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Dear Editor,
I find it necessary to respond to Ms. Naas’s recent December Letter to the Editor in order to correct a certain narrative.
She appears to be making the following points:
Mayor Cook is not “listening to the people,” and “We might have had better projects if you had welcomed more input.”
Who is he not listening to, Ms. Naas? Were they residents who were turned away for any reason from participating in some activity for the betterment of Westfield? Give us some names so we can reach out to them and encourage them to get involved. I would be happy to personally help them learn about how they could contribute to our wonderful community. There have been many opportunities available over the years to do so and I personally don’t know of anyone who was not encouraged to be engaged in such an activity when they inquired about it.
First some historical perspective. A number of residents from the area of 161st Street and Spring Mill Road became engaged in the early 2000s, regarding the rezoning efforts going on at that intersection at the time. They formed a group to oppose the project, which ultimately was approved by the Town Council. In hindsight, it is a wonderful amenity for those of us that live west of U.S. 31.
That citizen effort, which divided the community at the time, led to many residents being energized to seek to update the Washington Township/Westfield comprehensive land use plan.
In 2005, a number of residents pushed the administration at the time to establish a committee to do just that. Residents were urged to provide a resume to the town manager if they were interested in serving the community by working on the Steering Committee which would lead that effort. Over 100 resumes were submitted and 16 residents from that list were selected to be members of the Steering Committee for updating the Comp Plan. After being selected to serve as a member of that committee, I was privileged and honored to be selected by my peers as the chairperson for that Steering Committee. Over 275 persons participated in that effort over the next TWO years before the updated plan was approved by the Town Council in February 2007.
Ms. Naas attended some of the meetings, but unfortunately, the only person on the current City Council that strongly participated was Cindy Spoljaric, who was a member of the APC (Advisory Plan Commission) and the BZA (Board of Zoning Appeals) at the time.
At the same time, work was started on doing something about the Downtown area, which all parties agreed needed help. Again, residents were encouraged to get engaged, and many stepped up to contribute to a high degree, and those residents formed the Grand Junction Task Group (GJTG). They met every week for THREE years, called on numerous resources for assistance, and always, always, were encouraged to participate by Councilor Cook, later Mayor Cook, who was elected as mayor starting in 2008, when we became a city.
A number of residents did answer the call, but Naas and Patton were not among those who did.
A number of citizen groups were formed as part of the development of Grand Park. Those residents investigated operating needs of a sports park, construction requirements, financing methods, food service, and many other aspects of such a project. They traveled to Minnesota, Illinois, Florida and other places, and at their own expense for the most part. At the same time, Mayor Cook reached out to local land owners regarding the location for such a facility. All those efforts resulted in the magnificent facility that we have today.
Springmill Crossing was another area where Mayor Cook reached out and supported a community effort to determine how the intersection and the four corners of 161st and Spring Mill should be developed. That committee continues to review any proposals for that area and we are better off because of their efforts.
Every one of these examples I’ve given, are efforts that are driven from the ground up, by residents of Westfield. One would be hard pressed to find an example of another city in Indiana where the mayor of that city has done anything near what Mayor Cook has done to engage the members of the community to plan and assist the Community Development Department in meeting the Comp Plan that the community itself developed in 2007.
To suggest that the mayor does not listen to the people is ludicrous and just not true. With your comments, Ms. Naas, you also have, quite frankly, insulted the residents of Westfield who participated in developing the wonderful amenities we now have in Westfield and are still being built, all according to the Comp Plan. They committed hours and hours of their own personal time for the betterment of the community. They should be commended for their efforts. I know how hard they worked on the task, because I was out there with them, supporting their efforts, asking for their input, along with having the fantastic support of the dedicated and professional City Staff.
To suggest that we would have had “better projects” is truly insulting to all those residents that contributed of their time and talent. The results are phenomenal and we continue to attract more and more people who want to live in Westfield, and businesses who want to locate in our wonderful community of Westfield. Westfield has been recognized nation-wide, with a number of awards, such as the best place to live, to raise a family, etc. I personally appreciate and thank those residents who gave of their time to make Westfield what it is today.
Again, all this took place according to the Comp Plan.
We are also proud to be the home of the Indianapolis Colts summer camp, a huge win for the City, thanks to the development of Grand Park.
All those citizens’ efforts have also played a major role in attracting many businesses. That was a key part of our Comp Plan going forward, and it is working as planned. Grand Park would be the catalyst for business development which would change the mix of our assessed value, adding more commercial properties, and ultimately lower tax rates for our citizens in the future.
Keep in mind, that just after the Comp Plan was approved by the Town Council in 2007, we entered the second most severe recession in 2008-2009 that the United States has ever experienced. Being the first Economic Development Director for the City of Westfield, starting in 2008, became a most difficult assignment. However, as part of a team led by Mayor Cook, we implemented plans to go forward and I can truly say those efforts Have been very successful, but just a little slow in coming, due to the severity of the recession, and the reconstruction of U.S. 31.
