A countywide referendum on whether to renovate the Allen County courthouse likely drew more voters to the polls Tuesday than in a typical off-year election.
An estimated 2,510 voters — or about 29% of Allen County’s 8,698 registered voters — weighed in.
Almost half that many voters participated in the 2021 fall election, 1,368 of the county’s then-8,610 registered voters.
The $9.95 million measure would have expanded the courthouse to include another courtroom as well as provided additional office space for court staff and judges, a new jury room and enhanced security measures.
Though District Judge Dan Creitz and Sheriff Bryan Murphy deemed the measure “a need, not a want,” organizers behind the expansion were unable to sway voters that it was worth raising their property taxes by 3.9 mills for the next 20 years.
The measure was defeated by a 3-to-1 vote.
THE TOP BRASS are not always the best advocates.
As local school administrators can attest, community engagement is vital to passing bond issues.
After three failed measures to build new schools — 1979, 1985 and 2014 — local voters in 2019 approved a $35 million issue to build a new elementary school, high school science center and an HVAC overhaul for the middle school.
It had been 43 years since district voters — for that matter, voters in all of Allen County — had approved construction of a new school.
The success of the 2019 issue came on the back of many failures. In 2014, the measure failed 2-to-1; not even close.
In the aftermath of that election, feelings were raw with the common sentiment that school administrators and board members were calling the shots, eschewing input from the general public.
Taking those sentiments to heart, administrators formed a steering committee in the fall of 2017 that focused on input from community members rather than administrators. Members included some of 2014’s “yes” and “no” voters, single moms, retirees, farmers and business owners. Their charge was to not only study the district’s facilities in depth but also determine where they had gone wrong in getting the message across to voters.
From there, they offered a series of public meetings to discuss the needs and wants with residents. In some cases, that led the committee into unexpected directions.
“We studied what didn’t work in 2014 and put together a plan that voters could support,” said Dan Willis, then-president of the board of education. “It’s been an open process for more than a year. We found common ground. None of us went without compromise.”
