This post at Brown County Matters.

Context. Rich Stanley wrote a letter in the Democrat (Stanley, 9/17/2024)  calling for a change in the leadership of the local Republican Party led by Mark Bowman.  A response to Rich’s letter was provided through a surrogate.

The Brown County Democrat declined to publish Richard’s rebuttal in its entirety to include the names of individuals who supported Rich’s response. The individuals include Clara Stanley, Greg DeLong, Dara DeLong, Vivian Wolf, Michael Painter, Charles F. Shaw, Jeanne Shaw, Jacob Adams, Amie Yoder, Charlene Marsh, Ben Phillips, Mercy Phillips, Daniel C. Huston, Holly H. Huston, Willow Snider, Ron Lawson, Jeff Marshall, Joy Martin. 

LETTER:  Richard Stanley:  Response to Paul Hazelwood’s October 1, 2024, letter to the Editor. 

There are a number things about Paul’s letter (Sep 17, 2024) that I feel should be addressed, and the least important of those issues is Paul’s question of “Who is Rich?”  I don’t fault Paul for not being sure who I am because I am more commonly known in the county as “Clara’s husband”.  But besides being less well-known than my wife, I am a woodworker, a horseman, a hunter, a gardener and a churchgoer.  What I mean by that is that in some way or another, I am no different than most people in Brown County.  And one thing you are most certainly wrong about Paul is that I am not a RINO.  I have never once in my entire life voted for a Democrat – or even an independent for that matter, and I do not foresee myself ever voting for a Democrat or an independent.

But let’s talk more about your sloppy RINO accusations.  At the local level here in Brown County, what does that term really even mean?  Definitionally, it refers to someone who pretends to be a Republican but who in reality does not support core Republican values.  So, in order to use that term correctly, we would need to know what the core values of the Republican Party are in Brown County.  And yet, Paul, you failed in your letter to directly explain what the core values of the Republican party are in Brown County.  However, your letter does offer some clues about what you appear to believe are the core values of Brown County Republicans.

First, you seem to believe that the primary core value of Brown County Republicans is unrestrained commercialization of the county.  I am just an ordinary Brown County Republican voter, but that is not what I support.  I do, however, support reasonable commercialization of the county as opposed to unrestrained commercialization.  And your letter completely mischaracterizes this issue.  Nobody (including Tim Clark) wants to shut down tourism in the county – that’s absurd.  Tourism is an important part of our county that we all appreciate.  But let’s also be honest.  The vast majority of residents in Brown County do not have financial interests that are tied to Brown County tourism.  I don’t mean this in any negative way at all, but the number of people in Brown County who are economically impacted by tourism is a minority, not the majority.  When it comes to governance in Brown County, we need to take into consideration the interests of all Brown County residents.

You also seem to believe that Brown County should be run by the few for the benefit of the few.  I don’t agree with you about this either, and the Lincoln Day Dinner controversy is emblematic of this problem in Brown County.  You expressly state in your letter that you approve of Mark Bowman’s exclusion of Tim Clark from that event (“Personally, I’m glad he didn’t attend.”).  But what I want is open, honest and responsible governance in Brown County.  Above all, that is the seminal issue of Tim Clark’s campaign.  He simply wants to open up Brown County governance and get more input from the public on matters that affect all of us.  That is most certainly not what Mark Bowman was doing when he excluded a Republican candidate (Tim Clark) who is the preferred candidate of a majority of the Republicans in the county.

And your support of Mark Bowman as Chairman of the Republican Party in Brown County is the height of duplicity.  You accuse myself and Tim of being RINOs (which is not true), but it’s already been established that Mark actually does satisfy the definition of a RINO according to the Indiana GOP rules.  (Rich Stanley, BC Democrat, 9/17/2024).  If your concern was really about RINOs, you would be attacking Mark Bowman, not Tim Clark and myself.

Now, let’s talk about special interests, and I have to point out that you, Paul, are the epitome of a special interest.  You pushed through the off-road vehicle ordinance that permits almost unrestricted use of off-road vehicles on Brown County roads, even though the number of Brown County residents who will actually benefit from this is exceedingly few.  And you did it in such a rushed manner that the opposition had little chance to offer any input.  (Rich Stanley, BC Democrat, 7/30/2024).  Special interests are fundamentally undemocratic because they seek to benefit a minority while burdening the majority.  I am fundamentally against this type of special interest governance, but you seem to think special interest governance is a core value of Brown County Republicans.

