County 35: Shelby

The Indiana Main Street program has been helping communities revitalize their downtowns for nearly 30 years. This program has brought billions of dollars of investment, thousands of new jobs and countless rehabilitation, construction and housing projects to communities across the state.

Shelbyville has one of our strongest Main Street programs, and I saw their success firsthand when I visited the Sugar Coated Cakery last week. Shelbyville has received the National Main Street Center’s National Accreditation, the highest designation a Main Street organization can receive. Motivated local leaders have pursued every opportunity to make the greatest, positive impact on Shelbyville. Their work has won competitive grants to fund critical downtown revitalization, including façade improvements and marketing promotions.

Last year, their work to renovate and rebuild their downtown area brought 9 new businesses and 61 new jobs. Other businesses have relocated and expanded downtown; reinvigorating the area to be the hub for business and community it was meant to be. They are benefiting from the wide variety of events Main Street Shelbyville helps put on every year, including an outstanding farmer’s market.

Shelbyville is leading by example, and I hope we will see many more communities follow in their footsteps. Whether that means reinvigorating a stagnant Main Street program or organizing to qualify for the program for the first time, communities have nothing to loose and a vibrant downtown to gain.

County 34: Boone

The Hoosier Crossroads Tour came to Boone County last week, after nearly eight months of traveling the state, but I have been talking about the good things happening there since the very beginning of my Tour.

A month ago, I released my preliminary findings from the meetings I’ve had with local elected officials. Those meetings always include a frank discussion of how we can move forward on local government efficienies, and it’s impossible to have that conversation without turning to Boone County and specifically to Zionsville.

The Town of Zionsville and two townships were the state’s first local government consolidation, and it was completely voluntary. Local leaders succeeded in consolidating services, eliminating a layer of government and preserving the best possible services for urban and rural areas alike. Although some issues remain, Zionsville’s action is proof that any Hoosier community can take action to make government more efficient and effective. It makes sense that local elected officials statewide are always eager to hear more about Zionsville’s leadership.

I enjoyed witnessing the proactive movement of officials from Advance, Jamestown, Whitestown, Lebanon, Zionsville, and Boone County government.

County 33: Hendricks

Visiting the elected officials in Hendricks County reminded me of the importance of a seemingly simple, yet often overlooked aspect of governing: long-term planning.

Each time I’ve met with local officials in their counties, I close our meetings by asking about best practices that they use that could be replicated across the state. The Hendricks County folks insisted that their focus on long-term project planning and fiscal planning have set them on a course of success not just now, but for years to come.
 

This type of forward thinking is something that I’ve supported for years. It was one of the driving forces behind the Stellar Communities program I launched last year. Stellar Communities is a collaboration between several state agencies to fund a comprehensive plan for a given city or town. Two communities – North Vernon and Greencastle – won the funding last year and we have a list of applicants for this year’s round as well.
 

What Stellar has done is force interested communities to think big and make a plan for long-term needs in roads, housing, and quality of life. Even those communities that applied but missed out on the funding in 2011 told us the exercise of planning ahead has been a positive experience for them.
 

It appears as though the towns in Hendricks County agree. And as the county continues to grow in population, I hope their vision serves them well.