Long-time residents of Monroe County vie for seat on Council

With Trent Jones' County Council seat up for grabs in the 2006 election, two candidates are vying for his spot. \nRepublican Jim Billingsley is running for County Council in District 2 this year. \nBillingsley has been a Bloomington resident since he was an infant and has been interested in politics for some time. He ran for state legislator, unsuccessfully, in 2002.\nBillingsley said he's a fiscal conservative who is "frugal with money," which is fitting, Billingsley added, because in the County Council "the only role is approving budget."\nThe County Council oversees budgets concerning the sheriff, coroner, courts, jail, animal shelter, road and bridge maintenance, county parks, social service programs and building inspections. \nA recent redistricting within Monroe County now includes Polk, Clear Creek, Indian Creek, Van Buren and Perry townships under the District 2 county council umbrella.\nTalks of a new juvenile detention center have also surfaced. Currently, minors who are convicted of severe crimes are turned over to Columbus and other cities because the facilities to treat them do not exist within Monroe County. \nThough Billingsley agrees juveniles need this kind of help, there aren't enough cases in Bloomington alone to justify building a new facility, he said. Rather, Billingsley would like to see the programs currently in place be improved. \nAnother problem Billingsley looks to correct is the overcrowding in the prisons. He suggests first making sure the jail system is operating efficiently. \n"(The) first thing I want to find out is (if) the prisoners (are) getting court dates in a timely manner," Billingsley said.\nIf the overcrowding is simply a result of the growing population, Billingsley suggests adding onto the existing building rather than building a new facility. \nBillingsley opposes a new food and beverage tax in Monroe County, which would add 1 percent sales tax at restaurants.\n"Every dollar government takes is another dollar taken from the family to put braces on their children," Billingsley said.\nIn the future on County Council, he'd like to see changes in the motor pool. Many county employees use county-owned vehicles for personal use. Billingsley would like to see only the county employees who need to be somewhere quickly, like a sheriff, take their vehicles home. \nSomeone who goes to work from 9 to 5, for example, might not need to take their vehicles home, Billingsley said. \nAdditionally, Billingsley would like to see the State Road 45/46 bypass made into a four-lane highway to reduce traffic.\nThough the county budget generally increases 5 percent each year, the inflation rates in past years have not kept up. Because of the surplus, Billingsley said the council has started new programs. He'd like to see necessities met before additional programs are put into play.