In your letter, you also argue that Tim Clark only won the primary against Jerry Pitman because of a smear campaign.  But, your hypocrisy is shocking!  First, no one intends any ill will towards Jerry, but he knows himself why he lost and it had nothing to do with a smear campaign.  He lost of his own accord.  And second, Republicans in Brown County want a change in the way our county is governed and that is why the majority of Republicans voted for Tim Clark over Jerry Pitman.  The real smear campaign has been against Tim Clark.  I have heard far too many smears against him, and every one of them is either so vague as to lack any real meaning or are outright lies and distortions.  I say this to everyone.  If there are county issues that you are concerned about, go talk to Tim.  He does not play favorites and will talk to anyone who has good faith concerns.

Paul, you also criticize me in your letter in one way that I actually agree with.  You say, “I haven’t seen [Rich] at any Republican events, county meetings or town halls.”  Generally speaking, that’s somewhat true.  I am coming to realize that it is a problem when very few people show up to county events like this.  But, on the other hand, that is one of the key reasons why I am supporting Tim Clark.  Even though this is Tim Clark’s first campaign and he has never held elected office, he has been attending every single one of these events for years.  Tim Clark is very levelheaded, and I am so thankful to him for spending the amount of time that he does on county governance.  Admittedly, having someone like Tim Clark in office allows someone like me to be a bit lazier than I should be.

I am not alone in believing that Brown County needs a change in our governance.  Perhaps we should start by defining what the core values of Brown County Republicans actually are.  The undersigned are in agreement that the following should be considered to be core values of the Republican Party in Brown County.  Tim Clark represents these core values, and therefore Paul, you are wrong to call Tim Clark a RINO.

1. We are against special interests.
2. We are for open, honest and responsible governance.
3. We are for common decency, including for those we disagree with.
4. We are for fiscal responsibility.
5. We are for maintaining the unique character of Brown County, which includes nature, solitude and tourism.
6. We are for reasonable commercial development.

Rich Stanley, Clara Stanley, Greg DeLong, Dara DeLong, Vivian Wolf, Michael Painter, Charles F. Shaw, Jeanne Shaw, Jacob Adams, Amie Yoder, Charlene Marsh, Ben Phillips, Mercy Phillips, Daniel C. Huston, Holly H. Huston, Willow Snider, Ron Lawson, Jeff Marshall, Joy Martin.

Afterword. I would like to briefly explain why I did not publish this letter in the Brown County Democrat.  When I submitted the letter to the Editor of the Brown County Democrat, Dave Stafford objected to including signatories and also to the length of the letter. 

In response, I requested that the Brown County Democrat publish an alternate letter that I provided which was only a paragraph long and simply stated that I had drafted a response to Paul Hazelwood and that it would be published at independentvotersofbrowncountyin.com. 

The Editor also refused to publish my alternative letter.  My view is that the Brown County Democrat is seeking to minimize political debate in its newspaper, and that is yet another thing that I fundamentally disagree with.  We need more public debate in Brown County, not less. 

Tim Clark has inspired a movement that we desperately need in this county.  In order to effectuate those changes, we need to keep up the charge against those entrenched forces who would stifle this movement.

Brown County Democrat – Policy on Letters and Guest Opinions.  The new editor of the Democrat has reduced the length of articles that have been allowed previously.  Clarification on the current policy on the length of letters was published in the October 22, 2024 edition of the paper.  Dave Stafford: We’re setting some standard rules for letters

 The county is about 278K over budget.

The Council identified a goal of having 2. 5 million in the Rainy Day Fund:  One (1) million in the health insurance reserve fund, and a 15% balance in the major funds.  Also not included in “needs” are infrastructure repairs and replacement, roads and bridges, and unfunded requirements of the departments (including salaries).

AUDIO – Part 1

08:54 Veteran Services – Andy Alexander, Dave Pate. Presentation of Accomplishments, Strategic Plan, Request to convert the part-time position to full-time (approved).

25:20 – – Ross Benson – Redevelopment Commission – Concept for Development.  Will be included in public discussions in the development of the County Comprehensive Plan.

• • Funding to provide revenue for the RDC via Tax Increment Financing (TIF) or other source  will be a “challenge.”  Some areas of the county with a low to moderate-income (LMI) higher than  51%  may be eligible for “planning” grants from OCRA. 
  • Interesting – An income survey in 2017 identified an LMI of 53.1%. As a county, we are below this level, which indicates an upward trend in incomes.
  • The trend in Gross Income – 2011-2021
    
    

52:24 Gnaw Bone Sewer District – Potential financial liabilities to the county.  

