Five candidates, including two incumbents, are vying for two seats on Prince’s Lakes Town Council.
The two incumbents in the race are Republican Greg Nelson, who has served on the council since 2013 and Republican Charlie Bourne, who is now in his third term as a council member.
Challengers are Mike Gallamore, Anthony Giger and Catherine Gleason. Gallamore previously served on the council while Giger and Gleason both unsuccessfully ran last year.
The town council is on the ballot again this year because the council decided to stagger terms so the entire council is not up for election at once in the future. The lowest vote-getters in the 2023 election return to the ballot again with hopes of retaining their seats for the next four years.
The Daily Journal asked four candidates their top priorities for the town, if there’s room for Prince’s Lakes to grow and their motivation for running. Anthony Giger could not be reached by the Daily Journal before publication, but we reshared his answers are from a previous interview in 2023.
The winners of the primary election on May 7 will move on to the general election on Nov. 5. No Democrats or third-party candidates have filed to run for this office so far.
Charlie Bourne
Bourne is running again to “keep the cohesiveness of the council,” he said. The council is doing a good job and he would like to help maintain it, he said. Bourne hopes to keep his momentum of 17 years on the Prince’s Lakes Town Council going. Bourne hopes to “keep things going the way it’s going,” he said. The council has been doing a good job of balancing opinions and having open discussions and he’d like to see that continue, he said.
“We’ve got a good council,” Bourne said. “Everybody gets along. Everybody has their opinions. We agree to disagree. We go on about our business.”
There’s not a lot of room for growth in Prince’s Lakes because of it being “locked in” by other municipalities, he said.
Greg Nelson
Nelson has served on the town council for nine years and wants to continue his work as a council member. Nelson said the town has done “a lot for improvements” in recent years, including sewer improvements, park improvements and the construction of a new water tower.
His 29 years as a Franklin firefighter prepared him to serve on town council, he said. His top priority for Prince’s Lakes is starting a parks board and gaining momentum. Nelson hopes a park board will allow the town to bring in more grant money.
Nelson doesn’t see an opportunity for Prince’s Lakes to develop because most of the town is landlocked by other areas.
“We’re basically out of room,” Nelson said.
Because of a lack of commercial buildings, the town doesn’t bring in as much in taxes, forcing them to work with a smaller budget. Nevertheless, Nelson hopes to see Prince’s Lakes “grow” and “thrive,” he said.
Anthony Giger
Last April, Giger told the Daily Journal he wants to minimize spending to keep taxes low in Prince’s Lakes. Sewer and water rates are too high and he wants to make sure bills don’t increase further if elected. He also wants to make sure the town has sufficient park activities, he said.
“Serving on the township board really caused me to run for town council, seeing some of the things that need to be done,” he said in April 2023. “The main thing people complain about most is high sewer and water bills. If I were elected, I would work with the town to make sure things don’t go any higher.”
Giger said he would also prioritize maintaining the town’s roads through regular paving and look into upgrading the town hall.
“I would like to see a new town hall built not only for people to come and do their business with local government all in one place but to have an area if the community needed a place to rent, have receptions or have parties,” he said.
Catherine Gleason
Gleason feels like she has a lot to contribute to Prince’s Lakes as a resident and a mother with children, she said. To her, there seems to be a lot of potential for Prince’s Lakes to grow. If elected, she hopes to bring community members together through new ideas and collaboration.
Gleason aims to offer more services to the community. Her experience as a healthcare worker and working in insurance has prepared her for the position, she said. Gleason hopes to bring in more resources for the community to understand the issues they may face, she said. For example, if someone is concerned about a high water bill, she wants to be able to help them understand the reasoning behind that.
“I think sometimes just having somebody part of that council to be able to really sit down and kind of explain those pieces in a very basic manner versus here’s our meeting notes and we’re going to hand you a bunch of items that you probably aren’t going to understand,” Gleason said.
She also wants to expand communication to residents who don’t have access to the internet or aren’t tech-savvy and also create more community events at the parks, she said. Bringing the community together is important to Gleason. She would like to see more events for seniors in the area like a bingo night or training services on basic computer schools.
“I’m always looking at the people of town and they bring so many differences and it’s wonderful and it’s beautiful. And so I want to keep that, I want to maintain that and I want to be able to accommodate for everyone,” Gleason said.
Mike Gallamore
Gallamore previously served two terms on the town council before taking a break last year. Now, he’s ready to run again, he said. His top priorities for Prince’s Lakes are to make sure the town is in a solid financial position and run it as a business that invests in itself, he said.
Gallamore is running to “maintain financial accountability” that the town has. Gallamore said the council has been doing a good job of maintaining financial accountability in the last eight years and he wants to make sure that continues. He said his experience as an executive and managing a division budget of a Fortune 500 company makes him a good choice for the office, he said.
He also would like to see the town utility build better relationships with its customers and improve parks, he said.
“I think the town needs to invest in itself with the parks,” Gallamore said.
There is very limited opportunity to expand for Prince’s Lakes, Gallamore said
ABOUT THE JOB
What: Prince’s Lakes Town Council At-Large
Term: Four years
Pay: $4,200 a year (2022)
Duties: Set annual spending for the town, adopt local rules and ordinances, appoint members to various town boards
The Bourne File
Name: Charlie Bourne
Party: Republican
Age: 80
Family: Wife, Susie; seven children
Occupation: Retired
Educational Background: Warren Central High School
Military service: United States Air Force
Political experience: Member of Prince’s Lakes Town Council 1999-2007, 2011-2019, present
The Gallamore File
Name: Michael Gallamore
Party: Republican
Age: 77
Family: Widower; two children
Occupation: Retired from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, part-time work at Menards
Educational background: Madison Heights High School, Ball State University
Military service: None
Political experience: Prince’s Lakes Town Council, two terms
Memberships: Former Board of Trustees for The Alternatives; Vice President of Senior Services of Hamilton County
The Giger File
Name: Anthony Giger
Party: Republican
Age: 45
Family: Wife Erica; five children
Occupation: Plumber, self-employed
Educational background: Indian Creek High School, Ivy Tech Community College
Military service: None
Political experience: Nineveh Township Board, 2021-present, unsuccessfully ran for town council in 2023
The Gleason File
Name: Catherine Gleason
Party: Republican
Age: 45
Family: Husband Christopher; three children, two stepchildren
Occupation: Account Manager
Educational background: Thomas Carr Howe High School and Arsenal Technical High School; Indiana Wesleyan University
Military service: None
Political experience: Unsuccessfully ran for town council in 2023
Memberships: Volunteer with Imagination Library, Founder of Prince’s Lakes Helping One Another Facebook group
The Nelson File
Name: Greg Nelson
Party: Republican
Age: 62
Family: Wife Leah; two children
Occupation: Johnson County Director of Weights and Measures; former Franklin firefighter
Educational background: Danville High School, ITT Technical Institute
Military service: None
Political experience: Prince’s Lakes Town Council, four-term incumbent
