County 3: Montgomery County

My trip to Montgomery County last week reminded me about the importance of bringing every community along in our quest to be the best state for economic growth. Small towns add loads of character to this state, and they were out in full force last week.



Vicki Powers, town clerk-treasurer, gives the

Lt. Governor Skillman a tour of the new Ladoga

fire station. Local officials received a $500,000

grant for the station.

 As part of the Hoosier Crossroads Tour, I’ve been having a roundtable discussion with some local elected officials. We invite leaders at the county, city, and town level. But Montgomery County was our best showing of town representation to date.

Officials from Linden (population: 759), Darlington (843), Waynetown (958), and Ladoga (985) were all on hand to share their views on how government can operate more efficiently. As we’ve said in these brainstorming sessions, no idea is too small to matter. And no town is too small to matter. These officials had very real concerns about risings costs of government, including infrastructure, insurance, and inconsistent regulations.

But the towns of Montgomery County have been proactive in responding to those challenges. Their local units of government have won more grant funding than most counties this size, and it’s all because they asked and competed for it. Many communities, surprisingly, don’t take that step. And many more are not as organized and forward-thinking as those in Montgomery County.

I saw one example of that in Ladoga, where the town is building a new fire station with a $500,000 grant I awarded from our Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA). It’ll be a big improvement over the one-door station that is presently attached to the town hall. The day we visited, the town council also happened to be opening bids on a new storm water project, also funded through OCRA.

The town of Linden also benefits from employment at the Valero biofuels plant, which employs nearly 100 Montgomery County residents. I toured the plant and enjoyed meeting all the partners in progress.

I can’t wait to see more of these success stories throughout my tour of the state.