[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2011/0...a9746248771.txt

Mayoral candidates say job creation is top issue

By Tim Moran
Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, July 24, 2011 5:08 PM CDT
MICHIGAN CITY — The 2011 Michigan City mayoral campaign may be in its early stages, but the candidates vying for the office held by Chuck Oberlie have begun laying out their platforms.

With four months left, Democratic mayoral candidate Ron Meer and Republican candidate Keith Harris say job creation is the primary area in which the city needs to improve.

Meer said “marketing and job creation” remains the top issue facing the city. If elected, he said he will create an internal department with representatives from numerous city departments to work on the “concept of marketing.”

“It’s like fishing,” he said. “When it comes to marketing, you cannot have too many things to lure in outside businesses.”

Click here to find out more!
The next most important thing, Meer says, is to “enhance what the police are doing,” while calling for a new police station to serve the department.

“New technology makes them more efficient,” he said. “They need a new station, and I’d like to be the person to get that done.”

Harris, the city’s first Republican mayoral candidate since 1999, has officially opened the GOP campaign at his Franklin Street headquarters. At the headquarters opening, he discussed forming a commission to not only restore current jobs, but to attract new businesses.

“We will have people from the administration, Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development, school system and local industry involved,” Harris said. “They will first have to form a short-term plan by attracting new businesses to the community and then a long-term plan.”

He also offered an idea of constructing a technology corridor.

“If we capitalize on that and the tax advantages Indiana has over neighboring states, I think we can be very successful,” he said.

The Republican candidate’s plan also includes an evaluation of the operational fiscal efficiency of each city department.

“There is always room for improvement,” he said. “We will evaluate each department independently and look at the operational efficiency and make sure everything is done in the right manner.”

Meer opened his headquarters earlier this week on Franklin Street across from Ames Field. He says the place is “a base of operations for other Democratic candidates as well.”

Independent mayoral candidate Nancy Moldenhauer did not return repeated telephone calls from the News Dispatch seeking comment about her mayoral platform.