FRENCH LICK, IN –The Town of Plainfield’s Executive Director of Development Services, Tim Belcher, was named the 2018 Ivan H. Brinegar Municipal Management Award winner by Accelerate Indiana Municipalities (AIM) at the AIM Ideas Summit in French Lick, Indiana. The Ivan H. Brinegar Municipal Management Award is presented to an appointed municipal official with extensive municipal service who displays strong leadership, contributions to the community and serves as a role model to citizens and other municipal officials. Belcher is the third Town of Plainfield representative to win a prestigious AIM award; Town Council President, Robin Brandgard, and former Town Manager, Richard A. Carlucci, were both recognized in years past by the Indiana municipal organization.
Tim Belcher’s tenure has seen the Town transform from a small town on the outskirts of Indianapolis to a vibrant, thriving, desirable community. Belcher came on as the Town’s first engineer in 1988 after earning his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (BSCE) from Purdue University in 1982. Every major Town project since then has Tim Belcher’s imprint on it.
Belcher created the backbone that’s enabled Plainfield to grow their business parks, develop the impressive Shops at Perry Crossing commercial area, and land important housing developments like Pulte’s Vandalia community. Tim has had his stamp on various notable projects, some of those include:
- Acquiring rights-of-way, designing roadways to access AllPoints Midwest’s first building and extending water and sewer lines.
- Raising money through grants to restore the White Lick Creek banks following a significant flood in 2003.
- Heading the efforts to turn Shouse Dump into Talon Stream Park. Shouse was a large field that had become an unrestricted dumping ground for all kinds of trash and chemicals and was adjacent to an important waterway, White Lick Creek. Tim had the foresight to enclose the dump and help create another park asset in Plainfield.
- Requesting the Plainfield Community School Corporation build the new Plainfield High School on SR 267 and Hadley Road after realizing their proposed location may cause traffic issues.
“Tim had the vision to create the infrastructure that not only benefits us today but his vision and implementation helped draw businesses here to Plainfield that helped create the diverse tax base we have today,” said Robin Brandgard.
Tim has also taken time personally to serve his community and others. He is involved in Center Community Church where he teachers Sunday school, serves on the finance committee, and meets weekly with other men for Bible study over breakfast. Not long after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Tim volunteered with others from Central Indiana to spend a week in New Orleans cleaning debris from inside houses. He also spent time in Henryville, Indiana volunteering and cleaning up debris from the tornado that hit the area. Tim Belcher is a service-minded individual who has made and continues to make lasting, outstanding contributions to the Town of Plainfield.
“We, as a Town, are so lucky to have Tim working for our community,” Brandgard continued. “His past work has laid the ground work and I am confident he will continue to help Plainfield’s infrastructure thrive.”
