Steve Mundy was the only applicant for the open District 5 seat on the Zionsville Town Council, after Michelle Barrett resigned early this month.
In case you're not from Zionsville or have been exploring the Andes the last few weeks, Barrett resigned to, purportedly, concentrate on family and personal matters. However, it came out in the newspapers and on Internet blogs that Barrett may have been having an affair with Matt Price, the council president.
Price denied those allegations at the April council meeting and said he was staying on the board. But perhaps more telling, Barrett's husband, Brian, filed for divorce not long after. Rumor has it that Brian has not been taking the news well, even ripping off Barrett's distinctive "peace sign" decal from the back of her red van.
Anyhow, with Barrett's resignation, a seat on the council opened up, which Mundy will fill after going through a ceremonial caucus later this week. How Mundy fits on the current council will be very interesting over the next couple of months. The current factions on the council were Price, Barrett, Tim Haak, Candace Ulmer and Judith Essex v. Art Harris and Valerie Swack.
Mundy, who is also on the town plan commission, seems to be respected by all in Zionsville, and it's interesting that Chad Pittman or some other influential citizen didn't put any candidates forward. Sources have said the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors or the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis were looking for a candidate, but obviously didn't come up with one in time.
Someone named Mark Thompson apparently expressed interest, but didn't live in the required precincts for the District 5 seat. Not much is known about that gentleman.
If Mundy sides with Swack and Harris on issues, it could lead to more conflict, though Price & Company would still have the 4-3 advantage for official votes. There have been whispers that Price may still resign at some point in the near future, that he only stayed on to dispel the affair in the short term.
Nevertheless, it will be interesting in Z'ville, as it tends to be.
That's all for now, readers. See you next time...off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush....
-David Drexel
