Gregory Garrett and Joel Smith are Mayor's office advocates for the Meridian-Kessler and Washington and Lawrence Township areas, respectively. They recently discussed their work.

Garrett: I worked at the Trustee's Office at Warren Township. Before that, I worked with neighborhoods and spent many years working with the Holy Rosary Neighborhood Association located off Virginia Avenue and East Street. I started that neighborhood association in 2010 after getting my law degree from the (Indiana University) McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis. I grew up here in Indianapolis, graduating from Lawrence Central High School and Indiana University's Bloomington campus with a degree in informatics and a minor in business.

In initially working with Holy Rosary's Neighborhood Association, there was opposition with Fletcher Place and the Indianapolis Historical Preservation Committee (IHCP) since they wanted Amelia's, Bluebeard and South of Chicago to maintain historical building facades. There were a lot of buildings in the area that they wanted to keep in their historic way. We went back and forth, but eventually in working with these groups, I was able to see many things develop within them. While working with them, I was appointed to the Marion County Board of Public Works from 2011 to 2016. It's a separate board for Marion County under the direction of Public Works during the tenure of the Ballard Administration.

Most of my other background and experience was as a Statehouse intern in 2014 and with the Trustee's Office after that. The most important thing I did was work with Holy Rosary Neighborhood Association and the Board of Public Works with the Department of Public Works to see how things are done and how they work throughout the city.

Smith: I'm originally from Highland, in northwest Indiana. From there, I attended Ball State University, where I received my Bachelor's degree in Political Science and moved to Indianapolis to begin my career. Throughout the first three years of my career, I focused heavily in constituent work while working in the state legislature and the Indiana Department of Education.

Garrett: The basic thing that we do is work with citizens in each of the districts within the City of Indianapolis, like community groups, neighborhood groups, crime watch associations and individual citizens. We kind of deal with the issues of the day. For example, if a family or individual calls me with illegal dumping occurring behind their home, we refer them to the Mayor's Action Line and get this complaint registered in our computer system. We can help organize neighborhoods to have associations with that process. We also help people look for resources in the Martindale-Brightwood Neighborhood. Many senior citizens in that area have a hard time financing home repairs. I give them resources like the Indiana Housing Neighborhood Partnership (IHNP). It's kind of like being a jack of all trades. I've handled everything from homeless camps to proclamations for individuals.

This past weekend (in late June), I helped emcee a birthday for a lady who turned 100 years old. I helped her daughter invite Mayor Joe Hogsett to present her with a proclamation. It's a job based on situations where we're there to provide citizens with city resources and partners with the City of Indianapolis. When I started in April of 2016, I was asked by the mayor to help citizens, but if it's an ongoing thing, like the levees in Rocky Ripple, people deal with that long-term. Joel (Smith) brings that information back to mayor. Another long-term issue is the forest in Crown Hill where we bring in information on what people say.

Smith: I think the main responsibility is that I'm a conduit of communication between the Mayor's office and the residents of the area I serve in Indianapolis. I think it's a very important role and I love being able to get out and meet residents of the Northside, while advocating for them in the Mayor's office. One example of advocating on the resident's behalf, would be the It's My City Campaign (www.itsmycityindy.org).

Beyond advocating for resident's ideas, we can point them in the right direction when searching for grants they can apply for. We try to be proactive in getting that information out to them.

There are a lot of moving pieces in government and sometimes it takes a position like the MOA's to help break down the barriers for citizens to find the answers they are seeking. We often help residents after they call the Mayor's Action Center, either giving them an update or helping provide some next steps. We are focused on the communication of new initiatives that come out of the Mayor's office and there are many services that we help people get access to. Another important function we perform is facilitating meetings between residents, neighborhood organizations and any stakeholders who wish to join the conversation about their community. Many of the neighborhoods I work with have regularly scheduled meetings set up, so usually it just takes some getting the word out. A recent example would include a neighborhood organization who wanted to speak with a representative of IPL. They were having trouble finding a direct contact, so I placed a call to IPL and they were able to have a representative attend the next meeting. Like I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of moving pieces when working with government and it can be confusing when trying to figure out who handles certain services, so we help residents get a better idea of what the city can provide and what groups such as Citizens Energy or IPL can provide.

Garrett: A lot of my plans or goals since January 2017 are just trying to help smooth the transition of changes on College Avenue that are coming with the IndyGo Red Line. I work with City-County Councillors Joe Simpson and Colleen Fanning. With a lot of capital improvements, we don't have a say with where they go - that is more on the council side dealing with MKNA issues, like traffic or people speeding through neighborhoods after Broad Ripple shuts down late at night. How we handle these traffic issues in MKNA and the community has to do with creating goals to solve them. What I mentioned is going out into the neighborhoods and having them tell us what is happening. We help them reach their goals with the resources that we have. I don't sit on any boards. The way I see it, this is your neighborhood and I'm here to facilitate where you want to go. It's a very cosmopolitan area I cover, speaking with a diversity of people, from wealthy individuals to impoverished individuals using different sets of skills with everybody I meet.

For example, in the Millersville and Fall Creek area at 56th and Emerson Way, citizens were looking for solutions in dealing with litter. We are trying to determine what resources we can use since Binford Boulevard is too dangerous to clean up with the traffic, but we are trying to find what city resources we can use.

Smith: An overall goal is that I'm trying to as be accessible as possible by having these open community hours weekly. I'm also on www.nextdoor.com, delivering weekly updates to the residents in designated area on a variety of things like grants or public meetings. I communicate with residents in Area 1, which is most of Washington Township and Lawrence Township. Feel free to give me a call or drop me an email and we can start a conversation. It's always rewarding when I hear a sigh of relief after people get pointed in the right direction and make progress. I just like to help people (I've been doing this type of work for about three years) and help them get their goals accomplished. Even though I'm an Indy transplant, this is now my home and I can't think of anything more rewarding than working with residents to make their communities and the city as a whole, a better place. We need peoples' input from the neighborhoods to help and guide them in getting their goals accomplished. We like to be visible out in the community. I don't spend most of my time at the City-County Building. Most of my time is spent at community meetings and spending time residents to create a dialogue and gain a better understanding of what they're going through.

Garrett: I usually have my office hours on Wednesdays and Fridays, I have my office hours at Genesis Plaza (2855 N. Keystone Avenue) from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. most Fridays. Also I have my office hours on the first and second Wednesday of the month at the 38th street library (5420 E. 38th Street) and the third and fourth Wednesday of the month at the 42nd and College library (4180 N. College Avenue) from 3:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.

His office number is (317) 327-5119 and e-mail address is: Gregory.Garrett1@indy.gov and web: http://bit.ly/2lcK5lF.

Smith: On Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 12 Noon, I'm at the Lawrence branch of the Indianapolis Public Library at 7858 Hague Road. Every Wednesday, I'm at the Community Development Corporation (7003 N. Michigan Road) from 11 a.m. to 12 Noon and from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Nora Library (8625 Guilford Avenue) on the third Wednesday of the month. I can also be reached at my office number of (317) 327- 5121. They can also e-mail me at Joel.Smith@Indy.Gov. My office hours are listed at: http://bit.ly/2gEgAry

Gregory Garrett and Joel Smith are helping Indianapolis citizens make their communities a better place to live.