Goshen's Kid Mayor contenders bring their platforms to city officials

Oct. 24—GOSHEN — Six Goshen Community Schools fourth-graders are finalists in the city's Kid Mayor program. They met with the Goshen Board of Public Works to discuss their plans if chosen by their classmates to lead. The Kid Mayor program began at Model Elementary School and has since expanded to encompass the entire district. Last year, Espinosa Lopez, of Model Elementary School, was elected the city's first Kid Mayor.

This year's contenders are Matthew Demott from Waterford, Eliza Bell from Waterford, Zoey McDonald from Chamberlain, Paul Conner Gwaltney from Parkside, Amelia Troyer from Chamberlain, and Avery McPhail from Prairie View.

The candidates are focusing on small but meaningful changes within the city.

Matthew Demott, a fourth-grader at Waterford, told the board that not enough of his classmates are proficient readers, and he believes with his help, they would make all of his classmates "great readers."

Bell, also a fourth-grader from Waterford, told the board that he goal is sidewalk safety and awareness.

"Bikers are not using the bike paths that Goshen has provided for us," she said. "Instead, bikers are using the sidewalks that are full of walkers."

She wants to put up signs on sidewalks in English and Spanish indicating which sidewalks bikers can't ride on due to safety or heavy foot traffic.

A Chamberlain fourth-grader, McDonald told the board she's concerned about the ecosystem. She recently learned that monarch butterflies are endangered and hopes to set up butterfly gardens with zinnia, milkweed and other plants that attract them.

"Monarchs are extremely important to our ecosystem because they are pollinators," she explained. Her garden design would need little supplemental water, take up little space, and be self-sustaining, as the plants she wants to use will easily regrow from the original plant seeds.

Parkside fourth-grader Gwaltney told the board his goal if elected Kid Mayor would be to find solutions to manage the food shortage problems in the community.

"My dad told us that food costs were going up so we were not going to waste any more food," he explained. While Gwaltney said his family can afford the rising costs of food in addition to gas, he knows that for many families, it's creating a serious burden that he wants to work with the city to solve.

One of his competitors for Kid Mayor, Troyer, a fourth-grader from Chamberlain, also chose food security as her platform.

"I know how important it is to have access to healthy food for your condition because I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease when I was 5 years old," she told the board.

She wants to use space in the old jail lot to develop a community garden.

The final contender for the Kid Mayor position, McPhail, a fourth-grader from Prairie View, wants to encourage community involvement to curb the issue of littering and pollution.

"This could be possible by the people in Goshen volunteering once a week to pick up trash. Together we can make a difference in our community," she explained.

All district fourth-graders will view candidate video presentations and vote next week.

The winners will be announced Nov. 21 at the Goshen City Council meeting.

Other items to come before the Goshen Board of Public Works included:

—The board approved three hires to the Goshen Fire Department, all already holding Firefighter 1 and 2 certifications. Douglass Buurgraf and James White also hold the state of Indiana licensing for paramedics, while Jordan Hunter holds an EMT certification and will need to complete paramedic training once employed with the department.

—The board of public works agreed to allow Northern Indiana Public Service Co. to use traffic control resources for a series of inspections on sewer lines to ensure integrity from utility instructions. While it's unknown which portions of which roads will be closed on what days, it's estimated that the process will take four weeks. Roads that will be inspected and therefore may incur traffic delays and special control include the 1500 through 2300 block of South Main Street; Fifth Sixth, and Seventh streets at West Lincolnway; East Clinton Street between North and South Indiana Avenue to C.R. 17; and East Plymouth Avenue at South 13th, 14th, and 15th streets.

—A third change order for the Madison Street and College Avenue reconstruction project was approved by the board of public works during the Monday meeting. Dustin Sailor, Director of Public Works and the head of the Engineering Department, told the board that the 18.6% increase from the original cost of $585,735.50, but a decrease from the previous two change orders, which had initial brought the total to 718,218.35. The increase stemmed from soil issues in need of mitigation on the land, but $23,519.10 was not needed, making a new and final total for the project $694,699.25.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.