Huntertown voters will choose at least three new Town Council members when they head to the polls Tuesday, ushering in a new era of town leadership.
Voters will fill all five council seats, choosing from a field that includes incumbents Sue Gongwer and Jim Fortman. Four hopefuls would like to join the council – Republicans Michael Aker, Patricia Freck and Gary Grant plus Democrat Joe Zimecki.
Current councilmen John Hidy and David Rudolph are running for clerk-treasurer and will leave the council at the end of the year. Councilman Bruce Dunwiddie was defeated in the Republican primary.
Council members serve four-year terms and currently earn $7,820 annually.
Two major projects facing the council have ground to a halt leaving the new council responsible for deciding whether to start over with building a sewer treatment plant and a new water treatment plant.
Candidates for council have varying opinions on the way forward.
Grant and Zimecki advocate for continuing discussions with Fort Wayne to determine whether staying connected to the city’s utilities is best for Huntertown.
Open communication between the town and Fort Wayne is key and the council has to consider all options before deciding what will best serve the town as it grows over the next decade, said Zimecki, who owns a sports supplement business and works for Parkview Health.
Grant agreed and said he wants to hear directly from Fort Wayne City Utilities officials before the new council makes a move.
Grant is a corporal for the Allen County Sheriff’s Department. He previously served as a liaison officer to the town.
The other four candidates all support both the water and sewer plant projects.
“I’d like to see us have our own sewage treatment plant. Our engineers still feel it’s cheaper to build our own than stay connected to Fort Wayne,” said Fortman, who is retired and drives a school bus for Northwest Allen County Schools.
Gongwer, a local real estate agent, agreed that the projects are needed so the town can control its destiny. Going forward the council will need to be more considerate of public opposition when choosing a new site for the sewer plant, she said. “Unfortunately, not to point fingers, the council including myself didn’t do enough homework on it. We need to make sure we have all our homework done,” she said.
Freck said the council’s inability to make a decision hindered the projects. It was very difficult to get much information out of the council while it was working through the approval process, she said.
The community has to be involved because no matter where the plant is built there will be opposition, said Freck, who works for Raytheon.
Aker said the new sewer plant should be built within the town limits and closer to the people who will benefit from it.
“Things aren’t getting smaller out here. We’re growing. It’s going to cost money upfront, but in the long run it’ll save the taxpayers money,” Aker said.
Other issues
Grant wants to hire a utilities manager to alleviate some of the work for the clerk-treasurer. Council members should attend neighborhood association meetings to keep residents updated on town business, he said.
Freck would like to see the council be more open with the public about town business and she would ask for updates from the utilities supervisor and sheriff’s liaison officer. She would like the council to act more professionally and for members to get along better than they have in the past.
She believes the council needs to adopt a code of conduct that would require conflicts of interest to be disclosed.
For Fortman, who is currently council president, the town is running well and he would not change anything.
Aker also would like to reach out to the neighborhoods, especially the subdivisions near Carroll Road to make sure they feel part of the town. He also would like the town to consider improving roads through subdivisions.
He said he’d provide proactive leadership and carefully evaluate how best to spend the town’s tax dollars.
Both Aker and Zimecki touted their youth and said they would bring a new perspective and diversity to the council.
Zimecki wants council members to work together and stop pointing fingers. The council should show more respect and consideration to residents who speak at the meetings, he said.
