Latest / Elevate Podcast: Powered by Braden / Elevate Ep 35 - Leading the City of Wabash with Mayor Scott Long

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Elevate Ep 35 - Leading the City of Wabash with Mayor Scott Long · Elevate Podcast: Powered by Braden

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content. Now, let's dive in.
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Hey everybody, Jason here with another
0:45
episode of the Elevate Powered by Braden
0:47
podcast, and I'm with another mayor,
0:50
which is awesome. always like talking to
0:52
cities and learning what's going on in
0:53
the state of Indiana. Mayors generally
0:55
have some pretty cool stories, so I
0:57
always enjoy talking to mayors and uh
0:59
but Mayor Scott, welcome to the show.
1:02
>> Hey, happy to be here. Glad you invited
1:04
me.
1:04
>> Absolutely. And you're with the city of
1:06
>> Wbash. Wash. Man, I'm telling you, I'm
1:09
excited to learn more what's going on in
1:11
the great city of Wbash. But that's
1:13
further down the line in your story. So,
1:15
let's go back to the beginning. Where
1:17
you from originally? I'm originally uh I
1:19
was born in Wawbash at Wbash County
1:22
Hospital.
1:22
>> Okay.
1:23
>> Uh lived in southern Miami County the
1:26
first 10 years of my life. So south of
1:29
Peru, which is the next county over.
1:31
>> Okay. Gotcha.
1:32
>> My father was manager of Miami Cass RMC.
1:37
>> Okay. In 1970,
1:40
Wbash County RMC hired him to be the
1:43
manager and he commuted for four years
1:47
before we ended up moving to Wal Bash.
1:50
So when I was 10 years old, we moved to
1:53
Wbash.
1:54
>> Okay.
1:55
>> I went to Northfield High School, which
1:59
is part of the Metropolitan School
2:01
District of Wbash County. Even though I
2:04
live within the city limits, it's the
2:06
school boundaries were set in 1959 and
2:09
they still have it.
2:11
>> Oh, no. Changed. Uh yeah, it's kind of
2:14
kind of crazy. There was a a creek a
2:18
half a block over from our house. All
2:20
the kids that lived on that side of the
2:23
creek went to Wash City Schools.
2:25
>> Okay.
2:26
>> All the kids on my side of the creek
2:28
went to uh Metropolitan School District
2:32
schools. So,
2:33
>> so when you we were out on the county
2:35
even though you were in the city. Yeah.
2:37
>> Okay. For heron. So school, how big a
2:41
school was was it back then?
2:43
>> It wasn't. Uh I think our graduating
2:46
class, and this is going to blow you
2:47
away, I think we had 93 students in our
2:50
graduating class.
2:51
>> No kidding.
2:52
>> And uh it has gone down from that number
2:58
uh into the 50 and 60 range.
3:00
>> Okay. in the graduating class. So,
3:03
>> but the school I I I just drove through,
3:05
we were up in South Bend this weekend,
3:06
Life Night and I said, "Yeah, I'm going
3:08
to take a little little scenic route
3:10
back home with Go and I drive through
3:12
Wab Bash."
3:13
>> Yep.
3:13
>> And and I'm pretty sure was it was it W
3:16
bash? Is your guys' high school complex
3:20
real large? I mean, is it pretty pretty
3:21
big?
3:22
>> That's what I thought.
3:22
>> You probably drove by it if you were
3:24
coming from Ocean.
3:25
>> That's kind of what I thought. Drove by
3:26
there and I just I looked at I'm like,
3:28
"Holy cow, that's bigger than I thought
3:29
it'd be." And so obviously some growth
3:31
there, but what did high school look
3:33
like for you? What were you doing in
3:35
school?
3:36
>> It was uh so I worked on farms growing
3:39
up.
3:40
>> Okay. We had since moved out into the
3:42
county and so I worked on farms. I was
3:45
involved in 4 and FFA and
3:50
that's what I did all through high
3:51
school and great groups to be part of
3:54
that way. And I had fun. That's probably
3:58
uh the start of my leadership training I
4:01
would say.
4:01
>> Really?
4:02
>> Yeah. I was on the par parliamentary
4:05
procedure team and FFA.
4:07
>> Oh, so you got a you got an opportunity
4:09
as a young person to be able to be on
4:11
that that leadership side.
4:13
>> Yeah, absolutely.
4:14
>> Enjoyed that.
4:15
>> Yeah. Ended up being vice president of
4:18
the chapter and and a district officer
4:21
within the
4:22
>> Okay.
4:23
FFA organization that uh traveled to
4:26
Kansas City for the national convention
4:28
back then.
4:29
>> Oh, that's awesome.
4:30
>> It's now held here in Indianapolis.
4:33
>> Yeah. Now you would have to go as far.
4:34
>> Yeah, it's it's changed now. So,
4:36
>> for sure.
4:37
>> So, doing FFA, those types of things in
4:39
high school as you're thinking about
4:40
what's going to come next, what's that
4:42
look like for you? Where are you going
4:43
to go?
4:45
>> Well, I didn't have any desire to go to
4:49
college. Okay. Honestly,
4:51
um I had taken two years of CTE
4:56
training, which they call it now, at our
4:59
local.
5:00
>> Back then it was called the vocational
5:02
school.
5:02
>> Okay.
5:03
>> Now it's called H Heartland Career
5:05
Center.
5:05
>> Gotcha.
5:06
>> Um I took auto mechanics for two years.
5:09
>> Okay.
5:09
>> So I decided uh
5:12
didn't tell my parents. When I turned
5:14
18, I went and talked to the army
5:17
recruiter and uh joined the army and I
5:20
thought, well, I'm going to go in and be
5:21
a mechanic.
