OK, first come, first serve. As these statements come in, I will be glad to post them for all to see. And if I think you are a worthy candidate, I will even correct any spelling, grammar or other glitches at no extra charge!
Received from Steve Caulkins September 5, 2007. Steve is running at large and you can vote for 2 open seats.
“Hello, I am Stephen Caulkins and I would like to let you know who I am and where I stand. I am 27 yrs. old. I graduated from CHS in 1999, I am married and have two awesome kids, 6mo. and 2 yrs. I am a member of the Cloverdale Township Fire Dept. and I am for the future of Cloverdale! I want a place to raise my family. I am against anyone or anything that is not in the best interest for Cloverdale. I did work for the town of Cloverdale for four years where I became licensed to operate the water plant and the distribution system. I think that experience will show when I am dealing with town business as I have some first hand knowledge of it.
I really hope to win this election as I have lots of ideas for a “NEW CLOVERDALE.” My top three priorities are:1.Town finance – Make some much needed cuts and stop throwing taxpayer money down the toilet2. Police Dept. – I want “Cloverdale” covered 24hrs/day. I want to see about starting reserve program again.3. Streets – Our streets need some attention. I want to see some sidewalks. The utilities have gotten out of control. I hope I have given you some insight on where I stand. Please feel free to tell your friends to “Vote for Caulkins” and thank you for this website.
Thank You, Stephen Caulkins” ________________________________________________________________________Received September 5, 2007 from Phyliss Gaddis, who has served on the Board in the past. Phyliss is running at large and you can vote for 2 open seats.
“I was born and raised in Cloverdale, Indiana and graduated from Cloverdale High School in 1965. While growing up in this town, it was always a very highly respected area known for it’s academic greatness and highly successful students who attended, graduated, and produced successful lives, all originating from this town. It was a very safe place to raise children, so I choose to stay here and do just that. I raised 2 children in this town who also graduated from Cloverdale. However, as I watched the town grow and watched my children assume their own identities, I realized there was no future for them here. There was no opportunity for them to obtain the success in which they wanted to obtain. This concerned me greatly.
I am now watching an increase in drug crime in this area, in corruption in our town administrative staff, and a disturbing disrespect for our current council and their positions held in this town. I have attended many, many meetings of this Town Council and have noticed the “People” who are being served are not being treated with respect and dignity, nor are their concerns being addressed or requests listened to. I have seen the Council members treated with total disregard and atrocious behavior by the employees from this town along with the citizens being told to sit down and shut up. I believe in total respect of each individual and every person has the right and privilege of being heard. This is NOT BEING DONE today in our town. Employees have total disrespect and disregard as to whom is really in charge and seem to think that only a couple a members are their superiors.
This town is run by a Total council of Five. Not one, or two or even three………. There, as to date, has been a total of more than $10 million dollars in revenue lost to this town and area because of people wanting to maintain control for their own financial benefits. Our people are living in poverty level and nothing is being done to prevent this action. Our property value has continued to drop creating an impossible situation of ever getting out from under this duress. Our property taxes have continued to raise making it hard for people with fixed incomes to maintain their homes and a satisfactory living condition. Cloverdale town is now under a sewer ban making it impossible for new businesses to open. This alone puts a town at an economic stand still. Its domino effect makes it hard for anyone living in the area to grow to their potential. Our children are moving out of the area because there is no descent living available here. This, in itself, creates a “Dead Town”. I do not want to see this happen. Cloverdale is a lovely place to grow up and a wonderful place to retire, but right now the in between isn’t promising. I would like to see that change. I want to see this town thrive, gain the respect in our county like we have always had and provide a safe place to raise our children with pride in their community . Currently, were you aware we have 7 Sex Offenders, listed in the National registry, living in the town of Cloverdale? What does this say about our town?
