“Transparency, connection & collaboration”

Key words from Carmel City Councilman Jeff Worrell

Submitted

On Monday, The Omnibus Show podcast welcomed back Jeff Worrell. He is one of the at-large members of the Carmel City Council, and he is now in his third term in office.

In Episode 9, when Worrell originally appeared on The Omnibus Show, he discussed his life, experiences, and being in office.

Worrell

During Monday’s episode, Worrell gave his summary of the focus in Carmel in the past few months and going forward, as well as his new series of community talks on civility and why this has become such a focus for him.

In the first half of the show, Worrell discussed the Elevate Carmel Plan – the items Mayor Sue Finkam would like to accomplish while in office. One of those things is figuring out housing in Carmel with the assistance of the Housing Task Force. The mayor has several other items on her task list, such as doing a full audit of Carmel’s debt and doing a full review of the Unified Development Ordinances (UDO). The UDOs are what the city abides by to determine the size limitations of homes, renting out homes, speed limits in roundabouts, curbs, and more – things that guide residents and keep them safe.

In his position on the council, Worrell is working to “gel” with the new mayor and the other councilmembers, six of whom are new. He is advocating for the mayor who he says is bringing new, fresh ideas to the table.

Worrell’s other focus right now is on civility. After being inspired by the book The Soul of Civility by Alexandra Hudson, Worrell began working with her and has started a series of talks in various locations around Carmel.

Worrell explained how he was moved by the subtitle, “Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves,” and how he believes these talks on sharing civility will lead to not only local healing and better interactions, but then can spread into more national and international challenges – like this year’s election.

“The goal is to start talking about civility, define civility, make sure everybody knows what it means to be civil,” Worrell said. “Then try and foster a culture of being more civil. We’re going to disagree. We’re going to fight to the death to try and convince each other. But at the end, could we still go have – as Tip O’Neill and Rondald Reagan did – could we still go have a cigar and bourbon? That’s what I’m looking for.”

His first talk was standing-room only, proving many in the community feel the same way Worrell does.

Chastain

Next week’s guest on The Omnibus Show will be Anne Marie Chastain, Executive Director of the Carmel Symphony Orchestra, who will speak speaking about the Summer Series for the CSO, as well as other topics.

About the Omnibus Show
The Omnibus Show is Carmel’s No. 1 podcast, hosted by Dave Gibbs and produced for people who love interviews of interesting and accomplished people and who are life learners themselves.

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