Woodall seeks to continue serving Putnam County as Commissioner

For the last 12 years, Rick Woodall has served as Commissioner for District 2 and all of Putnam County. 

After getting past a challenge in the Republican May primary from Lee Price, where he earned 2,016 votes compared to 1,080 from Price, Woodall has turned his attention to the general election and a challenge from Democratic candidate Denver Sizemore. 

And, he looks to continue serving, having entered politics with a belief that things needed to change. 

"I am a lifelong resident of this county. I have always been enamored and paid attention to politics, especially local and state politics. We had a commissioner that was caucused in and I didn't agree with 100 percent of what he was doing 12 years ago. We had a group of guys that came to the Feed Store for a roundtable on a rainy day and one of the guys in the group said someone needed to run against him and get him out. I asked who they thought should do it, and the guy said he thought he should. I looked at him and without even thinking I said, "you can't beat him," and everyone looked at me and asked why. I was invested and laid out a plan. They looked at me and looked at him and asked who they thought we should run and they said me. We concluded that conversation and two or three hours later, I got up, walked into the courthouse and filed. It has been a fun ride, and it has worked out for me. Here we are 12 years later, and I would greatly appreciate another four years," Woodall told The Putnam County Post. 

Over the last 12 years in office, Woodall admits he has seen some change. 

"To me, the biggest change I have seen is population. We did a Census in 2020 that to me was not a good Census. If you look at that Census, it shows we lost around 1,200 people, and they didn't count DePauw students or the prison. They've counted them every 10 years before that, and when you lose all those people, it makes you look like you have negative growth. We are building 120 homes a year, and the federal government says we are growing by a half a percent each year," he said. 

Woodall said much of the growth in Putnam County has taken place in the Heritage Lake area. 

"Of the 120 homes a year, 60 or so are in Heritage Lake. You look at Heritage Lake, it is the second largest community with Greencastle. That's 3,000 lots and 2,700 were buildable. We still have a lot of homes to go up there, and we are growing, Putnam County is prime for people to live here because we are 45 minutes from Indy, an hour from Bloomington, an hour from Terre Haute and an hour from Lafayette, We are literally right in the center. Sixty percent of our county has high speed internet. We have some sewer systems and city water, so we are prime for people to move here. In my opinion, people who want to move here want to move into subdivisions," Woodall said. 

With the growth comes the need for a drainage board, according to the Republican incumbent. 

"The more people who move to this county, the more drainage issues we will have, and that is something we have to start looking at," he said. 

In addition to growth, Woodall said road funding issues will always be a problem. 

"When I started as a Commissioner 12 years ago, to pave a mile of asphalt was $70,000. This last year, we paid $165,000 per mile. That cost has continued to go up and will continue to go up. The demand for rock in this county is extremely high right now. It takes rock to make asphalt and diesel fuel to make rock. No matter how you look at it, the price will continue to rise. The state legislators have put in different funding mechanisms to offset the funding, but it will always be a challenge. A normal bridge to build now is $200,000 and we are trying to build eight of those this year. We have a couple bridges that will be moved to next year due to a lack of steel and the rumor is because of data centers," Woodall said. 

Woodall said during his tenure as a commissioner, he has never complained about the money coming in.

"We will take whatever money we have and use it to the best of our ability. Have we had to do things to increase funding? Yes, we have," Woodall said. 

Woodall said the commissioners are considering a rock tax and a food and beverage tax to increase county revenue.

"The legislators have told us over the last four to five years if we want to do more road and bridge work, we need to figure it out. We are blessed in this county to have a lot of limestone that several counties around us want. We have a data center being built in Monrovia. We ship an average of 25 to 30 thousand tons a day. A data center is coming to Sullivan that has called and they want rock in the millions of tons. The Commissioners have set down with our State Senators and State Representative and have had several meetings. We want a "Flintstone Tax," and we are going to go in front of the state legislators to ask for a percentage of that. If our estimates are conservative, it can bring over a million dollars back to this county. We have upwards of 80 percent of our rock leave the county and nothing comes back. We are finding several roads are getting destroyed by dump trucks. We are going to be heavily invested in that tax," Woodall said. 

Woodall said a food and beverage tax is another way to raise funds, and while he doesn't believe it is popular, he said it is an "avenue that is there to use" if the Commissioners choose to pursue it. 

"We have issues with bridges. We have been fiscally conservative in fixing bridges and look where it's gotten us. It is no secret we are number one in the state for the worst bridges. We have doubled the wheel tax and that money is pledged to go to bridges only. We are trying to get eight done, but we may not be able to get eight done because of the steel issue. We have 220 some in the county. In addition to the bridges that need to be fixed, the others need to be maintained. We are on a path. We really kicked ourselves in the butt for so many years," Woodall said. 

When looking at the future, Woodall said he sees "pressure coming."

"I see data centers. Every county in the nation has pressure from data centers. We have a moratorium that ends here in a month. I am assuming they will be coming for us. I don't have enough information about this stuff. My problem is it is so hard to fact check anything, and that is where I have problems. We will continue to grow because we are a donut to a donut. We have to figure out how we manage that. We have more jobs than we have people. 

Woodall would like to continue serving and is asking voters for another four years. 

"Every decision I have made the last 12 years may not have been the most popular, but with every decision I've made, I have tried to look at both sides, what are the pros and cons and make the best decision for our county. I live here and will live here until the day I die. I am truly invested in this county. I love this county. I enjoy doing this job. It comes with a lot of headaches and people yelling at you, but that's okay, it's part of the job. Being a Commissioner is kind of like that person at the service desk at Wal-Mart. People who come to me have an issue and ask how can it be fixed. That's how I look at this job," Woodall said.