Thanks for listening! Look below for time stamps on topics.
00:00 Introduction and Weather Update
00:16 Putnam People: Councilman Vincent Aguirre
00:30 Dora District Discussion
16:02 SB 1 - Public Safety and Property Taxes
24:21 Road Safety Initiatives
29:46 Future Plans and Community Involvement
34:33 Child Care Grant and Final Thoughts
37:50 Conclusion and Upcoming Events
AI Generated Transcript:
Giant FM WREB. Paul in studio with you on this, uh, very frigid Friday morning. Supposed to get, uh, rumor is supposed to warm up a little bit this afternoon. We'll see what happens there. Joining me in studio this morning for Putnam People, Greencastle Councilman Vincent Aguirre. And Councilor, thanks for coming in this morning.
Thanks for having me. I'm always happy to be here.
Couple things I want to talk to you about, uh, first off, last night's council meeting, I was, I'll admit, unable to attend due to the, um, Putnam County Boys Basketball Tournament, and before I forget, you can hear coverage of tonight's games right here on WREB, 540, uh, pregame show, before the first game between Cloverdale and North Putnam, and then following that Greencastle Taking on South Putnam for the Bucket and the Boys Championship.
Well, it's been a talking point for the last four months. Uh, I have seen much like the ATV debate from a year ago, my God. Uh, some false starts, we got close to the finish line, but it sounds like last night. The Dora District, uh, was finally drug across the finish line, if you will. It
was, you know, we've been talking about it, uh, since July, really.
That was the first time we formed the council. Started voting on it in November, obviously had our hiccups, but yeah, it got brought across the finish line, had a few more public comments, and then passed with a 4 3 vote.
Let's start with the obvious. For those who aren't familiar, uh, and And let's talk about what the district does, what it doesn't do.
I think the most important thing that it doesn't do is it's not going to expand what's already here. And that is drinking in downtown Greencastle, right, wrong and different. You can still go to Moore's, purchase alcohol and actually take it outside without or, or almost home or, or. Any other establishment, you can get your alcohol.
You can take it outside without, uh, repercussion from police. For open container.
Yeah, so, you know, when people first hear of the Dora, sometimes the instinct is to pull back and go, well, this might, you know, make it dangerous or encouraging people to drink. But in fact, it does the opposite. You alluded to it.
So the Dora does allow our downtown bars and restaurants to sell alcohol and to go containers to walk around the downtown district. Uh, that does allow them to go and shop in businesses or make it easier for First Fridays, which I'll explain in a minute. Uh, but what, what's interesting about the Dora and feels counterintuitive is it does make downtown drinking more restrictive.
Currently, it is legal to open a six pack of beer on the sidewalk out in front of your office and drink that as long as you're not publicly, um, causing a disturbance and you don't get in your vehicle. Those two things are very much illegal. Uh, but it's not illegal to do that right now. And with the Dora, once it's all said and done, um, you will only be able to drink downtown in public spaces with a Dora cup.
Uh, another reason why that actually increases safety is when you think about Uh, actually, I was talking with my wife about this last night. Uh, there are occasions where we are at, uh, let's say the whisk, and we're enjoying a beverage, we just order our beverage, and all of a sudden, our son is ready to go.
Uh, he doesn't need to go home, but he just wants to walk. And, uh, in years past, you know, it might be something where I go, Oh, I have to drink my drink before we leave. Which is dangerous in some cases. If I just ordered a glass of whiskey and I'm trying to drink it just to leave, that could be dangerous.
Uh, so with the door, you can take that out, you can go walk downtown, you can go shopping, and you're not encouraging people to chug that drink. It was brought up before students maybe trying to leave and meet up with friends, another occasion you might have to finish a drink, or even in First Fridays, right now, and this is one of the biggest benefits, with First Fridays right now, it is illegal to cross from Starbucks, To the north side of the square with a beverage and most people don't realize that but you're leaving one and designated area into another People who do realize it might be encouraged to chug their drinks across the street.
