improve the downtown area. I know it has improved a little bit, but I’d like to work with local businesses and see what the council can do to help them and bring even more people downtown. We could bring in more activities for the youth in Edinburgh. The parks department does a great job, but those events are only certain times of the year. It would be good to have more to do in town. Also, with the police department, I’d like to try to help by working on getting them a K9 unit. I know it has been looked at in the past, but it hasn’t been done. If I’m elected, if the people of the town have any more weaknesses in mind, I’d try to address those.
Buck: We are landlocked. We need to bring more homes to the community, and we need to get more kids in town so we can bring up the school population. We need to bring in more housing at the golf course and try to get affordable housing elsewhere. We also need to revitalize downtown so people want to come and spend their money here. We are getting ready to enhance the fire department and other town projects. That’s going to be something that takes up a lot of time going forward. Edinburgh is making a lot of progress and Dan Cartwright is doing a great job as town manager. I am happy to be part of the team that chose him.
Piercefield: Being a small town can be, at times, a bit of a weakness. We don’t always have everything we would like to offer as a big community. It hurts us with regard to being able to bring in new businesses. Funding is a problem everywhere. If the sky was the limit and we had an open checkbook, there would be a lot of things I would like to do differently. I would like to be able to pay our employees more. Everyone, from our linemen to our public safety employees, deserves more. Going hand in hand with that is (lack of) workforce. We have a lot of openings right now in Edinburgh, which didn’t used to occur. Since we are a public sector employer, the private sector beats us out.
Edinburgh’s population shrunk in the last 10 years and business growth is slower here than other communities along Interstate 65. Is that something you’d like to see change?
Blaker: It is kind of tricky. I’m not in charge of any of that yet, but as far as I know, there isn’t a whole lot of area for housing — the housing is pretty much set. I know the golf course has new developments … but the houses are kind of expensive. As of right now, I don’t know where you would put more housing in the town, honestly. As for the businesses toward Taylorsville, there are a few coming in there. I would look to see what other options we have to grow there. I would like (housing and business) to grow, but I wouldn’t want to rush into things and take it slow. I don’t want it to take away from people living in the town right now. It is something I would look into on a case-by-case basis as it comes up.
Buck: Commercial growth would help out tremendously and go hand in hand with housing. With us being landlocked, we need to find out where those houses can go. The council is looking at options for that now, and Dan is going to help out tremendously. I would like to see more manufacturing near I-65. For downtown, I would like to see mom-and-pop shops, though we have just about all the buildings downtown filled now. We know the need for housing has skyrocketed. We would need housing that a family of four or six can come in and live comfortably. We want to see more families coming into the community.
Piercefield: We are trying to foster the industrial park now, but the problem is our tax rates are higher (than in Bartholomew County, which is a shared taxing district). It is hard to convince anybody to build here when there is a higher tax rate. My vision is to try and build more homes to bring people to the community. We are looking at some property now to bring in some subdivisions … to bring in more homes and lower our taxes, and bring in more workforce for those potential factories and warehouses like Franklin, Whiteland, Greenwood and Indianapolis have obtained. They kind of have to run hand in hand. We have to get the homes to get the businesses and the tax rate down. We have to get more houses to lower our taxes and bring in business. But we also need to bring in more kids for our school system.
