What began as a simple ask years ago from former Greencasle Mayor Sue Murray turned into an eight year tenure as mayor for Bill Dory and as it nears a close, Dory admits he looks back with fond memories.
"Sue Murray asked me to run. It was a learning experience. I put a lot of miles on several pairs of shoes getting out and meeting with residents and listening to their needs and concerns. It has been an enjoyable ride, and I was fortunate to work with a lot of good people. I will always brag on our city staff, as they do amazing things for the people of Greencastle," Dory told The Putnam County Post.
During his time, Greencastle saw significant infrastructure improvements, navigated a global pandemic and is on the verge of seeing a dream over three decades in the making come to fruition with the Greencastle YMCA project.
"We had an opportunity to make significant updates to infrastructure around the city," Dory said.
One of those "significant upgrades" was to the Albin Pond Water Line, as the town embarked on an upgrade of over $2 million to provide a water system and better service to residents in that area of the city, according to Dory.
In addition, Dory pointed to the sidewalks along Indianapolis Road, the opportunity to take advantage of Community Crossings grants to get streets done and the use of grant funds to make improvements to Locust Street and Zinc Mill Road.
Furthermore, Dory pointed to improvements in wastewater and the city's parks as successes, along with the YMCA project.
"The new YMCA has been a dream for 30-plus years for the people of Greencastle, and it is well under construction. The YMCA project has been high on the list for a lot of people and we want it to be a true asset to Greencastle," Dory said.
Dory said thanks to efforts with the council and clerk-treasurer during his tenure, Greencastle was able to increase pay scales for city employees as well.
And, he said he tried to maximize dollars Greencastle got during his time as mayor to make sure all of Greencastle benefitted.
"For any mayor, city funding is like being a senior citizen on a fixed income. We receive a little bit of money but not enough to keep up with everything it needs to go to. Every city has changes, and we were able to make and see significant investments in industry, housing and public works through nice incremental changes. We try to manage funds to provide more benefits for the community," Dory said.
And, he said all the success has to go the efforts of the city employees, as well as an understanding by all of council that they have to work together for the greater good.
"Everybody has a good sense of what needs to be done. It helps when we cooperate on projects and we have got a good group," Dory said.
That good group helped move Greencastle through the global pandemic of Covid-19, something Dory said came with no manual on how to handle things.
"It was a significant disruption and there was no playbook on how to deal with what came. We all had friends, relatives and colleagues that got sick or passed away. When it started, we had no vaccines, but we had the support of the hospital, and local and state health department for vaccinations. It was weekly conference calls where we would discuss what was the best direction for the public. We survived pretty well and, for the most part, came back strong. A lot of good folks around town stepped up and we had a good response all around the county. We were very fortunate. For the most part, we work well together in Greencastle and Putnam County and the long term spirit of working together for the greater good was on display," Dory said.
Dory said Greencastle has bounced back from the disruptions it felt during Covid.
"We ended better than what I thought may happen. We didn't have any budget shortfalls that other mayors and towns around saw. From a financial basis, we did well. We lost some jobs at the height of Covid with layoffs, but the businesses came back and hired many of those people back. We have a very low unemployment rate. We lost friends, relatives and colleagues, but it could have been a lot worse. We still have to be cautious and make sure people have good medical information," Dory said.
During his time, Greencastle has continued to thrive as a safe place to work, live and raise a family, and Dory said that is because of the actions of many.
"We have an outstanding police department made up of some young officers who do a great job keeping us safe. We have a great police department and are very fortunate. Greencastle also has a wonderful not for profit community here with things like Main Street Greencastle and the Putnam County Community Foundation who help make it a great community to live in," Dory said.
With the sun setting on his tenure, Dory said he has some rest and relaxation on the agenda, as well as a "long to-do list at home."
"I am pretty much done with politics. This was new to me, and I am not looking for higher office. Being at the local level was very nice," said Dory, who added he always enjoyed helping and listening to constituents whether they agreed or not with what the city was doing. "I always appreciated hearing from people about their needs, concerns or whatever they had on their mind. People would stop me at the grocery store and other places to talk."
As for advice for Mayor-Elect Lynda Dunbar and the new council members, Dory said he doesn't have much.
"Lynda has been in the trenches as clerk-treasurer. We have some new and experienced council members and it is a good team. Keep things moving," Dory said.
