LAWRENCE, Indiana — In Lawrence, veterans in need of help will soon get more support.
Mayor Deb Whitfield announced Tuesday during her state of the city address the city has hired its first-ever military veterans liaison. She calls it one of the highlights of her first 100 days in office.
Before she delivered that address, Whitfield talked with 13News about the job so far, what she has learned and the work ahead for one of Indiana's fastest-growing communities.
"It is going exceptionally well," Whitfield said.
One hundred days in, Whitfield said her first three months in office have included a whole lot of listening.
"You know, I've never been a mayor before," Whitfield said. "I am one of those people that likes to seek first to understand, so I did a lot of learning."
She learned through job-shadowing city employees, from utility workers to DPW to fire and police.
Just this month, she swore in 12 new police officers, a department record and much-needed. The city is budgeted for 65 officers but has struggled to get there.
"With the new class that we just swore in, we'll be about two to three less than what we need to be," Whitfield said.
Another challenge is a city seemingly divided. 13News recently reported on a new development coming to Fort Harrison, luxury apartments, retail and more parking, and while there was a lot of excitement about that, we also heard from people in the community who were concerned about an increasing gap between "the haves and the have nots."
13News asked Whitfield how she addressed that as mayor.
"That is a great question, and Dustin, I ran on that," Whitfield said. "I talked about how do we unite the communities, because in Lawrence, there is a big dissention between the haves and the have nots."
So Whitfield created a citizen advisory group made up of community members, business owners and faith leaders.
"I need boots on the ground. I need to hear from the city, and as I talked about uniting the neighborhoods, I need to hear from them," Whitfield said.
Whitfield said creating opportunities for all isn't just housing, transportation and jobs. She said events like this month's Eclipse Festival also go a long way to uniting a community.
"It was a beautiful, engaging community opportunity from all walks of life," Whitfield said. "So the buzz is out there. I just think it's gonna be exciting as we continue to connect with our community and our neighborhoods."