By MARK MILLER
Education issues, the future of rural America, the “13th check” and solar farms — judging by the questions brought up at Saturday morning’s “Third House” town hall meeting, those issues are on people’s minds.
Wells County’s representatives to the Indiana Legislature — Republicans Sen. Travis Holdman, Rep. Matt Lehman and Rep. Lorissa Sweet — discussed those topics and also provided updates on what they felt were the most important issues moving through the current session. Sponsored by the Wells County Chamber of Commerce, the gathering was hosted by Dash-90 Wines, with about 20 people in attendance.
Two audience members asked about the third grade retention options. Holdman shared the perspectives he has gained from his wife Becky’s teaching career, that “there are pros and cons of any solution,” but he noted that one in five Hoosier third graders fail a reading proficiency test.
Vicki Andrews, who serves on the Wells County Council and had served as the treasurer for Southern Wells schools for many years, referenced inconsistent funding among school districts to address literacy, but added these are almost entirely federal funds. Holdman responded that he has been told that the state education department is considering transferring as much as $10 million into reading remediation programs.
The State House and Senate have differing views on the details of providing increased benefits for retired state employees to include teachers. The House favors one-time “13th checks” — an extra monthly benefit payment to all retirees. The Senate favors what Holdman called a “hybrid” plan which would do a one-time 13th check but for only one-half the normal amount and then do a 1% increase of benefits for most retirees and current employees.
“Actuarially it has to work,” Holdman said. All three legislators expressed confidence that an agreement would be made and state retirees would see a benefit.
“The House and Senate are really working well together,” Holdman added. “I think you will see a lot of ‘concurrences,’ which are agreements between two versions of a bill that would avoid conference committees. There are so many bills that if they all went to conference committee, we wouldn’t have time. Many of them would die.”
“But,” he quickly continued, “if a bill does die, that might be better anyway.”
Economic development issues, specifically improving Wells County’s “quality of place” were discussed, with all three legislators and other speakers agreeing that the world has changed in that communities must focus on local conveniences, attractions and schools in order to attract families to live here.
“Nowadays, young people look for what community they want to live in before they worry about finding a job,” Lehman said in sharing the story of his daughter’s choice as to where she and her family live.
That discussion led to a question from the floor about the quality of life and job creation impact of solar farms, one of which is currently under consideration in Wells County. The speaker recognized the importance of the landowners’ property rights, but expressed concerns about how they affect neighboring property values.
“And we like the revenue” the farms would produce for local schools via property taxes, “but they don’t bring people or jobs into the county,” she said.
Holdman was the first to respond, noting the importance of the property rights of the farmer or landowner to utilize their property at their discretion. “But there needs to be some planning, some consideration for those in the vicinity,” he added. “It can be a challenge.”
Sweet, a Wabash resident whose 50th House District includes the northwest corner of Wells County, shared her recent experience in Wabash County where a proposed solar farm “split our community in two,” she said. In a conversation after the meeting adjourned, Sweet related that the highly-contentious issue came to a head there just recently and was defeated.
“I understand the landowners’ property rights, but they have to consider the impact they have on their neighbors,” she said. One rural home would have been completely surrounded by solar panels; Sweet said they were told their property value would plummet substantially.
“No one wants to live surrounded by these things,” she added.
A hearing for a proposed solar farm in Liberty Township is scheduled for March 7.
Lehman took the opportunity to tout the benefits of nuclear energy, a position he has promoted in prior meetings and discussions. He also discussed how much technology will likely change energy production, particularly solar panels he has heard about that will take up a much smaller footprint.
He further questioned the feasibility of solar panels in Indiana. “In Florida, they make sense, “ he said. “I get that.”
Wendy Davis, a candidate for the Republican nomination for the 3rd Congressional District seat, was in attendance and noted that “government regulations and this administration’s energy policies are forcing us to consider bad options.”
Holdman added: “There is no federal energy policy.”
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In their opening remarks, the three also touched on the antisemitism bill “that will be passed,” Holdman said, even though there are some differences on details between the two houses.
“This needs to be looked at as an education bill, not a civil rights bill,” Holdman said. Lehman detailed the problems that have popped up mostly on college campuses regarding “not the criticism of Israel, but rather about the elimination of a specific group of people.”
Sweet walked through three agriculture-related bills she is championing and Holdman also mentioned the State and Local Tax Review task force that he is currently chairing.
“This is the first time in 20 years that we have taken a holistic look at the state’s tax structure,” he said. “We just have to do this in order to remain competitive as a state.” The task force and Holdman’s involvement in the effort was the subject of a News-Banner article Dec. 29.
Other issues that received at least brief discussion included child care, property taxes and limiting the governor’s state-of-emergency powers.
miller@news-banner.com
