6 things Westfield Mayor Andy Cook will be remembered for
Four-term Westfield Mayor Andy Cook will leave office this year as the city's first and only mayor.
More:Westfield mayor Andy Cook won't seek 5th term
Here are six things he will be remembered for when he leaves office.
Town to city
Westfield went from a town to a city in 2008. Cook was elected Westfield’s first mayor and led the city into its new phase of government.
Westfield has continued to grow throughout Cook’s time in office. An IU analysis released last year recognized it as the fastest growing-community in the state in 2021.
Today, Westfield has a population of about 50,000 people, compared to 21,000 in 2008 when it became a city, and that number is only expected to keep growing.
More:3 takeaways from the Westfield mayoral debate
Grand Park
Cook spearheaded the construction of the 400-acre sports campus northwest of U.S. 31 and State Road 32 that Westfield is perhaps most known for today.
Westfield needed a commercial tax base and Cook saw the building of a youth sports destination as a way to draw businesses to the city.
More:Who will operate Grand Park? The latest timeline for the future of Westfield sports campus
The $49 million Grand Park opened in 2014 and the $26 million, 378,000-square-foot indoor event center opened in 2016. As of mid-2022, Westfield had about $75 million in existing debt tied to the property.
The campus draws millions of visitors to Westfield every year and has brought the Indianapolis Colts training camp and businesses like Pro-X Athlete Development and the Pacer’s Athletic Center to the area.
Westfield recently announced the city would not sell Grand Park. In 2022, Westfield released a request for proposals seeking a new owner or operator of the campus. A committee is continuing to review proposals for a manager or operator of Grand Park.
Monon and Midland Trace trails
Under Cook’s leadership, Westfield extended the Monon Trail north from Carmel through Westfield’s northern border at 216th Street. That gave cyclists and pedestrians in Central Indiana access far north into Hamilton County and south into Indianapolis. In 2019, Cook participated in a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of the trail extension north from Westfield's border to Sheridan, which Hamilton County paid for.
More:Westfield planning to spend millions to extend Monon, other trails
Cook didn’t stop there. He also championed the construction of the Midland Trace Trail, the rail trail that extends east and west from Westfield to Noblesville, at a time when no one else envisioned a trail there.
Noblesville has since extended the trail nearly to the White River and has plans to extend it over the river soon.
Utility sale
Cook led the city through the $91 million sale of Westfield’s water and wastewater utilities to Citizens Energy.
The sale was approved in 2013 and the utilities transitioned to Citizens in 2014.
The sale helped Westfield pay off $45 million in utility debt and provided $40 million for infrastructure projects. But Westfield lost control of its utility and Citizens took over utility rates, which were previously set by the Westfield City Council.
More:IURC approves Westfield Utilities transfer to Citizens Energy
Grand Junction Plaza
Cook launched a task force to study Westfield’s downtown around the time he was elected to lead the city.
The Grand Junction Task Force helped form the idea of a 6-acre park and plaza planned in downtown Westfield south of State Road 32 and west of Union Street.
In 2019, the Westfield City Council approved $35 million in short-term bonds to fund the project with a 4-3 vote.
Cook saw criticism tied to the project after IndyStar reported his sons financially benefited from selling property to the city for Grand Junction Plaza.
More:Westfield mayor pushed for Grand Junction Plaza project. His two sons profited from the deal.
Grand Junction Plaza opened in 2021 and has been home to public events in the city.
Relationships with elected officials
In the last three years, Cook has had rocky relationships with the city’s other elected officials.
It started in 2019 when members of the existing Westfield City Council were defeated by challengers in the municipal elections. The council was seated in 2020 and immediately sought more oversight in the city, such as at Grand Park.
In 2021, Cook and clerk-treasurer Cindy Gossard were involved in at least three lawsuits tied to providing information to investigators Cook appointed to look into city operations.
More:'We're dysfunctional': Westfield's government wars with itself as growth explodes
Recently, Cook and the city council exchanged barbs over the city’s loss to Noblesville of the Bastian Solutions headquarters. The company announced in January the project would include moving the existing manufacturing facility in Westfield to Noblesville.
Contact IndyStar's Carmel and Westfield reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter @CarloniBrittany.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 6 things Westfield Mayor Andy Cook will be remembered for
