Susan Luther announces candidacy for Clear Creek Township Trustee
I am pleased to announce I am running for Clear Creek Township Trustee. My background as a retired Navy lawyer (civilian) combined with my personal experience of food insecurity and poverty early in life combine to make me uniquely qualified to serve in this position. The last decade of my Navy career, I led the legal office at NSWC Crane Division, supervising other attorneys and support staff in addition to providing legal advice to the top leadership at Crane. The course I completed at the Navy’s Inspector General School on the detection and prevention of fraud, waste, and abuse will be valuable in helping me ensure proper internal controls are in place in the Township Trustee’s Office. An increase in transparency of operations will be key to preventing waste of taxpayer funds.
Early in life, after obtaining a degree in French education from Purdue, I was unable to find a job. I was on food stamps until I found employment, a below-minimum wage job, that I was grateful to have. I know how difficult it is to eat healthy foods on a food stamp budget. I have gone several days at a time eating only pancakes, until the flour ran out, then searched the gutters for change so I could have enough money to buy something at the grocery store. I have also lived in a house with an inadequate heat source, resulting in a bedroom that registered 17 degrees in the winter. After those experiences, I was accepted into law school at Indiana University and my legal career took off from there. I now live out by Lake Monroe and am proud to have repaid in taxes the assistance I received in food stamps many times over. I believe this singular background will help me connect with and better understand our neighbors in need.
I am ready to assist Clear Creek Township in the transition that is most likely coming soon, from a stand-alone office to one that will be absorbed into a larger, multi-township Trustee’s Office. There are currently two bills in play at the Statehouse impacting townships, one that would get rid of Township Trustees altogether and the other that will consolidate them. When the Louisville Naval Ordnance Station was ordered closed in the 90s, I helped them through their transition. Transitions are difficult from a logistical standpoint as well as an emotional one. If the State Legislature mandates change, I will do my best to ensure that all the tasks that the Clear Creek Township Office currently performs will be absorbed and performed in its new framework.
If transition is forced upon us, the assistance to residents will be my foremost priority. People in need require information and help. Updating the Township’s website is necessary to clearly inform residents how to obtain the assistance they require. Partnering with community non-profits and government agencies is essential to ensuring these needs are met. Treating our Clear Creek neighbors with respect and assisting them through all cumbersome application processes is fundamental. I am prepared to meet such challenges with the goal of helping our neighbors with dignity and dedication.
Clear Creek residents need to know that I am the best person to lead the office, and I will be working hard to earn their support. Thank you.
Contact me at: susanlutherforclearcreektwp@gmail.com
