Speaking to Constituents
Welcome to the Timesheet. This column is the first of regular communications from an elected official to those that I’m honored to serve.
As your employee it’s important that the voters know what I’m spending time on and it’s vital in today’s climate to be transparent in government. You hired me as your Hamilton County Councilman, and my hope is that you’ll choose to be informed by regularly reading this column, getting involved and by asking any questions that you may have. Here is where my time has been spent recently.
I began official employment on Jan. 1, but dozens of meetings took place prior to that. Over recent years, attending County Council meetings, Noblesville City Council and Cicero Town Council meetings has allowed important relationships with local officials to flourish. Additionally, the information on local projects has proven invaluable with many impacting county operations or requiring county support.
Hitting the ground running is a top personal priority, making department head and stakeholder meetings, studying the 2023 budget, reading the ARPA meeting minutes and attending several days of new elected official training, critical to a strong start. Twenty-nine different meetings are in the rear-view mirror with another half dozen scheduled early in the new year. The next County Council meeting of is Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. in the Commissioners Courtroom in the Hamilton County Judicial Center. If you can’t be there live you can watch online on Hamilton County Television.
To date, it’s a pleasure to report that we have an incredibly impressive team working in county government. The wide range of services requires exceptionally diverse skill sets, planning, and accountability. County services include but aren’t limited to the courts, hazardous waste removal, probation, highways, bridges, the auditor, the jail, treasurer, assessor, elections, surveyor, drainage, weights and measurements, clerk, recorder, sheriff, health department, prosecutor, emergency operations, 911 communications, parks, coroner and many more. Add to that all the teams of professionals who support buildings, grounds, county executives, judges, information technology, security and collectively you have hundreds of people serving the citizens of Hamilton County every day. We are regularly served by county government.
Meeting dozens of dedicated professional staff these last few weeks and learning about their work, their challenges, and specifically what is working in county government and what could be improved, has given me invaluable insight into our government operations. I’ve learned a great deal. I’ve also had the opportunity to serve several constituents working with them to solve a problem with the State Department of Health.
In the near-term future, the council will be working with the Commissioners on State Road 37, 191st street, the 4H fairgrounds, the domestic violence shelter, and several facility renovation and improvement projects. A longer more comprehensive list of 2023 priorities will be reviewed for you in future columns.
Over the last few days, I’ve had the opportunity to observe Hamilton County’s Emergency Operations Center, the Highway Department, along with County Buildings and Grounds professionals prepare for what could have been a major storm event. It is with confidence I report that these dedicated professionals spent countless hours preparing for and executing support services for the citizenry as the storm unfolded. Fortunately, the most severe impact of the storm missed Hamilton County, but the teams were working all night and were prepared to support us further if the weather, roads, and/or infrastructure was more severely impacted.
This is my time sheet. This is where I am spending my time prior to beginning in office in a few days. There are several projects in queue for 2023 and while my job is primarily the financial oversight of the county budget it is important that I understand the Board of Commissioners priorities and balance them with the stewardship of taxpayer dollars. That is the job, and I am so very excited to do the peoples’ business.
As a taxpayer myself, and listening to so many of you, my employers, it’s important for the taxpayers to have access to all the information you want. I work for you and although you may not choose to do a deep dive into what your County Council does, it’s important that you always can do so. Feel free to contact me at (317) 832-1104 or mark.hall@hamiltoncounty.in.gov with questions, feedback or if you would like to talk about county business.
Mark Hall is a successful businessman, husband, father and grandfather. He is serving his first term on the Hamilton County Council.