On Thursday night, local political candidates were gathered on stage at Muncie Central High School to make their case to voters.

County Council Forum

First up were candidates for at-large seats on the Delaware County Council.  As IPR’s Ransom True reports, only three of the five people on the ballot attended.

The stage held only Republican Brad Bookout and Democrats Chris Musick and Roger Overbey.  Republicans Jessica Piper and Eugene Whitehead did not attend.

Musick used his opening statement time to highlight his appreciation for the forum.

“I also want to thank the voters, I want to thank you who are sitting in the audience, I want to thank you who is listening to us on the radio, because these kinds of forums are where democracy happens.”

Common themes of the night included improving the county and the implementation of solar energy.  The latter has a vocal opposition and the county has a moratorium on new projects.

Bookout spoke out about his experience with solar energy.

“You have to take into consideration, though, the rights of the property owners. The rights of the property owners are very important to consider but I can tell you that as far as what the County Commissioners have right now with the moratorium, they’re reconsidering the setbacks and the process you go through.”

Overbey spoke on the economy, specifically his alternative plans in lieu of raising taxes.

“We need to populate Delaware County. The best way to do that, I believe, is infrastructure and good education, good jobs and to have those good jobs here. When labor goes up and works on jobs we need to keep our local labor working to keep that money coming in to Muncie and Delaware County.”

Commissioner Debate

There’s only one contested race for county commissioner, between Republican Stephen Brand and Democrat Ashley Wright.  As IPR’s Daniel Huber reports, they also told the audience what they hoped to achieve if elected.

Both candidates were concerned about housing in the county – as the state overall has a shortage of affordable housing.  But they differed in a solution.

Republican Stephan Brand pitched a $250 million, 10-year plan to bring more housing to Delaware County.

“If we could get those people to live here, pay their taxes here, send their kids to school here, fill up their gas tanks here, buy our groceries, their local income tax would also go to Delaware County.  My philosophy is ‘live where you work and spend where you live.’”

Democrat Ashley Wright, in a focus on quality of life, wants to remodel and rehab existing properties.

“I don’t think that, you know, taking even more of our farmland or anything else like that to build more housing would help.  I think literally just fixing what we already have in the area, but that all that goes hand in hand with quality of life.”

During the hour-long discourse, the audience asked questions on renewable energy, economic development, the use of tax dollars, and drug rehabilitation.

Early voting continues at the county building until November 4 and election day is on November 5.

Daniel Huber and Ransom True are news fellows with Ball State Public Media’s Public Media Accelerator student fellowships.