5:22
>> So, you took you took mechanics young
5:24
kid high school.
5:25
>> Yeah.
5:26
>> Now, I did hear this, right? Didn't talk
5:28
to your parents, but then decided to
5:30
talk to the recruiter and went ahead and
5:31
signed up. Okay. All right. Yes.
5:34
>> Told them at dinner,
5:35
>> "Hey guys, by the way, I joined the
5:37
army."
5:38
>> Joined the army and I'm leaving her in
5:39
August.
5:40
>> So, when they ship you out in August,
5:42
where do they ship you to? Um, so I went
5:44
to Fort Dicks, New Jersey for basic
5:46
training.
5:47
>> Okay.
5:48
>> From Indianapolis. You come downtown to
5:50
the military entrance processing
5:54
stations
5:56
and spent the night in Indie. Uh, flew
6:00
to
6:02
Philadelphia
6:03
and took a bus to Fort Dixon, New Jersey
6:06
for basic training and stepped off the
6:08
bus. And that's everything you see in
6:11
movies. They start yelling at you.
6:13
>> Yeah.
6:14
>> Things like that. And then from there,
6:16
once I completed basic training, I went
6:19
to Fort Deans, Massachusetts. I go back
6:23
a little bit. I said I wanted to be a
6:25
mechanic. Yeah, I heard that. So, I took
6:27
the ASVAB test and
6:31
the recruiter says you can do you can
6:34
have any job in the army. I scored well
6:36
enough that
6:37
>> Oh, no kidding. So based on your score,
6:39
you're allowed to kind of go a different
6:41
direction.
6:41
>> Pick a different direction.
6:43
Um, and I ended up in the biggest
6:46
oxymoron in the world, military
6:49
intelligence.
6:52
So for seven years, uh, so I go to for
6:56
basic training Fort Deans,
6:58
Massachusetts, and I take training in it
7:02
was called signal security specialist.
7:05
Yeah. And the reason I picked that job
7:07
is they gave me a $10,000 bonus. Follow
7:11
the money.
7:12
>> Okay. Money. I got you. Um, so what that
7:15
job entailed was learning to
7:19
uh I had to learn a military
7:20
shortorthhand
7:22
to take notes and listen to
7:25
radio traffic and telephone traffic uh
7:31
for security. And basically it was all
7:34
operational security. So you wanted to
7:37
make sure that people on the phones on
7:40
base aren't telling troop movements
7:45
>> and everything like that. Uh that's a
7:47
big no no.
7:48
>> Yeah.
7:49
>> That you know Sergeant Smith calling
7:51
home and telling mom and dad oh we're
7:53
going going to wherever. Yeah.
7:55
>> Um so that was my job for
7:59
seven years.
8:00
>> Okay.
8:00
>> Yeah.
8:01
>> No kid. So you finish up that job for
8:03
seven years. What what where you go
8:05
next?
8:06
>> Came back home to W bash. Um so I went
8:08
in in 1982.
8:11
>> Okay.
8:11
>> In 1988, the fall of 88. My dad had had
8:14
a stroke.
8:15
>> Okay.
8:16
>> So I came back home.
8:19
Congress had started making uh cuts and
8:22
there wasn't going to be any opportunity
8:24
for advancement within my job in the
8:27
army.
8:28
>> Okay. tried to transfer over to counter
8:30
intelligence because I work with those
8:32
guys quite a bit and it was the same
8:35
thing. Um,
8:37
Congress is making cuts, no promotions.
8:41
Uh, I thought, man, I go back home. And
8:44
then dad had the stroke.
8:46
>> My siblings had moved away from home
8:49
>> and I thought, I'll just go back home. I
8:53
can make as much money on the outside
8:55
world. Uh, and I was still under 10
8:57
years.
8:58
>> Okay.
8:58
>> I always figure if I got to 10 years in
9:00
the army, I'd stay for 20.
9:02
>> Okay.
9:02
>> So, I had about seven years and I left
9:05
in 1989.
9:06
Uh, March of 89 when I when I got out.
9:10
So, came back home. Uh, got a job within
9:15
I don't know when I first came back. I
9:17
was working local lumber yard.
9:20
>> Okay.
9:20
>> Uh, been outside in the army. enjoy
9:24
outside work.
9:27
Stayed there for a little bit and some
9:29
of the customers invite me to go work
9:31
for them. So it was a there again follow
9:35
the money
9:36
>> local money
9:38
>> and uh
9:40
eventually and five years later I ended
9:44
up uh sawing that in the paper for
9:49
Wbash Police Department was hired three
9:51
guys and I put my application in.
9:54
>> Okay.
9:55
>> And uh got hired and started in February
9:58
of 1994.
10:00
>> Okay.
10:01
did that for, excuse me, 21 years.
10:05
Almost 22 years. I was about two months
10:08
shy, three months shy of 22 years. Okay.
10:11
when I ran for mayor in 2015,
10:16
um got elected
10:18
and decided to take it the pensions
10:22
between
10:25
uh the police pension and other
10:28
government pensions, PEF,
10:32
>> uh are different. You had to have a
10:34
30-day separation
10:37
between pension plans in order to start
10:41
drawing my police pension when I turned
10:43
52.
10:44
>> Okay.
10:45
>> So, when I won election, I was 50 51
10:49
years and 8 months.
10:52
So,
10:54
won election 2015, took office January
10:58
1st, 2016, started drawing my police
11:01
pension in March of 2016.
11:04
>> Mhm.