Those who don't realize it could be stopped by excise and be penalized and the bars could be penalized. So this just makes it easier to host our downtown events, hopefully drive more foot traffic into our downtown businesses, and encourage people to drink responsibly and enjoy our beautiful downtown in a time where our downtown businesses need more people to enjoy their businesses.
So a couple things, first off, you know, I didn't realize it until the December meeting when Pete from from Moores and Elliot Dunbar from Lost Hollow and Joel from the WISC got up and spoke, I thought, very, very well. Hammered home a lot of key points, but I didn't realize that at the time Maybe I should have, probably not, that if, let's say I'm at Lost Hollow and I leave and I make my way across, and it's first Friday, and I make my way down to see Gail at, uh, you know, almost home, and then I leave there and I come over and I see Joel at Eversole, or Joel at the WISC, rather.
I have somewhat committed two crimes, if you will. Yeah,
and you can get both of those establishments in major trouble without even realizing it.
Right, because the territory is so small, the footprint is so defined. Uh, and you know, thank God, uh, we don't, we didn't have a huge presence of exiles who really came in, uh, and, you know, tried to follow the letter of the law and hammer people on first Fridays because that could have been really bad.
Absolutely. I, um, yeah, it's no fault of anyone, right? It's hard to educate people on that, um, without standing at the barrier. Um, and it's hard, uh, it's hard for the bars and restaurants to police that, uh, you know, they're busy trying to have a successful first Friday. So it's, it's challenging. Um, you know, I find it interesting.
Um, Joel did speak again yesterday. He brought up a really interesting point that I think is worth repeating. Um, He has been talking to people in the, in the restaurant about Dora and getting feedback and opinions and He said that, um, those who were most excited about Dora were people like me with, with young families.
Yep. And those who were most against it or concerned about it were only concerned about it because they were worried about people with young families. Uh, so it was a really interesting dynamic that, you know, uh, you know, some people might have thought, Oh, what about the, what about the kids? What about the kids?
And everyone with kids is like, this is great! Let's do it! Uh, so, uh, just, it was an interesting point, I thought it was worth, worth bringing back up. And, um, you know, Councilor Asbel and I, both on council with, with young, uh, families at home. And, uh, obviously we, we brought this to the table. And I think it's gonna be really good for, uh, so many reasons.
But especially just for simplifying our first Fridays
and our downtown events. Well, it's, it's funny, this got passed last night. Came in studio first thing this morning. I'll be around, uh, for quite some time. Um, I have seen nobody celebrate with a six pack of PBR out on the sidewalk in front of the studio.
Uh, and I'm sure I can count on no hands today, the number of people who will partake in that. I, yeah,
yeah. And I, I, um, you know, the small caveat, the door does not start until we have the signage up, but even then I don't think we're going to run into any issues. Um, and I, I failed, I failed to mention, you brought up kind of crossing those districts, um, an obvious, or example that happened to me before the first Friday, and I, I should have known better and I didn't.
Um, I bought a drink right here in front of, in front of the studio for the Moors. Um, my family went into Tap House, I followed them into Tap House with my drink, and Tap House had to politely say, leave or dump that out. Um, so, you know, those things will be resolved. Um, and, you know, they had to say that because it could have been an excise penalty for them and Moors.
They could have lost their liquor license, it could have been thousands of dollars in fines. Um, so this just really simplifies things while also making it safe to be on our streets. Uh, safer to be on our streets while consuming an adult beverage.
My point was for as much gloom and doom as this thing got and brow beating that it got at times.
Uh, I sure didn't see your eyes in drinking this morning. Nope. Nope. It's going to be really good for our city. So my next question, and I know that there's cups and signs and everything else that got to be ordered and those things take time. When will this kick off? How long? What's the hours and parameters around Dora?
Yeah, so that's
a great question. It will kick off once we have signage and cups in place. So we will have to create signage for our downtown area when you enter and exit the Dora. We will have to purchase cups and distribute them to our businesses. They will be purchasing the cups. The city will not be paying for those.
