Candidate night hosted by high school government and politics class

All seven candidates for the Tipp City schools board of education and six candidates for Tipp City council talked about themselves and answered a variety of questions during a candidate night Wednesday, Nov. 1, at Tippecanoe High School.

Voters will select three new board of education members and three members of city council in Tuesday’s general election. Polls will be open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Questions about the election should be directed to the Miami County Board of Elections at 937-440-3900.

The candidate night was organized and put on by students in the high school Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. Government and Politics class. Candidates introduced themselves before answering questions put together by the students and those attending the event. The candidate night can be seen on Tipp City Schools' YouTube website.

Among the questions asked of the city council candidates was their plan to address the “food desert” in the city. Summaries of their responses:

Leslie Budding: At a city council meeting, someone asked why they, a grocery store, was not interested in the city. The city manager said they (stores) wanted to see support from the citizens. That is where it ended. The next question is what is it we need to do. That is the job of the city council, listen to the city manager, see what they need, and convey that to the citizens.

Kathryn Huffman: This is something we have heard a lot about is the need for grocery options in Tipp City. It may look different than what we had before and what some of our surrounding communities have. We have heard before that (groceries in Troy and Vandalia) it makes it difficult to attract a major grocery store to Tipp City. The Community Improvement Corporation … is in conversation with a planning group to help design something that will attract food options and grocery options.

John Kessler: From what I have seen I don’t think the demographics would show a grocery store would be supported by the community. Mom and pop stores cannot compete against the box stores. I don’t think this community will support a grocery store if it comes in because we have Kroger’s, Meijers, and all the others close. They haven’t supported the last two that were here.

Mike McFarland: Some might say we have a food desert. In a way, we do when it comes to fresh meats and vegetables. Everything else you can get at Menards, Family Dollar, Dollar General. … Until we increase the population and demographics … We have had a number of grocery stores look at us and all of them said you don’t have enough traffic ... We are working on it. It is just going to take some time.

Will Roberts: There is no doubt it has been a difficult transition since we lost Food Town. The opportunity is there. It is going to take time for us to get there… It is important for us to come together, work with economic development, listen to you as a community, and find the proper resources to bring that in. It comes down to our new city manager can search. It also is working with neighbors to see what they have done to attract them. It can done. It will take a little time, but we will get there.

Logan Rogers: I think the crucial problem is a lot of our older citizens and people who don’t travel as easily are having a difficult time getting access to fresh vegetables and meat. There is not a whole lot the city can do without some time and without some buy-in from the citizens. The citizens are going to have to support any supermarket that comes in here. There are some steps we can take to mitigate the problems with the plaza and hopefully attract a business that is niche enough to attract people who are from outside Tipp City.

Among the questions asked of school board candidates was the end goal of the stadium project.

Summaries of their responses:

Linda Ares: We have got to do something. Come together, get a plan going, and see it through. Our kids deserve a good stadium. I think we have to come to the table with fresh ideas and commitments to seeing it through. I think we can come up with a good plan, working together with the city.

Cindy Wilson Dillard: I am super excited because our new superintendent, Moran, has already taken a leadership role with the stadium… I have a lot of confidence in him in helping to solve this problem. We also have to remember that once the stadium is finished, it can be a source of income for our district.

Joshua Grear: Creating outside events, more band events, more football, bringing in lacrosse, bringing in soccer playoff games. If we don’t have a good facility, we don’t get that revenue. We need to work together as a team, put together a plan, stick to it. Hold each other accountable.

Ray Lilly: As part of the school board, it is definitely something we can be a part of in collaboration with the community. It is our duty to support him (Superintendent Moran) through this. … If that entails a leadership role, we can take that on as well.

Angie McMurry: I want to say thank you to the Tipp City Pride organization. I think it is time for the school district to take an active role in seeing the competition of the stadium. I think we need to create a task force of community, parents, athletes, the music performers and look at what will it take to complete the project. I think when we do that, we can finish the project we started.

David Moorhead: I agree the facility is in need of completion, but the taxpayer piece is hard. It is time to take a hard look at what the needs are. What can we call complete? And what does that take? In this instance we have a school and a city involved … There needs to be open communications to see what needs to be done to complete the stadium.

Kyle Thompson: I know that to complete a project of this scale, it takes detailed management, having milestones in place where you see the end goal and what it takes to get there. I think a committee needs to be formed that has a good understanding of what it takes. Then explore what we have access to, whether it is grant money, other options, if taxpayer money is not going to be available.

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