Mike Wolanin | The Republic Republican Bartholomew County Council At-Large candidate Marcus Speer addresses guests during a candidate forum in the Red Room at the Bartholomew County Public Library in Columbus, Ind., Thursday, April 11, 2024. The forum was organized by the Bartholomew County Republican Ladies League.
One of the six candidates running for at-large seats on the Bartholomew County Council has just been made an incumbent.
Marcus Speer, 50, of County Road 300S has been chosen by a caucus of more than 30 GOP Central Committee members to fill out the remaining five-and-a-half months of Evelyn Pence’s term, council president Jorge Morales confirmed.
Speer said he’s thankful that he’ll be able to run an an incumbent this fall.
“I am still rooting for the other two Republicans,” Speer said. “We are certainly running together as a team. But I thought this was a good opportunity to get on and get a head start.”
The other two Republicans are Kim Bennett and Michael Bell. In last May’s Republican primary, Speer – a farmer, minister and school bus driver – received 3,654 votes. That was second only to Bennett with 4,255 votes. Bell garnered 3,563 votes, while John Prohaska was knocked out of consideration with 3,427 votes.
In November’s election, the three Republicans will face Democratic competition from Michelle Carr, Nancy Merbitz and Zack Patchett.
Pence, who served 44 consecutive years on the council, cited health reasons for stepping down at the end of June. Two other incumbent at-large council members, Matt Miller and Bill Lentz, are not seeking reelection.
While the three retiring council members have not elaborated on their reasons for stepping down, all have expressed concerns about maintaining fiscal sustainability after recent financial windfalls are exhausted.
The third time appeared to have been the charm for Speer. When running against fellow Republican Chris Ogle for the council in May, 2014, he lost by a mere 42 votes. Four years later, Speer sought the seat again after Ogle announced he would not seek reelection. But Columbus fire inspector Scott Bonnell got 1,127 votes, compared to 908 for Speer in the primary. Bonnell won the seat during the 2018 general election, but only served one term.
“Even in our primary, I think (name recognition) was helpful,” Speer said. “But being able to meet a lot of great people through the campaign process? I mean, you think you know a lot of people. But then you meet a whole lot more people.”
Finding Democrats willing to run for a county office has been a challenge in the past several elections, and the turnout for May’s primary indicates Republicans still dominate in rural areas of the county. There were 14,899 votes cast for Republicans in the at-large council race, while only 3,367 votes were received by Democrats.
This year, each of the seven council members are being paid a base salary of $9,835. Besides one to two meetings a month (work session and public), there are 13 different boards, commissions and committees where a council member has been appointed.
