Five of the seven Greenwood City Council positions were contested by Democrats in Tuesday’s municipal election, but none were able to loosen the grip the Republicans have on the nine-member board.
The city council sets annual spending for the city, makes policy changes, adopts new local rules and ordinances, approves new taxes and appoints members to various city boards. Republicans in all five races earned more than two-thirds of the votes.
Long-time councilwoman takes Old Town district
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Incumbent Linda Gibson will continue to represent District 1 residents.
Gibson has served on the council since 2008 when she took over for her husband, a former council member who died. Together, they have had a voice on the city council for nearly four decades.
Gibson is supportive of the current administration’s downtown redevelopment efforts, and the growth, throughout the city, that’s followed. She shares Mayor Mark Myers’ vision for the former middle school property, and said she wants developers to think outside the box.
She beat Democrat Matthew Smith, a member of the city’s advisory plan commission, board of zoning appeals and overlay committee. He sought to curtail the city’s stringent architectural standards that make housing in the city less affordable than it should be, and proposed passing ordinances that could have advanced Greenwood residents’ property rights and human rights.
Active incumbent
retains hotbed seat
District 2 envelopes two of the most talked-about areas in the city right now — the former middle school property, and the Interstate 65 and Worthsville Road interchange.
Its expansiveness put Republican incumbent Ezra Hill at the center of many important conversations and decisions, and he will continue those conversations moving forward.
Hill has been at the forefront of that conversation since 2011, when he campaigned with Mayor Mark Myers and earned a spot on the city council.
He beat Democrat Jason Boudi, a lifelong Greenwood resident, military veteran and cyber security expert who ran for county sheriff previously.
Newcomer wins southeast Greenwood seat
An area businessman in the education field will take a seat on the city council next year, representing District 3, after he beat out long-time council member Bruce Armstrong in May, and his Democratic opponent on Tuesday.
Michael Williams is a newcomer with a lot of ideas. He and his family have lived in southeast Greenwood for about eight years. The focus of his candidacy has been on improving the city’s quality of life, particularly in southeast Greenwood, with more options such as parks, trails and restaurants for families near their homes.
The I-65 and Worthsville Road interchange is the perfect opportunity to create a new gateway to the city, Williams has said, something city leaders intended to do when it was first built. How the area east of that interchange should be developed is a hot topic in Greenwood with potential development and rezoning proposals coming before the council regularly.
He beat Democrat Terri Roberts-Leonard, a Franklin College administrator who has devoted her life to diversity and inclusion, and wanted to continue that work at the city level.
Hopper keeps hold
of west side seat
J. David Hopper will continue his work on the city council after beating out a Republican opponent with opposite views and a Democrat who unofficially dropped out of the race.
District 5 is one of Greenwood’s largest districts, serving the entire west side of the city, from Whiteland Road to the county line. Between Smith Valley Road and Main Street, it spans as far east as U.S. 31.
The biggest District 5 issue is traffic congestion, which is expected to get worse once Interstate 69 is built through the northwest corner of Johnson County. The city is in the process of making improvements to some of its east-west corridors, such as Worthsville Road, but still has quite a bit of work to do. Hopper has said that will be one of his top priorities during his next term.
Hopper, who previously served as council president, ran against Democrat Hunter Haskell, a Center Grove High School graduate who has also ran for school board.
Greenwood attorney gets more time to fix road, traffic issues
District 6 incumbent Dave Lekse’s priorities focus primarily on road improvements and traffic congestion in his district and throughout the city.
During his first term, he routinely opposed high-density housing projects that would have added a lot of traffic. The city’s plans for fixing that seems to be a little bit slower than its plans for development, he said. You can’t have a growth-at-any-cost approach.
Lekse, a local attorney and CPA, also does not support most speculative projects, and said he would continue that trend.
He beat Democrat Kyle Swain, a lifelong Greenwood resident who works in the aerospace industry and ran to be a voice for minority Greenwood residents.
Four council seats
unopposed
Council member Ron Bates will retain control of the District 4 seat. He ran unopposed.
The council’s three at-large representatives will be incumbents Mike Campbell and Bob Dine, and newcomer Bradley Pendleton, all of whom also ran unopposed in the general election.
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District 1
Linda S. Gibson;67%
Matthew Smith;33%
District 2
Jason Boudi;27%
Ezra Hill;73%
District 3
Terri Roberts-Leonard;28%
Mike Williams;72%
District 5
Hunter L. Haskell;31%
J. David Hopper;69%
District 6
David J. Lekse;66%
Kyle R. Swain;34%
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