Who I am and what I want to do:

I want to restore our ability to be heard by county government. This has been declining for decades.

I was born and raised in Indiana. Ancestral family names have included Spencer, Montgomery, and Hazard. My family members have worked in farming, auto racing, manufacturing and education here in south-central Indiana. I returned from the Cleveland VA hospital after many years as a psychologist serving our Veterans. I’ve been asked to run for County Council.

I’ve chosen a platform focused on wise and FAIR investment of available county funds for public and environmental safety. Council members are keepers of the budget, which reportedly has a “rainy day” reserve of $12.25 million. The Council members could and should spend sufficient money for fair, unbiased County ordinances. We also need fair compensation for front lines workers who carry out the ordinances and other tasks of the county.

It looks like our incumbent government has catered to some interests at the expense of family farms and our quality of life. Enforcement of ordinances is lacking or inconsistent, hindered by favoritism, low staffing and poor pay for front line employees. We face many challenges in preserving our beautiful family farms, our air, and our water.

Here are important examples.

1.) Industrial-scale concentrated animal feeding (“CAFOs”) add dangerous pollutants to air, water and land, affecting the health of neighbors and potentially many others who draw from the same water sources. Proposed industrial-scale “biosolids” operations have potential for even greater toxic pollution because the collection of these solids will gather animal, human, and commercial waste, that is then sold to farmers as “fertilizer”. Maybe this could be safe “in theory”, but our community safety relies on a woefully understaffed and underpaid team to monitor for toxins and violations.

2.) Other unenforced ordinances vaguely describe the minimum care that must be provided to companion animals (e.g. farm dogs and cats), but owners get no consequences despite the MOST horrific cases of neglect or actual torture. And loose dogs have killed other animals on private property, yet been returned to their owners without penalty. Public outcry about this has gone unanswered for years. We need sufficient staff and leadership for fair enforcement, with guidance from a reinstated Animal Welfare Commission (the group of professional volunteers disbanded in 1999 by incumbent Commissioner Kleinhenz).

3.) Code enforcement is biased. Our code enforcement and animal control departments are woefully understaffed, while the County officials brag about their “rainy day fund.” Code enforcement is used like a hammer on farmers wanting to lease their OWN FARMLAND for profitable solar panels. Other people, like slumlords, polluters, and animal abusers, get no consequences at all. They blight our county.

LET’S ENJOY OUR COUNTY LIFE!

With one-party rule for decades, neither our Commission nor our Council has been truly accountable for how they run things. With better balance across parties, this WILL CHANGE.   

Nancy Merbitz, PhD, HSPPDemocratic Candidate for Bartholomew County Council