January 5, 2009 ZTC Remarks

Tonight I announce that I am resigning from the Zionsville Town Council, effective immediately. Rather than dwell on the wear and tear that 10 years on the Town Council caused to me and my family, I instead wish to take this opportunity to thank the Town for the opportunity to serve. My service on the Town Council provided the ability to participate in a number of improvements to this fine community:

During my tenure, we:
--increased park lands by 50%
--enacted a comprehensive animal control ordinance
--created the current police blast email warning system
--added five miles of pathways
--constructed the Ford Road extension
--bought a new Town Hall
--re-bricked Main Street
--expanded the Town Council from 3 to 5 members|
-- developed the 106th Street Business Park which increased assessed valuation by $43 million
--provided the fiscal responsibility which resulted in a system of comprehensive planned growth which allowed the Town to provide approximately 50% of the tax base despite being only 25% of the land mass for the Eagle-Union school district renamed the "Zionsville" school district by the school system during my term on the Council.

During my tenure:
--taxes were consistently lower than surrounding areas of comparable size, and we currently enjoy a $1.2 million dollar budget surplus (the direct result of the visionary leadership of prior Town Council Presidents Tom Easterday and Dick Crane, as well as the repeatedly outstanding efforts of Town Manager Ed Mitro)----we also avoided a fair number of near disasters, which shall remain unmentioned.

This Town continues to be blessed with outstanding department heads: Ed Mitro; Rick Dowden; Sue Jones; Jamie Van Gorder; Dennis Mackey; Terry Jones; and Lance Lantz have provided outstanding leadership, service, and value to this community. I thank them for consistently making the Town Council look good. My association with the likes of Tom Easterday, Dick Crane, Jim Ray, Dave Brown, and the late Dave Effler, provided me a blessing beyond what I deserved.

I most want to thank my wife, Sandy Carr, who made my political career possible by her constantly wise advice and counsel, her political campaign savvy, and her incredible ability to take care of three children and keep the home fires burning while I dealt with the latest Town crisis. I look forward to spending more time with my family. With the endorsement of the current consolidation plan, this Town Council heads in a direction I voted against, and simply can't endorse. I shall remain an enthusiastic supporter of this very special "town within a park," and wish every success to both old and "new" (township)Zionsville citizens, but urge you to be wary of shadowy political forces which attempt to use political contributions to potentially distort the future direction of this community. I would like to conclude with a quote from 1 Thessalonians 5:15-18: "Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Good night and God bless.