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In August, voters defeated a proposal to build a new high school in Columbia City. But on Tuesday they retained two incumbents on the Whitley County Consolidated Schools board who backed the plan.
A newcomer who has declined to take a stance on the issue will join the two incumbents on the board. Two other newcomers will, too, but they ran unopposed in their respective races.
Jill Western, 54, and Deborah Hiss, 48, proponents of a defeated plan to spend $59.6 million to replace Columbia City High School, will serve another four years. Stan Meyer, a 65-year-old retired educator, bested two other political novices in Columbia City Township.
In August, taxpayers voted down the board’s proposal for a new building to replace the high school. The project is dead for one year, but the board will have to decide how to proceed with addressing the aging school’s needs or presenting a different proposal next summer.
“I’m excited to be part of the school board team, and I know we have a lot of work ahead of us, and hopefully I can be an asset to the team,” said Meyer, who would not say whether he signed a petition supporting or opposing building a new high school. “I hope it doesn’t matter how we voted before because we still gotta put all the things back on the table and see what’ll be the best for the kids.”
Former Whitley County Councilman Steven Hively and James Renbarger, who are both new to the board but ran unopposed, will join Western, Hiss and Meyer on the board. Board members serve a four-year term and receive a salary of $2,000 a year plus $60 for each meeting they attend.
According to unofficial election results, Western won in Etna Troy Township with 56 percent of the vote, beating out Donald L. Smith, who collected 44 percent. Smith would not comment on the race to The Journal Gazette.
“It’ll be interesting to see the direction the board takes,” said Western, who signed off on the original plan to build a new high school. “I think our ultimate goal is going to be to continue with that thought process to replace the old building.”
Hiss was the winner in Union Township, collecting 59 percent of the vote and beating Mark Roach, who works for Mister Ice of Indianapolis, who received 41 percent. The issue is not whether to build a new high school, it’s when, Hiss said.
“We are still planning on building a new facility but what we need to do right now is take look at the economy, take a look at how we want to approach at, when we want to approach it,” Hiss said.
Meyer received 44 percent of the vote, besting Christopher Bechtold, a stay-at-home dad, who received 40 percent, and Eric Horvath, a sales representative for Idearc Media, who collected 16 percent.
Horvath, 42, is against building a new high school and believed money should be used to repair, upgrade and improve the existing building. He plans to stay active in the school system to make sure the improvements happen quickly.
Bechtold, 31, was in favor of constructing a new building but wanted to see it built north of the city instead of the proposed site near Indian Springs Middle School near Columbia City.
“I am really excited for Stan Meyer and it was a great political experience for me and the school board is in good hands,” Bechtold said. “Stan’s a good guy, and he will serve the community very well.”
More polarizing views separated Hiss and Roach. Roach, 51, not only opposed the new high school but carried a petition during the remonstrance and solicited others to oppose it. Roach, who was previously appointed to the board for two years but lost an election bid, thinks the district has spent enough money on remodeling in the past decade and should pay off those debts before incurring more by building a new high school.
Hiss, who works for the U.S. Postal Service and is a project coordinator for Lincoln National Corp., still supports building a new high school but said the time frame will remain to be seen. Hiss and Western, who works at a middle school in Warsaw Community Schools, both said the new board will have to determine what repairs are needed to maintain the current facility.
ksoderlund@jg.net
