An EDITORIAL by John Estridge
At the last Brookville Town Council meeting, while the people in the crowd, in a decidedly fruitless endeavor, were trying to get BTC President Curtis Ward to admit there had never been a feasibility study for annexation – even after he told the taxpayers at each meeting for month after month, the study was ongoing — one person was trying to explain to Curtis the meaning of the word “addendum.”
(An aside here: Does Curtis have to purchase a bunch of pants because so many of his pants spontaneously burst into flames?)
One of the reasons Curtis said the nonexistent feasibility study was ongoing (without ever starting, mind you) is because people had sold property up there (Snob Hill) since the latest property taxes came out.
I think I can speak for the entire crowd’s reaction at that point: We were either shocked at his naïveté and/or offended in his assessment of our IQs.
For Curtis: Addendum means “an item of additional material, typically omissions, added at the end of a book or other publication.”
This is one of those. On the record, this is still an EDITORIAL, but as I just said an ADDENDUM to the EDITORIAL. For anyone reading this who does not know what this is an addendum to, I will try to give a very short synopsis.
Brookville Town Council members have gone insane.
They want to purchase a golf course for $1 million without even glancing at any books, refusing to look closely at the course’s immediate infrastructure needs, without a feasibility study (even one of Curtis’ imaginary feasibility studies) or anything even remotely close to showing financial responsibility over our money. Of course, we – taxpayers — have to purchase it RIGHT NOW. Because it is making so much money for the current investors, they are demanding to sell it RIGHT NOW. Personally, I have never promised anybody I would buy the golf course at all and certainly not by a certain time, and I would definitely not cave to someone demanding I buy a deteriorating property financials unseen for $1 million right this minute.
I find that rude.
AND
They also want to buy a property in town for $600,000 that is very, very HOT. That property is so hot, we could not learn what property it was because if it leaked out, it would be purchased right out from under our collective noses. It was a secret. Shhhhh be vewy, vewy quiet. (I am thinking Elmer Fudd there).
And now it is so hot, we have to purchase it RIGHT NOW. If we don’t purchase it RIGHT NOW, a company that would perhaps hire people and pay taxes might purchase it. And good Lord we can’t have that.
But the reasons we are purchasing it RIGHT NOW, so a legitimate business that would hire people cannot, are very sound: We are purchasing it for a town hall because we need a town hall, Curtis said. No, dangit, it is not going to be a town hall. Now, it is going to be a police station that no one, even Curtis, has purported we need plus something for the street department, also, that no one quite understands.
AND
We are going to have a Frisbee golf course that is going to be somewhere in our beautiful town park, that many people dearly love and enjoy, but right now the people who currently use it and love it really don’t matter because Curtis wants a Frisbee golf course, come heck or Stephanie letting a bunch of water out of the lake.
We will know where the Frisbee golf course is going to be when it is completed, because we are not worthy of that knowledge.
(When reading this addendum to the editorial, please understand “we” means taxpayers and those who use the park)
That is the editorial that now needs an addendum.
Golf Course
I chose the golf course to go first because – and this is a tough call – it seems to be the most stupid of the three. I really want to use the word stupidest instead of most stupid because it seems to fit the situation better.
After reading my editorial, many, many people contacted me.
They pointed out Curtis owns a gazillion acres of land up near the golf course and in the immediate vicinity of the golf course in the proposed annexation area. In fact, he is one of the property owners he was talking about that had purchased property after the tax thing, and we had to try to tell him about addendums.
And, some said he had been voting on things without a written conflict of interest disclosure statement actually filed and not just thought about and made up like that feasibility study. I do not know personally if that is true. And, you know, even if that is not so, voting on the golf course and annexation is a really big conflict of interest for Curtis. So much so, I feel unclean watching him do it. Now, not only does he have rich people telling him how high to jump, but he has a financial incentive to jump real high (as in spend our money) and not really think about us.
Another person reminded me of the dog catcher situation.
This is another brief synopsis: the Franklin County Commissioners had their attorney, Grant Reeves, talk to Curtis about the need for some extra money because the commissioners thought the dog catcher (small animal control officer) was having quite a few calls within the town’s corporation limits.
Curtis, fellow member Brooke Leffingwell and her sister took the time to get the small animal control officer time sheets for quite some time in the past until now and analyzed them. I mean really analyzed them. I am wondering how many hours were put into that little exercise. And they found the small animal control officer was not spending a lot of time in Brookville.
