A two-term incumbent is being challenged by a political newcomer in the Columbus City Council District 5 race.
The seat is currently held by Republican incumbent Tim Shuffett, a estimator at CASE Construction who is finishing his second term on the city council. Shuffett is being challenged by Democratic candidate Ross Thomas, a criminal defense attorney at his own law practice.
Thomas previously sought the Indiana State Senate seat for District 41 last year, but lost in the general election to incumbent Sen. Greg Walker.
FairOaks Mall project
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The future of FairOaks Mall and Donner Center, both located in City Council District 5, is currently being hashed out, as the public input phase of a project that seeks to turn the mall into a community wellness and sports tourism complex continues.
On Dec. 14, the city finalized the purchase of the 35.36-acre mall property at 25th Street and Central Avenue for $5.9 million. The city put up approximately $4 million, or 75 percent of the property’s appraised value.
Both candidates expressed support for re-purposing the mall property.
Shuffett said he believes the mall project will be a catalyst for further private development in the 5th District, including potential shopping, restaurants and a hotel in and around the mall property, as well as the possibility of redeveloping other nearby properties including the vacant former Kroger supermarket location on National Road.
“I think this mall may actually spur those developments with the (vacant Kroger and Marsh buildings) because of the proximity and everything else to bring more opportunities for private investment,” Shuffett said. “There could be opportunities, even with the mall property, to have private investment there, too.”
Shuffett said the redeveloped mall site should include a walking trail “because that’s one of the things the mall is used considerably for is walking, especially in colder weather.”
Thomas said he agrees with “making use of (the mall) space” so it is “productive for the community.” However, Thomas said he feels there should have been a more defined plan for what to do with the property before the city purchased the mall.
“My only complaint, if there is one, is that maybe some more of the details should have been worked out before the purchase rather than after,” Thomas said. “Obviously, not knowing the final cost, or not knowing an estimate of the final cost, which I’ve yet to have seen a estimate for the final cost, that’s always a little problematic. …You don’t want it to be something that ends up costing an exorbitant amount.”
Shuffett said he does have “some concerns” about the city having purchased the mall without specifically knowing what the project’s ultimate price tag would be and what facilities would be built on the site, but added that the city could resell the mall property if “our designs just aren’t feasible.”
“There are some concerns with that, yes,” Shuffett said. “But if ultimately we find out that our designs just aren’t feasible or whatever, we could still turn around and resell the property to a private developer and let them go ahead and develop it in that sense. It’s not like we bought anything right now other than the ground and the building itself. We feel that it was at a reasonable price and feel like it was good use of the tax dollars.”
Government transparency
The two candidates differ on the current state of government transparency in Columbus, with Thomas expressing more concern over what he said could be a “problem of perception” for the city.
“I think government transparency in Columbus right now is a bit of a problem,” Thomas said. “It may be a problem of perception. In other words, I talk to a lot of people who kind of have the impression, ‘Well, everything is done behind the scenes. Everything is worked out in a room somewhere that none of us are invited to.’”
Thomas emphasized that he doesn’t think that city officials, including city council members, work everything out behind closed doors and out of the public eye “in most instances,” but that the perception that they sometimes do can be a problem. To support his position, Thomas pointed to what he characterized as “very little discussion” about complex issues during city council meetings.
“It seems obvious that things have been discussed in other places,” Thomas said. “There’s nothing wrong with that, but you’ve still got to discuss it in public, otherwise the public has no real way of knowing and that leads to that perception that something is happening that you don’t want us to know about.”
Additionally, Thomas said the recent legal battle between the city and former Columbus Mayor Kristen Brown is “emblematic” of a situation where the city comes across as attempting to “hide something.”
The legal dispute centered around the Columbus Police Department’s response in 2016 to a public information requested filed by Brown regarding a domestic dispute involving county officials that occurred earlier that year, according to the lawsuit.
A judge ruled in June that the Columbus Police Department’s response to Brown’s public information request violated the Indiana Access to Public Records Act because the documents provided did not include “the factual circumstances surrounding the incident” and “a general description of any injuries, property or weapons involved.”
In August, the city and Columbus Police Department reached a settlement with Brown, agreeing to pay $32,000 for attorney fees, court costs and other expenses incurred in the lawsuit. The city also paid law firm Faegre Baker Daniels $79,813.50 in fees for legal representation in Brown’s lawsuit, according to city records.
