Candidate campaigns on need for future vision

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Andrea Yovanovich

McCORDSVILLE – Who do we want to be when we grow up?

That’s the question Andrea Yovanovich said is at the front of her mind as she campaigns for a seat on McCordsville Town Council.

“Because right now it’s not what I want it to be,” she added.

The Democrat faces three other candidates for two at-large seats on the board, which represents a town that’s growing up quickly. Yovanovich said her resourcefulness would benefit what she described as a much-needed plan for helping to shape McCordsville’s future.

“I want to be not only a voice, because I can articulate it and I’m comfortable asking questions, but I also want to be a set of ears to help understand the situations, so that I can share that with people,” she said of her motivation for pursuing politics.

The council for the town she lives in is just the place to do it, she continued.

“Things don’t happen at the top,” she said. “There may be some things influenced, for sure, but things start on a very granular level and grow from there. And if you want to have a voice and you want to be a part of the direction, that’s where you’ve got to start.”

Yovanovich is a strategic engagement officer for CuroGens, a Carmel-based global software company. One of her responsibilities is managing professional relationships with the company’s customers and partners, which she said has honed skills that would benefit the town council like negotiating and strategic visioning.

She has also led the Mt. Vernon Education Foundation and worked for other nonprofit organizations as well, including those focused on arts and health care.

Yovanovich is currently enrolled in the Hancock County Community Foundation’s Candidate Compass program, which gathers experts in development, education, safety and other topics to teach aspiring leaders.

She started teaching video production and technical theater at Mt. Vernon High School in 1995 and moved to McCordsville in 2001, when the town had one stoplight, a handful of businesses and a lot of farm fields. There was plenty for her, her husband and their son to admire, she recalled.

“We love the great outdoors, we love the wildlife, we love the nature, we love the quiet,” she said. “But to do anything – to go grocery shopping, to grab a cup of coffee, to get gas – we had to go. Anywhere. Anywhere but here.”

Yovanovich said she’s learning much as she researches and talks to people about McCordsville.

“People want to live in this community,” she said. “And right now we’re starting to get there, but we’re not known for anything.”

She noted the town’s tagline is “Next stop McCordsville.”

“To do what?” she continued. “We’ve got to create our identity, we’ve got to create a draw. If we want to diversify our tax base and we want something beyond just warehouses, well then we have to have a draw so that other businesses want to come here. Because if it’s all just residential, all of the tax burden is on the residents. And if you want paths, and parks, and libraries and amenities, I’m thinking all of the residents don’t want to pay for all of it themselves.”

And as new residents continue to drive up the town’s population, it’s important to have a diverse housing stock with a variety of price points, she said.

McCordsville’s forthcoming town center is a great first step toward giving the town an identity, Yovanovich said, but more could be done to establish a collective vision for what the town wants to be in the next five, 10 and 20 years.

“Because right now it’s kind of like we’re a pit stop between (interstates) 69 and 70, and I’m not interested in that,” she said.

Yovanovich noted residents’ opposition to the warehouses going up on McCordsville’s south side and in western Hancock County, which she said she understands and reminds her of how she and her neighbors successfully fought a proposal for a Super Target several years ago.

“But I also know it’s inevitable for things to change, and so … let’s have a plan in place, let’s be proactive so that when things do change, we can help people be collaborative and good community partners, and not just slap up a four-sided building.”

That requires assembling an array of information, she continued.

“You have to engage the right people, and the right minds, and the right experiences, and Andrea the former figure skater and software development company executive – that’s not my bag of tricks,” she said. “But I certainly am resourceful and I can find people.”

After finding those people, she’d have no shortage of questions she’d pose to help guide her determinations, she said.

“I don’t know diddly, but I absorb a lot, and I ask a lot of questions, and I gather information and then make the decision,” she said.

Yovanovich faces fellow Democrat Linda Robinson and Republicans Bryan Burney and Scott Jones for one of the two at-large seats on the town council in the upcoming general election.

Election Day is Nov. 8. Eligible Hancock County voters can participate in early voting in Greenfield starting Oct. 12, and locations closer to McCordsville are slated to become available later this month.

2022 general election early vote centers

Hancock County Annex, 111 American Legion Place, Greenfield

11 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays Oct. 12-Nov. 4

8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays, Oct. 29 and Nov. 5

8 a.m.-noon Monday, Nov. 7

Hancock County Public Libraries

Greenfield – 900 W. McKenzie Road, Greenfield

Sugar Creek – 5731 W. U.S. 52, New Palestine

11 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays Oct. 24-Nov. 4

8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays, Oct. 29 and Nov. 5

Noon-3 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 30 and Nov. 6

Buck Creek Township Fire Department, 5809 W. Airport Blvd., Greenfield

8 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays Oct. 24-Nov. 4

8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays, Oct. 29 and Nov. 5

Brown’s Chapel, 994 N. 600E, Greenfield

8 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays Oct. 24-Nov. 4

8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays, Oct. 29 and Nov. 5

Mt. Vernon Administration Building, 1806 W. S.R. 234, Fortville

8 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays Oct. 24-Nov. 4

8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays, Oct. 29 and Nov. 5

2022 General Election Day vote centers

6 a.m.-6 p.m. Nov. 8

All of the above locations, plus:

Cross of Grace Church, 3519 S. 600W, Greenfield

Fortville Community Center, 400 W. Church St., Fortville

Nameless Creek Youth Camp, 2675 S. 600E, Greenfield

NineStar North, 2331 E. 600N, Greenfield

McCordsville Town Hall, 6280 W. 800N, McCordsville

Wilkinson Church of Christ, 7293 N. S.R. 109, Wilkinson