11:05
>> And
11:07
the rest is history.
11:08
>> So, let's go back to the you put your
11:10
name in. You win in 2015.
11:12
>> Yeah.
11:13
>> Running for mayor, like starting a
11:16
company, being an entrepreneur, doing
11:17
all that kind of stuff. What in the
11:19
world was going on in your mind thinking
11:22
you need to go run for mayor and kind of
11:24
get out of law enforcement?
11:26
>> Well, I'd ran so in uh 1999 I went on
11:31
ballot to run for city council.
11:33
>> So So this is something you thought
11:34
about in the past being serving somehow
11:36
in the city,
11:38
>> right? And
11:40
being on the police department
11:43
u I was able to see every area of the
11:47
city. I mean, parts of the city,
11:52
uh, if you're driving through, you don't
11:54
see neighborhoods and stuff. Sure.
11:57
>> As I drive around Home Patrol, I'm like,
11:59
man, this, you know, they could use some
12:01
lava over here.
12:02
>> Mhm.
12:02
>> We could put some new sight walks in,
12:05
repair some streets.
12:08
So, that was kind of uh the impetus for
12:10
me.
12:12
And I sat on city council and I thought,
12:17
I think I can lead this city and and do
12:20
it.
12:20
>> No kidding. Dudes are just off pretty
12:23
well.
12:24
>> Yeah.
12:24
>> And
12:26
uh the initial election in 2015, it was
12:29
a three-way race.
12:32
A lady that was on the council with me
12:34
was running as a Democrat. I was running
12:36
as a Republican.
12:38
And in June of that year after the
12:41
primaries, u an independent jumped in.
12:44
>> Okay.
12:45
>> Local radio guy.
12:49
So it was a three-way race. And I think
12:51
that just kind of, you know, anytime you
12:54
get into that type of race, votes get
12:57
divided. You
12:59
>> um
13:01
and I ended up coming out on top.
13:03
>> No kidding. Yeah, I love the fact though
13:05
as as a police serving the community,
13:09
drive around on patrol and and just
13:11
noticing, hey, some of these
13:12
neighborhoods, right? Just like you
13:15
mentioned, you know, maybe getting up
13:16
some sidewalks, doing a little bit of
13:17
work, a little bit of paint, you know,
13:19
trying to help just uplift the entire
13:22
community,
13:22
>> right?
13:23
>> And then I guess I didn't realize when
13:24
you and I first talked that you had
13:26
actually been on city council and those
13:28
kind of things as well. So there was
13:29
some history of thinking about, you
13:31
know, I think I could do this or I want
13:33
to serve in some way. And so now 2016,
13:37
you get started as the mayor.
13:39
>> Wbash obviously I don't know an awful
13:41
lot about the city of Wbash, but it
13:44
might be good opportunity to learn, you
13:46
know, how big and, you know, what are
13:48
some of the cool things going on at the
13:49
city.
13:49
>> Sure.
13:51
So in 2014 my predecessor we had applied
13:56
for uh the stellar designation through
14:00
okra.
14:01
>> Okay.
14:01
>> Uh and they were given two cities at
14:04
that time. They were awarding stellar to
14:08
two cities. So you had to have
14:11
projects that you did a strategic
14:14
investment plan that you presented to
14:16
them and said if we're selected this is
14:19
what we want to do. Um one of our big
14:23
projects was a housing proposal downtown
14:26
to take a downtown building and turn it
14:30
into uh we ended up turning into 41
14:35
apartments.
14:36
>> Okay.
14:36
>> Uh pretty cool place. It's an old
14:39
building and a lot of the apartment
14:41
walls still have exposed brick. That's
14:43
one wall.
14:44
>> Yeah.
14:46
>> So that was for 55 and older
14:49
incomebased. 80% of those apartments. So
14:52
33 of them I think that would be 55 or
14:56
older.
14:57
>> Okay.
14:57
>> Based the rest of them you could rent to
15:00
to anyone to
15:01
>> anybody. Okay.
15:02
>> Yeah. Uh that was a big project. We did
15:05
um
15:08
a corridor project right downtown State
15:11
Route 13. So we ended up uh rebuilding
15:14
the road and kind of we didn't really do
15:16
a road diet, but we put some planters
15:20
along both sides of the street. Uh grew
15:23
some uh dillies in those to begin with.
15:27
Okay.
15:28
>> And some grasses. So it it looked really
15:30
cool coming into town and uh we since
15:34
changed that out to some kind of black
15:37
rock in those planters and we want to
15:39
get individual uh planters to plant
15:44
flowers in because wheats take over and
15:47
if you don't have the personnel to to
15:49
weed those flower beds,
15:51
>> you look for an easier way to do it.
15:53
>> Yeah.
15:54
>> And we've done that downtown too.
15:56
Initially, we had uh when I took office,
15:59
there were
16:01
pear treats along the streets and uh
16:06
I hated them because they uh not that I
16:11
hate trees, of course. Yeah. But there
16:12
were so many sparrows in these trees
16:14
that the cacophony of sound
16:18
>> and then the bird droppings y on the
16:21
sidewalks and and we as part of stellar
16:25
uh we had put 1
16:29
$1.3 million into a facade program which
16:33
resulted in $34 million over 34 million
16:37
in investment by the downtown building
16:40
owners to no kidding
16:41
>> redo their buildings. Well, these trees,
16:44
you couldn't see, you know, the work.
16:46
Sure. You couldn't see what store was
16:50
was in each building. Um, so I gathered
16:54
the people downtown and I said, "Hey, I
16:56
got an idea. I want to put square flower
17:00
planer boxes made out of uh decorative
17:03
stone, and I want to put ledges on top
17:06
of them for seating."
