Meet The Candidates: Kevin Gay

Kevin Gay (D) is running for Decatur County Council, District 4, which covers Adams, Clay, Fugit and Saltcreek townships. Gay is a lifelong Decatur County resident and a North Decatur High School graduate. He’s worked in manufacturing and distribution, where he’s been a plant manager and a director of manufacturing in the past. Currently, he’s a production analyst at Knauf Insulation in Shelbyville. He and his wife live in Saint Paul. He has four children and four grandchildren. We met Gay in Greensburg for an interview.

Decatur Independent: Why are you running for county council?

Gay: “I am running because I live in this county. I want to give back to the county. I’ve always been involved in the community as much as I can. I participated in Shelbyville for many years – Saint Paul’s on the county line, so I participated in Shelby County. That’s where my employment was, in leadership. I went through the leadership course, I was on their board for years. While my kids were at North Decatur, I was the treasurer of the music parents and I worked the concession stand for 17 years. Now, my life is slowing down a little bit. All I do is work and things around the house, so I thought I’d give back a little bit. In addition to that, for many years there’s not even been a Democrat on the ticket. I'm here to give the people a choice and if they want change or if they want something different, at least in District 4, that's now available.”

Decatur Independent: Why should voters choose you?

Gay: “Voters should choose me because I have a fresh outlook. I am a Democrat, so that's different. I am a lifelong resident. I want to give back to the county. Because of my experience in manufacturing, I have a history of fostering teamwork and cooperation. I hope that would help. I have a vast experience in budgeting and budget processes. Many of the industries I was in had very high multi-million-dollar budgets that I was always involved in setting and keeping. So, I think those things give me what I need to be a county council.”

Decatur Independent: What do you consider to be the top three to five issues facing the county and how as council member would you address those?

Gay: “I think fiscal responsibility is important. I think that transparent budgeting is important. Public safety, thriving agricultural businesses, and evaluating what the county really needs versus what they want to have. I think that I would help with that in having a fresh outlook. Being involved with the budget, not having been in the budget before and in the county budget, I have really no idea. So I'm fresh and I would dive into this very deeply to make sure that I understand. I just want to understand the revenue streams in and where the money comes [from].”

Decatur Independent: What is your position on data centers?

Gay: “I am not for data centers. I will agree with the Democratic response that we should have a moratorium or a pause on the data center on new potential data centers because we really need to know what it means for us and what the county will gain and what is going to be the impact on the citizens of the county and the infrastructure of the county. And I don't think that that's very well communicated. You can only watch TV and you can only see commercials for the data centers and commercials against. And who knows what's really out there and what is the true story. So I think it just needs to be transparent and open. But I am not for data centers.”

Decatur Independent: What is your position on renewable energy such as solar or wind?

Gay: “I'm not against wind or solar. I think that what we really need to do is we need to look at the best options and the county needs to be involved. Clean renewable energy should be clearly evaluated by the county residents and their opinions should be counted. I am for agriculture. Again, I've been here all my life and the majority of this county is agriculture. And I'm not for taking farmers' land. I have been by a giant solar facility of northern Indiana and it does do a lot to the area and the land and there's all the equipment that has to be installed to take care of that and the vehicle and it is big. So why could we not put solar panels on the schools and on the gymnasiums? That would still be some solar power that we could use that would not involve taking farmland. But I'm not against it. I think it needs to be clearly evaluated. And again, what is the impact on the citizens and the infrastructure of the county?”

Decatur Independent: Is there anything I haven’t specifically asked about that you’d like to mention?

Gay: “I just think that the people need a choice. It hasn't been bad. I like to think I'm looking now, I have four grandchildren that live in this county. And my four grandchildren, what are they going to have in 10 years? What's the county going to be in 10 years? So, I would like to think about that and how can I impact to make their life and their future better.”

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