SILVER LAKE — As elections approach, four candidates are competing for three seats on the Silver Lake town council.

Chad M. Miner

Chad M. Miner, a lifelong Kosciusko County resident, serves as a director on the Kosciusko Animal Welfare League board, the Kosciusko Senior Services board and the Kosciusko Literacy Services board. He has years of small business experience and an understanding of financial and budgeting matters and has practiced law at Miner & Lemon LLP for a number of years, where his focus is primarily on estate and business planning, including the unique needs of family farmers, civil litigation and serving as counsel for Kosciusko County.

Q: What do you feel are Silver Lake’s strengths and how can these strengths be utilized to bring commerce and new residents to the area?

A: “I believe that one of the greatest strengths of Silver Lake is its location. We are at the crossroads of SR 15 and SR 14, which brings a significant amount of traffic through town and which also provides good highway access for manufacturing and other businesses. Additionally, we have railroad tracks running along the east side of town, which may provide additional opportunities.

Another strength that we have is our town’s dedication to keeping our finances under control. Times are still challenging for many communities and this means that keeping a tight rein on spending must continue to be a priority. And by prioritizing frugality, our town has been able to weather the storm.

I believe that these two strengths — a great location and a dedication to fiscal responsibility — make Silver Lake an attractive place to start a business and also to expand. The most important things that we can do are to treat the businesses that we already have right and to get the word out about what a great place our town is to the other businesses that might be interested in setting up shop. And, a growth in commerce will almost certainly result in bringing new residents to the area.”

Q: What local issues do you feel are top priority and how do you plan to address those issues in the future?

A: “I believe that continuing to provide the services that our citizens need and rely upon without breaking the bank must be a top priority. At the same time, it is also important that we take the steps necessary to ensure that our sewer and water utilities and our streets are able to hold up over the long-term. Proper maintenance can be costly, but it is essential for the future of our town.

And I believe that we have been doing a good job of addressing these issues. We need to keep doing what we have been doing, which is to be diligent in budgeting and monitoring our finances. By doing this we are able to keep tax and utility rates as low as possible, while continuing to provide quality service to our citizens, both now and into the future.”

Gale Owens

Gale Owens is also running for Silver Lake town council. He has 20 years prior council experience to bring to the table.

Q: What do you feel are Silver Lake’s strengths and how can these strengths be utilized to bring commerce and new residents to the area?

A: “In the future, I’d like to put solar street lights up and that takes grants. The other thing I’d like to see happen in our community is a community center. I’ve been on the town council almost 20 years and we’ve come a long ways and we’ve still got some work I’d like to see done but we can’t do it all at once. Everyone works together fine, even past board members and clerk-treasurers, the police department, fire department, EMS and the street department. We’ve all worked well together and it’s not just one person, it’s everybody.”

Q: What local issues do you feel are top priority and how do you plan to address those issues in the future?

A: “Our main issue for Silver Lake right now is the old school. We’ve tried to get stuff in there and tried to get things going and I think it’s mainly going to be a big issue for the town.  That’s where we’re thinking about trying to get a community center in there and since we have the park there, it would be a good place to have a community center. The plans are to see what we can do with it but first we’ve got to get it back from the guy who owns it.”

“Over the last 20 years we’ve had new storm systems and sewers, we’ve upgraded everything and, really, the issues we have are mostly cosmetics for the town. We definitely want people to keep investing like they have been and it has worked out well.”

“One big issue we have facing all towns is the meth problem. I think people should do research and find out who their candidates are who are running. Some people are wanting in there for the wrong reasons. Drugs to me, too, are a big problem and I’m not saying our police department is not doing its best, it’s just a big problem everywhere and that is one thing that I will fight in our town is to get rid of the drugs.”

Phillip J. Shalley

Phillip Shalley has served on the Mentone Town Council for four years and was town superintendent for 17 years. Shalley feels his status as a retiree will serve the town well.

“I have more time than other candidates to spend on town issues,” he said.

Q: What do you feel are Silver Lake’s strengths and how can these strengths be utilized to bring commerce and new residents to the area?

A: “The town’s strength is not having the crime that you have in a larger city,” he said. “We do have new businesses in town the last three or four years, which also help with employment.”

Q: What local issues do you feel are top priority and how do you plan to address those issues in the future?

A: “Water utility being held for the lowest cost possible,” he said. “Obviously the infrastructure of the town is growing older and has to be well maintained, which I think our employees are doing very well right now. Also, trying to hold our tax dollars down and put them to the best use we can.”

Nichole Taylor

Nichole Taylor was born and raised in Silver Lake. She currently resides in Silver Lake. She attended Silver Lake Elementary School and graduated from Warsaw Community High School. She is a Lions Club member in Silver Lake.

This will be her first year running for town council. Even without prior council experience, she has expressed willingness to learn so she can help the residents in Silver Lake achieve what they want from their town.

While she believes Silver Lake has already done many things to improve the city, she expressed a desire to see more improvements. “I am looking forward to the opportunity to serving our community. Change today to make a better future tomorrow,” she said.

Q: What do you feel are Silver Lake’s strengths and how can these strengths be utilized to bring commerce and new residents to the area?

A: “Each year they have Silver Lake Days. If they would focus more on those a little bit when that time comes, they could get more people to come here to see how the city is and how well we’re managed and how people love to live here.

Also, with the meetings, they’re very informational, but they can probably give a little more information to give a little more help to some of the questions that have been asked in the past, research a little bit more to answer questions better.”

Q: What local issues do you feel are top priority and how do you plan to address those issues in the future?

A: “Top priority one would be the streets. I have been in quite a few of the meetings, especially after all the rain happened this past year and I have talked to several different residents and they felt the town didn’t do a very good job approaching it and I felt they could have researched a little more to help with some of the problems that are brought up.

“They could have looked more into it to find out how they can resolve the issue of water flooding on the road or trying to figure out more of a drainage issue. They could have tried to resole that a little better than what they did. If I get in, I would like to address it again to see what else we could do as a town to improve the road so that way there is no flooding on the road because it is a potential hazard because if you’re going down the road, what if it sinks or cracks? It’s things we need to look at to fix and we need to look at how we’re going to fix it in a budget kind of way and re-budget to resolve the issue of standing water on the roads and if people are having drainage issues in the road, I would like to fix that issue.”