Six Republicans are vying for the Greenwood Common Council’s three at-large seats in the May primary.
Incumbents Mike Campbell, who has held one of the seats since 2012, and Erin Betron, who joined the council in February after being selected in a caucus, are asking voters to keep them in office. They are being challenged by Bogdan Golinski, the fleet director for Johnson County Government; Steve Moan, a former school board member and current member of the city’s redevelopment commission; Brian Moore, a crew member of Luca Pizza; and Ronald Palmer, the owner of Bruce Electric.
For Betron and Golinski, service has always been a part of their lives and running for city council is another way to continue serving others. Campbell decided to seek reelection because he wants to make Greenwood a better place to live, work and play, and being on the city council is one of the better ways to do that, he said.
Moan, who previously ran for city council in 2019, has the drive to help the community and wants to bring a “common sense” perspective to the council, he said. Moore said he is running because he wants to make sure “taxpayers get what they want, not what the council wants.” Palmer is running because he believes he’s a good fit for the job with his business background, and said he loves the direction the city is going.
Every seat of Greenwood’s legislative body is on the ballot, and challengers have filed to run against incumbents in District 1, 4 and 5, along with at-large. District 2 incumbent Ezra Hill, District 3 incumbent Michael Williams and District 6 incumbent David Leske are not challenged in the primary.
Democrat Manjit Nagra is challenging Williams in the general election for District 3, and Democrat Nathan Cardenas will face whoever is selected in the Republican primary for District 4. Libertarian James Sceniak is running for at-large seat this fall.
To help voters make their decision in the at-large city council race, the Daily Journal asked the candidates their takes on issues facing the city.
Here’s what they said, edited for length, clarity and grammar:
What are the most pressing issues facing the city?
Betron: The biggest issue for me is some of the public safety concerns, there’s a huge narrative, that is kind of a divided narrative, right now over do we have enough fire and police or do we not? I’ve had a lot of conversations with people, and I do sit on the meet and confer (committee), so I have an idea of what … the regulation says that (the fire department is) supposed to have. They are staffed, but it’s minimal. So if somebody takes leave, somebody goes on vacation, somebody gets sick, somebody retires or moves on to a different place they’re short an individual. So they’re not running full rigs all the time … (With) all those apartment complexes and everything coming up, those are full of people. We need more coverage to be able to handle the influx of population. It will be the same for the police department. The police department is devastatingly low. I know that they are trying to get more people to join the police department, but unfortunately, we don’t pay as well as other cities surrounding us. So, if we want to attract and retain top talent we need to put those resources in place. … We have some roads that need to be paved. We have some buildings that are becoming eyesores that can be fixed up and put retail shops in there to make it nice.
Campbell: The priorities for any government are public safety, infrastructure and economic development. With the Western Regional interceptor being completed, we’ve really addressed a major concern that we had with the state with infrastructure. … Public safety is always a concern and has always been one of my top priorities — trying to support the police and fire departments. It seems like malls are deteriorating, and people just don’t shop there anymore, they shop online. …. I know the police department has stepped up its patrols and is doing more. Since I’ve been in office, we’ve increased the budget for public safety every year, increased the number of police officers, the number of full-time firemen.
Golinski: There are many, including just making sure that our growth is the proper growth. Obviously, public safety, you hear that all the time. I believe with our infrastructure we need to make sure that, with the growth, that we’re continuing in the right amount of infrastructure, being roads and whatever else that entails.
Moan: I think to me, one of the most pressing issues is traffic and infrastructure and getting people east and west across this city, right from the interstate, across the town. You look at the high-traffic areas and the high traffic times a day, traffic doesn’t move in Greenwood. Now we’re not in gridlock like some big cities, and I think that it’s adequate for our population 10 years ago, so we react to the problems instead of being proactive related to our economic growth. I think a lot of the issues are in progress. We want to continue to grow, but we want to we still want to feel like we’re a small community. We’re a big community … A lot of people are not happy with the explosive growth and the feel in town, and I’d like to bring back to this attitude that we’re growing because we’re a place that people want to live, and they want their kids to go to school here and they believe it’s a community that’s safe.
Moore: A pressing issue is tax abatements. We need to make sure we have our streets and our sidewalks up to code where they need to be in certain areas. The roundabouts need to go bye-bye. The one roundabout by the high school is not a good idea because of the traffic, because of school buses coming out there. … There’s really no room there between Averitt Road and Smith Valley Road to do another roundabout right there.
Palmer: I hear people talk about crime in the area, and personally, I’m not seeing crime. I know that in any community, there’s going be a certain amount of crime. I believe that a lot of whatever crime we do have in the area is kind of filtering across from across the county line, from Marion County. I know that the police department has increased its budget and the police department has increased in size. … My dad was a police officer, and growing up in that household, I want to say to it that our city employees are well-compensated, but I don’t want to see them compensated to a point that we exceed our budget.
