Eel Township trustee candidates share ideas to help township

Nov. 3—Republican incumbent Mark Strong and Democrat challenger Savanna Brown are campaigning hard for Eel Township Trustee before the midterm election on Tuesday.

Strong, who has served as a trustee for four years and was part of the Logansport Fire Department for 25 years, said he wants to remain trustee because of his experience and passion for helping others. Brown, a school based skills trainer at 4C Health and an administrative assistant at Logansport First United Methodist Church, said she wants to become trustee because her unique skills and knowledge could provide additional help to the township's residents.

Strong said he spent his entire career as a firefighter helping others, so it was an easy transition to becoming Eel Township Trustee. He added that he loves the job.

"I've been helping people my whole life, so it was the perfect job for me to do as I got older," Strong said. "Firefighting is a young man's job, and one of the firemen back in the day used to be the trustee after he retired. I talked to him about what the job entailed. This job is a political one you have to run for, but once you get in office, there's nothing political about it. All you do is help people."

Brown and Strong's goals both include working with various local organizations. Strong said one of his biggest achievements as trustee has been working with Salvation Army and Emmaus Mission Center. He added that while the trustees can help residents pay their first month of rent, they cannot pay deposits. He frequently reaches out to Emmaus and Salvation Army for help with residents' deposits and other resources.

"We've pretty much met all of the goals that we wanted to do when we did take office," he said. "We changed things around a lot down here. We've got a lot of programs and a lot of things we do and we work really well with the Salvation Army and Emmaus. We have meetings with them every month to keep on the same page."

Strong said that the trustees also work closely with Area Five, 211, and local churches. In addition to working with a variety of organizations, he has also taken steps to make it easier for people to find information about the trustees and programs that can help them.

Another way Strong has been able to help people as trustee is by expanding the township's representative payee program, which helps residents who receive federal benefits.

"We have a payee program where we help people that aren't able to take care of their own money," he said. "Their money comes to us in a joint account with them. We pay their rent, utilities, and any of their expenses, and we give them an allowance every week. That way they can still have money clear up to the end of the month. A lot of people get their SSI check at the beginning of the month and they spend all their money, so they don't have money to buy groceries. That program has expanded a bunch. It actually probably takes up most of our time here at the office."

The program used to be run by the Cass County Mental Health Association until it disbanded. Eventually, the Eel Township trustees took the program over. Strong said the program takes a lot of time and the majority of the township's resources but is critical for the community.

In addition to providing the payee program, Strong also works closely with many local funeral homes to ensure that township residents receive proper burials.

"That's a big part of what we do down here," he said. "We pay for funerals when somebody passes away and doesn't have any family resources or any kind of insurance or anything. The township can pay for a basic funeral for them. We do that quite a bit."

Strong said that he is available for any resident within Eel Township who might be having a hard time. He added that the trustees have currently been helping a number of people with their gas and electric bills, rental assistance, and ensuring that residents' heat is not turned off since it is getting colder outside.

Brown also discussed helping Eel Township residents with their heat, utilities, and rent. She added that she also has experience with clerical work and has processed as well as helped people fill out applications for assistance.

"With the past that I've had with one-on-one care in the homes and one-on-one care completing applications for people to get these kind of programs' assistance, I think that that coupled with the clerical work and the things that I've done in my past puts me in a very unique position to make changes to better our community."

Brown said her main goal if she is elected as Eel Township Trustee is to educate people about resources they can take advantage of. She believes many opportunities are being missed because people are not aware of them.

Brown emphasized that she wants to help people find the right resources before they end up in dire situations at the trustee's office.

"(At) the (Central Indiana) Aging and Disability Resource Center, where it's geared toward the elderly, they have some programs for prescription drug assistance, applications for the Healthy Indiana Plan, and applications food stamps and Medicaid itself," she said. "Also, there are applications out there for getting ramps put up to your home. There are a lot of different programs that are not identified as well as they need to be so they can be given to the general public so they know they're there."

Brown said that if elected, she plans to work with Area Five and other agencies to apply for grants that could be helpful within the community. She said she would use the connections she has made throughout her career to involve other organizations and community groups, particularly for young adults.

"I really want to make more opportunities for our youth because I feel like getting them educated and getting them involved, that's where our future lies," she said. "The work I've done at Four County building skills with kids, I want to continue that by finding grants that we can bring into our community that we can use with kids. That way, when they do step out on their own, they're stepping out on the right foot and they're stepping out with a strong support system."

Additionally, Brown also wants to address Eel Township's homeless population.

"I feel like homelessness is a much larger issue," she said. "It means that we need to look at the root cause. If I look at the root cause between working with high schoolers, talking to parents at elementary schools, and working with the elderly, the disabled, and the mentally handicapped, to me, I feel like there is a lack of education. That is where I want to fill in the gap."