Uh, we'll also have to create decals for our businesses that can opt in or opt out of the DORA by putting a decal on the door saying drinks are welcome or drinks are not welcome. Um, you know, all of that now is, um, I'm, I'm happy and excited to work with City Hall to kind of help implement that. Uh, more of the execution is going to be done on that, uh, executive side of the city, uh, but you know, wherever they need me, I'm happy to partner and hopefully some of our partners like Main Street or, or, um, the Chamber might, uh, assist with that.
Uh, the DORA will be Thursdays through Sundays during set times. I'll post all those, um, uh, online when I, when I send out my newsletter recap. Uh, but it is all in the ordinance and, uh, you know, we're gonna, Thursday through Saturday, sorry. Uh, we're going to see how that works and, uh, you know, if it's successful, look at ways to improve it.
And if there's any issues, look at ways to resolve those issues and keep on making
sure this works for everyone. So we've got to get signage, we've got to get cups, got to get stickers, give businesses an opportunity to opt out if they wish, uh, and then Thursday through Saturdays. We talking all day, Thursday?
Yeah, I believe, uh, Can't drink
unless you start in the morning, right? I should, I should know this, but there were so many changes. I believe the final was, uh, 11 a. m. to 11 p. m. But, I'll have to confirm. I know we made some changes on times and dates. And I should have refreshed myself. And then,
how long is this in place?
Is it in place for a year? Is it in place You know, for the unforeseeable future.
Yeah, as
written,
it's in place for the foreseeable future. Uh, Council has the power to change that, um, just through an amendment to the ordinance. But, uh, there are no time frames. It is, um, all year, every year, Thursday through Saturday, until we change that as an amendment in City Council.
So, this isn't just a something that will be utilized during First Fridays or Farmer's Markets. This will be utilized Year round,
yeah, it can
be
and the hope is that on those off days It will be utilized to drive more traffic into our shops I think I told the story maybe last time I was on the show with you, but You know, I've talked with Britt's Boutique next door and encouraged her to offer some kind of gift cards or discounts to randomly give to people at the WISC.
So work with Joel and Tash at the WISC, say, you know, for every 10th customer, give them this little coupon and send them on over with a Dora cup and say, I'll give them 10 percent off. I don't know if she's going to do that, but that opens up ways for our businesses to collaborate. And hopefully, in my eyes, if we can get more foot traffic into these shops after hours, they can stay open later to encourage even more shopping.
Uh, so we'll see, we'll see how that goes. I think brunch, uh, brunch specials can work out really well. Go get brunch, uh, anywhere downtown. Walk around, shop. Uh, lots of opportunity for collaboration. And, uh, we'll see as time goes on. Uh, I know when it came to UTVs, the city got the signage up really fast. So hopefully, uh, City Hall will work quickly to get signage in place and all of that.
And, uh, hopefully by First Friday. I don't know if that's feasible, but it'd be really nice for First First Friday to be a Dora First Friday.
One thing that, uh, I think is important to, to note in, in all of this is this is not unique. Greencastle was not the first by, by any means to jump on the, The door trained, if you will, um, Noblesville has done it, uh, Carmel, maybe, um, this is something that has been passed by and is being looked at by municipalities all around the state.
Yeah. Yeah. Uh,
so in, in regards to Noblesville specifically, I would be remiss if I didn't think, thank counselor Aaron Smith from Noblesville. And, uh, there's another Aaron in Noblesville, and I'm blanking on his last name. He's, uh, he basically is their main street and downtown liaison. Uh, but they both helped me significantly in, in drafting this.
They brought me to Noblesville on their first day of DORO, so we can look and see how it's going. Uh, they've been a huge resource. And yeah, I think last time I checked, there's like 13 cities around the state. I know Speedway, Noblesville, uh, a bunch of other, they're considering it. I think it'll be For, for any, uh, you know, major city with a, with a downtown district or a commercial district of restaurants, I think it's going to be a no brainer.