AUDIO – Part 2

1:05:55 New Revenue. An adjustment in how Local Income Taxes are distributed results in an expected 500-600K of new revenue in 2025 (1/12 per month). See reference to trend above on increases in Gross Incomes. 

• • Food Fights over what the money should be spent on. Councilman Rudd lobbied for budgeting this money now on mental health services. This was discussed at the Sept 16 Council Meeting.    The financial advisor recommended (approved) this money should be budgeted in a future appropriation. 
  • Susan Bevers (attorney) identified that county money should not be used to pay salaries. of Centerstone employees.

1:40.  Shared Frustration with the process.    

AUDIO of the Meeting

This post at Brown County Matters

10 2 2024 Agenda Commissioners

Audio of the Meeting

20240917 Meeting Agenda for September 17, 2024

Pre-Meeting Notes: 20240917 RDC Pre-Meeting Notes

• • Add: “Year-in-Review and Next Steps.”  This should support the content for the annual report and would represent our “strategy.” 
  • We have agreed to an EDA concept that was pioneered by Helmsburg.  This can be used in support of  the development of the County Comprehensive Plan. A consultant for the Comp Plan was selected on Sept 5. The plan will be completed in phases. Phase I is funded for about  37K. About 26K of this needs to be committed/spent by the end of the year.  Total cost to complete the plan was estimated at 80K.
  • Commissioners, Council, and the APC need to be briefed on the EDA concept.  Commissioners, Council and Precint chairs represent “areas.”  The county zoning map identifies the types of zoning in a respective area. This information needs to include the type of development that is allowed for each zoning category.
  • Bill – On “Minutes,”  you reference an assumption that an EDA is only successful if there is a TIF.  An EDA includes a community-developed economic plan. Portions of the Helmsburg plan were executed with private money and investment from Habitat.  The EDA and plan also provided the foundation (shared vision) for their CDC. An EDA supports funding from the county (they got about 5K) and allows the RDC to acquire and dispose of property. The EDA also supported the justifification for funding for the storm water project.

Prior RDC Meeting Notes in 2024

• • RDC Meeting Notes Aug
  • RDC Meeting Notes July
  • RDC Meeting Notes June
  • RDC Meeting Notes and Audio, May 21, 2024 – TIF.   Provides an introduction to the agreements made at this meeting.
  • RDC Meeting Notes, Apr 16, 2024, TIFs, Nashville USB
  • 20240416 TIF Handbook OCRA Kevin Allen/Consultant/Contractor  also mentioned that a TIF District could be cr

AUDIO of the Meeting

• • 00:09:25  Brown County Historical Society – Funding Help Pioneer Village. The buildings belong to the county.  Until recently, the county never had a capital improvement plan to identify funding needs for repairs.  HOWEVER, revenue from the innkeepers tax can be used for projects that support  tourism — the Pioneer Village certainly fits within this category.
  • 03:35 (Ron Sanders) and at 25:40 (Jevin Allen. Gnaw Bone – Regional Sewer District – need for major repairs/upgrades.
  • 44:15:00 -include discussion on Bridges, including Elkinsville
    • 20240918 Highway Superintendent Report
  • 1:01:57 Indian Hill Re-Opening Discussion – Mike Moga, Kevin Allen
    • Sep 16, 2024.  INDOT 12-Month Extension_DOT-RR-2494_Indian Hill.Brown County_Signed_9-16-2024. The 12-Month Extension to Cause No DOT-RR-2494 grants an extension of time until September 29, 2025, to commence work on the train-activated warning devices as described in the original Order dated September 29, 2023. The county is also applying for a federal grant to help with the costs of re-opening.

Agenda – Below

• AUDIO of the Meeting
• Agenda County Council Mtg 20240916 

Budgets. Short hearing on budgets submitted by Solid Waste, Hamblen VFD, and the county. Additional work in needed for the county budget that must be completed by Oct 21.

• • 1:32:53 Next Budget Working Session – Oct 3, 9am-12.  Insightful discussion on the budget process and the need for improvement.   Typically, the process includes  underestimating revenues and expenses 
  • Jim Kemp: 1:45:50 – Summary on the challenges with the process and the need for improvement.

Stipend — 11.2 % for four employees. Employees who are receiving a retirement check from PERF receive an 11.2 percent contribution to their retirement savings plan. This was not allowed under IRS rules.  Council approved a “stipend.” 

15:30 – 1:23:45. Excellent presentation on the mental health-related challenges and needs. Centerstone was asked to provide a proposed budget (over 200k) for mental health-related support. Additional stakeholders supported the request. These included the Foundation, School, Judge, and Sheriff. The county does not have the money in the budget. However, the Health Department “may have” 126K that could be used “if” approved by the County Health Board.

