Peebles looks to keep Vermillion County Commissioner seat

A familiar face on the Vermillion County Commissioners is looking to retain his seat in May, as Republican William Peebles is looking to keep his District 2 seat.

Peebles faces challenges from Curt Phelps and Kody Zumwalt. 

Peebles was selected in a caucus in 2005 to replace Tim Yocum after Yocum moved on to the Indiana Statehouse. In addition, he is no stranger to Vermillion County politics, serving eight years on the Dana Town Council. 

"I have been a Vermillion County resident my entire life and graduated from South Vermillion High School in 1988. As a junior in high school, I decided I become a soldier in the U.S. Army. My junior year, everyone else was hanging out in the summer time and I was at basic training. I came back home and did my senior year, graduated and that was the start of a 24 year military career. In 2004, I was deployed to Iraq and I was a combat commander, hauling fuel all over the Sunni Triangle. In 2010, I was in Afghanistan and back to my roots, I was a combat engineer digging up roadside bombs," Peebles told The Parke County Post. 

Peebles, who received a Bronze Star in Afghanistan, said after he retired from the Army, he got involved with the Dana Town Council.

"There was a vacancy on the Dana Town Council. Always being connected to my community, I petitioned the town council members and they voted me onto the council. In my eight years as a council member, we went together and repaved every street in town over three years and then we did a couple of big projects on the water distribution system. Through the grant opportunities, we were able to positively impact the lives of the people of Dana," Peebles said. 

He said his time on the Dana Town Council allowed him to become open minded and listen to all scenarios to come up with the best solution for residents. In 2025, Peebles was the only candidate to throw his hat into the ring for the caucus to replace Yocum. 

Peebles admits the last year has been "very busy."

"Let's go back to January and Misty Hess from District 1 became a Commissioner. Tim won his caucus to go to the Statehouse and I asked to be caucused in. There's three of us that have no working history together. We had to learn how to work together. That was a big, up front challenge. I think we have done a very good job in the very last year and come together on some things. I am proud of where we are at. The three of us are working together and trying to do the best that we can for Vermillion County moving forward," Peebles said. 

Peebles said he takes health and welfare very seriously, and, as a result, he has worked to try to find new buildings for public safety. 

"One of our ambulances was clear up to Perrysville. We have discussed building new buildings and all new scenarios. We found a building in Cayuga that the minute I saw the building, I thought, I have to park ambulances in this building. We were able to work with the county council and they funded purchasing the building. We are going to get that ambulance back to the center of the north half of the county, so that response times will be shorter. We will have an ambulance 20 miles closer. Next year, our challenge will be building an ambulance building in the Clinton-Fairview area. We are going to apply for grants, and that is something that is heavy on us. We want to provide adequate ambulance service to the constituents in Vermillion County. We want a third ambulance and a third ambulance station," Peebles said. 

Carbon sequestration is also a major issue in Vermillion County, according to Peebles.

Peebles said he does not have control over Wabash Valley Resources Carbon Sequestration in Vermillion County. 

"A state law says I have no legal say in the matter as a county commissioner. I do not believe this law is constitutional. I do not think there is not enough proof this process is safe. I do not want this done on Vermillion County soil. I do believe in the power of the citizens in their efforts to sue Wabash Valley Resources and I do support efforts from Rep. Tim Yocum to propose legislation to address imminent domain for carbon sequestration. I testified in a Senate hearing to support Sen. Spencer Deery's SB7, that was to amend a bill that stripped county commissioners of having a say in pumping carbon from one county to the next and storage underground. I do not support Wabash Valley Resources. I have not nor will I take campaign funds from them. I have never wavered on this," Peebles said. 

When it comes to issues, Peebles said the biggest is keeping and drawing young families to Vermillion County. 

"A few years ago, we closed another elementary school and the reason is we don't have the young children to support keeping that school open. How do we address that? If the young families are not in the county, what is the county's future? I look at it and ask what can we do to keep those young families in the county? We need jobs of some kind. Right now, we are blessed with construction jobs coming to the county. I am hoping there are some manufacturing jobs coming to the RISE. My thoughts are open to entertain those discussions and find out what we can do that is best for Vermillion County and keep those families here. We have Duke building a new powerhouse at Cayuga and two solar farms coming on. We have to really market the RISE and other industrial areas that we have in the county. We did hire a company to do that, so, hopefully, we will see some gains back from that and get moving forward in bringing jobs to our county," Peebles said. 

Peebles said it has been "humbling" listening to issues and developing plans to fix them for constituents. 

"It is a humbling and busy job. It is continuous work. When I look at Vermillion County being my fighting position, there is always something I can work on. I am blessed every day, and I look forward to being your county commissioner," Peebles said.