By BECKY HAND
Community editor

    Looking forward to speaking at Mary Raber schools for Lincoln’s birthday today, a bearded Mayor Jim Fleck spoke to seniors Wednesday at their Valentine’s Day brunch.
     He began growing the beard in December, when he was asked to speak for Lincoln’s birthday. He claims his wife, Kay, didn’t notice it until this week.
     “I’ve gotten more attention from this beard than for anything else I’ve done!” he exclaimed, seeming a bit exasperated. He promised to remove the attention-grabbing facial hair shortly after the Lincoln Day presentation.
     This was the first time the mayor had come to speak to the seniors in their new facility, and he pronounced it, “Wonderful.”
     Getting down to serious issues, the mayor spoke of his concerns about the local economy, and how in his many trips to Indianapolis, he was disturbed by the lack of respect given to small town government.
     “We have maintained very fiscally conservative government, at the city and county level ... We have reserves,” said Fleck, and says Whitley County will withstand the economic downturn much better than other parts of the state, “namely Marion County.”  
     Even with this record, he is concerned that the state level government is making decisions for the small-town governments that are just not prudent.
     “I don’t know of any mayors who support what’s going on, but it’s happening anyway,” he conceded.
     “What’s been proposed will increase local government by three or four times,” said Fleck, with the police and fire departments at stake, and especially the volunteer fire departments.
     Full-time fire personnel, if mandated, would cost the local government $75,000 each per year, per person. This would be prohibitive for towns like Larwill and Laud.
     “This concerns me a lot,” said Fleck. “Someone must advocate” for our small town people.
     Another challenge coming up is the influx of the stimulus package monies, if they do come. The government is putting short time limits on using this money, 30, 60 or 90 days, and the monies not spent in that time must be returned.
     “Government is not known for speed,” he said, recalling that it took five years and $20 million to finish the wastewater treatment plant.
     Even with these concerns, Mayor Fleck says he looks forward to the challenges coming to him. “I didn’t know what to do with the rest of my time.”
     Upcoming projects he will be looking into include the Eagles project, redeveloping an underused corner of the city; improvements on the intersection of state Route 205 and U.S. 30; and the building of a community center and hospital, with the resulting problems in planning the entrances and exits to these new buildings.
     The seniors were encouraged to ask questions, and brought up the possibility of a monorail running from Churubusco to Columbia City, a walkway over U.S. 30, and the problems with the small drives into some group home areas, specifically at Heritage Place.
     Not only is it difficult for residents to park at Heritage Place, there is not enough room for buses and fire trucks. The mayor advised them to contact Fire Chief Tom LaRue to come to their neighborhood and address the issue.
     When asked about what his take was on the government’s stimulus package, Mayor Fleck said,     “Thank goodness I didn’t have to figure that out!” and he commented there are very few perfect government programs, “And now we’re going to create one?”

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