Submitted
Editor’s note: County Councilman Mark Hall submitted the following to the Hamilton County Reporter on Monday, Aug. 25 regarding his 2026 reelection campaign.
To the people of Hamilton County:
Hall
I am announcing my run for reelection to the Hamilton County Council, asking you for the privilege to continue serving the people of Hamilton County in a second term. My district, District 3, consists of Noblesville, Jackson, Wayne, and White River townships. It is approximately 100,000 people.
I didn’t grow up wanting to be in any elected office. My focus was on raising a family and building a business. Funny though, the older I became the more attention government spending, policies, and priorities received. That led to attending as many local council meetings as possible and that led to voicing opinions in meetings, on social media and with friends. Ultimately, that led to the challenge “well if you can do better, do it, get in the fight.” So, here I am nearing the end of my first term asking you to rehire me for four more years.
I made a few promises last time that include transparency, treating your money like it was my own, public safety first, that I’d work hard, and that I’d do my best to be the kind of councilman that I’d be proud to support.
I’ve made some mistakes while learning how the sausage gets made. I’m a better councilor for it. I’ve earned people’s respect, even those who did not support me as a candidate. I have worked my tail off and done what I said that I’d do.
Unlike most in office I report to you every month what I spend time on, successes and failures. It’s an attempt to be the most transparent elected official in Hamilton County history. In early August, my 32nd monthly timesheet report to the people was published. Each contains in detail what was accomplished on the people’s dime, the month prior. You can find all these historical time and activity reports on local newspaper websites.
These last several months have included much prayer, many discussions with Lisa and a great deal of self-assessment. The primary question is, at this season of my life, where can I best serve? Recently several moments of distinct clarity have made it clear that asking you to allow me to continue to serve is what I am to do.
I’d like to share a few of these with you.
As I’m writing this today it comes on the heels of attending the Hamilton County Drug Court 2025 graduation ceremony. Today six of our local neighbors graduated from a program of rehabilitation and overcoming addiction. The historic courthouse was full of supporters, encouragers, family and recovering addicts. Through the Drug Court, dozens of lives were changed, as they are with each participants recovery. But it struck me differently today. These are the faces, families, children, employers and employees that have had their lives completely turned around through the deployment of our tax dollars, it’s part of what we fund working on the council. These are the faces behind the budgets, personnel requests, equipment, insurance, benefits, forms and compliance. These are the lives that are touched in a very real way, by your tax dollars, appropriated to public safety, courts, probation, and community corrections. County government touches our lives every day, but today, that played out in real life, with faces and families and stories of triumph over tragedy. I am proud to represent the taxpayers every day but today was special. Being a part of changing lives for the betterment of the community, while saving taxpayer dollars, is one reason why I’m supposed to be here in this job.
The second example is one of the parts of representing you that I don’t like. I love the work of being a councilor, the politics part, not so much. A few weeks ago, a colleague attempted to bully me into supporting a tax increase. They were passionate and professional until they weren’t. It took me back to years’ worth of battles with people who don’t value your money as much as I do. My takeaways: first, it was very satisfying to stand up against a $500 per family tax increase. I did what I set out to do. Second, standing on my principles to directly save the taxpayers money put me in direct opposition to someone who didn’t give it a second thought to take unnecessarily from the taxpayers. That means I am in the right place. Standing in the gap for taxpayers is where I’m supposed to be and why I’m here.
Lastly, over the past month I’ve been on the hunt to find any dollars owed to the taxpayers that the County isn’t collecting. As we head into the 2026 budget sessions, finding money to offset expected funding reductions is important. After meeting with many of our department heads I found over 6.5 million dollars in outstanding money owed to the county. Our legal staff have now begun the process of collecting the money owed. Thinking this through it hit me, this is why I am supposed to be here doing this work. No one else was doing the investigation to recover the taxpayer’s money.
It’s for these and a hundred other reasons that I’m asking you to “re-hire” me as your County Councilor. When asked about the job my response is always the same: “I love the work, it’s fun and it’s something that I’m good at.”
If you approve of how I’ve served this first term, please tell a friend. If you don’t approve, please tell me. Call me directly at (317) 832-1104 if you have questions about county government or about my campaign to continue to serve. If you’d like to join our effort, please reach out to mark@markfhall.com.
