QUESTION: What are the reasons you are running for county commissioners?

JOHNSTON: I love the county, and I feel bad about what has happened in the county in the last three years as far as the unprofessionalism.

With my experience and my background, I decided to enter the race to try to re-establish the professionalism. I felt that my experience and my background would be good qualities to add.

QUESTION:What services should Butler County provide its senior citizens? Should its 10 senior centers remain open or should some or all be closed or consolidated?

JOHNSTON: I wouldn't rush to any judgments. I feel right now that all senior centers should remain open.

The reason for that is a lot of the seniors are so comfortable in those surroundings. I think that if you make drastic changes and expect them to board a bus and go to a new location, I think that many would just choose not to go at all.

That would be sad because I think there are so many good services provided at these locations, be it health issues, a little bit of exercise, nutrition and the most important one is just the ability to interact with others.

Based on that, I would explore any other options possible, and it's difficult because I'm not involved in that process right now, but I would exhaust all possibilities to keep them open.

QUESTION: What is your view about the county budget? Should revenue increase to meet rising costs or should expenses be cut? Explain your specific proposals.

JOHNSTON: I think that we need to really take a look at the budget.

It could be a combination of both increasing revenue and cutting expenses. I think that we need to look at expenses and see where cuts could possibly be made. I think there are areas in the county where there is fat that could be trimmed.

The other fact is that there are other avenues we could explore as far as increasing revenue to the county. There are a number of issues that are hurting the county. One is 911 fees.

They are based on landline fees, primarily. It's a $1 to $1.50 for landline fees, and the county is responsible for these costs since 1990. It's about $1 for wireless phones. With the landlines going down, nearly 45 percent of the people use wireless now, and the wireless fees remaining pretty much stagnant, the counties are starting to absorb those costs, and it has to be passed on to the taxpayers.

There is legislation, I think they have to act on it by June 30 of this year, but that's just one example.

Mentally ill in the prisons, that's another example. I think they're looking at areas to deal with that so as not to just put them in prison, because, ultimately, the county is responsible for those costs.

So, we can deal with some of those issues that are costing the county. I believe that would really help the county's budget.

QUESTION: How much should the county commissioners and county residents be allowed to talk at commissioner's meetings?

JOHNSTON: Freedom of speech is an important issue. However, they've taken it to extremes.

My thought would be that you have to control that to a certain extent, otherwise you would have chaos. But I believe, again, the basic premise is that the public needs to be heard; that's their right of speech.

My thought is that they can say what they need to say within the three minutes that is provided.

QUESTION: Explain what you think should be the role of the county commissioners in their oversight of county agencies such at the housing and redevelopment authority, the industrial authority, the tourism bureau and the planning commission?

JOHNSTON: There has to be close interaction between the county commissioners and those agencies. You can see some of the problems that have been created with some of the agencies.

Some of the other agencies, though, like the tourism bureau, they're operating extremely well, they're doing a great job.

I think the commissioners need to make sure that they interact with them. They usually break it out and have some people on each board. My thought on that would be: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Ultimately, those authorities or agencies are getting money from the county. The county does need to make sure that they are monitored.

QUESTION: What role do you think the county commissioners should have in economic development in the county?

JOHNSTON: Working for the county for the last 20 years, I see other counties — they all vary.

For instance, Westmoreland, Indiana; those counties are deeply involved in the economic planning of their counties through their economic agencies.

Armstrong is another one. They recently broke off and had an economic development coordinator that used to be with the planning commission.

My feeling is that the county needs to be very involved in economic development.

I sit on the Community Development Corporation business park committee. When we were working on that, we met, we identified locations for various business parks throughout the county. We were able to construct a number of them: Kriess Road, Victory Road, AC Valley.

Victory Road was a prime example. It was a 425-acre brownfield that was the fifth largest brownfield in the state. It had rail access, public utilities. It was generating about $70,000 a year in real estate taxes total. It now employs about 1,200 people and generates nearly $1 million in real estate taxes.

Those are the kind of success stories we need to replicate. My concern is that we have none, or hardly any, shovel-ready sites in the county for businesses that may be interested in relocating to Butler County. You need to have shovel-ready sites, because if they are going to come into the county, they usually want to do it in a quick manner.

So, I think that the county needs to be deeply involved. Right now, they give the CDC $300,000 a year. That is sufficient to help them operate.

One of the things we really need to do is lobby our legislators for economic development funding. That funding was in place years ago and that was how we were able to do the kinds of business parks and have successes like we did.

Now, there is some funding, but it's not nearly the level that it was in the past. When you prime the pump like that, I think the results are really good. The answer is very involved.

QUESTION: What role do you think the county commissioners should have in helping to coordinate with community services such as water and sewer authorities, emergency medical services and bus transportation?

JOHNSTON: Again, I think they need to be closely involved.

Water and sewer issues; we're working right now on updating the county comprehensive plan. We did it in 2002 — it hadn't been done in 25 years — and we're doing it again this year.

That document is sort of a blueprint on how the county should develop over the next 10 years. It identifies land use issues, water and sewer issues, transportation and circulation and facilities. It takes a look at population trends. It takes a look at the whole county, areas where there are public water and sewer, and areas where it seems logical that those areas will grow or not grow based on topographic restraints.

So, I think that the county needs to be deeply involved in the water and sewer because that is going to determine which areas of the county will develop in the future.

Social service agencies: Again, there needs to be close interaction there, too. Some of the largest costs that we have been realizing have been in the social service agencies, whether they be in the courts, be it children and youth, mental health/mental retardation.

So, there needs to be close monitoring and interactions with those agencies to make sure the costs don't get out of hand.

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