We'll see a lot more of them pop up, uh, and it'll probably become, um, pretty common around the state. And I'm glad that we can be on the front side of that to maybe take advantage of some of the benefits before it becomes more common.
Uh, I'd be remissed if I didn't ask and, and let me preface by saying, yes, I'm, I'm needling you.
and counsel a little bit, but you've been on for a little over a year and UTVs took four months. Dora took four months. We gotta get something done in just a month or two.
You know, I um, I've had, I'm an entrepreneur, right? I love to execute quick, fail fast, learn, keep going. And I asked that
question joking.
No, I know, I know. But. I'm, I'm becoming more comfortable with the pace. of local government, but I will say yesterday was just such a good example of local government. Um, you know, I was talking with you before we got on the show just about, um, you know, how last month we had so many people come in and express concerns on things.
Dora has gone from a committee, to a discussion, to failing, to coming back, to being adopted. Uh, we have so much collaboration going on right now, so I think that's There's a balance there, right? Like, we want to get public input, we want to get collaboration. It brings beautiful things, like we did on Anderson Street yesterday.
Uh, but also, yeah, sometimes four months for something that seems pretty straightforward can be frustrating. So, I don't know, I think we're all finding our place, but I'm on, I'm on a high right now with how, uh, collaborative and effective. Our local government has been in the last month, and I hopefully we can kind of keep that going.
It's been a really good month for me.
Let's talk a little bit more about local government, and one thing that, uh, is a talking point at 200 West Washington, Indianapolis, and that is the address of the state capitol, is property taxes. And the impact. That it may or may not have on local governments, depending on, uh, who you listen to and what side of the argument you land on.
I know when I had the mayor in, uh, last month, Mayor Linda Dunbar did a great job of spelling out what these proposed cuts could do to, uh, the city of Greencastle. And, uh, Things like public safety, things like, uh, you know, the city is in the midst of its plan for the future. We have a new planning director.
Um, it would be a shame to see some of these things put on hold, uh, because the revenue is not there. I say that, but I also I am aware of the fact, and you being the only elected Democrat now, in the county. Many many miles in every direction. Yeah, for many miles it used to be it was just you and Joe, but you know, I'm all alone now.
You're on an island all by yourself. Um, nobody wants to pay more in taxes. No, no one does. I don't. Um, so a little relief would be great. But let's be honest as well, and I'll give the mayor credit. She touched on this. If property taxes are removed, local governments have other mechanisms to raise funds.
So as a councilman, I know this is something that you are adamant about, is getting, well one, getting the people involved in having the discussion. Let's talk a little bit about the, uh, the post, the call to action that you made last week, uh, for citizens to get involved. And from your standpoint, representing the 4th Ward, what, uh, potential cuts in property taxes could, could do?
Yeah, so I think it's important to put this in perspective, uh, specifically from my responsibility to represent the city of Greencastle. Uh, obviously, with my self interest, sure, I would like to pay less in taxes. Uh, but those taxes can and should go, and do go, towards services in our community. Um, as the bill was originally written, when I made the video that you referenced, We were looking at, um, around 800, 000 a year in, um, uh, funds taken from the city of Greencastle, uh, to accommodate those.
Uh, 800, 000 a year would be, um, over an entire shift of our fire department. It would be, um, five or six police officers. Uh, it would be, uh, about one road, uh, per year, uh, most likely that we, we could no longer fix. So that money has real purposes, um, not to mention the, uh, around 2 million a year in funding from, uh, our county schools that would be taken away.
Uh, so, so I'm really passionate about this, about SB1. Even as it's been amended, um, I refuse to be gaslit and feel grateful that now it's only 400, 000 a year taken away from the city. Because they started with eight. You can't kick me in the shin and tell me I should be happy because you didn't punch me in the face.
Uh, so, so, you know, it really frustrates me because sure, if we want to accommodate people and, and have some property tax relief. Uh, which there is a debate that we're already pretty good in the state of Indiana for property taxes, but let's take that away. If we want to accommodate people, we can start with maybe giving away fewer tax dollars to private schools.