We need to stand firm and bring progress and safety back into our communities. Stop the embarrassing actions happening in our town meetings, put the power of our town back into the hands of the Council without the secrecy that has been happening for the past 8 years. This is “Your” Town. While you may not have been born here, if you have chosen to live here, it is as much yours as mine. You have the right to be acknowledged and heard. You input is very important to all council members because it can lead them to make the decisions that would be best for the community as a whole and not just certain individuals who have personal financial gain to achieve by stopping progress in “Our Town”. With this in mind, and watching the workings of this town for the past few years, the frivolous law suits that have cost the tax payers, (Us) a fortune in attorney’s fees, the turmoil happening at each and every Town meeting, I have decided to run as a Councilman-At-Large. While I know it may take some doing to undo, I know it is possible to bring this town back to some normalcy and open it up to a successful future. This is what I would like to see happen in our town. I would appreciate your vote on November the 6th. Every vote DOES count and Every voice is important to me.
Thank you, Phyliss J. Gaddis
Received September 5, 2007 from Cathleen “Cathy” Monaco who has served on the Board in the past.
“My name is Cathleen (Cathy) Monaco. I am running for Town Clerk Treasurer. I will bring to this office a solid, dependable, open, honest clerk who operates the town office and monies with a non-partisan staff. These office doors will be open to all citizens of Cloverdale. No resident of this town will be treated with disrespect for his/her political stance. All concerns, questions and/or complaints will be directed to ALL Council Members in a timely manner with departments involved also being notified. My background is working in accounts payable/receivable, payroll, Human Resources and various computer applications. I have a strong work ethic and will ask for nothing less with the staff working with me. I will furnish all Council members each month with readable spreadsheets containing a running total of all monies left in each account along with vouchers, bills, draws for all claims introduced each month. Minutes of previous meetings will be delivered to each Council Member within two (2) weeks after that meeting. ALL meetings will be posted. I recognize that this position is NOT a council seat. However, after serving the public as a Council member, I completely understand how to support them and help them do their jobs. This position is to oversee all finances and allocate appropriately in accordance with Indiana law. I am a strong supporter of the Cloverdale Township Fire Department and extremely proud of each and every one of them. They serve Cloverdale well. I am a strong supporter in bringing back the Cloverdale Police Reserve Department. Those who served in this unit were dedicated individuals who volunteered their services to protect Cloverdale. They are sadly missed. With your vote, I will bring back a Town Clerk who will keep your town’s finances in order, search for non-essential items the town need not pay, inform council members of my findings, and search for ways of saving rather then spending the towns’ money. I will be non-partisan and serve our town with pride, dignity and most of all, honesty. Thanking you in advance for your support. Cathy” _____________________________________________________________________ Received the 10th of September from Terry Puffer.
“To whom it may concern:
My name is Terry Puffer; I am a candidate for an At Large position on the Cloverdale Town Council. I, along with my wife Debbie and our daughter Emily, have been residents of Cloverdale for 16 years. Emily is a graduate of Cloverdale High School and is currently a sophomore at Indiana University.
During the years my family and I have lived here, I have made it a point to give back to the community as much as possible. I have served on the Cloverdale Community School Board for four years, I was heavily involved with the Cloverdale Community Youth League for seven years serving as its President for four of those years. I am also a former board member of the Cloverdale Town Council, serving a term of four years. I am currently serving on the Cloverdale Planning Commission and the Cloverdale Board of Zoning Appeals. During my term as a council member, I had the opportunity to learn the inner workings of town government and I also learned that common sense and trust go a long way in managing a town.
My experience in the private sector has given me skills that have been very useful when applied to town government. I have been employed in the automotive industry for the last 25 years, currently as a Senior Manager for a tier one supplier to Toyota and Honda. My experience in this field has given me many skills that I bring to the table to help manage the business and growth of Cloverdale. I have managed budgets, large and small. I have managed employees, ranging from hiring and firing both professional and skilled labor, to motivating large and small groups to cut costs and operate more efficiently. And I have also handled the legal aspects of several large and small operations. I believe that this experience has, and will continue to be, beneficial to me as a member of the town council.
We need to bring the council back to the business of protecting the tax payer’s money and interests. I believe I can be an integral part of doing just that. I also believe that we can make Cloverdale grow. Increased growth will allow us to enhance the services that the town presently provides and give us the opportunity to possibly provide even more services while lowering or stabilizing the tax burden on households within our town. Common sense, fairness and integrity are needed in our town government. I will, if elected, strive to bring these back to the Council.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share with you my insight into my reasons for running for the Cloverdale Town Council. I would appreciate your vote in November.
