Debra Carnes
This story has been updated to correct the description of a function of the Hancock County Auditor’s Office concerning property taxes.
HANCOCK COUNTY – Multiple incumbent elected officials met no challengers in 2022’s primary and general contests.
They include Hancock County Clerk Lisa Lofgreen, Auditor Debra Carnes, Recorder Marcia Moore, Sheriff Brad Burkhart, Assessor Katie Molinder, Councilman Jim Shelby and Fortville Town Councilman Fritz Fentz. All are Republicans.
As they start their new terms, they bring experience from their past years in office and goals for their forthcoming four.
Debra Carnes
Carnes is starting her second term as county auditor. She said she’s proud of multiple accomplishments throughout her first four years, including a presentation getting ready to launch that helps explain tax deductions for military veterans. She also pointed to the implementation of a benefits resource coordinator to help with county employee insurance.
During her first year in office, she worked with a county building corporation established to help facilitate the funding of the county’s new jail. Her office conducted reporting on funds the county received from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES Act as well.
Hancock County has had three state audits and three federal audits without any findings during Carnes’ first term.
“We’ve just built a very dynamic team,” Carnes said. “One person cannot do that, obviously. It’s kind of like I’m the conductor and my team’s the orchestra. We work very well together.”
The county is currently finishing distributing the $15 million it received from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, which, like the CARES Act, comes with critical reporting requirements to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Carnes said. Seeing that through is one of her motivations for seeking another term.
Carnes has other projects she wants to finish as well, including updating county payroll software to make its processes more efficient and streamlined.
The auditor’s office has nine departments, including those that oversee payroll and insurance for county employees, claims, and disbursements to municipalities. It also applies deductions after property values are assessed, establishing property tax bills. The office prepares annual financial reports and serves as secretary to the Hancock County Commissioners and Council as well.
Carnes was recently named vice president of the Indiana Auditors’ Association, which she said will bring a local voice to the state level on legislation impacting the county.
“I’m glad I have a seat at the table on that to help represent our Hancock County constituents,” she said.
She added she’s grateful for the way county government departments work together.
“We’ve got a great group of elected officials that do work together as a team,” she said. “Honestly, for those people who don’t know county government, it’s one department to the other department to the other department so that we can get everything done. So it’s important to have interoffice spirit of cooperation. I’m excited that we have that.”
Marcia Moore
Moore is starting her second term as county recorder, and said she wanted to continue in the position to keep pursuing a major project her office has underway. The office recently had county records dating from 1975 to 1985 brought into a digital system and is currently indexing them. Moore also signed a contract to bring all property records into that system dating from the start of the county in 1828 until 1975.
“My goal is – prior to leaving office – I will actually have all of the documents imported into our system,” she said. “That’s going to take years to get those indexed.”
Once indexed, the public will be able to access them online and at public access terminals, Moore said.
She added she’s honored to serve the community. Before becoming recorder, she was county clerk, and before that she worked for the city of Greenfield.
“I guess public service is just something I felt like is my calling,” she said.
Brad Burkhart
Burkhart just completed his first four years as county sheriff and is starting his second term.
“Obviously I think we’ve done many things over the time period with increasing the road division by nine, increasing salaries, increasing jail staff, but I think I would say the highlight of the last four years would be the building and opening of the new sheriff’s office and jail,” he said. “That was quite the undertaking to get that accomplished, but it’s a great facility and I love being out here.”
Located just east of Greenfield, the new, larger facility was prompted by the county’s growth, a change in how those convicted of certain crimes are incarcerated, and the opioid crisis, Burkhart said.
“I think it was well worth it, because this was built on the idea of not just to house inmates, it was built on the idea of providing programming and providing people opportunities to get better if they so choose, and ultimately cutting down on recidivism,” he said. “…Being overcrowded in the old facility, we just couldn’t do that.”
Near the beginning of his second year in office, COVID-19 quickly spread across the county and country, completely restructuring how to operate a jail with isolation and social distancing requirements.
“I’m hoping for the next four years to be able to concentrate more on things outside of those areas,” Burkhart said.
In Indiana, county sheriffs can serve multiple terms, but no more than two consecutively.
“Anytime you run for office, especially when you’re term-limited out to two terms, you always want to finish it out and try to build on what you did your first four years, and see what you can do for the future,” Burkhart said. “My goal’s always been to always make this county a better place. You always want to leave it better than you found it, and I want to continue to do that.”
As Hancock County’s population grows, so too does its economy, particularly on its west side. Public safety coverage of that area has demanded more of the sheriff’s department’s attention, and Burkhart said he wants to continue to ensure it and the rest of the county get the consideration they deserve.
“I think that’s something we have to continue to look at and stay on top of, because as we continue to grow, public safety’s very important and sometimes people forget about that part when we start building stuff,” he said.
Jim Shelby
Shelby has served on the Hancock County Council since 2001. He said that in that time, he’s proud of helping the county government go from being in a financially stressed state to a financially adequate one. He noted there have been at least three recessions since he started on the council – one after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, one a few years later, and one known as the Great Recession that began in late 2007 spurred by the U.S. housing market.
One major way council members acted to improve the county’s financial standing, Shelby said, was hiring Plainfield-based Financial Solutions Group to help guide them.
“Before that, we didn’t have any financial guidance,” he said. “And basically, we’ve followed their advice. It’s been good advice.”
Shelby sought another term due to unfinished business.
“There are a few things I’d like to see come to fruition that have been started,” he said.
One is allocating all of the federal funds disbursed to the county to help in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Another includes water and wastewater projects envisioned throughout the county. Shelby is part of a committee tasked with recommending sources for the county’s COVID relief funds. The Hancock County Commissioners recently approved one of the group’s recommendations by earmarking $6 million to bring wastewater infrastructure along CR 200W, where a potential I-70 interchange is currently being studied.
Fritz Fentz
Fentz is starting his second term on the Fortville Town Council. He said his first four years came with a significant learning curve as he grasped how to run meetings and how officials work to make local government run, like the town’s attorney, planning director, manager and clerk-treasurer.
The council decision that sticks out to Fentz the most throughout his first term is the creation of the town’s riverfront development district. Such districts allow municipalities to exceed caps on liquor licenses for establishments where alcoholic beverages are served, like restaurants. Despite the name, communities in Indiana have found success creating the districts along smaller waterways, prompting Fortville to create its district along Stottlemeyer Ditch.
Fentz said he feels many in the community struggled to understand the motivation for the district.
“It’s about opening up so we can bring more businesses to town,” he said.
Greenfield and McCordsville also created their own riverfront districts in recent years.
Like much of western Hancock County, Fortville has been growing as of late. The town has drawn several residential development proposals in recent years, including apartment complexes and neighborhoods. Fentz said officials carefully contemplate all of them, noting some have even been rejected.
“We’re not rubber stamping these housing additions,” he said.
One reason he wants to remain on the council is to see through Broadway’s road diet and plans to extend Madison Street to the south. Fentz noted the only way currently to leave Fortville to the south is on Maple Street.
“It’s not a want, it’s a need,” he said. “Fortville needs two roads going south to get out of town. You see how busy it is in the evenings on Maple Street just trying to get through the town.”
Efforts to reach county clerk Lofgreen and county assessor Molinder for comment were unsuccessful.