17:08
>> Mhm. electrify them with an outlet in
17:12
them. So in the summertime if somebody
17:14
wants to bring their computer out Yep.
17:17
>> and kind of work remote but right
17:18
outside their boat
17:20
>> uh they could plug in if they needed to.
17:23
>> Okay,
17:25
>> man. Did I get push back?
17:27
>> What was it? Was it because you're
17:28
taking the trees down? Yeah.
17:30
>> Is that the big problem? Right. We're
17:31
going to take down nature.
17:33
>> Yeah. And you know, I I said, "Well,
17:35
look, we we do a first Friday every
17:38
month at W Bash." So,
17:41
all the stores stay open from 5 to 8.
17:44
Food trucks come in line the streets.
17:46
Um, and we get, you know, th00and 2,000
17:50
people. Really, that's great in a city
17:53
of 10,000 people uh that come downtown
17:56
and hang out. There's various activities
17:59
going on for kids and and whatever else.
18:03
But I used to see these families walking
18:06
down the street and I saw I was down
18:08
there and I saw this toddler bend down
18:11
and pick up some bird droppers.
18:13
>> Oh no.
18:14
>> You sure everything goes on like we got
18:17
to get rid of this.
18:18
>> Yeah.
18:20
>> And they pushed back and I said, "Okay,
18:22
here's what I'm going to do. I'm gonna
18:23
do this first half block right by city
18:26
hall.
18:28
If you guys don't like it, we won't do
18:30
it.
18:30
>> But I'm not gonna have, you know, all
18:32
this outside the city hall building.
18:36
>> And as soon as I got that done, they all
18:38
started coming to me. When are you going
18:40
to do
18:41
>> my area?
18:41
>> My area.
18:42
>> Yeah. Right. Yeah.
18:43
>> Yeah. So, so we ended up doing that.
18:45
hired a local uh landscaping firm to
18:49
come in and build those few initial
18:51
ones. And then I turned around and hired
18:55
the guy that was building those, put
18:58
papavers in uh from that company and
19:01
hired him on my street department. So,
19:03
we do it ourselves now.
19:05
>> Okay.
19:05
>> So, Gotcha. Lot cheaper.
19:08
>> Sure. Yeah. Do it inhouse.
19:10
>> Uh do it in-house. And And these guys
19:12
are so talented. They I go to them and
19:15
say, "Hey, I got an idea. Can we do
19:17
this?" They're like, "Yeah, we can do
19:19
that. There you go." Um, so yeah, that's
19:23
kind of
19:24
what we did in 2014. So it's halfway
19:28
through and that was part of the initial
19:31
mayor's campaign.
19:33
The independent
19:35
opponent said, "Well, this Stellar is
19:37
just a Ponzi scheme because
19:41
>> they hadn't seen anything happen yet."
19:43
>> Yeah.
19:44
>> But I'm behind the scenes and I'm like,
19:46
"Planning for all this takes Yeah.
19:49
>> 18 months to two years before Yeah. then
19:53
tomorrow,
19:54
>> right? So, uh, he brought that up and I
19:57
was the only candidate that talked about
20:00
stuff you can't see, wastewater pipes.
20:03
That's our only utility in Waw Bash.
20:06
>> Okay.
20:06
>> We don't we don't do water. Um,
20:11
but we're in the middle of an agreed
20:13
order with IDM and a long-term control
20:16
plant to separate.
20:18
Back in the day, all the storm lines
20:21
went into your sanitary lines.
20:23
>> Yep. and we had to separate those. Uh we
20:26
started that 2010
20:29
and we just finished up the fourth phase
20:33
last year.
20:34
>> Okay.
20:34
>> Uh so we've got our long-term control
20:37
plan complete. We've separated
20:39
everything.
20:40
Making the community better, making our
20:42
waterways better.
20:44
>> Sure. The wall bashers very important to
20:46
our community.
20:48
>> Uh it provides recreation obviously.
20:52
>> Yeah. We have canoe and kayak rentals
20:54
right there in town that uh you can
20:57
float the wall bash and see a handful of
21:00
eagles. That's beautiful going down the
21:02
rotors.
21:03
>> Yeah.
21:03
>> And so yeah, it's gorgeous to do that.
21:06
So uh anyway,
21:11
every day is something different.
21:13
>> Yeah. That's what's interesting about
21:14
towns, right? Towns and cities. So
21:16
10,000ish people, 10,000 residents. the
21:20
mayor. I know I learned this from
21:22
another mayor that there are there are
21:25
mayors, there are cities that have
21:27
deputy mayors, mayors that have city
21:30
managers, all that type of stuff in the
21:34
city of Waw Bash. How do you guys set
21:36
up? How do you run everything? Is it you
21:38
running a lot of the the districts and
21:41
the different people? How's it set up?
21:43
>> Well, first and foremost, we're a third
21:46
class city. Uh there there's only one
21:50
first class city state and that's
21:52
Indianapolis.
21:53
>> So and and is class based on residents
21:56
based on population. Okay. Based on
21:58
population. Okay. So then you've got
22:01
secondass cities. So Evansville, Fort
22:03
Wayne, South Bend, uh some of those
22:06
larger cities are secondass cities. The
22:10
majority of the cities are third class.
22:14
>> Is that is that a state thing? Is that
22:16
okay? So the state says this is how
22:18
we're going to classify cities,
22:19
>> right?
22:20
>> That's that's by state statute.
22:22
>> Okay.
