Outgoing Nappanee Mayor Larry Thompson reflects on accomplishments over 20-year tenure

Dec. 27--NAPPANEE -- When an EF-3 tornado tore through Nappanee in 2007, the community came together and cleaned up the town within 10 months.

From his desk, Mayor Larry Thompson coordinated emergency response and cleanup efforts. For him, it was one of the highlights of his time as mayor.

"I was just the cheerleader," he says about his help in cleaning up Nappanee. He'll often say the same about his involvement in city affairs.

Bobbi Wilson, who was involved in Nappanee's politics even before Thompson was elected 20 years ago, offered a different perspective.

"He was a major force," she said. "Without any government help he calmed the citizens and brought the city back to life."

Then came other rough patches, like the recession and tax caps. But the city survived it all, Thompson said.

With more plans for the city in the near future, Thompson is retiring from his position as mayor at the end of the year. Five terms are more than enough for him, he says.

"I gave it my best, I think I did right up till the end, but I would have to say that I can see that I'm tired," he said. "And it takes that energy to make it all come together and happen."

Republican Phil Jenkins, who was unopposed in the fall election, will step in to take office, and Thompson said he is eager to offer guidance whenever Jenkins might need it.

Thompson, who has lived in Nappanee almost his entire life, isn't going anywhere. He's managed to balance his work as mayor with work at his funeral home for two decades, and now he'll dedicate his full time to the funeral business.

The two jobs, he said, have more similarities than one would imagine. So to him they almost went hand-in-hand.

"Both of those jobs are about service to the community," he said. "I think it's about helping people who have problems, and I always applied the same rules for both jobs."

Looking back at some of the highlights of his five terms as mayor, Thompson says it starts to become easier to forget after 20 years in service.

Response following tornado: Though there were few injuries and no deaths, the path of the tornado's destruction was significant.

That's why Thompson will say that the community coming together to clean up in less than 10 months was one of his proudest moments as mayor.

The city got some state financial aid to repair the street department's garage, but most other properties were repaired with good insurance and the willingness to cooperate between property owners, Thompson said.

The Great Recession: Elkhart County was one of the worst-hit by the recession, and Nappanee's businesses suffered from the economic crisis as much as the ones around them.

"I don't know what was worst-- the tornado or the recession-- but they came back to back. And we survived them both," he said.

Thompson said he saw it as an obligation to help the people who had helped the town when the tornado hit.

Establishing the Boys and Girls Club: Getting the organization to Nappanee was a major accomplishment for many, including himself, Thompson said.

"We had a lot of kids at the time that went home from school to no parents," he said. "And that's the way it is: Parents are working."

The city has continued to help fund the nonprofit, which recently it began looking for a new location.

At the moment the Boys and Girls Club is housed in the same building as Elder Haus Senior Center.

The plan is for the schools to free up some land for the Boys and Girls Club, where they would relocate into new facilities.

The Family Christian Development Center, which has a food pantry and offers other services, such as medication assistance, a clothing closet, and rent and utility assistance, would be in a better location to share space with the senior center.

Combined sewer overflow: A few years ago the Environmental Protection Agency issued a mandate for cities across the country to upgrade their sewer system to avoid dumping sewer and stormwater into natural waterways.

This year, Nappanee was able to secure a $14 million loan with very low interest and a $14 million grant to help cover the costs of its own upgrades, Thompson said.

The project will be bid out in the first quarter of 2016.

"The fact that we brought $28 million to the table from the federal government was big," he said.

As a bonus, the city's oldest park will be renovated once CSO construction there is completed.

New industrial areas: When Thompson took office, there was no place within the city to build a factory. The city purchased land from the west side and turned it into the city's first industrial park.

That area became a Tax Increment Finance district, and with money received from that district the city is able to extend utilities out to the airport, on the east side of the city, where the plan is to create a new industrial park.

"The fact that a small city like us could pay cash to get sewer out there is pretty remarkable," he said.

Nappanee, like most Indiana cities, has faced funding cuts that make it difficult to provide the same level of services, but that doesn't seem to discourage Thompson. He said he may be one of the few mayors in the state who has not complained about the legislative effort known as tax caps.

"I think the reason is not only do I have a home; I have a business," he said. "And I could see that those property taxes probably needed to be capped. The unintended consequences are the pinch it puts on cities to do business, especially to do emergency service work."

The Local Option Income Tax, which was approved by county officials last year, was of great help to the city, Thompson said. And he remains optimistic that Nappanee will continue to find ways to stay financially afloat.

"I told a lot of people we're not leaving Nappanee broke or broken," he said. "I think we have a strong funding source in place and will continue strong in the next 10 to 15 years."

Follow Elkhart Truth reporter Sharon Hernandez on Twitter at @Sharon_HT and on Instagram at @shernandez0390.

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