GEORGETOWN: Council president faces opposition

Election 2007

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October 27, 2007

By CHRIS MORRIS The News and Tribune Sat Oct 27, 2007, 02:28 AM EDT

Gary Smith says the Georgetown Town Council has accomplished a lot in the past four years. However, he is nowhere near satisfied.

“The town has grown and I want to make sure it continues to grow in a proper manner,” Smith said.

That is why Smith — a Republican who has been on the board for 12 nonconsecutive years — is seeking re-election for the District 1 seat. Challengers for his seat include Democrat Aaron Striegel and Libertarian Michael Martin.

Smith said the major issue facing the town — building a new sewer-treatment plant — is one of the items he wants to see to fruition. The proposed site for the new plant is in litigation, but Smith and the board said the town must build a plant to save money and encourage growth. Georgetown pays New Albany about $200,000 a year to treat its sewage.

“It’s going to take time,” he said. “The wheels of justice move slowly.”

Striegel said the board has been wasteful in its spending and failed to do proper research before purchasing the 23-acre site for the sewer plant and investing in a town-operated broadband Internet system.

“We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on land and what do we have to show for it ... nothing,” said Striegel, a high school counselor and minister of Grace Community Church in Sellersburg. “Instead of putting an option on the land, we paid $100,000 more than it was appraised for.”

Striegel said the town-operated broadband Internet system has been a failure.

“They just don’t do their homework,” he said.

Smith said the only people he has heard complaints from are Town Council candidates and those who live outside the town.

“I don’t hear any complaints from the citizens,” he said. “The people who live outside the town are the ones making the most noise ... and they don’t have a dog in the fight.”

Martin said he is running for the District 1 seat because he didn’t want to be one of those residents who complains, but never does anything about it.

He also said he is in favor of building a sewer-treatment plant.

“We need our own sewer plant,” he said. “We can’t count on New Albany.”

Striegel, who is president of the Georgetown Building Commission, said he would like to get a group of residents together to discuss issues, including sewers and the Internet system. He also said the town needs a facelift.

“I would start a cleanup campaign. There are a lot of run down houses in Georgetown that either need to be renovated or condemned,” he said.

Striegel said in a year as president of the building commission, he had three houses condemned and two renovated.

“It’s just a matter of following through with things,” he said.

Martin said the town’s infrastructure also needs updating.

“Our water pipes are over 50 years old,” he said. “We need to replace those, because sooner or later they are going to fail on us.”

Smith said growing the town-operated Broadband system will be one of his priorities over the next four years.

“Our new tower can handle 300 to 400 people, and at $35 a month, that makes it a vibrant utility. That is a nice income,” he said. “For our town to grow, Broadband will bring people into the town and promote growth. But it’s not going to happen overnight.”

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