LIST OF ISSUES
CONTINUED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
I feel the current town council has done an excellent job in laying a foundation for supporting the local business community. I want to continue their work by attracting marquee companies like FedEx and Lids while supporting our current business owners as well. While these are needed projects, I want to focus less on luring other companies from Central Indiana and instead focus on “economic gardening”. I want to help Zionsville nurture our own talent by supporting initiatives and infrastructure like ZWorks that encourages and facilitates business and job creation within Zionsville.
I recently spoke with an investment banker from New York about my company who told me “I didn’t know Indiana even had tech companies”. This one example illustrates how much work remains to make any Central Indiana community a viable and vibrant community for high-tech employment.
I want to do all of this while still keeping Zionsville as the special community that it is. Today I talk regularly with the board of zoning appeals (BZA) and planning commission to understand what initiatives are proposed, what succeed, what fails (and why) and find the right balance between economic growth and traditional ways. My plan for Zionsville economically is to evolve without losing what makes us unique.
KEEPING OUR SCHOOLS WORLD-CLASS
Although responsibility of the schools fall under the elected school board and not the town council, I want to do whatever is possible to allow our schools to maintain their exemplary status.
The first piece of this is directly related to economic development. By allowing the continuation of the measured diversification of our tax base we’re able to add money to the assessed property values without addition additional burdens to the school systems.
The second piece is to do whatever possible in helping to fix the current funding formula by the State that hurts growing communities like Zionsville. By ensuring that our students receive adequate per-student compensation we can continue to graduate qualified students into our workforce
PROTECTING ZIONSVILLE ASSETS
At times Zionsville has been on the losing end of economic decisions by our neighbors that impact our ability to thrive and, if elected, I would strive to change this. One example of this was losing control of the Indianapolis Executive Airport, located in Boone County but now managed by Hamilton County. Other times our neighbors challenge us legally such as Whitestown challenging our ability to have a Mayor. We need to ensure we have the right strategies in place to act in our own self-interest as a community for our own best interests.
There are many assets in Zionsville that we need to ensure are both properly protected but also enhanced. I want to put together a vision that includes these assets and how to best utilize them. Assets don’t have to be just tied to economic development, they also include things like enhancing parks, adding trails and ensuring services like curb-side leaf pick-up are maintained.
Assets are not just physical structures like buildings and trails. They also include intangible elements like community, safety and maintaining a town where people want to live and work. I would ensure that any strategies were for the greater good and positively impact these elements