Right? We don't have private schools in this county. Um, our private, our school education dollars go towards private schools in the donut. Um, maybe some, uh, stop giving some tax abatement, uh, to large corporations. We can find money there, uh, at the state level. Uh, maybe tap into the state surplus, uh, instead of taking away from our cities and towns.
So
the fact that government has a surplus,
yeah, yeah, to have a surplus and then tell us to defund our police department. Uh, it's, it's absurd to me. So it's, I get very passionate about this because obviously I'm representing the city of Greencastle. Uh, but what happens in our city affects everyone. If our police and fire, let's talk about our fire department, our fire department provides mutual aid all around the county.
Right. Um, I've gone on ride alongs with them to house fires in Reelsville, um, I've seen them go up to Russellville, they go all around the county. If you take away what would have been nearly 8 firefighters, which would still be about 4 firefighters, uh, that means there will be homes and lives lost in this county.
Uh, and I'm sorry, I'm willing to pay a little more in property tax to save homes and lives. And I think this is bigger than just the city and people need to realize that. Uh, you know, North Putnam schools, even in the revised version, I believe they'll lose 800, 000 a year in funding. Um, the biggest in all of our, our, our county.
Uh, it's, it's not just a city issue, but it's going to hurt cities and that's going to hurt everyone around cities. How big and small doesn't matter. Uh, so this has to be changed, and you know, stop giving money to private schools, stop giving tax abatement to corporations, tap into the surplus, don't take it from my police and fire department.
Now, explain the, the losses that school corporations could deal with, because that funding is tied to the student. Mm hmm. And the ADM count.
Yeah.
So, so if we cut property taxes We're not losing students from the buildings.
Yeah, yeah, so I'll be honest, I'm not deep in the weeds with the funding to schools in SB1.
I know that there will be losses, I don't know the mechanism that's causing that. But specific to like school vouchers and private schools receiving tax dollars, yeah, that ties to the students, right? So, if we did lose a student, we lose around 6, 000. Uh, which you can make an argument for, even though I disagree with that argument.
But, you know, this is not losing students, this is just taking, let's use North Putnam as an example, 800, 000, they're not serving any fewer students, they just have to find ways to make cuts. Right. And, uh, you know, the state, the state likes to try to gaslight us into, well, you can, you can increase taxes locally to, to accommodate this.
You can do a referendum to accommodate this. And some of that may be true. But the fact is, they're kicking the can down to us, uh, when we already have a system that's working alright, um, Some might argue cities like Greencastle should actually receive more funding. Uh, I found out yesterday, I did not realize this, but because of the way the property tax cuts came into play in the 80s, Uh, every city was basically frozen where they were.
Correct. If you were fiscally, so I knew that, but if you were fiscally responsible like Greencastle was in the 80s, You were frozen at a very small budget. Uh, our friends up north in Crawfordsville, their budget's nearly four times the size of our city's because they were spending more at the time it was frozen.
So Greencastle, you know, only receives a two to four percent increase in budget every year, even though we are growing, uh, you know, the tax caps, uh, we already lose about, I think, a million dollars a year based off the tax caps. So, uh, you know, we, we don't have as much money as we need to be a successful city providing successful services.
We do a darn good job with what we have, uh, but if you take away another roughly million dollars from us, or I guess half a million now because of the amendments. Uh, that's just, it's not good and we're going from a not good situation to a bad situation.
Let's talk about roads. And we've got Councilman Vincent Aguirre in the studio with us. And, uh, One thing that you have been extremely passionate about, even before you got on council, was making Greencastle is safer, not only for motorists, but for pedestrians and bicyclists. Uh, and there's been some positives since you've gotten on council.
Some may argue still a long way to go. Um, and some may be very content on how things are right now. Um, For you though, what's your thoughts? Where do you see things and, and what are some other initiatives that you and council are working on to find that that proper blend when it comes to safety. So, uh, that our roads treat and, and are utilized.
properly by all involved. Yeah.