22:22
>> Gotcha. So um we've got
22:26
at our peak in 1980, I think our
22:29
population was around 14
22:32
in the city.
22:34
>> We've seen a decline in population since
22:36
1980
22:38
>> and we've just stabilized.
22:41
I think we may have gained
22:44
16 people.
22:45
>> Okay. in
22:47
2025 projected.
22:50
Uh, one of the things I like to say
22:53
about Waw Bash, if you look at it on the
22:55
map,
22:57
were between Fort Wayne and Lafayette on
23:01
US 24.
23:03
Um, I've started saying in the last few
23:06
years, we're in the middle of nowhere,
23:09
but we're in the middle of everything
23:12
because I can get in my car and drive to
23:14
Chicago in three and a half hours.
23:16
Detroit in three and a half hours,
23:19
Cincinnati in about three, uh, St. Louis
23:22
in four,
23:23
>> Louisville, three,
23:25
>> three,
23:27
obviously Indianapolis, we're about an
23:29
hour and 20 uh, minutes away.
23:32
>> Yep. and South Bend about the same.
23:35
>> Yeah, it's pretty close. So,
23:38
while we're rural,
23:41
I like to say that we're in the middle
23:42
of nowhere, but we're in the middle of
23:44
everything.
23:46
>> But, one of the things we have going for
23:49
is uh
23:52
we have a lot of aluminum recycling in
23:54
our community. I've got four different
23:57
companies.
23:58
>> No kidding. We are the third
24:02
largest aluminum recycler
24:05
in the country behind Los Angeles and
24:08
Cook County, Illinois.
24:10
>> That that Whoa. Yeah. I mean, those are
24:13
two huge counties. Huge. I mean, huge,
24:16
right? You guys are running number
24:18
three. What's the were those family
24:20
businesses that got started up there?
24:22
What was the Genesis? It's interesting.
24:24
No. And initially we had a company
24:27
called W Bash Alloys and we were
24:29
positioned well uh they used to provide
24:32
a lot of aluminum to the Chrysler planes
24:36
in Cooko.
24:37
>> Okay.
24:37
>> So they would melt aluminum, create
24:42
different grades of aluminum and you see
24:45
these flat trailers with these big
24:47
silver pots on them.
24:49
>> Mhm.
24:49
>> That have insulation on the top of it.
24:52
So that was molten aluminum
24:55
leaves wall bash goes to um
25:00
Cooko to the transmission plant and they
25:03
would dump the aluminum and cast trades
25:06
sharehousings
25:08
out of that stuff. That's that's how it
25:11
initially started that that was called
25:13
Wall Bashed Alloys. that's now part of a
25:17
company called Real Alloy that's based
25:19
out of believe it's Toledo, Ohio.
25:23
>> Okay.
25:24
>> So,
25:26
in saying that, Toledo, we're kind of in
25:30
an aluminum triangle between Toledo,
25:32
Wes.
25:35
I can't remember the other community,
25:38
but anyway,
25:40
we're getting ready to expand on that.
25:42
>> Really? Yeah, they're getting ready to
25:45
So, real Alloy applied for a Department
25:48
of Energy grant two years ago to do zero
25:52
waste aluminum recycling. So, as a
25:56
byproduct comes off of aluminum they
25:59
call Gross.
26:00
>> Yeah. They're going to be able rather
26:02
than send that to the landfill,
26:05
they're going to recycle that in this
26:08
new plant and they will take several
26:11
different products out of that and put
26:14
them back on the market.
26:15
>> That's cool.
26:16
>> Yeah. Yeah. Zero waste is always a good
26:17
idea.
26:17
>> Yeah, absolutely.
26:19
>> That's interesting. You guys kind of sit
26:20
in that that area of aluminum and I mean
26:23
four and third in the country is
26:25
amazing. Yeah. As you think about uh
26:28
this the city and I think this is
26:30
interesting. One of the things we talk
26:32
about on the show is we talk about
26:33
technology.
26:34
>> Yeah.
26:34
>> And we get an opportunity. We talk to
26:36
companies that are huge. We talk to
26:37
nonprofits. We're talking to cities,
26:39
higher ed, K through 12. We're kind of
26:42
talking to everybody. And tech is
26:43
interesting
26:45
across the board. um because the
26:48
innovation speed of innovation today is
26:51
a little bit different, but obviously
26:53
cities are operating a little bit
26:55
different than some of the for-profit
26:57
companies out there. But in in
26:59
technology, what's going on in tech, you
27:02
know, in the city of W Bash and kind of
27:04
what maybe you see happening in the near
27:06
future?
27:08
>> Well, let's go back to when I took
27:10
office 2016. And um I walked into the
27:15
building and walked in the mayor's
27:17
office and
27:19
I said, "The mayor didn't use his
27:21
computer. He had a computer, the
27:23
monitor."
27:25
And he said, "No, he didn't really use
27:27
it. How you know?" I said, "Well, the
27:29
keyboard's not plugged in power." Uh
27:32
number one.
27:34
And then I started
27:36
looking around at all the different
27:38
departments and except for the clerk
27:41
treasur's office, they had a server
27:44
>> because they were using uh Keystone for
27:47
all their software for everything that
27:50
they do.
27:52
Every other department was saving
27:56
everything.
27:58
There was no server.
28:00
>> Oh wow. I got in city hall and I'm like,
28:03
"Okay, we got to do something about
28:06
this." We didn't have a firewall.
28:09
>> Oh, wow.
28:10
>> Yeah, that's scary.
28:11
>> You know, we didn't have any on-site and
28:13
off-site backup of anything.
