|
Banks joins Overdeer, Western on county council |
|
|
|
Wednesday, November 05 2008 |
By TJ HEMLINGER
Staff writer
Republican county chairman Jim Banks summed up the 2008 election for party faithful Tuesday night, saying, “Clearly this is another great night for Republicans in Whitley County.”
He was speaking of a sweep of the county council races, the county commissioner seat that was up for grabs, the county treasurer office where Lisa Richmond ran unopposed for re-election and the election for county coroner, where Scott A. Smith also was unopposed.
“It’s obvious voters have chosen to give control back to the Republicans,” Banks, who won one of three county council seats that were contested, said. “There wasn’t a big takeover by the Democrats.
Re-elected to the county council were Bill Overdeer, who has been on the council for 20 years, and Tom Western, who will be back for his second term. Don Amber was elected in the Third District, running unopposed. Overdeer, Banks and Western were elected to at-large seats.
Democrat Cliff Crance finished fourth in the four-man at-large field.
The three Republicans each garnered slightly more than one-quarter of the vote each, with Banks leading the way with 28 percent. Crance finished with less than one-fifth of the vote total.
“I’ll be the first to admit I have a lot to learn about the council,” Banks said after a short victory speech. “Tom Western and Bill Overdeer will educate me on the challenges we face.
“I’ll be the type of councilman who will look far ahead. It’s in my interest as a young (29 years old) councilman.”
Banks said the state legislature in its most recent session made “significant changes in where the money comes from and where it goes to.”
“I’m still learning new things every day,” he said. “Fortunately I’ll be working with council members like Bill and other leaders who have been on the council for a long time.”
Western said there were a lot of ramifications of the state legislature’s actions to revamp property taxes and other sources of income.
“That’s No. 1,” he said. “In the next legislative session, who knows what’s going to come down the road.”
Western said funding for roads was the most frequently heard concern from voters, and the EMS situation was second.
“Roads is what I’ve been hearing about. Roads, roads, roads.”
Amber, who ran unopposed in the fall after a primary fight that he won, said, “People said we need change, we need change. I understand that’s how they feel, but I’m trying to remind people there’s a whole lot of good that’s going on in Whitley County. Change for the sake of change is not a good thing.
“If there was one overriding theme, it was roads, because that’s a big problem to people. I don’t want to see what we have go to waste.”
Overdeer said people told him they were concerned about their taxes.
“In the case of Whitley County, We just have to do the very best to control spending. We have done well in the past, but we have to do better. (The state legislature’s actions) hurt us, but we’re not cutting any services.
“The Legal Service Agency tells us how much shortfall we’ll have (from previous years), and I think we can live with it. The Economic Development Corp. has got some things going, and I think we have good prospects for good jobs.”
E-mail staff writer TJ Hemlinger at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, November 06 2008 )
|