So, uh, before, before I answer that, I do want to go back to SB1. I failed to, uh, to thank the mayor. I know the mayor was at the state house yesterday, uh, fighting for the city. And, and I'm glad, I'm glad she's doing that. And, uh, she mentioned a council yesterday. She'll be talking with our, our representatives here soon.
I think they're coming to Greencastle or maybe she's going back to the state house. So, I want to thank her for that. And, and lead into some of the good things she's doing, um, with, with roads. So, Washington Street, to me, I didn't have anything to do with it. But. Um, maybe, maybe a small bit of influence in discussions with the mayor over the last couple of years.
But, uh, you know, narrowing Washington Street is going to make that a safer road and provide a better pathway for bikes and pedestrians and students. Um, you know, that's something that really excites me. And some things I vaguely alluded to earlier is the conversations we've been having about Franklin Street and Anderson Street.
Uh, you mentioned it's been a passion of mine for a while. Uh, I want to always Um, repeat that in 2022, I wrote a letter to the editor encouraging council to to make Franklin pedestrian focused and not car focused since at the time there wasn't construction and Washington Street could be car focused. Uh, you know, last year on council, we did make Franklin Street focused because there is construction we need to accommodate, but I told council when we came back, I would, I would not support keeping that permanent.
And, uh, you know, last month, Anderson Street residents came and voiced opinions for and against some changes on Anderson. And it really excited me that we heard them and we came up with a compromise. And what we did, for those of you who haven't been following, is, uh, it, it, the road will become a two way road up until the driveway of Miller Hasbury, just past that.
But at that point, we're going to imply what is, uh, what is known as something called tactical urbanism, which is really cost effective ways to manipulate a street for safety. So we will have a sign and some paint and maybe a physical barrier, uh, that narrows that road to one, one lane, one way and slows traffic.
Uh, on Franklin Street, we were about to vote to remove parking, uh, which some of the council believed would help that street, uh, be more effective. I argued it would make the street more dangerous and, uh, actually local resident Trudy Sylvia came in and, uh, argued, uh, in favor of parking as well. But we tabled it so we can have the city engineer come up with some ideas like Anderson Street to maybe make that road a little safer for pedestrians.
There was a mom last month, I keep saying last year, last month, who mentioned she likes to ride bikes or walk on Franklin. And sometimes with young kids they ride on the sidewalk or walk on the sidewalk. But the sidewalk is so close to the road, if there's not parking, there's no buffer. And, uh, if you've walked on Franklin or even, let's say, on 231, uh, by Roban Park, it's, it's not comfortable to walk that close to the traffic.
Uh, so on Franklin Street, you know, having a barrier is going to be, uh, safer and just, uh, mentally feeling, uh, better for families to use that sidewalk. And, uh, you know, those types of changes are small. Uh, sometimes it might feel inconvenient as a driver. And I like to always remind people that, uh, there's research for days, uh, showing that the more uncomfortable you feel as a driver, the safer you drive, and the safer you are as a driver.
And, uh, it feels counterintuitive because you feel uncomfortable, but you speed less, uh, you, if you speed less, you cause, uh, less fatalities in accidents. And, uh, you know, I think everyone knows the statistic that most accidents happen within, I think, a mile or a quarter mile of your home, and that's because you're comfortable there.
So the more uncomfortable we make drivers, the safer everyone is, and maybe it adds three seconds to your commute down Franklin Street, uh, but I'll take that three seconds over fatality any day. Uh, so I'm really excited about these changes, these, uh, conversations. Like I said, uh, the last month has felt so highly functional and productive in showing how, uh, Community input can lead to councils opinions, shifting and adapting and, uh, compromising.
And I hope we can address more issues like that around the city and, uh, and provide a safer city for everyone.
When you look at what's left of this year and You know, obviously nobody has a crystal ball, but I'll ask you the same question that I've asked the mayor, same question that I ask you and I have you on.
