Huntingburg Mayoral Race: Stellar dominates conversation
The two Huntingburg mayoral candidates were on the stage at the Huntingburg Event Center with a crowd of about 130 waiting to hear their vision for the next four years.
Republican incumbent Denny Spinner and Democratic challenger Ron Drew took turns sparring over questions from local media and those in attendance.
After a brief introduction of their vision for the city, each candidate sat down with panelists Jim O’Neal of WITZ AM/FM and Bradford Raths of WBDC to answer questions the pair had prepared ahead of time.
Much of the evening was spent discussing the recent Stellar Designation as well as the county-wide common theme of housing and attracting youth to the area.
In his opening remarks, Spinner expounded on the accomplishments of the city and administration since he took office. He explained that the city was more efficient since restructuring the utility departments. He added that the restructuring had allowed for more effective use of city personnel and less reliance on contractors for utility work, saving the city money.
Stellar dominated the discussion, but Spinner was sure to point out several projects that were in progress before the designation occurred. He touched on the continue success rate of the city’s revolving loan fund in assisting small businesses grow on 4th Street. He explained that a volunteer group dedicated to creating a destination in the downtown area had formed and acquired a grant to support their efforts.
He leaned on local community members that came forward to take part in the volunteer efforts to garner the Stellar designation and promised to complete ensure those projects were completed.
Spinner also used his time at the podium to announce the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs and the Purdue University Center for Regional Development will examine Huntingburg and the recently announced workforce housing project, Hunters Crossing, as part of a study of rural housing. The study will help Huntingburg make decisions for its next steps in regards to housing needs.
Drew started his remarks by clearing the air on his stance about Stellar. He said many have asked if he would get rid of Stellar if he were elected “Absolutely not,” he said. “It’s a wonderful thing that we have it. I appreciate the fact we have it and as a community, we should be proud that we have it.”
He did say that some of the projects were more popular than others. He added that although he was asked to speak about his vision for Huntingburg over the next four years, he felt that with all the Stellar projects that need to be completed and the maintenance of the current needs of the city, there wasn’t much time to add more items to that list.
“What I do know is that something has always been important to the city of Huntingburg, is that our infrastructure has to be maintained,” he said. “There are some things that have been a little slack.”
Drew touched on the tone of the community stating that the it had always been a friendly community and he would like to get back to that.
Attracting young people or new families to the area
Younger people to Huntingburg and Dubois County, “You have to create a place people want to move to,” Spinner said. “You have to have the amenities they want.”
He used the recent announcement by PSC to create a high-speed internet network throughout the city, the creation of Market Street Park and the Heritage Trail as examples of amenities that could attract young families to Huntingburg.
Drew said he felt attracting youth was a “tricky thing.”
“I think you could have a committee like you always do with other things,” he said about forming a group of younger people to work with the city to create programs or initiatives they are interested in.
Stellar Designation
Spinner said a lot of work remained to be completed.
“I want to be clear on this; the Stellar Communities designation is not a grant. The funds are not automatic,” he said. “Just as we worked and planned to earn the designation, the same effort in planning must be continued in the next four years to earn the more than $7 million in state funding that comes with the designation.”
He added that to receive the funds, the city must meet the requirements provided by the state agencies involved with the funding.
Drew said he felt the city was doing well with keeping up with the needs of the growth of the city but he felt that the city was misstepping in maintaining the basic needs of the city.
He stated he felt that Stellar would take care of itself with the volunteer committees that are already involved. “I think Stellar, once it gets going, will take care of itself,” Drew said. “There will be different people working on those projects and obviously, we will be in and out of that but I see two different ideals here. You got Stellar and you got your city. There’s people in our city quite capable of taking care of it. We just have to communicate what we want.”
Housing
Drew jumped on the housing initiative to create homes in the $125,000 to $175,000 range.
“I heard this every door I went to,” he said. “How does somebody that’s making $28,000 or $30,000 at the most going to afford a $150,000 home. Unless they changed the math recently, I don’t know how it’s going to work.”
He added that he wondered how anyone could come up with the $30,000 down payment for a new home as indicated in the Dubois Strong housing study. “I don’t know how you afford that or make that work,” he said.
Spinner refered to the Dubois Strong housing study that was recently completed and the recent efforts of creating workforce housing. He explained the study did a good job at determining the county’s housing needs.
“The workforce development housing project at Hunters Crossing will provide for sale housing,” he said. “But there is also a great demand for quality rent property for an affordable price.”
He said that identifying and creating rental properties is part of the Stellar program. “We are working with a private developer and our local agencies like TriCap to identify the next housing need for Huntingburg and the right location for it,” Spinner said.
According to Spinner, the goal is to have an application completed in time for next year’s housing tax credit cycle.
Latino Outreach
Drew stated he worked with the Quadalupe Center while he was the police chief to reach out to the Latinos in the community. He and other officers worked to create a better understanding of the cultural norms and laws in the United States compared to their countries of origin.
“After six months or so, we saw a difference on the streets,” he said. “The department better understood their issues in the community and they began to understand our issues better. It worked out well and we became friends with many of them.”
Spinner stated that the city has been working with the Association of Latin Americans in Southern Indiana (ALASI) to created a more inclusive community. “We need to have a better handle on identifying the leaders in that community so that we can communicate to the rest of the community in a better way,” he said.
Spinner added that they have made efforts to bring Latinos into the processes with the city by appointing them to boards and including them in community conversations.
In closing
Drew told the crowd his office would be open to the community and he would be there to hear their concerns.
“Some of our people are hurting bad,” he said. “Sometimes they have to choose between a bologna sandwich and their pills.”
He added that the city needs to be cognizant of their needs in making decisions about utility rate hikes.
Spinner told the crowd to that his administration had pulled community volunteers in to create a successful future for the city.
“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve the city of Huntingburg as its mayor for the past four years,” he said before telling everyone to go out and encourage people to vote in the coming election. “I urge you all to go out and vote on November 3rd because that is a great privilege that we all have. We need great voter turnout and whatever the results are we will all be satisfied.”
