Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
MITCHELL – Don Caudell was not ready to retire when Holmes Hardware, a family business that was operated by four generations of his family, closed in 2023. For 50 years, he had a front-row seat of life in Mitchell from the store’s Main Street window.
In 2023, he ran for mayor and won.
“Four generations of my family made their living in this community and I thought this would be a good final chapter in my life, to give back to the community,” he said.
Caudell said it was the opportunity for public service, not politics, that prompted him to run.
Caudell is one of four newly elected mayors in the Radius Indiana region that officially took office Jan. 1. Huntingburg Mayor Neil Elkins, Linton Mayor John Preble, Loogootee Mayor Brian Ader and Caudell are learning the ins and outs of local government.
SIBR has sat down with all four mayors to hear their priorities and plans. Today, hear what Caudell’s plans are for Mitchell.
What’s been your focus since taking office?
My focus in the beginning was to observe since it was quite a change. I went from where I could make decisions on my own, to making decisions with a team that includes the city council, clerk-treasurer, department heads and people at the state level like the State Board of Accounts. I haven’t made any big changes. I have some things in mind, but I’m not ready to finalize any of that.
What are some things that are emerging as priorities?
We are changing our trash pickup to an automated system. The equipment was ordered during the previous administration, and the procedures will be changing here shortly. Another priority is the Monon South Trail. With us being one of the terminuses, there’s a lot to be done. We’re also looking to update some ordinances and make a push to clean up the community. We’ve purchased a truck to pick up large items. One of the first things someone does if looking at a community to move to or start a business is drive around a community. They’re looking for pride in the community and keeping a community clean is job one on the pride side. We are going to start working on drainage and culvert work in the Hel-Mar addition.
The construction of a shell building initiated by the Lawrence County Redevelopment Commission in the Mitchell Industrial Park has potential to bring new investment to Mitchell, how do you see this benefitting the city?
Companies want to be able to move in quicker than if they had to build something. This shell building will give us so much more flexibility than just having a building lot to show to developers. I fully expect us to get some inquiries as soon as it’s up.
How do you plan to communicate with residents?
We have a city page and a city Facebook page. Personally, I prefer meeting with people face to face and I have an open door policy. I’m here in city hall and available pretty much all the time.
What would you say are Mitchell’s strengths?
The number 1 strength is the people here. We have a solid core of volunteers and I’ve worked with them my entire life. We have a couple of strong sororities and men’s service clubs and those groups do so much. We’ve also got a real solid core of city employees. They’re not here just for a paycheck. They’re here to make a difference.
What are some issues the city needs to work on?
We’re typical in the sense that our water and sewer lines are old. We’ll be looking at all the grants we can to make infrastructure improvements as we go. I’ve already seen where we’re patching leaks here and there. We’ve submitted a Community Crossing grant for paving. If we get it, we’ll be able to do another section of street paving.
Housing is also an issue. We went 8 to 10 years and didn’t build a house in this town. In the last couple of years, a lot of houses have been built. There are six under construction right now. We also have the Flynn subdivision in the north end of town on Doc Hamilton Boulevard that’s plotted for 29 homes. Three are completely done and two are under construction.
Leaders across Indiana are seeing the importance of investing in quality of place. Indiana, with programs like READI, are encouraging cities and towns to invest in themselves. What are some quality of place opportunities in Mitchell you would like to develop?
With the Monon South Trail coming that points us in a certain direction. We have our own 2.6 mile Bluejacket Trail that is just one block away from the Monon Trail. We would like to extend it around City Hall and connect it to the Monon South Trail. Long range, something that was talked about years ago is having a trail to Spring Mill. It was to be called the Grissom Trail. We’d like to do our part to make that happen.
How do you envision the Monon South Trail, stretching from Mitchell to New Albany when finished, benefitting the city and, in particular, the downtown?
The trail brings tremendous potential for our city and our downtown. We’re going to be involved in the Monon South Main Street program so that we can be eligible for OCRA grants. We fully expect there to be an influx of people to use the trail and that business people will take advantage of the added foot traffic. I think visitors to Spring Mill will want to come up and walk the trail.