"Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future." - John F. Kennedy
I do not believe partisan politics serves the citizens of Allen County. While we may have political differences on the state and national level, we are all here to serve our community. Imposing party politics on the county level positions will only divide and hinder our ability to reach compromises. Roads and bridges don't get fixed based on party affiliation. We must put aside partisan differences to solve our local problems.
PLATFORM
"For over a decade, I have served as council member or the mayor of Iola. I've worked hard for you and will continue to do so. In order to create more jobs, we need affordable and reliable utilities and to supply the infrastructure businesses need to thrive. As a leader of this community, I know it takes partnerships with our schools, cities, health agencies, and county governments to achieve success. I know what it takes to find solutions, navigate the complex county wide issues, and have proven I can get things done."
Where I stand
Reform
I believe the two party system has failed Allen County. For the last 40 years the one party has dominated the County Commission. Every 4 years they rail about how high the taxes are, but have taken no responsibility that it was their party that raised those taxes.
It's time to reform the county commission. The current time and size of the county commission is designed to prevent most citizens from being able to run for office or even attend the meeting to speak about issues important to them. Public meetings should not be held at 830 am on Tuesdays, because it's convenient for elected officials. I proposed and will continue to propose the "5 after 5" plan; 5 commissioners that meet after 5pm. Further, we need to make sure institutional knowledge is not lost every election; I propose cutting commissioner pay and benefits and those saving used to hire a county administrator.
NO on EMS TAX
Initially, the EMS Tax seemed promising, offering a steady funding stream for EMS and potential property tax reductions. However, upon closer inspection, significant concerns arise. Notably, it constitutes a tax increase disguised as a decrease, generating $1.2 million in revenue while cutting $600,000. According to Zillow's average home price in Iola is $77,349, for the average household, savings would be negligible, approximately $35-50 annually. Your normal expenditures on groceries, dining, and large purchases would quickly offset any savings, effectively shifting the tax burden from affluent landlords to families and their teens.
The County has yet to answer "why this tax is needed?" EMS is and will continue to be fully funded. According to the Allen County Commission's Facebook page "they've lowered the mil levy for 10 consecutive year.." Why raise the 600K in taxes when for the last decade we've had enough surplus to cut the mil levy and will continue to do so for the next decade? To me this feels like the commission is trying to replace the failed Courthouse tax, and calling it an EMS tax.
Lastly, the argument that we will collect sales tax from out of town individuals also seems promising. But, it lacks nuance and doesn't hold water. Yes 30% of sales tax comes from people not residing in the county, however there are many individuals and businesses that own property and pay property tax in Allen county and don't reside in the county. Further, as we raise the sales tax we will drive Allen County residents to shop outside of the county, hurting local businesses
Experience
The mayor is both a figure head and a leader in this community. As a leader it's important to work with the council, the city staff, and the county government. I sought compromise and input from multiple stakeholders to navigate difficult issues. I will bring those same skills to the county commission. My ability to seek compromise resulted in a new EMS contract between the city of Iola and the County; keeping jobs local, and saving the tax payers money.
I make my conclusions on sound scientific data. My goal is to create policy that empowers employees how to make consistent unbiased decisions. During the COVID pandemic the City of Iola often led the response to the pandemic. We implemented reasonable health and safety measures, but still allowed businesses to operate and the parks and pool to open.
Economy
Historically, Allen County's economy is strongest when we have a cheap local source of energy. I've fought hard to bring new sources of energy that will secure the prices for the next 30 years. Stability is key to economic growth and giving our businesses a local and cheap source of energy will keep and attract new ones.
To this end my strategy paid off. During the February 2021 winter storm, other cities and governments around the nation struggled to pay their bills. Many took loans and face a 50% increase in their gas bills for a decade. But, because of foresight the city bought and stored natural gas offsite (buy low in the summer to ease the costs in winter) and paid both it's gas and electric bills without loans.
The focus on energy and infrastructure paid off again, during the COVID pandemic. Our sound fiscal policies, business friendly environment, and solid infrastructure allowed us to bring another major manufacture into Iola (Peerless).
Infrastructure
We are never going to be able to fully fund all of our infrastructure needs by raising taxes. We must attract new businesses, industry, and housing to grow the economic tax base. For the past 10 years, I have fought to make sure the city of Iola provides efficient, reliable, and competitive services. Any new business will need roads, electricity, gas, water, and sewers, it is our job as a to ensure we can provide the services needed for growth.
In order to ensure federal compliance, the city spent over $100,000 a year to purchase electric capacity from our neighbors. During my tenure we expanded our ability to generate, upgraded our current generators, and stopped making these payments. Not only did we save the city 100,ooo dollars a year, we created a new revenue stream and instead of paying our neighbors we now sell our excess capacity generating 80,000-100,000 dollars year.
Environment
When we look to cut taxes we must also look to cut services. While these ideas did not pass the city council I gave concrete ideas to cut taxes in an environmentally sound manner with minimal impact on our daily lives.
One measure I proposed measures would have saved the city over $10,000 a year in mowing by restoring native flowers and monarch butterfly habitats to flood prone green space
Another would have saved $35,000 a year by ending the "spray and pray" method to treat mosquitos. Instead of spraying chemicals that only work on mosquitos with direct contact, I proposed supporting natural predator habitats, like bat houses, prevention by aerating stagnant ponds, and educating the pubic to treat breeding grounds in their back yards.