Sincerely,
Terry S. Puffer“
_____________________________________________________________
Received from Dan Inlow Sept. 14, 2007
“Hi my name is Daniel Inlow. I recently decided to run for Cloverdale Town Council hoping to make a difference. I have lived in Cloverdale for 18 years. I attended Cloverdale elementary school and Cloverdale high school. I was involved in numerous sports such as football, basketball and baseball. After graduating in 2001 I attended Vincennes University and received an associates degree in law enforcement and applied sciences. Currently I work at National Starch and Chemical Co. in Indianapolis. Also currently I am involved in the Cloverdale Township Fire Department and have been for 4 years, and I respect all the members of the department and back them to the fullest and what they do for our community. I am running for town council hoping to make a difference in Cloverdale and the way the town is ran and how decisions are made. There are numerous things in the town that I have noticed need to be changed such as:
1. Finances and the pricing of the water bills and things to that sort.
2. The police department needs to have someone on duty 24 hrs but I know its difficult with only four police officers and I do realize that they need their time off. This is why in the future we may need to put another officer on duty because Cloverdale is a growing community. This is one of the reasons we do need to bring back reserves to help us out to reduce crime in the town currently.
3. A take home policy for the police department meaning, cars should only be used to go to and from work and not to drive around using our tax dollars. They also should be used for police affiliated problems if they are off duty.
4. The utility department needs to make improvements on our roads and use the sources we have to the fullest. In the future I would like to see sidewalks added to different routes to the schools so children can walk to school, ride their bikes, or adults can have something to run on instead of having safety issues or parents worrying about the safety of their children.
I am not the only person taking these things into consideration when I put these thoughts down. I am willing to try to make a difference hoping people back me on my thoughts, of course these aren’t just thoughts, it’s the truth. I want to make Cloverdale a respectable town that people want to live in, and I know this town has more to it. I am just trying to be 100% honest with you as I would anyone else, I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon I want to prove to people that honesty is the answer and any decisions made should be thought about without just giving a yes or no answer even if I have to disagree with people to make things to be right. So please take my thoughts into consideration when you vote for the new town council members because I would like to be involved in the town and the way things are ran making it better for both you and I.
I’d appreciate your vote on November 6th and also thank you for the website.
Thanks,
Daniel Inlow”
To whom it may concern,
My name is Terry Puffer; I am a candidate for an At Large position on the Cloverdale Town Council. I, along with my wife Debbie and our daughter Emily have been residents of Cloverdale for 16 years. Emily is a graduate of Cloverdale High School and is currently a sophomore at Indiana University.
During the years my family and I have lived here, I have made it a point to give back to the community as much as possible. I have served on the Cloverdale Community School Board for four years, I was heavily involved with the Cloverdale Community Youth League for seven years serving as its President for four of those years. I am also a former board member of the Cloverdale Town Council, serving a term of four years. I am currently serving on the Cloverdale Planning Commission and the Cloverdale Board of Zoning Appeals. During my term as a council member I had the opportunity to learn the inner workings of town government and I also learned that common sense and trust go a long way in managing a town. My experience in the private sector has given me skills that have been very useful when applied to town government.
I have been employed in the automotive industry for the last 25 years, currently as a Senior Manager for a tier one supplier to Toyota and Honda. My experience in this field has given me many skills that I bring to the table to help manage the business and growth of Cloverdale. I have managed budgets, large and small. I have managed employees, ranging from hiring and firing both professional and skilled labor, to motivating large and small groups to cut costs and operate more efficiently. And I have also handled the legal aspects of several large and small operations. I believe that this experience has, and will continue to be beneficial to me as a member of the town council.
We need to bring the council back to the business of protecting the tax payer’s money and interests. I believe I can be an integral part of doing just that. I also believe that we can make Cloverdale grow. Increased growth will allow us to enhance the services that the town presently provides and give us the opportunity to possibly provide even more services while lowering or stabilizing the tax burden on households within our town. Common sense, fairness and integrity are needed in our town government. I will, if elected, strive to bring these back to the Council.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share with you my insight into my reasons for running for the Cloverdale Town Council. I would appreciate your vote in November.
Sincerely,
Terry S. Puffer