Cook, Harpe, spar over development and debt in Westfield

Westfield, Ind. — Mayor Andy Cook wants four more years to develop Grand Park and Grand Junction.

Concerned by debt and continued spending, Jeff Harpe wants to ensure the public is involved and the city has tapped all available private funding before moving forward.

Harpe, a Pike Township firefighter, is challenging the two-term mayor in the Republican primary.

The two outlined differing visions for Westfield during their final debate Saturday morning at Westfield High School. Indianapolis Star political columnist Matthew Tully moderated the debate, which was sponsored by the school's political science and history classes.

Cook is the city's first mayor, taking office when the town became a city in 2008. He soon launched plans for a $49 million Grand Park sports campus on 400 acres near Ind. 32 and U.S. 31 and a $25 million park plaza to anchor a new Grand Junction redevelopment in downtown Westfield.

Cook barely escaped a primary challenge four years ago with a 61-vote margin. And, as with 2011, he's facing a Republican challenger with a more fiscally conservative message.

Cook believes Grand Park and Grand Junction ultimately will attract new businesses and new residents, which in turn will relieve the pressure on city taxes. He knows he took a risk when he opened Grand Park last March and promoted it as an economic-development engine.

Now he's asking for another term so that he can further expand the park and begin to transform the downtown.

He envisions the park as a place that will attract thousands of youth sports families from across the nation, who will pump badly needed dollars into the suburb's economy. He said it was created to generate a return on investment and already has shown success.

Hearing criticism that the park's fields were not open to local kids like other city parks, Cook said he launched Family Fridays, a 2-hour monthly event that opens the park to everyone on a Friday night. He said opening the fields much more to the public is risky because the fields can generate up to $150 an hour.

"We're trying to respond and to open it up as much as we can," Cook said. "But let's understand we have a lot of parks in the city of Westfield that are open to people all the time. Grand Park is a business. Grand Park is an industry."

Harpe said he would work to ensure Grand Park generates income. But he also would strike a better balance of private versus public use, detailing a plan to allow city residents to check out fields when they're not in use.

He said taxes are paying for the park and it should be a city amenity.

Harpe also criticized the mayor for backing a publicly funded $25.7 million indoor soccer facility at Grand Park. A private developer plans to obtain a loan to build the facility, but Westfield will pay it back over 25 years with user fees from the park. If revenues are short, taxes back the lease.

Harpe said he would be open to continue forward with the project but would seek a new deal with a private developer to fund it. Fishers is launching a similar plan with an indoor sports facility at I-69, Exit 210, providing intensives to build a facility but not backing the debt with taxes.

"We need to make Grand Park work, because the city has gone it alone," Harpe said. "To me, that's concerning. The city has also turned away private money (for the indoor arena.)"

Following a story in The Star that Westfield's City Council Finance Committee had discussed the lease deal in private without notice, Harpe filed an open door lawsuit — dismissed on a technicality — that has delayed construction of the soccer arena. He believes there still is time to move forward with a different option, as work has yet to start.

"I am concerned about the financial viability of this city," Harpe said. "As we move into the next four years, it's going to be at a crossroads."

Cook says the arena as proposed is vital to drawing year-round activity to the 400-acre park. Hotels, restaurants and other businesses need that activity to invest in projects near the park, he believes.

"This indoor facility is key," Cook said. "It was identified as a key ingredient by the Westfield Sports Commission that developed the entire park."

The two also disagree about how to move forward with Grand Junction. Cook said community input convinced him to build the proposed park plaza and related redevelopment at the city's Downtown. The city has been acquiring land and doing infrastructure work for several years and is preparing to launch the development.

Harpe worries the city will bulldoze too many historical properties, and he'd like to see a version of Grand Junction built near Grand Park, to the northwest. He'd like to see a facility similar to City Market in Westfield's downtown.

But he would hold a referendum before continuing forward with such city-financed plans.

Cook said the city has less debt that Carmel, Fishers and Noblesville. He says he's balanced the budget and points to the sale of the city utility last year as a money generator that has helped Westfield improve infrastructure to the tune of $44 million without accruing debt.

And, like Carmel, he says Westfield has a sterling AA-plus bond rating to leverage for future projects.

"I'm very proud of our financial situation," Cook said.

Harpe said selling the utility resulted in increased rates and was the wrong move for the long term. The city's debt will increase, he said, when several short-term debts used to pay for Grand Park are converted in a few years to long-term bonds.

Harpe said the mayor and the City Council have acted with too much autonomy and too little public oversight. He's also backing several candidates for council.

Harpe said he knows he has no political experience, but believes a career as a firefighter and time in the Army Reserves has prepared him to lead.

"I know how the process should work between the mayor and the City Council," he said. "I've served my country and my community and believe when you serve, it will prepare you to lead."

Cook said he needs another term to see it through. He said a solid working relationship with the council has helped him succeed.

"We have a lot of work to do," Cook said. "Great cities are not produced in one nor two terms."

Voters will decide which way Westfield moves forward May 5.

Call Star reporter Chris Sikich at (317) 444-6036. Follow him @ ChrisSikich.