IMPORTANT ISSUES IN BOONE COUNTY:
There are many issues needing the attention of the Boone County Commissioners in the coming years. Below are some of the most important items I believe need to be at the top of the list.
Click Here to Read My Thoughts on Solar Farms & the Moratorium Process.
Immediately address significant changes to our County’s economic landscape (Leap District) with effective long-term planning that ensures our unique quality of life.
As one of Indiana’s fastest growing counties, the Leap District is just one of the developments that will place additional burdens on our infrastructure and county services. Smart, long-term planning is imperative to stay ahead of these changes. This planning includes everything from infrastructure to traffic, utilities to County equipment, people to IT commitment, first responder coverage to public safety and a realistic ongoing assessment of economic development and lifestyle impact.
Maintenance and Funding of our Highway System is an Ongoing Priority.
The Boone County Highway System has been improved greatly in the last 10 years, but we still have much work to do. It is imperative that we use whatever means we can to maintain and improve these systems on an annual basis.
This is done by combining good planning with extensive efforts to define and capture the best available and sustainable funding sources possible. We need to continue to work with our legislators for a sustainable funding source to support our infrastructure into the next decade.
We accomplish this in a variety of ways including, but not limited to, understanding and utilizing the federal funding sources along with communicating and establishing our needs with our state legislators to encourage and implore them to seek out sustainable long tern infrastructure funding.
Another tool we have effectively used in Boone County is leveraging our economic development to expand our tax base to increase our funding sources without sacrificing the quality of life we have come to enjoy without significantly increasing the tax rates to the citizens
Read More about Boone County Roads here.
Read More about the Bridges of Boone County here.
Taking an intelligent and well managed approach to Economic Investment.
This may seem self explanatory but the truth is, there are many factors to consider. It is very easy to say we only want to attract high paying jobs to our communities. While this is important we must also include the needs of unskilled workers, to ensure they have opportunities as well along the I65 corridor of new businesses.
This requires extensive planning and balanced communication that the Commissioners continually work on to include into a cohesive vision that considers and includes every Boone County community.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with Jeff Wolfe across the last four years and have watched his passion and drive to make Boone County better. One of the many things I value is Jeff’s ability to solve immediate problems and look beyond the horizon to plan for the future. As an elected official, taxpayer, and parent in this community, having that vision and insight is important to me, which is why I support Jeff Wolfe’s campaign for Boone County Commissioner.”
Justin Sparks, Boone County Coroner
Complete the extremely important Justice Center Project and open a state of the art “Step-Down” facility.
With the help of our Mental Health Treatment partners, we can continue to reduce our recidivism rates by returning individuals to their lives with better tools to be successful.
While our quality of life is very good here in Boone County we are not at all free from the scourge of illegal drugs. This evil continues to impact our County in almost every way; it deteriorates our families, it destroys lives and careers, impacts community safety and security, increases crime rates, depletes our available work force and worst of all it kills our children and other beloved family members.
Developing a responsive and well supported Mental Health Treatment environment is crucial to all of our well-being. It is imperative that we as a community continue to address these problems with real time solutions, proven treatments and ongoing education coupled with legal prevention.
Ongoing planning for the Future of Boone County Government.
Establish a plan for future space needs of Boone County Government as we continue to grow with a greater demand for both people and facilities.
One of the main responsibilities of the County Commissioners is to look ahead to the needs and expectations of the Boone County Government. With this in mind, I believe we should be formulating a 20-30 year future plan to anticipate the demand on both facilities and people in our County.
We need to continue the partnership with our municipalities in developing a cohesive plan to improve and expand our quality of life opportunities such as trails, parks, and amenities such as walkable communities and public art to retain our younger citizens and give our existing citizens reasons to invite their family, friends and coworkers to live here in Boone County.