Bargersville Town Council candidates share visions for town

Republican incumbents who have been serving together on the Bargersville Town Council since 2020 are back on the ballot, but are faced with one Democratic challenger.

Incumbents Ruth Ann Moore, Susie Qualls and James Rumell II are asking voters to retain them in office, while local business owner and Democrat Blythe Potter is asking voters to give her a shot.

Moore, Qualls and Rumell say they’ve helped the council make significant progress in the last four years. They point to big-ticket items like a new police station and Kephart Park being checked off the council’s to-do list. All three said they want four more years to accomplish even more for the town.

While Potter acknowledges these are big achievements, she thinks the council should fast-track needed quality-of-life items such as better roads and more pedestrian connectivity. If given a shot, she would be more aggressive in pursuing those items, she said.

The candidates will face off during the municipal election on Nov. 6.

All registered voters who live within Bargersville town limits can vote for this office. The entire town council is at-large and three of the five seats are up for election this year.

The Daily Journal asked all four candidates the same set of questions about themselves and issues facing the town. Here is what they said in their own words, with minor edits to improve clarity and decrease repetition.

What made you want to run for office?

Moore: I was elected in Nov. of ‘19. So, it’ll be four years at the end of the year. And I would like to run one more time. We have several projects that we’re in the process of working on, I just like to see them to fruition and the Interstate 69 project is starting to get exciting. I’d like to be a part of that. That’s really going to take off you know, in the next four years. Our four years have kind of been getting it built and now we’re going into this phase of what’s going to go out there.

Potter: I kind of thought about it over the last few years, but like it was more like 20 years from now, maybe when I retired or when my daughter was out of school. I’ve had I’ve always had very good interactions with the different boards with zoning and things like that and I just thought it might be cool to be part of that. But in January, one of the Facebook groups I’m in, Amanda Stevenson-Holmes with (the) Democratic Party posted that there were still some open spots on the November ballots. … I was just like, oh, well, with everything going on in politics right now. And I’ve had some things I’d like to change over the last four years that are generally falling on deaf ears. I thought, well I guess I’ll just give it a shot and see what happens.

Qualls: I truly, truly care about this community. It’s been proven through my participation on the council for the past four years and my countless hours of service and collaborative efforts. I want to preserve the quality of life and safety of Bargersville residents. I want to continue to build on the progress that this council has made over the last four years.

Rumell: When I initially ran — I had served Bargersville for over 20 years on boards — and I just felt that Bargersville was getting behind on development. I felt like there was so much to offer. This council has been instrumental in getting new development, redoing downtown, the new police department, building beautiful Kephart Park. This council was able to accomplish it. We’ve added you know miles of walking trails, sidewalks, ADA compliance things that the town has just kind of always needed.

What makes you qualified for the office?

Moore: I’ve lived here for 45 years in the town of Bargersville. So, I really care about the town of Bargersville. So I have five kids that went through Center Grove. So, I’m invested in the school and the town. I’m not a money manager or anything. I retired from the post office, but I just have life experiences. And having been on (town council) for four years, you learn a lot. … I served on the parks board, too. So that was how I kind of got interested in the town government, serving on that. And then I decided to try for the town council.

Potter: I’m a resident. I’m also a business owner. I also kind of grew up here — my dad lived here when I was growing up. I’m also a transplant, so I have these different views on things. … I want some things to stay the same, but I also think some things need to change and some of the changes that have happened, I think could be done better. … I have the ability to look at things often on a larger scale. Like, okay, so this is happening now, but what happens five or 10 years from now with this decision? Or who is this going to benefit? How can this be made safer? What is the potential effect of this? There’s probably not really one thing that makes me qualified, I just have a different perspective. And I don’t have all the answers, but I’m pretty darn good at finding people who do have the answers if I don’t.

Qualls: I’ve served on the town council for the past four years. I’m the current president, vice president last year. I served on the planning commission two years prior to that. Before that, I was on the parks advisory committee. And then I was a volunteer, as everybody knows for Bargersville Main Street. I served as their president and was instrumental in establishing the Bargersville Farmers Market. I have volunteered at community events for years. I’ve had countless hours of doing this type of service.

Rumell: My career has been centered around finance and real estate. I owned a finance company … I worked for a local bank as a commercial lender … I currently own a company that has a portfolio of residential commercial multi-unit properties, hold a real estate broker license and a real estate instructors license. This has prepared me for the seat on the council, especially regarding budgets, finance, real estate development and overall leadership. I’ve served in the community for over 20 years, currently serving on the town council and planning commission. I’ve also served on the BZA and as the president of the police commission. I’ve been on several steering committees for development and served on festival committees. … I’ve been here 30 over and raised my kids here. So I’m very invested in this community. You do it because you love the town and you want to see it grow.

