Ask The Mayor: Terre Haute's Sakbun on snow, Wabash Ave project, legislative session

The mayor goes on a snow plow ride-along, sidewalk clearing needs to be addressed, Wabash Avenue in early stages of new project, and 2025 priorities.

On this week’s installment of  Ask The Mayor, Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun addresses these issues and more Tuesday on Zoom. 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: How did the city get through the winter storm warnings, I see you did a ride-along with a snow plow?

Sakbun: We had 13 total snow plows for 36 hours. Great job by our street department, not just keeping the main roads clear, but even starting to tackle some of those side streets and some of those neighborhood subdivisions and heavily residential areas. 

Man, you take some of those corners and go down some of those streets and, yeah, let me tell you, my heart rate definitely went up. It's fun, but I really like doing that, just to show folks, kind of a first hand POV of what it looks like going down a very skinny one way, with car parked on both sides. I showed how we had literally plowed a street, and within 90 minutes later, two and a half more inches of snow were there.

Hren: How is your salt supply as it looks like more snow is on the way?

Sakbun: We are good on our inventory now. We are doing our yearly order anyways. We'd ordered a little bit more the last couple of years and had mild winters, so we were prepared. From that standpoint, I did do some things where I use a little bit less sand than normal, and that definitely helped with some of the streets. But you can't always make that decision, because you got to look at the inventory and the winter that we've been having. 

Hren: What's the process in Terre Haute on keeping sidewalks clear? Is that up to business owners and homeowners?

Sakbun: Yes, the business owners and homeowners do that. I have reached out to a couple of other mayors, and they've shared with me different ideas that they do. Some of them have purchased a small Gator, side by side vehicle to clear downtown sidewalks. I think it's really important government sets the conditions for a pro business growth environment. Part of that is ensuring that we have pedestrian foot traffic, even if there's some snow outside.

I definitely will be looking at that in 2026 maybe even by the end of the snow season, if we can pull some strings. But for example, we had a large Indiana State University basketball game, and there were people who were struggling to walk on the sidewalk. So I took that to heart. I know some cities, they'll even go out and fine people if they don't do it, and we are not at all going down that route now.

Hren: Let's talk about the Destination Wabash Avenue Project. What is it and how was the public turnout at that last meeting?

Sakbun: The turnout was great. We had a number of passionate individuals and businesses, but let me quickly talk about the project. What we're looking at redoing is from Third Street to about 13th Street on Wabash. And I'm not talking about paving and sidewalk updates. I'm talking about a curb to curb remodel. I'm talking about addressing the guts underneath the street, some of those sewage pipes that desperately need an update.

This is a total project that integrates storm water, esthetically pleasing, right of ways, better parking, better opportunities for businesses to have outdoor dining and outdoor events. We are going to apply for the RAISE Grant again this year. That's a federal grant to help handle some of the construction.

We are going to start talking about potentially looking at a pedestrian bridge over or under Third Street, commonly referred to as US 40, which is an in DOD road, but you've got University Apartments on the other side, you've got a courthouse on the other side. It will help continue that downtown push with the convention center, new hotels, new apartments being built, and hopefully make it more marketable for businesses.

Hren: I see you have an update on the Indiana American Water Project with the Terre Town Connect?

Sakbun: I'll be up front Joe, that's a mildly successful project, right? There was about 42 homes that are eligible based off the water mains in the area. We hope to get those 42 homes connected. If they choose not to do it again, that's on them. We didn't hit that percentage we needed to put a new water main in the ground. But as frustrated as I might seem about this project. I'm ecstatic. Why?

The money that we appropriated for that Terre Town project, we are not going to hit that full amount, so the remaining dollars will be repurposed for a Deming Park pool renovation that we hope to do in 2026 this is going to bring a water slide and some more water features to our current pool.

Read more:  2025 Legislative Session - Indiana Public Media

Hren: The General Assembly is underway.  A lot of funding options on the table, but it looks like carving the budget might be a little tighter this time than it was two years ago. What are you looking for from the Indiana legislature this year?

Sakbun: I do take a look at conversations around property tax compared to states around us, our property tax rates are lower, and that's a true fact. But I think anytime you have a conversation around taxes, people say, Oh, we want lower. And there's a delicate spot in that, right? These fund our educators, these fund law enforcement. They fund our street improvements. And a lot of folks say, our streets, they should be better.

One area that I don't think enough people are talking about is workforce development and Hoosier State Indiana Department of Workforce Development. The agency here that does that for the state is WorkOne. They've got a new executive director, Greg Lee, who's done phenomenal increasing the JAG program, increasing opportunities. And look when we market ourselves to businesses, to these advanced manufacturing companies, or companies of all size and scale, here's our argument. We're building homes at an incredibly fast rate. We're investing in our parks, streets, and law enforcement, and we have a workforce that can be upskilled if needed.

Hren: I've heard you talk a few times during the show about parks. I assume that's still a big priority in 2025?

Sakbun: That is. Stay tuned, because by the end of this month, I guarantee I got a big announcement for you. We're also investing some of our gaming revenue to purchase new playground equipment across the city of Terre Haute. 

Housing was definitely a top priority in 2024 going into 2025. Workforce development and getting folks employed, filling the jobs that we have open in our community is a top priority in public safety. We've got a number of union contracts this year, so we hope to find a common sense solution to ensure our city employees are paid a fair rate and we can keep those departments operating at the rates that they need to operate at.

I always kind of end questions like that Joe with, look, my priority is to do what's right for the people of Terre Haute, Indiana, and well, sometimes it might not be popular down the line, it should pay off.