The two candidates running to represent District 3 on the Greenwood Common Council have different ideas on how to handle the issues facing the city.
Republican Incumbent Michael Williams has served on the city council since 2019, and is seeking his second term. Hoping to unseat him is political newcomer Manjit Nagra, a Democrat who is an associate at a local Amazon Fufillment Center.
Williams decided to run again because he feels there is a lot more work ahead for the city, and said balancing growth is among the city’s top issues. Nagra, an immigrant from India who has lived in the city for nearly two decades, decided to run because of issues within his area — primarily safety and park issues.
District 3 is one of Greenwood’s largest districts, covering the southeastern and far eastern side of the city, including all of the land east of Interstate 65 within city limits, southeast of Worthsville Road and the Louisville & Indiana railroad tracks and areas between Grassy Creek and I-65. Only residents living within the District 3 boundaries will get to vote in this race.
To help voters make their decision in the District 3 city council race, the Daily Journal asked the candidates their takes on issues facing the city.
Here’s what they said, edited for length and clarity:
What made you want to run for this office?
Nagra: There are so many issues in my district. The first one is safety. In my district, there
are fewer police patrolling … so we need more police patrolling in my district. There is a lot of speeding in the neighborhood. The second issue is there is … the (Interstate) 65-Main Street crossing. There should be a stoplight over there. There is … (at) the peak time, a lot of backup. There should be two lanes, maybe, (on) both sides. … The Amazon (facility), on the opposite side of Graham Road is a Gurdwara. There should be a stoplight and the pedestrian walk. … One more issue in … Homecoming Park. The benches are bad in the park. They are some broken and some are in very bad (condition). There is one footpath closed by the city.
Williams: In 2018, when I first made the decision to run at that time, it was more of a matter of I wanted to be more involved versus just reading about it in the newspaper and not liking what I was seeing at the time. So I was really drawn to say, you really can’t complain about it unless you’re willing to put yourself out there and be a part of the solution as well. … When it came time to look at reelection, the big reason for the desire to serve another four years is I think we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. I think the challenges that are presenting themselves, especially over the past couple of years in terms of the development and things like that, the fight’s not done. I’m looking forward to hopefully another four years, continuing be able to represent my district and let their voice be heard during those meetings when these decisions are being made.
What are the most pressing issues facing the city?
Nagra: I understand the last 17 years, nobody cast a vote, don’t want to go to the polling station. … I don’t know what’s the reason. Awareness is most important for the voters. It’s a democracy. If other people can vote, then democracy works well. I moved here in 2006, since (then) I am seeing there is the same party ruling. So I want the change of the ruling party.
Williams: Our biggest challenge that’s before us is balance. Growth is great, however, it has to be done responsibly. It has to be done in a way that the infrastructure can support it. … We’ve grown at such an astonishing rate, but the problem is a lot of that growth was pushed for. It wasn’t done organically in a way that we were slowly growing with it, and now we’re kind of paying the price for such an explosive growth. So being able to balance the desire to grow the tax base, to add amenities, to add population, but doing it in a way that our resources are there and available and not putting stress on public safety or infrastructure, roads, items like that.
What should the city council do to address public safety?
Nagra: I will inform the people about these problems. Some people, sometimes they don’t know what the speeding limit (is) and once in the neighborhood of what they have to do. There should be no noise in the neighborhood. So it’s more important than the police to inform the people about speeding and the noise and other things that some people are fighting with each other some habits, neighborhood problems, so I want to solve that if I can win. … It’s a big issue, the state of construction in Greenwood. They take a long time when they start construction. They take some time one year, sometimes two years. So I think it’s too long. Maybe it should be done in two or three months. So I want … give them some suggestions about that because the traffic problem is more important for the safety and police.
Williams: Our mechanism, as the legislative body, is to have an impact on the budget. Over the years, we’ve heard the message that well we can only train X number or that we’re fully staffed. Again, I guess it depends on who you talk to on whether those numbers or those stats are factual if (it’s) the FBI measure or somebody else’s approach. But I think what we can continue to do is to make sure that we are answering the call from our public safety officers. If they’re telling us they need more, then we need to be that voice and we need to call that out, make sure that it is being revisited because again, there’s two different messages depending on who you talk to sometimes — the individuals that are on the trucks or in the cars versus the ones that are leading them. Sometimes the messages don’t match up. As the city council, it’s our job to make sure that just the voices and the messages are being heard and discussed.