What would be your top priorities if elected?

Moore: We’re always working on connectivity. We’re ready to get more trails, more parkland. We are building a plaza in the old town, next to the railroad tracks. It is a little park with an amphitheater that is starting this winter. And hopefully, it’ll be done next fall. It’s going to be a nice gathering place for people. We’re going to have a silo roof amphitheater to keep with our rural roots. It’ll be a nice place for people to gather. Right now, when we have town concerts, it’s in the middle of the street. So, it’s going to make it really nice. We’re always looking at improving our roads, and doing what we can to keep up with our infrastructure.

Potter: Really just the connectivity. We have a lot of things happening downtown. We have now Kephart Park … But even places like Sawyer Walk are completely cut off from most of that. So anyone living off of Schoolhouse or back in there toward Old South Street, there’s really not a great way to get across (County Road) 144 or to access the new trail. I’m not saying everyone’s yard needs a sidewalk, but there are a lot of children in there a lot of families who are here now and will be coming in. So, making it easier for people to get places on foot, bike, mobility aid … should be the top priority. … I really want to change the way we do incoming buildings. We’ve got the I-69 corridor, which is great, it’s gonna be great for Bargersville. But instead of just throwing a bunch of strip malls … I’d like to maintain or get businesses in the current, empty or dilapidated buildings. And instead of here’s a bunch of grass that’s considered landscaping, I think we can be smarter about the architecture. So it benefits our environment, as well as our energy costs and things like that. So instead of just throwing in a bunch of grass that needs to be planted, we can do native perennial flowers. So they’re growing each year, and they’re helping our pollinators, which helps our farmers.

Qualls: No. 1 would be, being fiscally responsible and a good steward of taxpayer dollars, as demand for infrastructure, and governmental services increases. Continuing to pursue grants and offset costs for projects and strategically budgeting for them. Smart and responsible growth of our town through strategic planning and continuing to improve resident’s quality of life through additional trails, park programming, attractions, new businesses, and continuing the safety of our community.

Rumell: A lot of the priorities that I have are ongoing. It is to see the progress. I want to remain responsible, we’ve had a balanced budget for the three years since we’ve been managing our residents’ money. We have brought a better quality of life, including safety by supporting and adding to our growing police department. We’ve added K-9s, we’ve added officers. We’re adding more crosswalk sidewalks and ADA compliance for connectivity. One thing we’re excited about is the parks department, we’re adding more park inventory, continuing to support the parks and also support the right development for all residents of the town. I want to continue to manage and support our employees. We have some of the best employees … Another thing is to stay ahead of the traffic to keep us moving in the right direction. … And lastly, we need to be picky in our development too to get the right kind of commercial and right mix of residential to better help the community.

When things like PUDs and rezones come up, what do you think should be the top considerations for council?

Moore: Well, we know we’re going to grow, we are growing at a very fast rate, that we’re trying to be growing responsibly. We have to make sure we’re not all apartments or all huge homes, we want a nice mix. We want to attract more businesses. So we’re trying to grow responsibly, that is our main focus. … We want we want people to come to the town, but we need jobs for those people. So we think that’s gonna come a lot out at I-69. We’re hoping to have jobs provided out there. So we want to be a place where you can live and work and play.

Potter: First and foremost, there needs to be more awareness before things before decisions are made. I don’t know exactly the ins and outs, but instead of just people in a quarter-mile radius being notified about something, I really wish we could use social media better and be like, ‘Hey, this is what we’re thinking about doing.’ … Like the Meijer gas station, everyone’s up in arms about that. But only a few people got notices about that. So then you have this trickle effect and people just getting so angry on social media about it. That’s a very small, easy way to be more transparent about what may or may not be happening. Yes, it might bring more people to meetings. But more people need to be civically involved in person or watching the videos and not just griping about it on the Bargersville Chatter.

Qualls: I think is about what the development brings to our community. You know, is it going to provide more green space? With PUDs and things like that, is where the town can add some architectural input. When you just do the classic rezone of an R-3 or R-4, we just have to go with the basic standards that we have for buildings. But with the PUD we can actually add a little bit more to them. … We can think about, what are they bringing to the community? Are they going to add trails? Are they going to add mixed use? Could they provide a community center for their, for their development?