28:17
Um,
28:18
so I said, "Okay, we're going to we're
28:20
going to change this and I'm gonna spend
28:22
some money real quick,
28:24
>> and you guys are going to freak out
28:26
because this isn't going to be cheap."
28:29
>> Yeah.
28:30
And then the evolution of of tech within
28:33
a city,
28:36
you have to protect your assets.
28:41
>> And what I would say,
28:44
you know, we went from zero to 100 miles
28:47
an hour in tech in the first year.
28:51
>> Wow.
28:52
>> Uh because we had to.
28:54
>> Sure. There are cities out there that
28:57
are being held hostage,
29:00
>> ransomware and everything like that. And
29:03
we were a prime candidate for that to
29:06
happen. And and I made the decision,
29:09
hey, I like money too much. I don't I
29:12
give it away.
29:13
>> Yeah.
29:14
>> And then further evolution. Um, you
29:18
know, we'd get cyber insurance. Yep. few
29:21
years ago we didn't have any cyber
29:23
liability policy
29:25
and I go to AIM events uh annually they
29:29
have it's called the AI ideas summit now
29:32
but we have a lot of vendors there
29:34
uh you can go around to their booth and
29:37
stuff start talking to people and
29:40
there's always uh a better way to do
29:44
something
29:46
>> and
29:48
so
29:49
we've progressed in that and we you know
29:52
when you go back to I'm a mayor that
29:56
that does everything heavily involved
29:58
right now for a hundred years we have a
30:02
red line goes right through the center
30:04
of the city divides it in half
30:07
and we only have one way
30:10
if a train broke down to get around that
30:13
and that was through our city park
30:15
single lane road that our fire trucks
30:18
couldn't fit through. Oh, no.
30:22
So, it had been talked about we need an
30:24
overpass and in 2017 I applied for to
30:30
put an overpass in and do told me they
30:33
said, "Yeah, we can't improve this, but
30:37
we think we got a program coming in six
30:39
months. It's going to be perfect for
30:41
this." And it's a program in DOT that
30:43
called local tracks.
30:47
So, I ended up getting awarded uh they
30:50
paid 80% of it. We paid 20%.
30:53
>> Okay.
30:53
>> And this is a $12 million project,
30:58
maybe 10 or 11, but when you're talking
31:01
million.
31:01
>> Yeah. That's Yeah. Still out there.
31:03
>> Yeah. And construction costs change
31:06
daily.
31:08
>> So, we're getting a railroad overpass
31:10
built and it'll be opened up and
31:12
finished
31:13
midmade and
31:14
>> Oh, that's great.
31:15
>> Yeah. Well, at least if the train breaks
31:17
down, you be able to get the other side
31:18
of town.
31:18
>> Well, and the and the big thing is half
31:20
the city's on south of the tracks, the
31:23
hospitals on the north side of the
31:24
tracks. Fortunately,
31:27
uh, in our community, we have paramedics
31:29
on our fire department, right? The
31:31
ambulance service,
31:33
>> okay,
31:33
>> which is a benefit. Um, if you can't get
31:36
that patient to the hospital, at least
31:38
they can communicate and administer some
31:42
drugs that Nate Chair administers
31:44
somebody's having a heart attack.
31:46
uh school buses.
31:48
>> You know, my
31:50
first year in office, I think I counted,
31:54
we had 17 trains that stopped and block
31:57
crossings
31:59
either due to uh signalization, they got
32:02
a red light and they had to stop or an
32:06
airline broke and it goes in emergency
32:09
locks up.
32:10
>> Yep. Well, when that happens,
32:13
an engineer has to find out where it's
32:16
at or conductor.
32:19
>> They have to take the hose, change it
32:22
out, then they have to walk the entire
32:24
length of the train. Yep. To make sure
32:26
no wheels came off.
32:28
>> That just exacerbates the amount of
32:31
time.
32:31
>> Yes, sir. When I was on the police
32:33
department,
32:35
I used to go to the end of the train and
32:38
I'd put them in my police car and and
32:41
haul them back into Yeah, I'm in just
32:43
speed it up. Yeah, absolutely. Uh
32:47
I probably should I don't know if that's
32:49
legal, but
32:52
uh yeah, so things like that. You hire
32:56
good people. So I have six department
32:59
heads.
33:01
parks, building commissioner, police,
33:03
fire, street department,
33:05
wastewater department.
33:07
>> Okay.
33:07
>> You hire the people
33:11
to run the ship.
33:12
>> Yep. And sometimes you have to make a
33:15
minor course correction.
33:18
I see that as my job. Gotcha. I I point
33:21
to him,
33:23
get out of the way. The only the only
33:25
experience I had was in the police
33:27
department. Sure. Um, I knew, you know,
33:30
I knew everybody else, but I didn't have
33:32
the knowledge to run that department.
33:35
So, I picked the people
33:38
who had the knowledge, put them in
33:40
there, and yeah, let them go do their
33:42
thing.
33:42
>> Do your thing. You know, it's
33:43
interesting. That starts to talk a
33:45
little bit about culture and community.
33:47
And so, obviously being the city and the
33:49
in the city of Waw Bash, right? That's
33:51
part of your your your community. But
33:54
when you think about community, what
33:57
what's that mean to you? How you
33:59
interacting with the community? What's
34:01
that look like? I know you're you got
34:02
the six department heads and you're
34:04
helping them and helping guide them, but
34:06
they're running the ship, but how are
34:08
you interacting with the community and
34:09
what do you think about that?
34:11
So,
34:13
you know, if if you look at Walbash
34:15
County that the entire population of the
34:18
county is only about
34:22
31,000, maybe a little more, maybe a
34:24
little less. So, the city of Wbash has a
34:28
third of the entire county population.
