New Palestine Council President Bill Niemier
NEW PALESTINE — Council member Angie Fahrnow raised her voice in discontent directed at council president Bill Niemier. The outburst came at the end of the council’s most recent meeting last week.
Fahrnow, during council comments, expressed anger toward Niemier, who is a real estate attorney. She told him she didn’t like the appearance of him being on the town’s redevelopment commission and told him to step down.
“Can I talk please,” Fahrnow yelled at Niemier, when he tried to address her concerns.
“You’re defensive and I want to finish my statement… I am talking,” Fahrnow yelled.
The rift between the two has been brewing for several weeks as Niemier continues to support a multi-million, high-end apartment complex where developers are seeking a bond in a TIF district. Fahrnow backed away from the project, one she once supported along with having a TIF district for the town.
Niemier said his work as general counsel for a realty company has never once been an issue with the town’s RDC and never will be. While the company owns property in the TIF district, they’ve never asked the town for any kind of tax break. The company he represents has nothing to do with the apartment project, however Fahrnow insists the realty company Niemier works for will benefit indirectly.
“I’m not making a vote that in any way benefits my employer or myself,” Niemier said. “The fact that I am interested, in my opinion, for what is good for the town — well, hell, that means anyone who lives in town has a conflict.”
Fahrnow’s request came a few weeks after she demanded Niemier get off the town’s Planning Commission, telling him he was on too many town boards. Fahrnow however is on the town’s Planning Commission, the town’s Social Media Committee and is also the town’s MPO policy person, as well as the town’s representative on the Service Advisory Board.
While Niemier said he was surprised at Fahrnow’s request a few weeks ago, asking him to step off the Planning Commission, but he decided to go ahead and step down from the seven-person group. He however balked at her request to leave the RDC.
“I’m not stepping down from the RDC, and I already regret when it was requested that I step down from the Planning Commission,” Niemier said. “That’s an entity as a real estate attorney I might be able to lead some experience to.”
After telling Niemier she wanted him off the RDC, Fahrnow said she wanted to take his place, although prior to asking Niemier to step down, she asked the town’s attorney exactly what the RDC does.
Niemier, who has been on the council for several years, and Fahrnow are at odds with the town’s efforts to offer a $5 million bond to the developers of a $63 million, high-end apartment complex project.
Just prior to Fahrnow’s outburst, the council had to ask the town’s clerk treasurer, Yvonne Jonas, to break a 2-2 tie after Niemier and council member Chris Lytle voted in favor of a law firm handling the bond paperwork for the apartment project. Fahrnow and council member Clint Bledsoe voted against the measure, meaning the clerk treasurer had to cast the deciding vote, which she did in favor of the project moving forward, 3-2.
Council member Brandee Bastin abstained from the vote because she works for Hancock Regional Hospital, which owns the land where the new apartment complex is scheduled to be built.
Niemier, like Bastin, has abstained from any town vote where the realty company he represents has been a part of development. That includes land where a restaurant is going in and where a Taco Bell is being constructed near the intersection of U.S. 52 and Mt. Comfort Road.
Fahrnow and Niemier took the same opposing sides on the RDC issue as the apartment complex bond issue. Bledsoe joined Fahrnow in questioning Niemier’s intentions for being on the RDC. Lytle came to Niemier’s defense, saying Niemier was simply filling a seat on the RDC because no other council member stepped forward to do it.
In the end, Niemier told Fahrnow, “no,” he was staying on the RDC board. He also informed her that every lot on the property the company he represents owns near the apartment complex proposed site is spoken for, and he doesn’t care one way or another if the apartment complex is built, something Fahrnow suggested benefits Niemier.
“Whether that apartment complex comes or not, there is enough interest in our land right now,” he said.
Niemier reiterated he’s only trying to do what is best for the town in supporting the bond for the apartment project, which is in a TIF area, saying the complex is ideal for the space next to the Wellness Center.
Niemier told Fahrnow he didn’t appreciate her questioning his integrity. Niemier served for 11 years on the Southern Hancock School Board before stepping down after he received the most votes of any candidate to serve on the town’s council in 2019. When he is not working as a real estate attorney, he serves as a fill-in judge in the Marion County court system.
