A Democratic newcomer and a Republican incumbent will face off for a Johnson County commissioner seat this fall.
Incumbent Republican Ron West will face off against Democratic newcomer Dr. Chele Heid this fall for the District 3 seat. Heid was slated by local Democratic Party officials over the summer, while West beat off a challenge from Republican Steve Powell in the May primary.
Although the District 3 seat must be held by someone who lives in either White River, Pleasant or Clark township, the office represents the whole county and all Johnson County voters are eligible to vote for it.
The District 1 seat is also on the ballot but District 1 Republican incumbent Brian Baird is uncontested for the general election and wasn’t challenged in the primary.
West, who has been a commissioner since 2012, said he was motivated to run for the District 3 seat again to see three projects he has been involved with finish out or come closer to completion: the I-69 project connecting Evansville to Indianapolis, the community corrections facility and the behavioral health facility.
“Those three things primarily were the reason I decided to run again because at one point I was thinking I’d hang it up after 24 years — 12 years on the council and a little over 12 years as a commissioner at the end of this year,” he said. “… After all of these years, I have been able to help the people, I enjoy it. I’ve never gotten tired of it. I enjoy it, and I try to help somebody almost every day in one way or the other.”
Heid was motivated to run for the office because she said she witnessed some decisions being made by the commissioners that “haven’t been in the best interest of the community.” For example, she wanted Johnson County to enter into the Health First Indiana funds, which the commissioners originally rejected but eventually approved.
“The money was needed and yet our commissioners opted out, and I thought our community needs our tax money to come back to us, to serve us best,” Heid said. “So that was the first thing that kind of sat wrong with me and then several other decisions that they made I thought didn’t have the community’s, as a whole, interest at heart. We need somebody that might have a different perspective.”
The Daily Journal reached out to both candidates and asked questions about current issues facing the county. Here’s their responses, which have been edited for length, repetition and clarity.
If elected, what would be your top priorities or goals?
Heid: Well, No. 1, to opt in for the Health First Indiana funds when they are offered. No. 2, working to make the budget work better for the community. Roads are always going to be on the list of things that need to be taken care of. And then looking forward for our growing county. Our current District 3 commissioner mentioned in the Daily Journal back in April, I believe, that he was more focused on finishing up a couple of projects that he would have been involved with and I appreciate that, and I respect what he has done for the community, but I think at this point, Johnson County is growing very fast and we need a commissioner, a leader, who’s looking at how we want to progress going forward, having a plan for our future growth and not just finishing up.
West: Well, to continue to see these previous things that I mentioned (the I-69 project, community corrections facility and the behavioral health facility) brought to (completion.) As you know, working with those people who were in Runyon Lakes (who are dealing with drainage issues). I referenced House Bill 1155 which (I helped with) a few years back, and I’m going to be working with our state legislators to try to get a revised edition of House Bill 1155 that we could utilize like on the Runyon Lakes project over there, something I’m going to work to get done next year … I guess probably the next year, the most prominent thing we’ll be dealing with is whoever wins the governorship and how they’re going to get rid of property tax and the result of funding local governments. That’s going to be interesting to see how they tackle that, I don’t look forward to it.
Editor’s note: The bill West is referring to is House Enrolled Act 1155 of 2018, authored by former State Rep. Woody Burton, R-Whiteland. The law created a subdivision drain repair pilot program for several communities and areas, including unincorporated Johnson County, and gave the county executive the ability to enter into a contract with a homeowners association providing: (1) for the unit to repair subdivision drains located in the subdivision; and (2) for owners of property in the subdivision to pay assessments to fund the repairs; if a majority of HOA members approve the contract. The pilot program ended effective June 30, 2021.
Among other duties, the commissioners manage county projects and oversee employees. What is your management style?
Heid: My management style is much like my learning style, which is I’m going to listen to all the parties that have a stake in the decision that needs to be made, so that I’m gathering all of the information needed to then make the best decision for the most people.
