Mayor Bennett talks Trump's executive order on immigration, the need for a new county jail, the proposed casino and the need for a food and beverage tax.
On this week's installment of Ask The Mayor, Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett addresses these issues and more. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: It's always interesting to get a mayor's perspective on recent current political events and it hasn't been quiet. What's your take on Trump's executive order on immigration and the confirmation of education secretary Betsy Devos?
Bennett: It's definitely a crazy time. One, I think it's healthy when we kind of mix things up a little bit. Sometimes we get a little stagnant. But on the other hand, you have a lot of extreme thoughts, ideas or strategies that that seems extreme no matter what side you're on. But this happens every time there's a new president. We should expect it, it should settle down soon, I hope because we have to get down to business of doing good stuff.
Hren: I know there was a forum Monday night about the new jail. I understand people are concerned at the price tag of a new facility, but I remember at one point a year or so ago we talked about a new police station, will that come up again?
Bennett: Absolutely, we put some revenues in place, we're going through the process to get our bonds through S & P to get our bond rating updated. We're looking to see if there's a public safety local option income tax here locally. That will get us a revenue source, so we're just letting the dust settle here and ducks in a row so we can advance that project. My guess is we'll get construction started later this fall.
Hren: You've had a hearing at the Statehouse on the proposed casino that you are in support of, how did that go?
Bennett: It went really well. It's an uphill battle to take anything to the legislature. The response was positive. But whether the state wants to change the gambling laws, that's the question on the table. I think some people are confused locally, somehow they think the city council or I'm going to make the final decision on this and that's not true at all, it's totally up to the legislature. You have a private company, publicly traded, who wants to invest $150 million by buying a piece of property by somebody, no local incentives and it all depends whether the state changes the gaming laws or not.
I keep telling people, I'm all about the economic side of this. If you don't like gambling, don't gamble. Every other community that has one, loves it.
Hren: So there's nothing in this if you didn't want the casino here, you can't say no - this can't be built here?
Bennett: You can stand up and say it and they can still decide to do it or not, now if you didn't have a lot of community support they'll probably say, well if Terre Haute didn't want it then we're not going to do it. I get that, but all the local officials are supporting it because they see the economic benefits.
Hren: Bryan writes in an e-mail wondering if Terre Haute has a plan to move to LED lighting for all government facilities and how much money that would save our government each year? Additionally does Terre Haute have any intention of trying to go solar on any of our government buildings?
Bennett: I don't know there's one set answer. The lights we have are what are in our properties obviously. Duke Energy owns the lighting on the streets that we pay for the electricity. We can't switch out to LED lighting because the poles need replaced. We're going to bite this off in pieces, so we're just starting that dialogue with Duke Energy, it will probably save us a little bit. It costs us $5 a month per light to operate and so it could come down a little bit.
I don't think the technology is there quite yet (for solar). I do know the solid waste district in the county that I'm a part of, we're getting ready to operate a new facility that's getting ready to be opened up totally on solar, but it's a one person office with one computer. I would love to explore some of that. This whole building couldn't be run off of that as an example, but we might be able to do a smaller fire station or city parks but we're not quite there yet because I don't have the money to spend up front to save in the long run.