What are some things that you're focused on the next couple of months, uh, from a council standpoint? And then Particularly when it comes to the ward that you represent.
Yeah, so I think last time you asked me I had no idea. I can tell you I have some idea now. Uh, the biggest thing I want to do is I want to open up my council, uh, budget around 9, 000 for, uh, improvements or Developments in the city and I want to get some feedback.
I want to create a survey, get some feedback from the community, see how many ideas I get. And if there's a lot of good ones, maybe find some way to have some kind of voting system or community action. I want to make sure those funds go somewhere that the community wants. I was really excited last year to get them to go towards the bank shop basketball, which I have confirmed we have in possession.
We've had it for a month, but there hasn't been warm enough weather to install it. I know the Parks Department is chomping at the bit to get that in as soon as the weather is safe to do so. So I want to make sure I really focus those dollars. I'm working with my newly appointed position on the Economic Development Commission.
I did apply for a 40, 000 grant for child care initiatives. We haven't heard back yet, but child care is something near and dear to me. Obviously, I know firsthand how expensive that is. And with a second child on the way in June, uh, it's only going up for us, and we're lucky enough that we can afford that, but a lot of people in our community could not.
So finding ways to work on that. And the third thing is, uh, not something we can do very much about as a council and legislatively as a council, but, uh, I do want to use some of our council authority to kind of look into, uh, what's going on with gas in our community. Uh, and it's, you know, we, uh, we don't have much power to hold over anyone, but we can ask questions.
And as a council, we actually do have the ability to call people in and, and interview them. Uh, and I'm not saying we need to do that, but I, I just want to dig around. I want to talk to our gas station owners and just see what's going on. What can we do as a city maybe to help if it's a cost issue? How can we help them lower costs to lower that?
Those gas prices. And if it's not, just figure out what's going on and, you know, might run into some dead ends because really a lot of our issues come back to state house and gas tax. Our state reps for many years have increased the gas tax to make gas more expensive in Indiana than many of our, um, uh, surrounding states.
Uh, but, you know, I just want to dig into it and, and, and find out more. So, it's kind of a pet project because, again, can't really legislate any sol solution there, but we can ask what's going on.
That's, that's interesting and, yeah, the gas tax is, is one thing and, you know, the comment has been made. If it's been made once, it's been made a hundred times by, uh, local politicians, especially on, on county council and commissioners side that Putnam County doesn't get its fair share of the gas tax compared to, to elsewhere.
Well, um, Putnam County residents aren't getting their fair share when it comes to the price of gas either, especially when you can drive to Plainfield and gas is routinely. 30 to 40 cents cheaper every time,
every time. And that's why I think it's at least worth looking into. Like, you know, I wish, I wish I had a silver bullet.
I wish we could. You know, do something as a council. It's not really our power, uh, but as a counselor, I can ask those questions and try to get some answers and I'll be open and share whatever I learn. So I actually, I followed up today, uh, emailed to a local gas station owner, emailed him last week. Uh, he didn't, he didn't, uh, he didn't open the email yet.
Uh, but I'll follow up a few times and I'll just start knocking on doors and asking questions.
Bank
Shop
Basketball will probably go in around June. When will we finally warm up?
Yeah, I assume, I know, uh, uh, Jason over at the Parks Department said, uh, I think the concrete has to be above 30 degrees, and So yeah, June.
Yeah, so yeah, so who knows? You know, you never know. It could get a week or two of unseasonably warm weather, but whenever it comes in, I will be the first to announce. I will get out there, schedule a basketball tournament, get some videos going. Uh, I am super excited and, um, I, I've already talked to, to Michaela, our court treasurer and, uh, said that she's got to get out there with her basketball, uh, experience, her collegiate basketball experience, and maybe we can both, um, create some kind of, uh, competitive teams, have a, a, a fun game out there.