West: Oh, my management style is the same style I used when I was in the private sector. I depend on the employees, the department heads and at the county level, of course, the elected officials to be able to make prudent decisions and allow them to do so. So I’m not much one to intercede in their decision-making. I want to be a part of it, and lot of times we do have those differences and discussions therein, but I’ve always been a strong proponent of letting people do what their job allows them to do with the minimal amount of interference … I love the debate process. I think that’s healthy for government, and believe me, we can have the strongest debate and when it’s over and whichever way it goes, I’m okay with that. I go on to the next issue. So I don’t hold grudges, I don’t get mad, I don’t try to get even. I just go on to the next issue.
County employee pay has been a contentious issue among the council, the commissioners and department heads. Do you think we need a salary and wage study? If not, what approach would you take?
Heid: I do think we need a third party to do a study to make sure that those providing services for the county and the population are compensated fairly. In recent commissioners and council meetings, they’ve cited studies that were done in 2018, 2020, 2022 but it’s 2024 and we’ve seen, over the last 18 months, inflation nationally. So we need to make sure that what our workers are being paid is commensurate with the rising cost of living. So I think, yeah, we need detailed information.
West: You can’t bring exact parity in the government positions. You’re always going to have people at different levels doing comparable work. And some of the reasoning for that can be tenure, some of it could be maybe some extra work they’re doing above and beyond their specified job description … So what I have espoused back when I was on the council … was to let the council determine the wage increase percentage, whatever that is, and then the department heads and elected officials can take that percentage of their 100 series money — which is all salaries, wages — … then let them apply that to the individuals on the basis that they deemed best. And then, along in conjunction with that, what I proposed back then was to put into effect a certain amount of attrition, and the idea behind that was if you’re the elected official, you got 10 people in your office, and you come to the council, you say, ‘Listen, we’ve got one position. I don’t want to refill it.’ The council wouldn’t let you use a portion of that money for salary increases to your other people, and my example always was, I could go into most every department, and I could say, ‘Sally, if I give you 50% more money, could you do Mary Ann’s job?’ … The council, for whatever reason, they keep thinking that, and I call it, it’s much like unionized labor wage distribution when everybody that’s in this position makes this money… what they’re trying to do (with the salary study) is bring comparity to all of these jobs with similar descriptions, and it’s just not going to happen.
As Johnson County grows, so does our government. How would you balance the needs of department heads and taxpayers?
Heid: I think it’s gonna have to start with a close look at the budget and how funds are allocated. For example, if we’d have taken the $2.1 million in Health First Indiana funds in 2023, it would have gone a long way into providing for the needs of the department of health and maybe relieved some of the funds that the department of health would have required from the general county budget. So I think we need to look at where’s the money being spent now, what monies are available that we can opt into and further, what grants are available that we can pursue to benefit the community — as long as the monies that we’re seeking from the outside sources don’t come with so many stipulations that we lose home rule.
West: The elected officials, department heads and the council all do a really good job in trying to be conservative in the monies we spend. The wages and salary thing gets all the headlines, of course, but beyond that, this county has been very conservative for a number of years, and you can compare our budgets with other counties, and we’re really conservative in that regard, and our tax rate indicates that too because we’ve got a low tax rate. The other thing people don’t understand, the state imposes a growth quotient on us each year too, in relation to property tax, so we can only grow in that area 3%, 4%. Whatever it is, it’s always pretty low. … When I was on the council, I was a big proponent of zero-based budgeting, which we still don’t do. The council’s direction is to do 5% on 100 series and and leave everything else, the 200, 300, 400 series of what it was the year before. Well, that’s not budgeting because you would have items that could be cut or some needed be increased. I always said zero-based budgeting, you start with zero in that line item, and then you fill it in with what you really think you’re going to need, and are able to support.
County officials have been talking about fixing up roads for years. What ideas do you have to move the needle on needed projects?
Heid: Again, it’s going to start with the budget and looking at reworking the budget and then looking for funds from the state as well as grants to be able to pay for these projects.