What do you think the city council should do to address public safety?
Betron: When ordinances or resolutions (and) those things come up, if we can vote toward the things that will help build those and (have) everybody be on board and understanding how important that is; that’s definitely one thing that we can do as a city council. I would like to see more emphasis from higher up, from within the council, to help with some of those initiatives. The food and beverage tax was supposed to go help pay for some of that, and I don’t feel like it has gone to pay for that. They showed me that meet and confer there was a small amount that went to the police department to help pay for body cams and some things for the vehicles. But it didn’t go towards the recruitment efforts like it was originally stated that it would so I would like those things to come to fruition; to make good on those promises.
Campbell: All of us on the council are concerned (about public safety). I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus, however, … it’s the mayor and his staff who put the budget together. They decide what they want. When it comes to us on the council, we can approve it with no changes, or we can approve it with reductions, but we cannot increase the budget. That’s the way the state law is written. So, if the mayor comes to us and says we want three new firefighters and three new police officers, and we go, ‘No, we want six of each.’ We can’t do that. We can’t increase the funding for those. We’re in a position where … the budgets have increased, the personnel have increased and the council has approved all of that. I think a lot of that works out, and I think we’ve done well at that we’ve done all that with while staying within budget. … Most of us would like to hire more public safety people, but it doesn’t really fit into the budget. When we did the 1% food and beverage tax, we were all in favor of that because we wanted to use that money for public safety. Then when the state passed the law that let us do that, they specifically said you cannot use it for public safety and so that was a disappointment. While we don’t use it directly for public safety, it has freed up money to help us with public safety.
Golinski: Public safety from the council is obviously the checkbook and to make sure that the departments that are filled to capacities that they need to be, their budgets are filled to the extent that they need to be, so they can have the proper equipment, training (and) manpower on all shifts. Working with other departments is a huge thing and we need to truly have a great relationship with other departments. … If we need to call in for additional manpower, I believe that having those relationships not be stagnant but to grow so that we can have the help that we need and/or the manpower that we need to have for our own department. I don’t know off the top of my head what numbers need to be, but if they need to grow, those are things that we need to look at as a council.
Moan: Let me start with the fire department: just making sure that as we grow that we have appropriately-placed departments, properly equipped and properly trained firefighters to be in proximity to what could happen in each part of town. I think we need to be adequately stationed, staffed and equipped for our fire service. As far as policing goes, making sure that we have a police force that is adequate for our population and in tune with the higher crime areas. In talking to people as this campaign has gone on, people expressed concerns around the mall, for example…. They feel like the mall may not be as safe as it once was. … But we need to be forward-thinking related to the mall, where it’s an attraction for all types of people; people with good and bad intentions.
Moore: Make sure our police officers and firefighters got all the equipment they need, and we stay competitive with other agencies throughout the state, pay-wise.
Palmer: I’ve heard certain people kind of say, ‘Well we have a problem with crime in Greenwood.’ I’m not seeing any crime in Greenwood. So from a standpoint of trying to address public safety, the biggest concern I see is that people get, for example, in my neighborhood, I felt like are maybe driving a little bit too fast, and I don’t know how … we need to address that. … As far as public safety, I see plenty of police presence about, and I’m hearing that we’re supposed to be building a new fire station out toward the southwest corner of the city. I want to see to it that to our police department and our fire department are well-maintained.
How should Greenwood approach growth?
Betron: (The city can keep its current pace of growth) only if we can have the resources to keep up with that, as far as public safety is concerned, and as far as the drivability of the roads and all the other things. It’s putting the cart before the horse. We’re bringing all these people, but we can’t sustain them and we can’t keep them safe. So, we need to put a hold on some of that while we fix up and fortify ourselves before we grow more. As far as some of the places that are already built, like as far as Old Town Greenwood — they’re trying to build up some of those storefronts and put nice shops and restaurants and stuff in there; that’s a great idea. But I don’t think growth should come in the form of more warehouse jobs. It shouldn’t be in the way of apartment complexes, it should be in something that’s going to bring in more income for us and not be a tax on our safety assets.
Campbell: Some concern has been brought up about the increase in growth and the increase in crime and the need for more police officers. … It’s a catch-22 because an increase in housing, an increase in business, is how you get money to fund more public safety. It’s the additional tax dollars that come in from the increase. … I don’t think we’re growing too fast, and interestingly people say, ‘Well, these people building apartments are just corporations wanting to make money.’ Well, of course, but they wouldn’t be investing the capital they’re investing if they did not think it was a good idea. They’re not going to make money if the development is not profitable or if people don’t move into it. We need to be careful about where we put growth, smart growth. … But the kinds of developments that we’re seeing are ones that are beneficial to the city, and in the long run will help us with our public safety issues.