34:32
I know mayors in cities where they have
34:35
more people than our entire county does.
34:39
So what we've tried to do over the last
34:42
20 years is to have a dialogue with the
34:47
town of North Manchester and county
34:49
government and we got three other
34:52
incorporated towns within the county Row
34:55
and Lro Fountain. So
34:59
two years ago or three years ago, we
35:01
decided to come up with a comprehensive
35:04
plan for the entire county
35:07
>> and we we have called that plan imagine
35:11
185.
35:12
So, we had 85 action items for the
35:16
entire county uh that we wanted to
35:20
accomplish and
35:23
well over twothirds of the way through
35:26
those 85s.
35:28
But that brings the leaders of every one
35:30
of these communities together once a
35:33
month
35:34
>> face to face to discuss the issues and
35:38
the problem that everybody has just on
35:41
different scales. I would say uh we do
35:44
that in northeast Indiana. I'm part of
35:47
the
35:49
mayor and commissioners caucus in
35:50
northeast Indiana.
35:53
I am a member of the northern Indiana
35:55
mayor's home table. So we meet once a
35:58
month too
36:00
>> and counties have to talk to cities and
36:03
cities have to talk to counties and it's
36:06
especially
36:08
um important right now after Senate Bill
36:13
one passed and became Senate Roll Act
36:15
One.
36:17
Now, we have to talk to the county to
36:20
figure out this local income tax
36:24
structure that
36:27
got messed up.
36:28
>> I'm not going to say it was destroyed,
36:30
but yeah. Uh so, a correction was made
36:34
in this year's legislative session that
36:38
you can meet with the county. You're
36:40
still getting the same amount of local
36:43
income tax revenue. lit city of W bash
36:47
the way it was initially written would
36:49
have lost
36:51
between property taxes and lit almost $4
36:55
million annually.
36:56
>> Oh, why revenue?
36:57
>> That's a big hit to the budget when my
37:00
budget's only $19 million.
37:02
>> Mhm.
37:02
>> You know, you're taking a fourth of it.
37:06
And as they took over $3 million in
37:09
local income tax away from us, the
37:12
county got over $2 million of it.
37:17
>> And I'm like,
37:19
why are you taking my money and giving
37:21
to
37:22
uh so we're working through that? We're
37:25
going to
37:27
we're'll get it taken care of. We'll sit
37:30
down table and see if it didn't broke,
37:32
don't fix it. Yeah. how we're dividing
37:35
this up now is the way we should be
37:38
doing it. So, let's continue to do that.
37:41
>> Yeah.
37:42
>> And I think the state's going to allow
37:43
us to come to that agreement. So,
37:46
>> Well, that's good. I mean, but you had
37:47
the relationship in the community with
37:48
all those other builders and other other
37:51
locations and so I mean, it's great the
37:54
way you've been building community and
37:56
it just as I think through your story,
37:58
right? kind of go back to the beginning
38:00
FFA, you know, being part of that, being
38:03
a leader there, right? Deciding that you
38:06
were going to go join the military and
38:08
then tell your parents over dinner, by
38:10
the way, thank you for your service.
38:12
>> Appreciate that.
38:12
>> And um anybody that goes out and does
38:14
that, that's my respect. I mean, they
38:16
they go and serve, you know, for our
38:18
country and they've helped my family
38:20
whom you've never met and families just
38:22
like mine all over the country. So,
38:24
thank you for that. and then coming back
38:26
and then serving again as a police
38:29
officer. Thank you for your service
38:30
there. Right. Again, always should say
38:32
thank you to those types of I think
38:34
teachers, police officers, and nurses
38:36
probably should be saluted when they
38:38
walk by because they do cool things.
38:39
Still firefighters in there, too.
38:40
>> They're all hometown hero.
38:42
>> Yep. Agreed. Completely agreed. So,
38:44
thank you for that service there. and
38:45
then getting yourself into, you know,
38:48
starting to think about city government,
38:50
going that crazy route and then winning
38:52
in 2015, going in office in 2016, 10
38:55
years later, right? And helping the city
38:58
grow and what you're doing and building
38:59
community there. I know it's a full-time
39:01
job. I know you're busy, mayor, you're
39:03
running six folks in six divisions, but
39:05
at some point you're probably not
39:06
working. And if you're not working, what
39:08
are you doing for fun?
39:11
Well, right now, uh, last night was the
39:14
first night of Little League season.
39:16
>> Okay.
39:17
>> Uh, I've got two
39:19
two grandchildren that I've raised. Uh,
39:22
they're five and six and they're playing
39:26
uh they call it rookie coaches pitch.
39:30
>> Okay.
39:31
>> So, it's kind of you get five pitches.
39:33
They're five and six years old.
39:35
>> Yeah.
39:36
>> If you don't hit one of those five
39:37
pitches, then bring the tea out.
39:39
>> Yeah. And so that was last night and it
39:43
was quite chilly.
39:44
>> Yeah.
39:46
>> Winter coat season. It was at the
39:48
ballpark. Uh tonight my 9-year-old
39:52
grandson who we adopted
39:55
uh five years ago. Uh
39:59
he's playing Little League American
40:02
League. So a notch below National
40:04
League.
40:05
>> Okay. Our league's decided all nine year
40:07
olds will go into American League before
40:10
they move up to the
40:11
>> Okay.
40:12
>> to the National League part of it.
40:14
>> Yeah.
40:15
>> So, he's got a game the night at six
40:17
o'clock. So, when I get So, basically,
40:19
that's what I do. Uh
40:22
>> work and then go out with those kids.
