There’s a crowded field for the Republican nomination for the three Johnson County Council at-large seats.
Of the three currently elected officeholders, Ronald (Ron) Deer and Melinda Griesemer are seeking reelection, while John Myers is not. Current Johnson County Treasurer Michele Ann Graves is seeking the office, along with former Greenwood City Council member Ronald (Ron) Bates, James Copp and Brian Moore.
The Daily Journal asked each candidate several questions for a candidate Q&A. The following is part one of the Republican candidate responses; part two is expected to run in Friday’s paper. A Q&A with the four Democratic candidates for county council is expected to run on Saturday.
Here are their thoughts on budget priorities and new taxes for the county, with some editing for length, clarity, grammar and repetition.
Q: Why are you running?
Bates: Public service was ingrained in me because of the type of ministry I do already in the classroom, this carries over into that arena as well. I’ve basically spent most of my adult life in public service. It’s giving back if you will.
Copp: I have a servant’s heart. I want to give back to my community. As people get out of the Army, oftentimes, they find that, ‘Hey, I need to find some purpose, a bigger purpose.’ You spend 20 years serving something greater than yourself and then you get out and it’s just you and your family. I can take care of my family, but I can take care of my community too — and I want to do that.
Deer: I want to continue with the efforts that I made and supported in the last three-and-a half years. And [I’m] looking forward to continuing the support of the items that I’ve supported; the mental health building, funding crisis intervention, road repairs and maintaining public safety services at an appropriate level.
Graves: I want the county to be a great place to work, live and raise a family. My husband and I have raised two successful and happy children here. And we own rental properties throughout the county and we have a successful service company. I also have experience in finance and community service necessary to be effective on the county council.
Griesemer: I am running for this position because I want to see continued improvement in the way the county allots funds for projects. As the incumbent, I have fought hard against raising taxes. I was the only one of the council who voted against the county [vehicle excise] tax. I want to run again to make sure that the voice of the taxpayers is heard on the council. I promised when I was elected to office the last term I would represent the voice of the people and make sure it was heard on the council. And I have done that. I’m also running because I felt like prior to my last term, there was a lack of transparency. … Every conversation I make, I want to make in front of cameras so that the county knows where I stand and what is being done. Before I ran, it was not fully disclosed why decisions were being made. I want to keep taxes low and I want to keep ensuring that there’s transparency. We’ve done a lot of great things on the council. I’ve held true to my campaign promises which were to push for mental health in our county and push for the voice of the taxpayers.
Moore: To improve our living availability for the homeless, senior citizens and disabled people in Johnson County, we [need to] have more affordable housing for them. [We should] upgrade our comprehensive plan for the whole county to … [make sure] cities and towns can’t annex any more out the county. If they [keep annexing], we’re going to lose more money at the county level … [We have to] make sure law enforcement and our fire departments in our county have what they need equipment-wise; try to fix infrastructure more sidewalks inside the county; make sure our bridges are where they need to be; try to find some more resources inside the county.
Q: What are your top budget priorities?
Bates: Obviously, having all the revenue streams that are necessary to have a balanced budget. You don’t do this independently. There’s seven members on the council and we also work closely with the commissioners. Typically the commissioners act as the executive branch. [The county council?] will offer a budget, a yearly budget, annual budget. And then we have the responsibility to see if all of the departments are adequately funded and giving all of these resources that’s need to fulfill their obligation to the community.
Copp: The biggest thing that would benefit all of us is a vision and a plan. Our county is growing and will continue to grow, whether we like it or not. We need to come up with a plan that allows us to incorporate that growth in an effective manner and keep the infrastructure, the services — everything that we’ve got right now, up to snuff. As far as budget priorities, the two biggest ones would be ensuring that our infrastructure is meeting the needs of the people who live in the county. Secondly, our law enforcement first responders, if we don’t have a strong law enforcement presence here in the county things tend to go bad. We have a great sheriff and sheriff’s department; all of the town or city police forces are great.
Deer: Continue funding road repairs because that’s a major issue throughout the county. We had a report last year by our highway department superintendent, and at the rate of spending that we’re doing now, it would be into the 2080s before all roads could be repaired. We have to continue to find ways to fund that. The second one is properly funding mental health services, which are a major challenge to our county and many counties. I’ve supported that with the construction of the mental health facility that is behind the hospital. That’s one of many ways that I supported it, and funding it is a major challenge. The other one is to maintain our public safety services at an appropriate level to meet the needs of the county.
Graves: Balanced budget, road and street repair, public safety.
Griesemer: Keep taxes low. I want to see the county allot more money to mental health in our county. I would love to see our county become the premier county in the state to go for mental health treatment and research. I also want to see the county allot more money towards county parks and amenities.
Moore: To make sure the budgets stay within the means of our county’s money. [We should] seek federal funds or Lilly Endowment [grants] to help pay for the stuff, improve our county parks, improve our relations [with] our police and fire departments so we have more open communication with our councils. We [should] come up with another board … it would be other agencies, other cities and town’s boards, we’d get together once a month, the town board presidents and city council presidents, and discuss what they think we all need the county and then go back to the county government and say, ‘Look, here’s what we need for the cities and towns. Can we appropriate some of this money or can we help them get these funds?’ We [also] need to approach our state government.