How should Greenwood approach growth?
Nagra: If we can bring more businesses (into) Greenwood, then that will be good for the city. So we will approach the businesses to bring them here more. … Housing … If we bring more houses, more companies to give (worker) benefits so they (can) make more houses. The workers … they need also more businesses to work.
Williams: If you don’t grow, and you’re not looking to grow, eventually you will kind of die off. So it is important to have growth. I’m not saying that growth shouldn’t happen, but I think again, it should be done in an organic fashion in a way that, you are growing with your identity versus trying to get rid of everything that makes our city great. Greenwood is a great city, so let’s grow to improve it for those who are already residents of the city of Greenwood versus saying we have to do things that attract outside of our current population growth. … We don’t have to try to modulate after a different city and how they’ve done things. I think we can try to stay organic, keep our identity and grow in a way that supports our city (and) does provide growth and opportunities.
How do you feel about additional development of warehouses, logistics and manufacturing facilities in the city?
Nagra: There should be no more warehouses. I (do) not agree with this. There are more trucks and more noise, more pollution if you can make the warehouses near the neighborhood. It’s good to develop the … warehouses, but not near the where the people live.
Williams: We’ve had some great companies that have come to Greenwood to take (a) place in some of those warehouses. … But we’ve also got some of the lower-end and generic warehouse jobs. What we have to be very careful of is we are running out of land to develop. So if we’re going out there and accepting “low hanging fruits” that are so tempting because they offer so many jobs, but those jobs are transient or low paying in a sense that it doesn’t really sustain wealth, whereas maybe if we held out just a little bit longer, we could find another company that’s paying more skilled labor, more career-type job opportunities. … A lot of that land now is not going to be anything but an industrial or manufacturing development because no home builder is going to want to build homes in between three warehouses, so that land’s destiny has been given. … I was also told by the administration that Graham Road was the line; we’re no longer doing warehouses, south of that land. However, there have also been efforts to make that happen. So I’m optimistic that we have done enough in terms of especially speculative warehousing, or just big concrete boxes waiting for something to move in.
How should tax abatements be used by the city?
Nagra: My view is they have to pay because any individual cannot have the break … The businesses also, they have to pay. They have good money. They make good money. [Daily Journal follow-up: So you’re not for giving the tax breaks out then?] I’m not sure about that.
Williams: They’re not a bad thing when used properly. A lot of times, that is the deciding factor when people are looking for places to put their roots. … So having that mechanism, that tool there to help us have the leg up or at least be competitive in economic development is important. My approach, however, (when it comes to) giving abatements to speculative buildings, or companies that have not really brought us much delivered on previous promises, I don’t support those types of abatements. I’d like to see a little bit more variety in terms of who we’re giving abatements to. We’ve got a lot of companies that have been repeat applicants and repeat recipients of those abatements. Again, the abatement could be used to help attract new business.
ABOUT THE JOB
What: Greenwood City Council District 3
District 3: Encompasses all of city limits east of Interstate 65; area south of Worthsville Road and east of the railroad tracks; western area includes the Villages at Grassy Creek and is bounded by Stop 18 Road and Sheek Road.
Term: Four years
Pay: $13,384.54 a year (2024 proposal)
Duties: Set annual spending for the city, make policy changes, adopt new local rules and ordinances, approve new taxes, appoint members to various city boards.
THE NAGRA FILE
Name: Manjit Nagra
Party: Democrat
Age: 66
Family: Wife, Sukhpal Kaur Nagra; three children
Occupation: Associate, Amazon Fulfillment Center, Greenwood
Education: Government High School in India; D.A.V. College, Jalandhar India
Political experience: None
Memberships: Construction committee for Gurdwara Shri Guru HarGobind Sahib Ji of Greenwood
THE WILLIAMS FILE
Name: Michael Williams
Party: Republican
Age: 38
Family: Wife, Kristen; one son
Occupation: Corporate HR Solutions Director, Legacy Supply Chain
Education: Shelbyville High School; Purdue Fort Wayne; Liberty University
Political experience: Incumbent, first elected in 2019
Memberships: Emmanuel Church; Board of Directors, Boy Scouts of America Crossroads of America Council; Society of Human Resource Management
