Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun
Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun (Zoom)
Sakbun said 60 percent of the jobs that are here today weren't a job in 1940 and as a state, we need to focus on the workforce that will be here in 2040.
On this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun addresses these issues and more Tuesday at city hall. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
**Hren:**There's been a lot of new city imaging and branding, why? Is it effective?
Sakbun: I definitely think it's effective. I think it's symbolic of what we're doing as a city and as a community. We're taking down old homes and really focused on infill housing and addressing blight, fixing street curbs, sidewalks, and tidying up our parks.
I think it's symbolic to show the business community, and from a marketing perspective, that this is a new Terre Haute Indiana. We're investing in ourselves. We're collaborating with county government, with the school corporation, with our universities. We're focused on not just bringing in new companies, but reassuring the ones that are here, that this is a community that values them. So I think it's a symbolic visual example of where we're at as a community.
The new city logo for Terre Haute.
The new city logo for Terre Haute. (Donnie Burgess, WFIU/WTIU News)
Read more: Indiana State University cuts 32 positions
Hren: How do the ISU layoffs affect the city? And does the city work with organizations that have layoffs?
Sakbun: Ivy Tech also has a very strong presence in Terre Haute, and there was a reduction in staff there as well. And you know, when you lose staff members from not one but two universities, it's the equivalent of losing a small company in our city. Definitely is difficult. We do kind of push towards the LinkedIn HR perspective to encourage them to share what roles are available in the community, to hopefully retain as many of those families as possible.
Unfortunately, the state is pushing a lot of cuts because of Senate Enrollment Act One. Here in the city, we are looking at a lot of cuts as well to help build a surplus for the next couple of years as property tax payments begin to come in fewer and fewer. I really wish the Hoosier State would re-look at education, because I'm concerned about the Hoosier workforce. Joe, 60% of the jobs that are here today weren't a job in 1940 and I think as a state we need to focus on the workforce that will be here in 2040 and start building programming, development programs, working with the business community to ensure that if you are a company here in town, our graduates can graduate from our universities, from our high schools, and walk right into a company and begin to work.
isu.jpg
Indiana State University, (Joe Hren, WFIU/WTIU News)
Hren: Indiana State transferred property to the city looking for more single family homes. So can you explain how that works?
Sakbun: We know we need more homes. We know we need to practice infill housing. We worked with them to transfer 111 properties. We've got a number of local builders lining up out the door ready to go to build single family homes. We're not trying to compete with dorms and do student housing. We are trying to bring in homeowners or long term renters and rebuild portions of our community that have been plagued with some of society's worst and hardest issues, like generational poverty and drug addiction.
But if you don't have a strong redevelopment growth strategy to bring in housing at all levels, to supplement housing with transportation to and from employment to bring employment or grow employment in your community, it will be nothing more than cheap vinyl homes. So we use an overall economic development strategy, a hand up mentality, to take an entire blank canvas and turn it into a community. Over the next decade, we hope to begin construction on some of these homes as early as next year.
We did a very thorough housing study from Thrive West Central Indiana, showing that 3,000 homes needed to be built over a five-year period in Terre Haute and Vigo County. I would anticipate these three-bed, two-bath style designs, even some two-bed two-bath, to float as low as $141,000 and as high as $250,000, based off of size and scope. This is more catered toward workforce housing.
Hren: Do the residents buy the home from the city or from the university?
Sakbun: No, they would not buy the home from the city or the university. The city, through our redevelopment department, would transfer those parcels to a builder with the expectation that a home is built within 18 months.
The new Terre Haute downtown police station.
The new Terre Haute downtown police station. (Joe Hren, WFIU/WTIU News)
Hren: You announced a new approach to homelessness encampments through the police department. So how was it being handled? And then what changes are you proposing?
Sakbun: It was handled through a mixture of departments, right? You've got the city kind of cleanup crews, police, public health individuals, nonprofit mental health advocates. And what we really do is we put that all under one umbrella. We've got a captain in charge of this program, brings our social worker, brings our medical teams, brings a cleanup crew and says, hey, look, what can we do - not to move you on? Right? I hate when someone said, just move the homeless out of your city. No. What can we do to get them into a better state of mind, to a better place in society? Can we get them employed? Can we get them some permanent supportive housing to get back on their feet, and a lot of these individuals have taken us up on services.
So we see some successes, and we see some struggles as well. Some individuals do not want that help, nor do they want that support, and they will elect, on their own accord, to move to other areas of the community. And we have done a lot of cleanups. No two cases are the exact same in this space, each person needs an individualized approach.
Hren: Are those resources going to be there after grant and funding cuts?
Sakbun: Yes, Joe, I'm concerned a number of those programs are going to run out of funding. I am following the reconciliation bill that seems to be changing. We have reached out to the faith based community and some of our nonprofits to help fill that gap. But what we're also doing is partnering with larger nonprofits from outside the city to help bring in support. I know we chatted about the Pacers, but the Pacers have the drive and dish food program through one of their largest food banks in Indianapolis.
When we talk about social services, some individuals immediately say, we're not about that life. That's a handout, folks. That's not what we do here in the city of Terre Haute. We also have strong workforce development programs, strong adult education programs, and strong resources to say, hey, look, yes, we have social services, but we also want to get you employed. We also want to get you a home that you can either rent or own one day.
Read more: New program hopes to reimagine historic Crump Theatre
Hren: I wanted to talk about the CIB, the Capital Improvement Board over there, restoring the Indiana Theatre. A common story among Spencer, Columbus, these old downtown theaters that have have fallen into a state of disrepair. Can you give us a little bit of background of the theater there in Terre Haute.
Sakbun: I have the pleasure to serve as treasurer of the CIB. A lot of folks kind of just thinking that, oh, that's the board that oversees the convention center. Yes and no, it does oversee the convention center. But we're also trying to improve our community and bring other large, public, private partnerships to our community.
A challenge that fell into our lap was the Indiana Theatre. A study came back and said, hey, team, you need $30 million to turn this thing around. And I, frankly said, we got to have a little bit of fiscal responsibility here. Let's find a way to do this at a lower cost. I worked on financing. What can we move within the budget instead of an additional appropriation. We are going to do a roof renovation to stop the leaking. Next year, it looks like we'll do another infrastructure style update, and we're putting together an RFP to look for a theater management company, to come in and start running, hopefully some movies, even some plays.
We are in the works of a strong capital campaign to bring some additional nonprofit-style, donation-style dollars to get this theater further up to speed. But it's going to take a three year process to really get it to where it's parade pretty, hopefully an 18 month process to get it to where it's functional.
Get Daily News Headlines, delivered free to your inbox every weekday
Get Daily News Headlines, delivered free to your inbox every weekday
Want to contact your legislators about an issue that matters to you? Find out how to contact your senators and member of Congress here.