Golinski: Growth in my eyes is never a bad thing. It’s all based on how we do it, where we do it and what kind of infrastructure we continue to put in place. The big thing is infrastructure; just because you want to have growth, but if you don’t have infrastructure is not a good thing. We need to make sure that we’re doing it the proper way, in the right locations, with the proper infrastructure. We need to make sure that our roads are the right size for the amount of traffic that we would have with any growth.
Moan: As far as current growth goes, we’re kind of walking that balance because … our infrastructure is supporting a population from years past. So when we’re thinking about growth, and drawing people in with apartments and townhomes like we’re seeing down here off of Madison Avenue (in) the old middle school area; that is a great draw, especially if you’ve got these market-rate housing, condos and then the apartments and some shopping and perhaps small restaurants … We have to be careful about population bursts and growth. … When we talk about future projects, about impacting the population of the city, we have to think through those things very carefully and use some common sense. Oftentimes we ask ourselves if we can and could and don’t ask ourselves if we should. That’s kind of common sense that I would like to bring to the council and ask the hard questions, and not necessarily just because I’m opposed, but you should look at it from multiple viewpoints.
Moore: Now we got to look at what’s going to help school corporations in Whiteland, Greenwood and Center Grove. There’s only so much room for housing now, but we’re taking up our farmer’s land. We’ve got to have growth for our farmers so we have food for years to come for us here in the United States and here in Indiana.
Palmer: I want to see the city grow. As a parent and grandparent, one of the complaints I hear is ‘What is there to do?’ I want to see some of those businesses coming into the area. I feel with the tax incentives or some of the improvements have been made around the city that have helped to encourage new businesses into the area. It also helps them encourage the right kind of people to move into the area. People that are going to have a positive impact on the community. I’m all for growth. I’m happy about the renovation of the downtown area. I’m happy about what I see the city has done down Madison Avenue. I’m happy with the new fieldhouse … I’ve had some people complain about the new apartments going around them. Personally, I like the apartments and that’s why I tell people I think they’re going to have a positive influence impact on a city. They’re gonna bring in young professional-type people, which to me, it’s a better tax base.
How do you feel about additional development of warehouses and logistics facilities?
Betron: As far as more just like $20 an hour warehouse jobs? No, how’s that going to help? We got a lot of them already … why are they building new? Why don’t they just occupy some of those? That’s not the kind of growth that we need to see here. We need things that are going to help pay taxes, and that we could use to help increase this budget to cover public safety. Getting the roads taken care of, that’s a big part of it too. … Just looking at some of the forums, like Greenwood Chatter (a Facebook group) and some of the web pages for this city, there are a lot of residents who don’t want them in their backyard. They don’t want to look out their backyard which once had a farm field and see another warehouse being built that blocks their view of the sunrise in the morning.
Campbell: That is going to slow down quite a bit simply because all the big players are already out there. The most recent proposal that was postponed, that’s a manufacturing firm, which is different. People talk, they complain about the warehouses but this is manufacturing, which has been a staple in Indiana for a long time. The last big approval we had was out on Allen Road, and I think we required it was at least a 10-foot buffer along it to separate the buildings from the houses across the street. But a lot of those houses over there were already built next to warehouses to the west of them. There are ways to do it, but no one ever wants it in their backyard. I like the idea of manufacturing coming into Greenwood, the jobs they provide, the wages they provide are good, but location is important. If that is approved for the location that they wanted, there’ll be some major concessions to separation between it and the surrounding neighborhoods. But we’ll have to see what they propose. I am in favor of continued industrial growth as long as it’s in the right location and the right kind of opportunity. I do know that not every proposal that comes before the city is even brought to the council. A lot of things are turned down because they aren’t the right kind of thing for our city. It’s just nobody ever hears about those.
Golinski: If you’re talking about bringing jobs and tax revenue to the base, I think that’s a wonderful thing. I don’t think we should give things away, but I definitely believe in growth. It, again, goes back to the infrastructure and the proper planning and the proper partnerships.
Moan: The time I’ve served on the redevelopment commission has taught me a number of lessons, and one of the focuses for like TIF incentive is the average wage of the earner. They have to meet a certain threshold, minimum average wage, and that’s kind of their promise for getting the incentive, whether it be a tax abatement or a cash infusion … When you bring in the warehouses, you have to be aware of what kind of tenants they’re going to have if a company is going to come in and buy it. … One kind of manufacturing growth that is coming our way is the Endress+Hauser project. If you look through the paperwork on that, and look what the average wage is gonna be in their new facility and that partnership they’re bringing in for their sales conglomerate is, those are great wages and tailored to people who want to live here. I think as long as we take those things into consideration now, I think there’s a limit. There’s a max that you want to have with warehousing. … But the thing I love about it is they’re choosing us, they’re choosing Greenwood.
