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On Tuesday, the Hamilton County Council had a lengthy discussion on the possibility of issuing a resolution admonishing Governor Eric Holcomb if he doesn’t move into Stage 5 of Indiana’s Back on Track plan.
McKinney
The discussion started with Hamilton County Council President Rick McKinney stating council members have received emails from constituents asking whether or not the council would support a resolution to admonish, advise or request Governor Holcomb to move the state into Stage 5 of Back on Track.
During the discussion, council members referred to a recent resolution issued by Wabash County that stated, “Wabash County’s economy is highly dependent upon retail, restaurant, tourism, and industry, and such economic restrictions have had a significant negative impact on the citizens and businesses of the area.”
The council is the county’s financial arm tasked with such things as adopting and managing a county budget, establishing a tax rate, and making appropriations, re-appropriations and transfers of funds.
Advising or admonishing the Governor on a public health matter is not a task typically performed by a county council.
Overall, council members expressed their frustration with the lack of a matrix to move the state forward.
Glynn
Alexander
“I think the one thing that I struggle with, there haven’t been matrix put in place that dictate how we move from stage to stage,” said council member Ken Alexander. “Just having some of those identified, whether they are going to do it or we are going to do it, I think is the key thing so that we can let our businesses and people in our public understand how we are going to allow things to move forward.”
“If you go on social media and you look at the people who are loudest, I think the governor, or certain people, might be under the impression that there is wide support for restrictions, and I just don’t think that is the case,” said council member Fred Glynn.
Massillamany
Amy Massillamany, District 2 County Council Member, asked, “Has there been any dialogue around the health department perspective on what their thoughts were?” Massillamany continued, “Wabash is the only one I know of that has signed a resolution. They are drastically different in size and comparison. I’m just curious on the thought process.”
Wabash County does differ greatly compared to Hamilton County, in population and number of COVID-19 cases.
According to the Indiana State Department of Health, as of Wednesday, Wabash County had a seven-day positivity rate of 3.47 percent, a drop in previous numbers reported. A total of 214 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the county.
Hamilton County’s seven-day positivity rate is 5.19 percent. Hamilton County has recorded a total of 4,000 COVID-19 cases.
The population of Wabash County is nearly 33,000 people as compared to Hamilton County’s population of slightly more than 350,000.
Wabash County is sparse in population as compared to Hamilton County. According to the United States Census Bureau, Wabash County has 79.7 people living per square mile and Hamilton County has approximately 700 people living per square mile.
Schwartz
Glynn and Councilman Steve Schwartz both expressed favor in putting the resolution on an upcoming agenda.
“We have until Sept. 26 for his [Governor Holcomb] thing. If he doesn’t move forward with it, we need to have something on the agenda,” said Glynn.
Schwartz said, “I would be in favor of putting it on the agenda. I like that idea.”
The next opportunity for the council to discuss the resolution would be at its Oct. 7 meeting.