Blackford County voters just sent a message to every official still in office

If you held a county office in Blackford County this year and someone ran against you, you lost.

That's four people. Commissioner Laura Coons, Prosecutor Joelle Freiburger and Councilman Patrick Cale were all beaten in the May primary. On Tuesday, school board president Phil Jones joined them, losing to Kerra Armstrong by more than 650 votes. Every other contested county race this year was for an open seat.

The Ledger correctly projected roughly 80% of these races correctly before the votes were counted. The same reporting that got those calls right also shows why the races went the way they did.

For the last few years, the biggest decisions made in Blackford County have been about energy projects. Six of them received 75% tax abatements over 10 years, even though the county's economic development corporation publishes 50% as its standard and these projects brought near-zero permanent jobs to Blackford County residents. Nothing in the public record shows anyone at the table asked for a different deal.

In June, the commissioners approved RWE's Prairie Creek Phase 2 agreement on a 3-0 vote. Coons voted yes six weeks after voters had already decided she wouldn't be back. Tucked inside that agreement, in Exhibit G, were changes to more than 30 provisions of the county's wind ordinance. Changing an ordinance normally means public notice and a public hearing. This one was changed by contract.

Meanwhile, the plan commission and the zoning appeals board didn't meet for most of the year. If you had a question about a setback or a fence line, there was no meeting to bring it to.

So the people found another way. Deb Grider filed the public records requests that uncovered much of the case behind the Lake Trout Solar zoning appeal. In May, voters gave her Cale's seat on the council. On Tuesday, they gave her 68% of the vote.

Shane Smith ran on the deals themselves. He argued the county had been pushed into energy agreements without enough research, and that Blackford County should never sign terms that serve outside companies better than the people who live here. The agreements spell out tax breaks, setbacks and payment schedules. None of them require the developers to hire Blackford County workers first. Smith wanted to know why nobody at the table tried. Voters picked him twice.

Kerra Armstrong ran on what she saw as a system failing its students and their parents. The school board has spent years of meetings, money and attention on the new performing arts center, which many believe the district could use. Armstrong, however, kept the focus on students: whether they're getting the help they need, and whether their parents know where to turn when they aren't. She beat the board president by 24 points.

Aaron Henderson focused on the importance of mental health and addiction treatment.

Put all four results side by side and they say something simple. People here want to know how decisions get made, and they want to know before the vote.

That message is now sitting on the desk of every official who wasn't on the ballot this year. Commissioners and council members face voters in 2028. City officials in Hartford City and Montpelier face them in 2027. Each of them watched four incumbent colleagues lose this year.

Shane Smith, Deb Grider, Aaron Henderson and Kerra Armstrong will be sworn in knowing why they won. The people they're joining have a decision to make about the next two years. They can keep doing business the way it's been done. Or they can hold the meetings, put the terms out before the vote and write the rules before signing the deals.

Voters have made their part of it clear. What's left to see is whether the officials still in office stay the course or turn with the tide.