Moore: Well if a manufacturer’s not going to hold up their end of the bargain on a tax abatement, then the city needs to pull their tax abatement. If you’re supposed to hire this many people, and you’re doing what’s supposed to within that timeframe, then the city needs to pull the tax abatement. Holding them accountable, just like we have to hold our city government accountable.
Palmer: One of the things I like about what I’ve seen about those types of facilities right now is the fact that for the most part the development seems like it’s going has gone on on the east side of I-65. The community as a whole, the bigger part of the community, is on the west side of I-65. So I’m really happy about the fact that development has gone on. I actually look forward to a little bit more development. I felt like it it’s going to, at least eventually, bring in tax revenues which are going to help to keep my taxes down. It also increases the possibility, while I don’t have to worry about a job, but for some of our younger people, it provides job opportunities.
How should tax abatements be used by the city?
Betron: Originally tax abatements were made for blighted areas that nobody wants. The area that Endress+Hauser bought was an area that nobody wanted. Nobody wanted to build on that because it had those two waterways that went through it. …. I get it, that makes sense and they’re gonna bring high-paying jobs and take care of that land that nobody wants. … But I’m gonna kind of go on a limb here and say like the area that’s where the Kroger is on 135, they got a pretty huge tax abatement and that is not a blighted area. That was a farm field across the street from where I used to live; it was a perfectly fine farm field. I like Kroger there, but I don’t know that they that we needed it so badly to give them a tax abatement because what that does is it takes money away from the schools. … (Tax abatements are) a one-by-one thing, and it’s not a blanket yes or no. It is a one-by-one situation depending on what the area is (and) is it really blighted or is it necessary?
Campbell: We’re not writing these companies a check when we abate their taxes. We’re simply saying that we’re going to abate that so, for example, over a period of 10 years, you’re going to pay $6 million and not pay (another) $6 million. … They’re still paying us, and the difference is not ‘Are we going to get $6 million or $12 million.’ In my opinion, the difference is ‘Are you going to get $6 million or nothing,’ that if we don’t do the tax abatement, and Franklin says, ‘Yeah, we’ll give you a tax abatement.’ They’re going go to Franklin, or Whiteland. … The incentive packages that we give companies to come here are often why they choose Greenwood, and we’ve had companies specifically tell us that. … Typically the council looks at three things: the capital investment, the number of jobs and the pay. Pay seems to be the one that weeds out a lot of people. We want them to at least have wages higher than the county average.
Golinski: If we’re going to have growth, we have to have a tax base. The tax base allows us to have the infrastructure and the things that we need that are necessary for the city to grow. Do I believe in tax abatements 100%? Absolutely not. I do not believe that everybody should get every tax abatement that’s possible to attract business. I think that with the proper planning, the proper relationships, I think you can attract businesses to the area that will increase the tax base and would be welcomed.
Moan: Do I think they’re necessary? I think in most cases yes, and the reason why I say that is because a lot of times these organizations are shopping. They’re making a huge investment in the area by either moving, building, or leasing here, and so the incentive — it helps them make the decision. … I think it draws people here that they can get the incentive and ultimately once the incentive is over … think about the tax revenue from that organization we wouldn’t have had if they didn’t choose us and they chose us partly because of the incentive. Now I’m a public educator, that’s who I’ve been for a long time, even though I’m an accountant now, but educators and other taxing units have some pretty strong objections to the use of TIF money or having economic development areas because it’s tax money that they don’t see, that assessed value that they don’t see now. … The schools and the other taxing units don’t lose the tax money that they were receiving before it became an economic development TIF area, so they still get the funding from the original assessed value. The idea is once the TIF expires, that increased assessed value and tax money then infuse back to the schools, so they’re not losing what they originally had.
Moore: If one would pop up for me, I would have to request a continuance at look at tax abatement, talk to the company one-on-one with the CEO, figure out why he needs his tax abatement, and if he didn’t have his tax abatement, would we have forced him to leave the city of Greenwood? That would be another question.
Palmer: I’m not gonna say that they are absolutely necessary, it depends on the need … You have to look at what are the long-term benefits? Basically, is it an investment in the community, and is it just fluff or is it something substantial that’s going to benefit the community down the road? If it’s not good benefits down the road, then I’m absolutely not for the tax incentives.
