Greater Lebanon Community Vision Committee

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Developers have manipulated and created state laws that allow them to use taxpayer and utility ratepayer funds to support their endeavors. By taking over Lebanon's municipal government, developers have likewise positioned themselves to greedily profit by slopping at the local public trough. Local developers and their supporters don't care how much local taxes and utility rates go up for recession-strapped citizens as long as they attract one more citizen for a government or utility bureaucracy to serve, sell one more newspaper, sell one more radio ad, get one more church member, sell one more IRA, write one more will, run one more print job, get one more scholarship contribution, enroll one more student, meet the medical needs of one more patient, sell one more car, sell one more insurance policy, have one more YMCA member, sell one more home, open one more bank account, or sell one more garden rake.

The Greater Lebanon Community Vision Committee (VC) is the local organization used by developers and their supporters to dominate Lebanon's municipal government. The VC website can be found at http://www.lebanoncvc.org/CVC/Welcome.html.

The stated purpose of the VC is "to mobilize the community to successfully make Lebanon a 'destination community' for the benefit of all of Boone County."

The VC intends to accomplish this purpose "by serving as a catalyst for collaboration within the community and by the creation of a specific, objective and feasible plan to improve our community’s image. Long term, this will lead to improved, planned economic development by creating a balanced community, which supports its citizens, schools, merchants, businesses and cultural activities."

One primary VC goal is to attract the RIGHT kind of high-income families to Lebanon. The VC envisions Fishers-style retail and suburban sprawl as desirable Lebanon development.

The VC gets its monetary support from the following "Investors":
Boone County Chamber of Commerce,
Boone County Convention and Visitors Bureau,
Boone County Economic Development Corporation,
The City of Lebanon,
Community Foundation of Boone County,
The Farmers Bank,
Indiana Municipal Power Agency,
Lebanon Community Schools,
Lebanon Downtown Business Association,
Jane Hammock,
Lee Lewellen (Thomas P. Miller & Associates),
M.A.T. Consulting,
Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of REALTORS (MIBOR),
Mr. & Mrs. Alan Milburn,
Minute Print It,
The State Bank of Lizton,
Witham Health Services,
Witham Health Services Physicians.

The "Stakeholders" listed on the VC website include the following:
Mayor Huck Lewis (City of Lebanon),
Tony Cotton (The Daily Sun, defunct),
Chuck Cunningham (WIRE Radio MOM 91.1 FM),
Dean DeVries (First Community Church),
Rick Elsbury (Edward Jones),
Kent Frandsen (Parr Richey Obremskey and Morton),
Cheri Goodwin (former Lebanon Education Foundation Executive Director),
John Graft (community member and former Minute Print It owner),
Jane Hammock (community member and Boone County Chamber of Commerce member),
Scott Hutcheson (Purdue University),
Ray Ingham (Witham Health Services),
Pat Isenhower (Witham Health Services),
Lisa Latz John (Community Foundation of Boone County),
Jim Lewis (Gene Lewis Ford),
Michael Martin (Lebanon Utilities),
Kristie McKillip (Boone County Economic Development Corporation),
Allen Milburn (Lebanon Utilities Service Board),
Jim Morog (UsU Group),
Lora Pennington (Boone County Family YMCA),
George Piper (community member who urged VC community support in a September 25,2004, editorial while Lebanon Reporter managing editor AND declared VC member),
Audra Poe (Boone County Learning Network),
Jerry Tanselle (FC Tucker, Inc.),
Bob Taylor (Lebanon Community School Corporation Superintendent),
Jeff Tribbett (State Bank of Lizton).

Other apparent VC supporters include the following:
Jim Acton (former Lebanon Mayor),
Yvonne Baird,
Jane Brandenburg (Lebanon Education Foundation),
Betty Lee Cooper (community member and former Boone County Commissioner),
Jerri Day,
Charles Eaton (Boone County Commissioner),
John Elliott (Lebanon Education Foundation),
Diane Ellis,
Brock Hesler,
Jeremy Lamar (Lamar & Lamar Insurance and Lebanon City Council Member),
Lee Lewellen (Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Vice President),
Todd Ransom (Kramer Lumber),
Dax Norton,
Dan Robbins,
Dick Robertson (Lebanon City Council Member),
Sonya Shoup (Boone County Senior Services Director of Operations and former Lebanon Education Foundation member).

Seven VC Work Groups have been formed: Retail, Gateways and First Impressions, Leisure Time, Housing, Transportation and Infrastructure, Image and Marketing, Education and Lifelong Earning.

The latest Lebanon population estimate from STATS Indiana is 15,400. Assuming that the profile of general demographic characteristics from the 2000 Census is applicable today: 21.1% of residents (3,249) are 5 to 19 years of age, 13.7% of residents (2,110) are 65 years of age and older, 35.3% households have individuals under 18 years of age, 23.5% households have individuals 65 years of age and over, 69.5% of residents (10,703) are in the labor force, the median household income is $37,791; 64.0% of households have income less than $50,000.

The March 2010 Boone County Unemployment Rate (not seasonally adjusted) from STATS Indiana is 9.1%. According to the 2009 Report from the Lebanon Community School Corporation, the percentage of students who receive free or reduced price lunches or free textbooks because of their family income level was 33% during the 2006-07 school year, 38% during 2007-08, and 39% during 2008-09.

The typical Lebanon citizen obviously does not have the income needed to improperly fund the schemes of those who support disorderly development. Lebanon development should proceed in an orderly fashion and be paid for by the developers themselves.

This page was last updated on 11/04/12 .