Citizens Tool Kit
for Bloomington

Providing a voice for citizens   April 23, 2006

Lesh for Council Kitchen Cabinet

Jill Lesh will bring a collaborative approach to the County Council. She understands finances, works well with people, and has the breadth and depth of experience necessary to be an effective member of the Monroe County Council.

Lesh has been a K-12 school administrator, a middle school teacher, a non-profit director, a university research grant manager and alumni director. She is currently managing director of the Monroe County Historical Society.

Jill Lesh has a solid grasp of the issues facing our county:

the long-overdue construction of a juvenile treatment center;

jail over-crowding and the accompanying high recidivism rate;

the need to attract and grow sustainable businesses that pay quality wages;

uncontrolled growth and the resulting strain on our infrastructure and public finances;

the degradation of our local environment and the danger it poses to our drinking water.

Jill Lesh can bring people together to actively seek the resources Monroe County needs to invest in the future of our community. Monroe County has one of the highest poverty rates in the state. Only 50 percent of our land is available for property tax, and our county budget is shrinking. We need a proactive County Council with a forward-looking vision of what we want for ourselves and for our children and future generations.

Providing a voice for all county citizens is important to Lesh. She wants to make the Council more accessible to the community. Her monthly Citizens’ Breakfast series already provides an opportunity to meet with her to discuss concerns and get citizen input.

Promoting social justice and, in particular, the creation of a local juvenile treatment facility, is a high priority for Lesh. She strongly supports the option of partnering with the Center for Behavioral Health and Meadows Hospital.

“By partnering with other community resources, this plan offers savings in building and county employee costs. It provides a secure juvenile detention center with a full continuum of preventative and rehabilitation youth services, and preserves our existing Youth Shelter. Utilizing the 80-acre property currently owned by the County allows for good long-term planning.”

She stresses that we can not continue to send our youth around the state for treatment. “These are our children. It makes no sense – financially or humanly – to send them away, sever their connections with home, make their parents take time off and drive long distances to see them, pay professionals in another county to take care of them, and expect them to come back and be good citizens here.”

Protecting the environment while fostering economic vitality is the guiding principle Lesh intends to use when making land-use funding decisions.

“I will make the tough decisions for the long-term best interest of the public.” To Lesh, that means protecting the unique character of Monroe County while encouraging businesses that are environmentally and economically sustainable. Uncontrolled, speculative growth and sprawl are overwhelming our public infrastructure and straining county finances.

“County government cannot continue to give away tax abatements and TIFs without some clear public benefit to the taxpayers who foot the bill.”

Public transportation plays a large role in Lesh’s vision for the future of Monroe County. She serves on the Bloomington Public Transportation Corporation Board and wants to see expanded public transportation on a county-wide basis. She is pleased to be a part of the effort to introduce the first hybrid electric buses to the system this year.

Jill Lesh is a native Hoosier, raised in North Webster, Indiana. She graduated from Hanover College in southern Indiana, and Indiana University here in Bloomington. She and her husband have now returned to Bloomington, where they have deliberately chosen to live downtown to minimize the use of their one car and walk to work. They have two grown sons.

Jill Lesh is endorsed by the Democratic Women’s Caucus and Democracy for Monroe County.

Council candidates focus on juvenile facility Democrats face off in two contested races

by Kurt Van der Dussen   April 27, 2006

With four district seats on the Monroe County Council up for election and with two major parties, that's eight possible contested primaries for the council.

But there are just two, both among Democrats, for the most Republican and the most Democratic of the council's four districts.

While the Monroe County commissioners are elected countywide, county council district members are elected only by voters in their respective districts.

In District 3, two-term incumbent Mark Stoops has to defeat sheriff's deputy Troy Thomas to move into a fall election battle against long-time council political rival Marty Hawk, who is unopposed in the GOP primary in a GOP district.

In District 4, the Democratic primary face-off between Bill Hayden and Jill Lesh may be tantamount to election because the district is so Democratic there isn't even a GOP candidate for November.

In District 1, incumbent Republican Sue West and Democrat Vic Kelson have no primary opponents and will meet in the fall. Ditto in District 2 for Republican Jim Billingsley and Democrat Charles Newmann.

District 3: Stoops-Thomas

This has been as low-key as a race can get. Both listed no contributions or spending in their recent campaign finance reports.

Stoops has served on the council eight years, serving as president in 2005, and is its representative on the county plan commission. His record over seven years is of support for increasing social-services funding, building a county juvenile facility, keeping a tighter leash on development, questioning property tax abatements for businesses and supporting more funding for planning.

He said he's running again "because sometimes it's frustrating, but at other times I'm able to get things accomplished."

Thomas, a 10-year veteran and sergeant in the sheriff's department, said he decided to run after watching council spending over the years and thinking it needs to "get back to the basics."

The county council is the county's purse keeper, and the bulk of its spending is for basic county services and statutory obligations. Its truly discretionary spending ability is very limited.

Stoops said his top priorities for discretionary spending are social services and alternative corrections.

He said the council can use its funds to "leverage" the limited money of local service providers to get the most bang for the buck. And he said the county needs a juvenile treatment facility, an adult community corrections center and substance-abuse programs to reduce the jail population.