In doing that extensive analysis, they saved the town about $1,000, maybe. However, they cannot even do a cursory examination of the golf course’s financial situation before they spend $1 million of our money to buy a golf course, probably most of us have never used. And, that is just the beginning of the costs. Running an operation of that size is going to be expensive. Currently, Curtis said there are two full-time employees and 17 “seasonal” employees. One thing about global warming, the few golfers still among the population are going to be able to be on the links for many more weeks both in the fall and spring, so those seasonal workers may have longer seasons.
And don’t forget the current condition of the golf course. Maybe, we should just tell people it is a facsimile of the moon and get people to pay admission to that.
At that last meeting council member Eric Johnson said we needed to buy the golf course for the thousands of kids that play golf there. I will admit there are young people who play golf there, but thousands? Did you get the memo about the school corporation losing money because we are having fewer and fewer students each and every year?
One of my many, many bad habits is Facebook. I kind of creep around on Facebook. So, I have been reading some of the arguments for buying the golf course.
To date, the ones I have found are developers. That is not a bad word, but in this instance, developers really have skin in the game.
One developer who owns about everything but two parcels in the county, said we shouldn’t even look at the golf course as a golf course but think about the other uses for the golf course. I.E. a development opportunity for more houses.
That is the American way. I am all for it. If the developers want to make the golf course into housing, have at it.
But leave us out of it.
Instead, get a bunch of the developers together and they can throw their money together and buy the golf course from the LLC RIGHT NOW. I’m all for that, and I really hope all of you, Curtis included, make a bunch of money at it. But I do not want my tax money used in land speculation where the end game is for a small group of developers to get richer and the taxpayers to take it, well put whatever anatomy part you want there.
Zimmer property
Really, the Zimmer property should have been first with the title of the stupidest of the three.
I see the golf course because a few people, Curtis included, are in line to make some money using our money. Unfortunately, that is too often the American way. We have come to the point we almost expect that of our government. But this is the first time a local governmental entity has stuck it in our faces like the BTC.
But the Zimmer property? That kind of worries me, because I know there has to be a reason this has been secret from the start and now we have to buy it RIGHT NOW even though we no longer apparently need a new town hall, or a new police station or a new something for the street department whatever that is.
If anybody knows what is driving this, please enlighten me. My only thought is Curtis is really against new businesses moving into town and buying the HOT property, and we have to expend $600,000 to foil them.
Again, like the golf course, $600,000 is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. That does not include all those little miscellaneous costs such as remodeling, construction and the other things. And don’t forget ongoing maintenance.
Also, has anyone done a brown field study of that property? That property has been commercially-oriented for many years until Curtis put a stop to that.
But like a feasibility study, it would be really nice to know if we need to dig up a bunch of that soil and cart it off to the moon or something.
My big problem with this is three letters: Why?
We really never needed a new town hall even if we were told we did. We do not need a new police station. And since apparently no one knows but Curtis what that street department something is planned to be, we probably don’t need that either.
A person told me on Facebook, we are moving the police station because of parking. He said the officers might be delayed going to a call because they have to back out of tight parking places. I wondered about that person’s reasoning or if he was really being serious. I believe many, many people could suggest parking improvements that would not run $600,000 plus whatever. Then, he seemingly tried to say people against this were against things like expanding the library, building a pool, moving the firehouse and the EMS. I was for all of those things, but apparently he was “painting with a broad brush.”
I had thought this, but I saw it on Fred Neeley’s Facebook post: Why not put the street department down at the new property where the state highway department was? Maybe, you would even save money. I know that seems opposite to the council members’ current mindset of spending our money as quickly and as stupidly as possible almost like they printed it, but how about embracing change people.
And what about the new empty storefront on Main Street caused by the police station moving out of our downtown — we are supposed to promote — and moving to High Street? Our municipal lot will now be flanked by empty storefronts on both sides. I guess we can knock both buildings down, expand the municipal lot and put more parking meters up. We are obviously going to need the money. And that would give the police more parking spaces.
I think the golf course stupidity sometimes overshadows this stupidity. And it shouldn’t. However, we are just inundated with stupid ways to spend our money. RIGHT NOW
One other bothersome little factoid concerning both the golf course and the Zimmer property, they are both privately owned and the property is being taxed. Once they are owned by the town, the taxes on $1.6 million dollars worth of property disappears. Considering the spending habits of this town board, where do you think they will turn to make up that loss of revenue? Grab your billfolds and purses! That is a LOT of money to make up for on the backs of the rest of the taxpayers.