40:25
>> Usually, I I I go to work so I can rest.
40:29
So, uh and I will play some golf. I'm
40:32
playing in some outings this year. Uh,
40:35
I'll meet back down this way next month.
40:38
Mayor Chris Jensen has an outing.
40:40
>> I've been invited to play in with uh Ice
40:43
Miller, I believe it's it is. So, I get
40:46
in a few outings
40:48
throughout the summertime. I wish I
40:50
could play more golf.
40:51
>> Yeah, of course. Because that's
40:54
>> between that and floating a river in a
40:56
canoe,
40:58
>> that's where I don't have to think about
41:00
anything.
41:01
>> Yep. you know, uh, and that's what I
41:05
enjoy doing. I I love getting in nature.
41:08
Uh, we had a local local family, Ford
41:11
family.
41:12
Ford Meter Box is our biggest employer,
41:16
been around for 125 years in W Bash, and
41:20
they created a river trail about six
41:23
miles long from W Bash to the town of
41:27
Grow.
41:28
>> Okay. tied that in with our river walk
41:31
that we have throughout our park system
41:33
along the Wabesh River.
41:35
>> So to get out on that on a bicycle or
41:38
just walking and seeing nature, we've
41:42
got a abundance of eagles. American bald
41:45
eagles are
41:47
prevalent along the Wabash River. That's
41:50
their food source.
41:51
>> Mhm.
41:52
>> The last time I went canoeing, I
41:53
actually saw an eagle come down in the
41:56
river and grab a fish. Oh, that's cool.
41:59
Fish was so big the eagle couldn't fly
42:01
away, so it swam with its wings to the
42:05
bank. He got up on a log and started
42:08
eating this fish. And I looked to the
42:10
right and there was a bigger eagle
42:12
sitting in the tree. And I thought,
42:15
he's going to be a bull ain't going to
42:16
steal that kid's lunch in it. So, uh,
42:20
you just see things like that and it's,
42:25
you know, it's fantastic to be able to
42:27
get out in the nature and what we've
42:30
got.
42:31
>> You bet. Absolutely. Uh, I had the
42:34
opportunity to go to
42:36
East Berlin, Germany in 1985 before the
42:39
wall came down while I was in the
42:43
military and and it gives you a real
42:45
appreciation
42:47
for what we have in America.
42:49
>> Yeah, absolutely. So,
42:51
>> yeah, we get a good spot. You've got a
42:53
good spot. Like you said, you're in the
42:55
middle of nowhere, but in the middle of
42:56
everything, something like that, right?
42:58
We've got uh we got two reservoirs in
43:02
our county, South Bunn.
43:04
>> They're again recreation in nature.
43:09
>> Every year we do a damn to damn bike
43:11
ride. You can ride a 100 miles on your
43:14
bike.
43:16
>> We get eight 7 800 people that come in
43:19
that one day to do a bike ride.
43:22
>> That's awesome. And uh they started up
43:25
uh they call it run the river.
43:29
You can do a half marathon, 5K, 10K or
43:32
half marathon along this river trail,
43:35
too. So that's beautiful.
43:38
>> Yeah. And that brings people in from the
43:40
outside. I didn't even mention Honeywell
43:42
Center.
43:43
>> Oh yeah.
43:44
>> Uh so we have a worldass
43:46
entertainment venue right downtown. 1500
43:50
seat theater.
43:53
Tracy Bird. I just got an email that
43:56
country singer Tracy Bert's going to be
43:58
in W Bash later this year.
44:00
>> No kidding.
44:01
>> Yeah, Pat McAfee came up and did his
44:04
competi tour there.
44:05
>> Got to love that. First year in office.
44:07
That was
44:10
that was fun. He invited me and my wife
44:12
backstage and him and Christy Le.
44:14
>> Oh yeah.
44:15
>> Yeah.
44:16
>> Ton of fun.
44:17
>> Ton of fun,
44:18
>> man. I'll tell you what a cool life.
44:20
Cool city. Uh first Fridays people come
44:23
out. Thou a thousand people coming out
44:25
on a Friday, food trucks, all that kind
44:26
of stuff, you know. Great opportunity to
44:29
get up there, get out, see nature, come
44:31
do a run, go float down the river. Third
44:33
Saturday in October, we have the largest
44:36
chili cook off east of the Mississippi
44:39
River.
44:39
>> No kidding.
44:40
>> Yeah,
44:40
>> that's right up my alley. Check it out.
44:42
And we get
44:45
upwards of 5,000 people at that.
44:47
>> That's cool. You pay five bucks, you go
44:50
around and they have these little uh,
44:52
you know, like little cups you get
44:54
dressing in at a restaurant.
44:56
>> Yep. So, they'll put a little bit of
44:58
chili in there. They give you a spoon
45:00
and some tickets to vote on which one
45:03
you think's the best.
45:05
I've been at I was asked to judge a few
45:08
years ago.
45:10
Not something I don't think I'll want to
45:11
do again
45:12
>> because there's some good chili.
45:14
>> Yeah. Yeah, there's other chili. There's
45:16
other chili.
45:17
>> That's right. Yeah, we've all had them.
45:18
>> Yeah. So,
45:19
>> yeah. Yeah.
45:20
>> Yeah. That's always a good time, too.
45:22
>> That's fun. Sounds like a blast. Mayor
45:24
Long, I appreciate you. Thanks for
45:26
coming in. Thank for your service across
45:28
the board all the way, my friend. Thanks
45:29
for being on the show.
45:30
>> You bet. Happy. Go do it.