Council race focuses on education, non-profit investment

Incumbent County Councilwoman Martha "Marty" Hawk says maintaining a connection to IU students is essential to the county.\nHawk, a Republican, has served on the Monroe County Council since 1988, starting out at-large and later representing District 3.\nThe County Council appropriates all funds for county use, adopts the county budget, fixes county tax rates and has the exclusive power to borrow money for the county.\nWith IU being a large part of the community, Hawk said she feels a connection is important.\n"(The students) come here for four years or longer depending on schooling, and they want to stay after (they graduate). They really make a connection," she said. "An emotional connection to this community is important."\nIt is also important, she said, that elected officials support job growth so students who wish to remain here and make Monroe County their home have jobs.\n"We've had a tremendous loss of students living in the community because job openings are not available to meet (the skills) they have," Hawk said.\nTrying to get better paying, higher quality jobs that all students would be interested in having is important after these students graduate, she said.\n"I really think that the more important thing is working hard on a county level to grow our job base so if (students) choose to stay in the community, they can," Hawk said.\nHawk said she is working on creating more job opportunities for Morgan County residents.\nHaving served in county government for more than a decade, Hawk said she is happiest about a program she brought to Bloomington a few years ago.\n"I brought to Monroe County a very successful grant training program," Hawk said. "And people from all over the state came ... anybody who wanted to learn how to apply for grants."\nHawk said the training session was especially helpful for nonprofit organizations, which often struggle to raise enough money to operate.\nWhile Hawk said it is difficult to see what the next important issue will be, she said security will always be important.\n"People have a right to feel safe in their homes, and I still want to stress safety and law enforcement so people can feel safe in their homes," Hawk said.\nHawk, who grew up in Monroe County, doesn't want "the reason we want to be here" to be lost, she said.\n"We love our community and the wonderful lifestyle here," she said. "We don't want to lose the charm, but at the same time we want to create good paying jobs"