To the editor:
Election time is here, and there are many choices to make. One very important choice is County Council District 3 that Jim Shelby is running in. As president of the Hancock County Council, I can’t begin to stress enough how important it is to re-elect Jim. Jim is the chairman of our budget committee and has extensive knowledge of government finance. If you have ever had any dealings with government finance and budgeting, you realize how complex it is and many times makes no sense.
Jim, with his engineering degree from Purdue and MBA from Butler, is able to take on the sizable task of council finance chairman and take a complicated area of government and break it down to where it makes sense.
Several years back, the county was in some severe financial difficulty. When Jim came on the scene, with the help of others, we turned things around and are now in a very solvent position.
Unlike the federal government, we are bound by law to live within our budget. Sometimes I kid Jim and call him Uncle Scrooge when he spots an area that needs belt-tightening. He then tells me I am a Marion County Republican. I’m not sure what that means, but we balance each other out.
One thing Jim has been very vocal about, and we are moving forward on, is the issue of getting funding for treatment for those that are in jail suffering from drug addiction. He recently spent hours with our county financial consultant working out details on how we could finance this project.
In addition, Jim and I have spent time at the legislature discussing these issues and looking for state help. Jim puts in far more hours than would be expected of a councilperson, because he cares about the county and the people in it. When you get to the voting booth, the right choice for District 3 is Jim Shelby.
Bill Bolander
Hancock County Council President