Q: Do you think the county needs any new taxes?
Bates: At this time, I don’t. It is paramount that any tax increase be scrutinized to justify the need and that’s my stance.
Copp: That’s just a flat no. We need to ensure what we’re doing is being a good steward of taxpayer dollars. At the end of the day, it’s our money; ours being the taxpayer, not ours being the county council. It’s the people’s, it’s their hard-earned money and if we’re not doing a good job of managing that, then shame on us, shame on the county. My priority is ensuring when departments bring forth a budget proposal, it makes sense. I have a lot of experience in dealing with that and understanding the difference between a department’s needs and wants. If it is something they need, it is incumbent upon us on the county council, to give them the things they need to be successful. That’s the guide from which we need to ensure we’re making good prudent fiscal decisions.
Deer: There are opportunities to find funding that are outside of taxes and make sure that we get the appropriate amount of money from state funds. Here’s how I am as an elected official, under Dick Lugar, who I worked with for years when I first met him in high school. … And he said to me, ‘Ron, if you go into public service, as far as elected officials, there’ll be a politician and a statesman.’ He said, ‘A politician tells people what they want to hear, a statesman tells them what they need to hear,’ and I’ve maintained that mantra throughout my entire adult life and when I’ve been in elected office. And then a specific answer to that is that I don’t know what additional taxes it would be at this point in time, except for perhaps the [Economic Development Income Tax], but we’ve kept that at a reasonable rate and I expect to continue to do that.
Graves: We need to be more efficient with the money that we do have. I understand the government gets money from hard-working taxpayers. Government doesn’t make money in taxes and I will be a good steward of our tax dollars.
Griesemer: Absolutely not. The county has money in other accounts that needs to be moved over. When the [vehicle excise] tax was implemented, I suggested, ‘Why don’t we move the money from the other accounts over?’ [The council] wouldn’t do it and instead, raised the taxes. I was the only one who spoke against it.
Moore: No … we can’t afford it. If we do more, we’re going to be in trouble because the cost of gas is going up, we already have an 18% increase in gas fuel tax by the state [and there’s] nothing we can do about it. There’s a new increase in license plates that I haven’t seen yet, but I have heard about it. I’m willing to work with our legislators in our county and state, federal level to figure out what kind of money we can get from federal government for road improvement, sidewalk improvement and drainage. [We should also] try to have trash for the whole county instead of each city and town … to save money for the whole county government.
ABOUT THE JOB
Johnson County Council At-Large
Represents: Johnson County as a whole
Duties: Approving the county budget, including how many sheriff’s deputies will patrol the roads and how much should be spent on road projects. Approves any new or increased taxes.
Term: Four years
Pay: $11,978 a year (2024)
The Bates File
Name: Ronald (Ron) Bates
Residence: Greenwood
Family: Wife, Donna; four children
Occupation: Educator at Suburban Christian School
Education: Charles G. Ross High School, Missouri; Tennessee Temple University bachelor’s; Tri-City Bible College master’s; Maranatha Baptist University, history graduate certificate
Political Experience: Served two terms on city council in an Illinois city; Greenwood City Council member from 2004-2023
Memberships: Johnson County Republican Women’s Club, Suburban Baptist Church
The Copp File
Name: James Copp
Residence: Franklin
Family: Wife, Sara; three children
Occupation: Patriot Products, director of business development
Education: Center Grove High School, 1999; Ball State University, 2003
Political experience: First-time candidate
Memberships: Elks Club, Center Grove Rotary, Bargersville Rotary, Knights of Columbus, Civil Air Patrol
Military Experience: 21 years active duty, three years National Guard
The Deer File
Name: Ronald (Ron) Deer
Residence: Greenwood
Family: Adult daughter
Occupation: Retired, management
Education: George Washington High School, IUPUI, 1971
Political experience: Greenwood City Council, 1987 to 2011; Johnson County Council member since 2020
Memberships: Southland Community Church
Military experience: None
The Graves File
Name: Michele Ann Graves
Residence: Trafalgar
Family: Husband, Mark; two children
Occupation: Johnson County Treasurer
Education: Indian Creek High School, 1981
Political experience: Johnson County Treasurer since 2016
Memberships: Johnson County Republican Women’s Club, Johnson County Republican Central Committee, Johnson County Board of Finance
Military Experience: None
The Griesemer File
Name: Melinda Griesemer
Residence: Greenwood
Family: One child
Occupation: Owner/director of Indianapolis Medical Consulting
Education: Purdue University
Political experience: Johnson County Council member since 2020; unsuccessfully ran in 2019 caucus for Indiana House District 93; Unsuccessfully ran for Indiana House District 57 in 2022
Memberships: National Rifle Association, Mary Bryan Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution
Military Experience: None
The Moore File
Name: Brian Moore
Residence: Greenwood
Family: Wife, Penny
Occupation: Crew Member at Luca Pizza
Education: Whiteland Community High School, 1983
Political experience: Unsuccessfully ran for Johnson County Council and Greenwood City Council
Memberships: Vineyard Church of South Indy
Military service: None
