Erin Harsin-Jordan
BUCK CREEK TOWNSHIP — There’s a four-way race among Republicans for the three seats on the Buck Creek Township Advisory Board in the upcoming primary election.
All candidates have ties to the board, either past or present.
Matthew Kelly, John Martin and Scott Whitehouse, all of whom were caucused into seats on the board, look to keep their spots. Erin Harsin-Jordan, who served a term on the board from 2015 through 2018, looks to rejoin.
Buck Creek Township is in the middle of Hancock County’s west side. The board advises the township trustee, who leads township government and its functions, including providing fire protection and emergency medical services, maintaining pioneer cemeteries and providing financial assistance to township residents in need.
Erin Harsin-Jordan
Harsin-Jordan didn’t seek re-election for her board seat in 2018 because she ran for the township trustee position, but lost to the late longtime Republican incumbent Melvin Branson.
She was a firefighter for 18 years, part of which for Buck Creek Township. Her husband, Todd Jordan, has been a firefighter for over 30 years. That background along with her former time on the board prepares her well for another term, she said.
“I have a lot of knowledge of budgets and all the fun stuff that goes along with government,” she said.
She said during her four years on the board the township was able to add six career firefighters.
“That made a big difference in manpower,” she said.
If elected, Harsin-Jordan’s biggest goal would be to add more firefighters to the staff to help keep up with all the development in the township.
“We are in desperate need of manpower,” she said. “That’s probably going to be a combination of career and part-time.”
It’s going to require careful planning, she continued.
“There needs to be a long-term plan for everything,” she said. “For hiring, for raises, for covering gear that is expiring, looking at overall what we have, what we don’t have and establish and five- to 10-year plan of what the needs are.”
Harsin-Jordan said she’d also advocate for the fire department to benefit more from the county’s special taxing district that encompasses much of the township and includes numerous industrial developments.
“I think there needs to be more communication with all the warehouses being put in,” she said before recalling the fire that tore through a Walmart fulfillment center in Plainfield earlier this month. “It wouldn’t take much for that to happen here, and we’re far less prepared for something like that to happen. I don’t know how educated people building these huge warehouses are as far as fire protection. I feel that’s a conversation that needs to be had as well.”
Matthew Kelly
Kelly was recently caucused onto the township board to fill a vacancy. The Hancock County Sheriff’s deputy has witnessed the area’s growth since moving there with his wife, Tiffany, about 17 years ago.
“We’ve seen it change dramatically, and I’ve seen the struggles that public safety’s having, specifically in Buck Creek Township,” he said.
Kelly formerly served on the sheriff’s department’s reserve division, including as its treasurer and secretary, through which he gained experience dealing with budgets.
Before going full-time with the sheriff’s department, he worked for 911 centers in Hancock and Marion counties. Through his capacity in Hancock County, he served on the county’s emergency planning committee, working with first responders, fire departments, law enforcement and businesses.
“I’ve been involved with public safety on a couple different levels that deal with budgets, and not just working with beat cops, but the partners that are out there,” he said. “And I think it’s very important, as fast as Buck Creek’s growing, that we have partnerships with some of those businesses coming in.”
Kelly said if he’s elected, he’d work toward establishing a solid budget for the township’s fire department. He noted townships can also be responsible for parks, and while Buck Creek Township currently doesn’t have any, he’d like to create some one day, especially as residential developers bring more homes to the western part of the county.
“It would be great to have some parks out there, but short-term, we’ve got to get the budget for the fire department squared away, we’ve got to get more staff,” he said.
That will require working closely with Hancock County government and businesses coming in, Kelly continued, adding he admires county leaders’ recently established practice of entering into economic development agreements with developers that outline payments to the county that can be used for public safety purposes.
“We’ve got to keep doing more of that,” he said. “If you’re not partners with those people out there, and the county, you’re on a ship that’s sinking.”
Scott Whitehouse
Whitehouse was caucused onto the board about four months ago to fill a vacancy. He learned of the opening from Buck Creek Township Fire Chief Dave Sutherlin and met Township Trustee Jack Negley shortly after.
“I thought it was a good time to try to participate in the community, try to help out any way I can,” he said, adding he and his wife, Julie, have been in the community for 30 years and raised their three sons there. “If I can help the community, I would like to try.”
Whitehouse has a master’s degree in business and 23 years of management experience, most of which with Ford Motor Co., and also with Keihin Corporation, now Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd.
“I was used to managing people, and supervising people, and more importantly — managing budgets,” said Whitehouse, who currently owns and operates Whitehouse Automotive, an auto repair business.
Like his fellow candidates, he’s also concerned about the rapid development in the township, as well as tax breaks for those developments. He’d like to find a way for companies to pitch in more for public safety.
“We’re going to have to be pretty creative and figure it out,” he said. “…I would like to add the manpower as quickly as possible and yet stay in the black with the budget, if it’s at all possible — that’s my main goal. Those new businesses are going to add significant calls to the fire stations and the manpower’s going to be needed. I don’t want to be reactive to that, I’d rather be proactive and get the guys trained up, get who we need and yet somehow we’ve got to maintain financial responsibility.”
Martin, who was caucused onto the board last year to fill a vacancy left by Negley when he was caucused into the trustee position, did not return requests for comment.
Democrat Marian Hensley is running uncontested for a seat on the township board, and will face the three Republican winners in the general election in November.
The board isn’t the only GOP-contested race in the township. Negley faces challengers Kenny Simmons and Micki Simunek for the trustee role.