Thomas declared "my opinion's biased" on spending: hiring more road deputies. At present, only three are on duty at any time to patrol close to 700 miles of county road and respond to all accidents and crimes.

He said his other top priority would be to fund a juvenile treatment facility.

District 4: Hayden-Lesh

In District 4, Hayden, a long-time environmental and community activist, is in a potential "strike 3" political situation in his primary race against Lesh. He ran for county council four years ago and lost, then ran for Bloomington City Council in 2003 and lost.

He said he's running again "so I can work more efficiently on the issues I have devoted time to over the past 16 years," including the environment, recycling, planning and zoning and alternative transportation.

"I also believe we need better oversight of county spending and tax subsidies for green field developers to ensure existing businesses and property owners are not saddled with unfair and higher than necessary taxes," he said.

He also noted council members serve on critical boards and commissions such as the county plan commission and solid waste district, and he'd like to be on a couple of them.

Lesh is making her first bid for public office. She's the new managing director for the Monroe County History Center, and she moved to Bloomington two years ago after working at Purdue. She lived in Bloomington years ago while getting a master's degree in education from IU.

Lesh said her expertise in grants is one reason she's running for the council: "I thought that we need a proactive searching for funds" and "aggressive" help for county departments in hunting them down.

As for where she'd put more discretionary funding, she cited three areas:

• Juvenile justice, where "money spent up front saves money in the long run."

• Public safety, notably improved communications equipment for road deputies.

• Transportation, with more coordination between community bus and transit van systems to find and fill the gaps in service.

  Asked what would be his top priorities for limited discretionary funds, Hayden said a juvenile facility with prevention programs, plus more social-services funding.

  "It is critical that we provide programs which reduce the recidivism rate in the jail. The jail is not the place to treat citizens with emotional problems, drug addictions and inadequate life skills," he said.

  He also wants to upgrade sheriff's road deputies' communications equipment to improve communication with other safety units.

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  'Democracy' group renders endorsements Elections 2006

  Herald-Times Report - April 15, 2006

  Democracy for Monroe County, a political action committee that had its birth in the unsuccessful 2004 presidential candidacy of Howard Dean, has made its endorsements for the May 2 Democratic primary.

  In contested races, the group endorsed Larry Smith for sheriff, Pat Stoffers for county commissioner, Mark Stoops in Monroe County Council District 3 and Jill Lesh in county council District 4.

  It did not take a position on the one contested primary race for a county judgeship.

  The group also endorsed several other Democratic candidates in uncontested primary races and said it will endorse any Democrat who wins in the primary in the fall election.

  

  Lesh announcement: County Council 4

  February 26, 2006

  Jill Lesh is seeking the Democratic nomination for Monroe County Council Seat in District 4. Her announcement follows. Bill Hayden is also seeking the nomination.

  Today, Jill Lesh announced that she is a Democratic candidate for the County Council seat in District 4. She says: “I am eager to listen to the constituents of District 4 and to proactively represent them on the County Council. I will work to improve the quality of life in our community, from Bloomington’s neighborhoods and downtown to throughout Monroe County.

  "Issues of public safety and economic development in the city, for example, can only be addressed effectively if we recognize that the entire county is our community."

  Lesh sees increased cooperation between county and city government as essential to meet the challenges as the community grows.

  She comments, "I am committed to fostering collaboration between city and county agencies and more actively enlisting the help and expertise of the business and non-profit sectors in the vision and creative solutions for our community."

  Lesh serves on the Bloomington Public Transportation Corporation Board, and she is a recent graduate of the City of Bloomington Citizens’ Academy.

  She brings a diverse set of professional experiences. She has been a middle school teacher, an administrator of a K-12 school, director of a non-profit, and, most recently, director of alumni relations for the Purdue University College of Education.

  She is a long-time League of Women Voters volunteer and advocate for citizen participation in government.

  Lesh was raised in northern Indiana, graduated from Hanover College and received a master’s degree in Education from Indiana University at Bloomington. She and her husband have two grown sons.

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  Longtime community worker Lesh running for council District 4 seat

  Herald-Times Report
  February 22, 2006

  Longtime community activist Jill Lesh will seek the Democratic nomination for the District 4 seat on the Monroe County Council.

  Her opponent in the May 2 Democratic primary will be environmental activist Bill Hayden.

  District 4 as redrawn by the county commissioners last fall is a heavily Democratic district. No Republican filed for it.

  In a written statement, Lesh said she's eager to listen to her constituents and "proactively" represent them. She pledged to work for the whole community, from city neighborhoods to the entire county.

  She said issues of public safety and development in the city can be addressed effectively only if officials recognize "the entire county is our community."

  "I am committed to fostering collaboration between city and county agencies and more actively enlisting the help and expertise of the business and nonprofit sectors in the vision and creative solutions for our community," she said.

  Lesh serves on the city's public transit corporation board and is a recent graduate of the city's Citizens Academy. She has been a middle school teacher, administrator of a K-12 school, director of a nonprofit agency and director of alumni relations for Purdue's College of Education.

  Lesh grew up in northern Indiana, went to Hanover College and earned a master's degree in education from Indiana University. She and her husband have two adult sons.

500 N. Walnut St. Apt. 401
Bloomington, IN
47404

jill@jilllesh.com
812-355-1365