Letter to the Editor

Wright says thanks for the support

To the Editor:

My name is Ira T. (Butch) Wright. I am currently serving Greene County as the County Surveyor.

I have been a life long resident of Greene County and reside in Worthington along with my wife Ellen.

My experience:

* Started working as a Surveyor in 1966.

* 42 years experience as a Construction Layout Surveyor.

* Employed with Smock Fansler of Indianapolis.

* Serving Greene County and the taxpayers as the elected Surveyor.

* First elected as your County Surveyor in 1984 through 1987.

* Re-elected as your Surveyor 1987-1991.

* Elected as your County Surveyor in 2005 through 2008

My opponent may bring up a few issues regarding my qualifications during this election. I would like to explain the benefits of retaining me as your Republican candidate for County Surveyor.

1. He may tell you I am not a registered Surveyor. It is not the state law to be registered to be the elected County Surveyor. My 42 years surveying and engineering experience and my prior elected County Surveyor experience more than qualifies me for this position.

2. He may tell you he can save you money by being a registered. According to the state statue (IC 36-2-12-15) the taxpayers must pay 1 1/2 times the current salary for a registered surveyor (approximately $12,000 more). By retaining me as the County Surveyor the county will save money and still achieve the same goals. With the 2009 budget cuts this is a significant amount that can save the taxpayers.

3. He may tell you that he will be able to perform duties that I am not able to do because I am not registered. The fact is the taxpayers will be paying more money for someone that has less experience. There are numerous jobs that the County Surveyor cannot perform because of conflict of interest and could possibly open the county up for liability issues.

We have kept the cost competitive for projects by obtaining several estimates. We try to award the job to a local company. However, there are times we must go out of the county for the lower price to save the taxpayers money.

Another benefit of re-electing me is I am not affiliated with a local company and I do not own my own business. Therefore, I would not be hiring my own company or the company I work for to do the work. And I would not use the county office to conduct my business.

I think the taxpayers should be aware that the County Surveyor position is considered a part-time position. When I am not able to be in the office personally I have made myself available everyday. My staff calls me if there is a problem or if someone needs to meet with me personally. I take this job seriously and I feel I should be available to those who pay my salary.

We would like to let the taxpayers know we have always run the office with the money we have been budgeted. We've never asked for additional appropriations. As a matter of fact, we have given money back to the county at the end of the year and still managed to run the office productively.

I welcome any questions regarding my job or experience and invite you to check out my Web site at www.votebutch.com. For more information please call 384-2026 or you can stop by the office. Our office is always open to suggestions. Thank you for your support.

Ira T. (Butch) Wright

Worthington