Talked about Dora, talked about the Rhodes, talked about, uh, Property taxes. I want to go back real quick to the, the grant that you applied for, for child care. And, uh, no guarantee that, that we'll get, but I remember a year or so ago going and listening to the community foundations, um, presentation where they talked about all the issues facing the county and.
You know, those were lack of housing, uh, addiction, and then right in there in the top three, top four, was a lack of child care. Um, the Y is coming, uh, here very soon. The Y has traditionally always had great child care, but not everyone can afford that. Uh, this grant that you went for, What will it do for residents, especially who are already struggling to make ends meet?
How will this impact them when it comes to maybe being able to afford child care?
Yeah,
so this will be,
in many ways, a first step, if you will. There's been a lot of steps taking place already, but this isn't going to be a silver bullet and reduce the cost overnight. Right. But in working with the Community Foundation, I know they are going to provide, if we receive the funding, this will go towards additional resources to our existing child care.
Um, maybe some consultant, consultants to find out ways to add more child care, things like that. Uh, it's really, you know, they're still early in the process and this would still be early in the process. Um, you know, I want to add that, uh, you know, we are So happy with our child care provider, um, and it's incredible.
It's worth every penny to us. But again, it's not affordable to everyone and sometimes not affordable for us. Uh, so it's really, um, it's a, it's a tricky situation because, you know, my wife, my wife ran a local daycare for a little over a year, I think a little over a year. And we saw firsthand that, um, it's hard to make any money, uh, because there are, uh, ratios that are necessary for safety.
And I would never encourage, uh, that we allow, you know, 40 infants in a room with one adult. Uh, but having four infants in a room per one adult just has to be expensive. Um, so we have to find, uh, ways to, uh, to drive down that cost without, you know, jeopardizing that safety. Uh, and I don't know what the solution is.
You know, in my entrepreneurial, entrepreneurial brain. I look to maybe a non profit solution, uh, because there's really not money to be made in child care. So, uh, is there a way out there that we can just accept that no one's going to make money, but kids are going to be taken care of? I don't know. Uh, you know, it's not my expertise, but I, I just, I think about those things.
I've seen the numbers firsthand, and, and you're, no one's getting rich off of child care. Uh, and it's hard to even break even on child care. So I don't know, at some point we have to find a way to just provide it. And, um, I don't, I don't know the solution, but hopefully this 40, 000, if we do receive it, we'll go towards the experts, go towards the people that are working hard on this and let them keep working on this very challenging issue.
Councilman, as always, I want to thank you for coming in, spending some time with us, talking about some of the things going on, uh, in the 4th Ward, but, you know, more importantly, throughout the entire city of Greencastle with your, Uh, being on the council.
Yeah,
thank you.
I'm always happy to be here. It's a good day to be a Greencastle resident.
And, uh, let's go fight for our city and make sure we don't have to defund our police and fire.
Real quick, if, if people want to get involved with, uh, the property tax initiative and also any other initiative, really, how can How can they do that? How can people get a hold of you? Oh so many
ways to get a hold of me Uh, the easiest way is probably on my website, which is vincentagiri.
com Or you can go straight to blog. vincentagiri. com where i'm talking a lot about SB1 And other things going around the community. That's my personal site. It's where I act as a person and not wearing any of my other hats. Uh, but that's probably the easiest way. Uh, you can also find my email for city council things on the city's website.
You can look me up on Facebook at Vince from Greencastle. Uh, really, if you google my name, you'll find me. Uh, I'm everywhere online and I'm always checking for people
who reach out. Well, that'll do it for this week's edition of Putnam People. As always I want to thank you for tuning in and listening.
Councilman, thanks again for your time. Join us tonight, right here, 94. 3 WREB, as we will have the Putnam County Boys Basketball Tournament. Pre game coverage at 5. 40, right before North Putnam taking on Cloverdale, followed by the Greencastle Tiger Cups, and South Putnam for the county championship tomorrow.
You can join Doug for Coach's Corner right here at 9 a. m. Until then, thanks for listening. Back to the music here on 94. 3
WREB.
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