West: The county needs a department of public works, and here’s my reasoning: I get a call or an email almost every day, sometimes more than one or two a day, on road repairs, minimal stuff … guard rails, mowing, ditch cleaning, striping, things of that nature … they’ve (the Highway Department) got so many big projects that they’re working on, not to mention the normal maintenance that has to go into maintaining some 600 miles of roads every year, they’ve just got their hands full. It’s not that they don’t want to do these minimal things, it just takes them a while to get to it, much longer than I think should be taken. … The department of public works would work in conjunction with the highway department. What I need is a funding source. I’ve got to figure out how I’m going to fund it. Work that they would do for the highway department, in some areas, could be compensated due to the highway’s budget — not all of it, that would kind of defeat the purpose somewhat too. … I talked to the to the county surveyor because I’m looking for something for these people to do in the off season when we’re not striping, paving, mowing and all that. I talked to the county surveyor, and I said, “You do a lot of legal drain work year round. (Could) our DPW do that work for you, a lot of it?” “Yeah,” he said, “That’s a great idea.” So now we’re taking internal tax dollars and keeping them internally to support this new DPW.
If you’re elected, would you make an effort to keep the public updated on commissioner decisions? If so, how?
Heid: Yes, absolutely. There are plenty of people in the community that are unaware of what decisions are in the hands of the commissioners and what they actually have a say in, so it would be one of the top priorities of mine to have as much community input and involvement as possible. I’ve noticed in the meetings that I go to, since they’re held at 10 a.m. on a weekday, there few to no members of the public that are there. … I think one way that might include the public, because I think that’s where we need input from, would be to possibly move that meeting to outside of normal business hours so people could attend. … As I’ve been knocking on doors, I’m hearing from people that they have actually reached out to the commissioners via phone call, via email and rare do they get a response, so one of my top priorities would be to respond to every constituent in a timely fashion. Also, I would love to look into a way of communicating from the commissioners to the public, whether that is through an email, through a website, through a text notification, through a newsletter or maybe even an article after every meeting in the Daily Journal … and now that I think of it, some sort of communication prior to the meeting.
West: Our meetings are open, public meetings, and you can Zoom in. You can attend. The minutes are readily available after the meeting. So from the public awareness side, I think we’re doing everything we can. We’re not going to do anything beyond what’s currently available in the way of publication or anything of that nature. We are trying to do a little bit more in a way of promoting the county. In other words, when we do something that we think’s really great, we like to get the information out to the public, but yeah, nothing beyond what we’re currently doing.
ABOUT THE JOB
Johnson County Commissioner, District 3
Term: Four years
Pay: $41,580 a year (2024)
Duties: The Board of Commissioners are the executive body of the county and are responsible for county buildings, lands and property; audits and authorizes claims against the county; receives bids and authorizes contracts; supervises many county departments; oversees construction and maintenance of roads and bridges as well as exercises many of the legislative powers and duties of the county.
Area: Represents the northern three townships of Johnson County — White River, Pleasant and Clark. All voters can vote for this office, not just those in the northern three townships.
THE HEID FILE
Name: Dr. Chele Heid
Age: 50
Residence: Greenwood
Family: Wife, Suzanne; no children
Occupation: Self-employed physical and massage therapist, engraver
Education: Princeton High School, Ohio; Indiana University Bloomington and IUPUI, bachelor’s; College of St. Scholastica, Minnesota/online, doctorate
Political experience: First-time candidate
Memberships: Johnson County Board of Health member, Johnson County Public Library Foundation board member
THE WEST FILE
Name: Ron West
Age: 81
Residence: Greenwood
Family: Wife, Gina; four children
Occupation: Retired business owner
Education: Manuel High School, Indianapolis; some college
Political experience: District 3 Commissioner since 2012; three terms on Johnson County Council
Memberships: Serves on Johnson County Redevelopment Commission and Plan Commission; member of Masons, U.S. Chess Federation, NRA, USA Pickleball, Indiana Farm Bureau, Our Lady of the Greenwood Church