Rumell: As far as rezones, I am a proponent of Bargersville as a very desirable community. We do not need to rezone our agricultural land for just any developer that comes to the council. So we can have our vision and our constituent’s vision of what we want to do there. If it’s a PUD and it does get approved, we had one we need to make sure that the building materials are of standards with our code. Want to make sure we have them put berms and barriers to protect residents and make sure they have connectivity or walking trails within the neighborhoods that they build.

Some residents have worried that roads, especially those maintained by the county, haven’t kept pace with growth. What should be done to catch up?

Moore: We’re only in control of so much of it. We can talk to the county, we can talk INDOT …. but that doesn’t mean that we’re gonna get anything done with the main roads. We do have some roundabouts coming and one thing this council has done is we have a budget for streets every year. And when we do a street, especially in the old town (area) of Bargersville … we also rip that street out and we redo everything so that once it’s done — yes, it’s more expensive — but once it’s done it’s good for another 50 years, except for repaving.

Potter: If you have an entire Republican county council and an entirely Republican town council, and they aren’t communicating to make sure that this growth is happening appropriately to benefit the communities, I think that’s a huge disservice and a huge disconnect. I know there are 2028 plans to expand some roads, but that’s way too far away. We have people right now, who could benefit from lower speed limits, more roundabouts, wider roads, and it’s a common complaint. As I’m canvassing and listening to people, it’s not just me, this isn’t just like, I’m running for town council because I’m mad about this. Other people are angry about this too.

Qualls: We do have an interlocal agreement with the county. We work closely with them. It’s going to require land and it always comes down to money, and it’s going to go out to find grants to pay for the road project. State and federal grants, whatever they need to improve those roads. I would like to see some speed limits reduced in the area. And we are currently talking with the county about that as well. But I think they’ve been very open. And that’s the important thing about being on the council is keeping a good working relationship with the commissioners.

Rumell: We have to continue to work with the county, which we have. We have impact fee. We have fees on new permits. We have impact fees on some businesses that go in a pool to help with the roads. And we have to stay with the county and continue to do traffic studies. I think we have speed limits on some of these county roads, especially along Kephart Park, which we are involved in a traffic study now we need to lower that speed limit. And that’s one thing that is in the works. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff on this. We are working on areas that we think are bad intersections. We’re working on studies to get those changed. So, we will continue to work with the county, continue to stay informed with INDOT and their plans on the State Road 135 corridor to make better decisions on what we allow in on that 135 Corridor because INDOT plays an integral role in traffic there. We are working on some roundabouts, they’re on State Road 144, Saddle Club, Morgantown Road and County Road 625.

When you think about Bargersville in five years, what do you envision?

Moore: More people, more businesses, more parks, more trails, hopefully a more vibrant downtown. We’re trying to do that. We want to be a place where people want to come for a destination.

Potter: It seems like Bargersville is ahead of the game in some ways, it does seem to be pretty progressive. It was fairly easy to get the solar panel ordinance passed. … So I my hope is, in addition to at least one Democrat on the town council we continue that progress. I’m not saying that we turn into California, or become a bunch of crazy liberals, but maybe we just start being a little more connected to Franklin and Greenwood. Or maybe we start looking at different ways to have public transportation with these amazing railroads that we have that are only used twice a day for a year, just kind of thinking outside the box, keeping it small town, getting some mindful and sustainable growth happening, bringing in some more tax base. … I think we are such a blank slate right now. We have the opportunity to grow in such a way that it really makes us stand out.

Qualls: I think keeping Bargersville a desirable, safe community that’s appealing for residents and visitors. This includes preserving a small town feel while expanding upon our parks, walking trails and public spaces. I think the addition of arts and music will come with the new amphitheater, expansion of health and wellness programming by collaborating with the hospitals in our community, Johnson County Public Library and nonprofits; I think that’s important. Continue working and keeping a good working relationship, with the school systems … county commissioners and also other elected officials who are neighbors. … And then continuing to provide our residents with quality utilities; that’s a big part of Bargersville. And being a financially healthy town that promotes economic growth, but prioritizes the well-being of the residents

Rumell: Bargersville will continue to grow. I envision a place that will continually be safe with a great police department a place where residents can live work and play and have the amenities that they can be proud of. We will make Bargersville a destination that families want to want to raise their children and or retire and their children want to come back to and raise their families.

About the job

What: Bargersville Town Council At-Large

Term: Four years

Pay: $7,980 a year (2023)

Duties: Set annual spending for the town, adopt local rules and ordinances, appoint members to various town boards