• • 20240916 Brown County Mental Health Safety Net Proposal
    • Option 1: Children’s Mental Health Safety Net:  $112,500
      
      
    • Option 1: Adult Mentalealth Safety Net: $112,500
      
      
    • Option 2: Safety Net Care Specialist: $112, 500
    • Option 2: Safety Net Recovery Coach: $112,500

1:29:49  New Health Insurance Contract. The county switched administrators from SIHO to Anthem. SIHO was acquired by another company that was aligned with Community Health as opposed to IU.  Maybe some cost savings. We budgeted 1.8 million. brief discussion on last years budget and projected costs.  

Last updated: Sep 23, 2024

Sep 23, 2024.  Link to registration for sessions on Oct 3, 2024 at the Seasons Lodge. This post at Brown County Matters

Sep 20, 2024.  Planned future sessions – Post at Brown County Matters. This post at Brown County Matters

Basic Facts, including roles and responsibilities:

2023 Indiana Code, Title 6. Taxation, Article 9. Innkeeper’s Taxes; Other Local Taxes
Chapter 14. Brown County Innkeeper’s Tax

o. Tourism marketing is supported by revenue from the innkeepers tax (around 1.3 million). It can be spent on anything that promotes tourism. Wikipedia identifies numerous categories of tourism.

• • Wikipedia: Types of Tourism

Sept 10, 2024. Starting the conversation: CVB 1st in series of meetings outlines agency’s purpose, Brown County Democrat.

Sep 4, 2024. AUDIO from the Meeting

Additional context -Chart (System Map)

CVC/CVB – Some Facts and Context

CVC_CVB Mgmt of Revenue from Innkeepers Tax

Revenue from the Innkeepers Tax – History, Opportunities, Public Input, Excee Revenue Distribution

AUDIO of the Meeting  

Sep 4, 2024. Agenda Commissioners

SPOT Zoning – Lanham Ridge –  – Denied.  (00:05:28) Request for general business zoning for a hotel, in a residential area.  The Area Plan Commissioner unanimously recommended a No vote. This was the third meeting on this issue. Residents in opposition packed the room again and were prepared to present even more information in opposition.  Commissioner Sanders made a motion to Deny the SPOT Zoning. Commissioners Pittman and Wolpert also voted No.  The only public advocate for the change was Commissioner Wolpert.   Indications were that the decision was going to be delayed again, but the strong opposition from the residents was unwavering.

New paid Holiday for county employees on June 19th (Juneteenth). The new holiday is to be referred to as “Brown County Employees Appreciation Day.” (1:22:06). Commissioner Wolpert proposed a new paid holiday for county employees. He stated employees complained that they did not get paid enough and a new paid holiday might be appreciated.  It was approved by all three commissioners. Wolpert decided it would be on June 19. “Juneteenth” is a federal holiday but not state.  Wolpert does not support Juneteenth and wanted to call it Old Settlers Teenth. Commissioner Sanders provided the history of the Old Settlers Day celebration that is held in September and thought it should remain separate.    (Juneteenth is a federal holiday but not state).

“Juneteenth, officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, is a federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States.” (Wikipedia)

County Septic Ordinance was repealed. This was the second reading.  The county will follow state guidance.  The state voided any county septic-related policies that exceeded state standards.  Counties wanting additional requirements need to submit the request through a state technical review panel.

Highway Superintendant Report. (1:07:06) A contract Vialytics was selected to update the condition of county roads and assign a PASER Rating.

Bridge Inventory and Assessment. A four-year contract is being negotiated with EGIS – represented in the county by Kevin Allen.

Highway Superintendent Report 2024_09_04

Convention Visitors Commissioner (CVC). Jimmie Tilton was selected to fill the vacancy due to the resignation of Barry Herring.  There is an ongoing issue over the future role and funding of the Convention Visitors Bureau.  (CVB).

Legal – Indian Hill Crossin Re-Opening.  No response yet from INDOT on the county’s request to provide an extension. The county’s petition to re-open was provided on Sept 29, 2023, and the county had a year to respond to the conditions for re-opening.

This post at Brown County Matters

 

Indiana allows the county to collect an innkeeper’s tax. Indiana Code (IC), Title 6, Article 9, Chapter 14 Brown County Innkeepet Tax.   (This is supported by a county-specific resolution/ordinance).

Aug 27, 2024, Brown County Democrat  Reader has strong opinions regarding CVC – CVB