Town Park
Like the Zimmer property, there has to be more here than meets the eye.
Curtis demanded a park board and now a Frisbee golf course. He did not ask any of us for our feelings and opinions.
Also, and I did not make this clear during the editorial, there are going to be sponsors for every hole, meaning advertising signs. Councils in the past have vehemently fought commercializing the park. What is next, neon billboards? If Curtis wants neon billboards down at the park, we will have neon billboards at the park.
My parents, God love them, used to use old sayings that really have a lot of truth to them. One of those is “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Is it that Curtis has so much energy, he just can’t let things remain the way they are? Or better yet, Curtis, have these ideas and then share them with the people paying the bills and enjoying their property they pay for. And don’t tell them we have to do everything RIGHT NOW.
Better yet again, ask the people what they want to do (if anything) with their property paid for by their money. And don’t be in a hurry.
Breathe Curtis. Think about your Kum Ba Yah speech and go one level farther. Relax. Do some yoga. Take deep breaths. Remember the town’s motto that we paid a bunch of money for: The Rush of Relaxation. As it was explained at the time, rush did not mean for anyone to rush around here, it was just rush to get here so everyone could relax.
You are here. Relax.
AND
This was near the end of the last meeting, and I am going to admit, my brain was overloaded at that point. However, Curtis is not done spending your money without asking you.
Remember the $3 million bridge and trail from the Brookville Town Park to the other side of the river, Curtis wants to do that. It was $3 million last year. You know the costs have gone up. Hopefully, there will be a grant, but the grants include local money. So, if the cost is now $4 million, then we get to pay at least $800,000. I agree that with what the golf course and Zimmer’s property will end up costing us, $800,000 will sound like a bargain, but OMG. When will Curtis stop spending our money on things he wants?
Please, tell him to stop. His fellow council members seem incapable of looking out for our best interests or to be good stewards of our money. We need to stand up and as Nancy Reagan said: “Just say no.”
And that brings up the next issue and it’s the last one I promise:
Apathy
People I really respect have called me up after my last editorial and they all have this refrain: “I would go to the next meeting, but it won’t do any good because this is a done deal.”
Really? That makes me so angry, I have to really take deep breaths and hum Kum Ba Yah after someone says that to me.
There’s a couple of ways to look at this.
Back in early 2008, the powers that were in charge of Franklin County at that time wanted to update the zoning code, and they wanted to make it way more restrictive because – God help us – we might grow as a county if we didn’t do something to stop it.
So, the powers that be, hired a consulting company out of Indianapolis for a zillion dollars. They came and were real bored sitting through meetings around the county that no one showed up for and then they took a finished zoning code that they wrote for say Hendricks County and/or Brownsburg, and they just changed the title to Franklin County.
My boss at the time, Gary, wrote an article and an editorial. They were really good, and I always hate to admit when he does something good, but those were good.
It was so good, 800 people showed up at the public hearing for the proposed zoning code. Prior to the meeting, people were saying “I would go to the next meeting, but it won’t do any good because this is a done deal.”
That meeting changed everything.
The proposed zoning code was dropped. Average citizens got together and wrote up a zoning code meant for Franklin County. Was it perfect? No. But it was much, much better than what they were trying to cram down our collective throats.
And, most of the people in power at that time were replaced at the next election opportunity.
So, don’t give me that apathetic crap. If you don’t show up, you are right, it will not change. But show up. Even if you don’t say or do anything, your presence will be noted. Bring your lawn chairs. Sit outside and look through the windows. Just show up. All of those town council members live here. They are your neighbors. Even the zombie-like rest of the council will have to take note and at least, at least, delay it to think about it.
Here is a suggestion, since the rest of the council members apparently are in agreement, ask them to sell Curtis’ big plans to you. He must surely have them convinced he is doing all the right things. Give them the opportunity to convince you, too. Why should that heavy burden rest solely with Curtis?
We really don’t have to do anything RIGHT NOW except attend that meeting.
And, finally, if they go ahead and buy everything they say they are going to buy and they do what they want to do to our town park, at least you can say you gave it a try. You did your best.
If you stay home, if you say nothing, you get what you get, and you deserve it.
Remember be at the next BTC meeting, which is 7 p.m., Tuesday, August 24, at the Schilling Center.