So, what types of businesses is Westfield attracting? Here are some examples:
Bastian Solutions/Toyota Advanced Logistics, part of the Toyota family of companies headquartered in Japan, has invested $8 million in Westfield’s Northpoint, with future plans to expand further and will grow initially to over 100 good paying, new jobs in Westfield. Relationships with the Japanese business community were first established in 2007 with my trip to the Midwest US Japan Association meeting in Tokyo, Japan as well as with subsequent meetings with Japanese government and business leaders in Chicago and elsewhere. Membership in JASI (Japan America Society of Indiana) was also established to aid in that networking process.
Taranis, an AG Tech and Precision Scouting Firm is relocating their Global Headquarters from Tel-Aviv, Israel, with the addition of 60 high paying jobs and an initial investment of $10.5 million. Westfield is a great location for them to interact with their agricultural customers.
We are proud to have Abbott, a fortune 500 company, and medical device powerhouse, who is investing $38 million in Westfield to make Abbott’s MitraClip, a heart device that is ‘fueling new growth for the company’. The company will create up to 477 new, high paying jobs in Westfield in this first phase of development.
All the Westfield projects that Ms. Naas seems to complain about, are exactly the projects citizens worked on, supported, and has been the impetus for all these international businesses locating in Westfield.
We should all remember what Downtown used to look like. It consisted of junk autos, parked cars seemingly everywhere, rundown homes, few businesses that would be lucky to last for more than a year or two, and a downtown area that was prone to major flooding. All those issues have been addressed as part of the creation of the Grand Junction Plaza.
As to the future of the Grand Junction Plaza, the first major investment will be an investment of $32 million by Old Town Companies for a multi-use project which will break ground later this year as a major “anchor” to Grand Junction. That project is certain to jumpstart other investments in the downtown area and will help support the restaurants and other businesses that are now located there. None of this would have happened without Mayor Cook’s vision, and that of prior city councils, to develop Grand Junction, supported by the input of hundreds of Westfield residents. The best part of all this development: It matches what the Comp Plan identified as the vision back in 2007, along with subsequent addendums.
Reviewing 2019 Westfield election results:
I would like to switch gears for a moment. To support her arguments in her letter to the editor, Ms. Naas provides a beautiful chart of the election results for the November 2019 election showing the number of votes for Mayor Cook, Patton, Spoljaric and Gossard. She would have you believe that it illustrates that the newly-elected councilors and the Clerk-Treasurer are very popular and the Mayor suffered at the ballot box while the candidates she supported, received some sort of overwhelming mandate from the voters.
As Paul Harvey (if you are too young to know about Paul Harvey, please Google him) used to say on his radio show, “…and now the rest of the story.” Let’s dig a little deeper into the numbers.
What Ms. Naas does not tell us is that the only one with an opponent in the November election was Mayor Cook. Patton, Spoljaric, and Gossard ran unopposed in November. Of course he received fewer votes. When you add the votes together for Mayor Cook and his opponent, it totals 5,159 votes.
Based on county election data, 5,223 registered voters participated in the Westfield election with a turnout of 17.2 percent. Those results indicate that 98.8 percent of those who voted in the election voted in the mayoral race. Obviously, when there is a challenger in the mayoral race, there tends to be more voter interest and voter participation in that race.
The vote totals for those running unopposed – Gossard, Spoljaric and Patton – gathered a voter participation rate of 85.6 percent, 74.3 percent and 64.6 percent, respectfully, of the total votes cast in Westfield. So basically, the data shows that almost 100 percent of the voters did vote in the mayoral race, but less than 75 percent even bothered cast a ballot for the council candidates. That also indicates that many voters split the ticket in the general election, but many also ignored the down ballot races, and that certainly doesn’t indicate any kind of a mandate for the newly-elected council candidates.
Regardless, Mayor Cook won his mayoral race with 61.4 percent of the vote in November. With that plurality, it certainly is not an indicator that the majority of voters wanted a change in leadership or in the direction the City is taking, a direction developed by dedicated Westfield citizens through our Comp Plan and subsequent projects. The Comp Plan is supported further with our long-term financial plan.
Perhaps the members of the City Council might want to consider a new approach to governing, focusing on the betterment of Westfield and its great citizens, instead of distrust and divisiveness. Ultimately, continuing to implement the Comp Plan will result in lower taxes for Westfield and a wonderful community with great amenities, many of which are already in place. We are all thankful for what has already been accomplished.
Joe Plankis
Westfield Economic Development Director (Retired)
To add to Joe’s letter, the council and clerk treasurer offices in Westfield are almost always decided during the Republican primary election. For the election mentioned, online election data shows that only 11.6% of Westfield registered voters bothered to vote in that primary. So the candidates mentioned in the original Naas letter that were supported by her group, The Fiscal Conservatives Of Hamilton County, hardly had the overwhelming support of Westfield citizens. I’d also say that by not running a candidate against Mayor Cook in the primary, that kept overall voter interest, thus, the voting numbers, low. Compare the 11.6% in the primary vs 17.2% in the November general election. Overall mandate? I think not.