“I think that’s an example of something where someone makes a request for something for whatever motivation they might have had, but they’re legally right,” Thomas said. “…My first response would be to always look at the law and say, ‘Well, we’re required to do that.’ But even if we’re not, why wouldn’t we? In other words, instead of digging in your heels, hiring a big law firm in Indianapolis and paying them 70 grand to dig in your heels over a public record, my response would always be ‘sure.’ It would be the exception to the rule that there would ever be a reason to hide something like that.”
When asked whether he felt if the city should change or improve any of its policies related to government transparency, Shuffett said that, while not perfect, the city of Columbus “does a lot more than most communities do” in terms of promoting government transparency.
Shuffett touted the live-streaming of city council meetings as “a huge win for us as a community.” City council meetings have been live-streamed since at least 2013.
Currently, the meetings of several city boards, councils and commissions, including the city council, board of public works, human rights commission, among others, are live-streamed and archived on the city’s website.
“It allows people who can’t necessarily attend the meetings to even go back and review (the meetings) and see what was said,” Shuffett said.
However, Shuffett said he would support including more information on the monthly newsletters the city sends out so people “can gain as much information as we have.”
Shuffett said city council members do, at times, meet with Mayor Jim Lienhoop and other city officials and department heads either individually or in groups of two or three to “gain knowledge” about proposed ordinances, projects, budgeting dollars and other city business.
These meetings are private as the city administration is careful to avoid having a quorum — or majority — of members in attendance. That keeps the city from violating Indiana’s Open Door Law, which requires advance notification and making the meetings open to the public.
Shuffett emphasized that the meetings are only for providing information, not for discussing how council members will or should vote.
“I’ve never really had a discussion with people where we said, ‘This is the way it’s going to happen. This is why I really like that,’” Shuffett said. “I think, one thing, as a community, we are moving forward, progressing forward, and I think there’s just agreement there even though we have two Democrats and five Republicans right now.”
Shuffett said he feels those private meetings are “appropriate.”
“Anytime there’s more than three city council members present, it has to be an open meeting,” Shuffett said. “I’m very supportive of that and always have been, but I think there are opportunities to gain knowledge. …We’ve traditionally always asked department heads and leaders of the administration, ‘What’s going on? What’s happening there?’ Sometimes it’s me and another council member, and I think it’s appropriate to do.”
Housing
Both candidates expressed similar views on how to promote more affordable housing in Columbus, including potentially issuing tax abatements to incentivize residential development.
Shuffett said the city needs to do everything it can to help remove roadblocks for developers seeking to build housing. Among the roadblocks Shuffett mentioned included helping developers make a compelling case for receiving state and federal tax credits and grants, which he said often are the critical piece in spurring residential development.
“The state only allows so many of these tax credits each year,” Shuffett said. “So they’re looking at communities that have the greatest needs and the ones that have presented the best case. …If we can create a better case scenario for us, then that’s when we’re successful at getting these tax credits granted for these developers.”
Shuffett also said the city should continue “listening to developers” and “understanding what their issues are.”
“I’m in favor of tax incentives such as abatements and things of that nature for those projects,” Shuffett said. “I think it’s another tool that we have.”
Thomas said he would be in favor a granting tax abatements for developers, but would support making abatements contingent upon including affordable housing in development plans.
“For the most part, my position would be if you’re going to ask for a tax abatement for a housing project, one of the requirements would be that you have to set aside 10%, 15%, 20% of that project for workforce housing, or income-based housing, even Section 8 housing,” Thomas said.
Thomas said that he sees housing in Columbus as “a supply-and-demand issue” in which the supply of housing is low and the demand is high. Thomas said he would be in favor of looking at the city’s zoning laws to “loosen square-footage requirements” to build smaller units, which he said could boost the supply of housing.
“If we’re going to deal with the housing crisis, we have to deal with the reality that there’s going to be denser housing in certain parts and in certain places. One of the ways you can do that is by loosening square-footage requirements that don’t make a lot of sense for single people who are just starting out who don’t need a two-bedroom apartment. They don’t need a two-bedroom house.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About Tim Shuffett” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Age: 56
Occupation: Estimator for CASE Construction
Education: Associate’s degree in banking and finance at Western Kentucky University
Previous government offices held: Two terms as city councilmen for District 5
Community affiliations: Fellowship committee at Westside Community Church
Family: Wife Linda, two children
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About Ross Thomas” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Age: 50
Occupation: Criminal defense attorney at the Law Office of Ross G. Thomas
Education: Law degree from Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis in 1994; bachelor’s of arts in political economy from Tulane University in Louisiana
Previous government offices held: None
Community affiliation: President of the Columbus Parks and Recreation Youth Baseball Board
Family: Wife Amy, three children
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