The Town of Bargersville has a new town manager.
After Dan Cartwright retired, the town council appointed Community Development Director Dax Norton as its town manager at Tuesday’s town council meeting.
Cartwright told the Daily Journal he decided to retire to spend more time with family. Cartwright left on good terms and may do some part-time consulting in the future, he said.
“I loved Bargersville and the people I worked with,” Cartwright said. “Just retired to spend more time with family and take it easy.”
Cartwright was hired as town manager in August of 2022 after the Bargersville town manager left without explanation. Cartwright was previously a manager for Edinburgh. While at Bargersville, he helped facilitate ongoing developments near the I-69 interchange and Umbarger Plaza, a goal he had when he began in 2022.
Norton comes to the role of town manager with extensive experience in municipal government and economic development, including a previous stint as town manager of Whitestown from 2013 to 2019. In addition, he’s worked for the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, Boone County Economic Development Corporation, Blackford County Economic Development Corporation and ms consultants. He has been Bargersville’s community development director for several months.
Norton said he is excited to hit the ground running and already has a few goals in mind. He hopes to be “a leader amongst leaders” and work alongside town employees and the town council to achieve those goals with residents at the forefront.
Norton’s first goal is to “find the most efficient way to provide the best service to residents,” he said. Norton would like to get together with the community to figure out any programs that they may be missing out on and see where they can do better.
He hopes to facilitate “controlled growth that is managed by the residents of Bargersville through their representative government,” the town council. The town council has a vision to make Bargersville a high-end, quality place to live that attracts high-quality companies, especially with the new interstate, he said.
Norton also plans to increase transparency with support from the council. A planned change is providing links to town documents on board and council agendas, similar to what Franklin and Greenwood have offered for several years.
“We want to be the best at response and transparency,” Norton said. “I know every government says that, but I think we can really get better with that. We have great staff internally that can enhance our abilities there.”
Another goal is to focus on events and enhancing the quality of place in Bargersville. Downtown is a central focus of Bargersville, so the plan is to continue redevelopment efforts, work to lift up businesses that are already located downtown and bring in complementary businesses.
Norton looks forward to moving to Bargersville and getting to know the community, diving into his goals and showing progress on them, he said.
Norton wants the community to know that he is “incredibly open,” and leads with empathy.
“No question is a stupid question. No thought is a stupid thought. We probably won’t always agree — I don’t think we’ll ever make everybody happy, but we certainly can listen with empathy and find solutions and meet in the middle … [Sometimes] we need to change it and go the direction of what the residents want,” Norton said. “We’re paying attention to listen with intent to change and help not be defensive.”
