Brainard was first elected mayor of Carmel in 1995 and will have served seven terms as the city’s leader once his final term ends.
Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard announced Tuesday he will not seek another term, opening up the field for the mayor’s race in 2023.
When Brainard first took office in 1996, Carmel had zero roundabouts. Today, Carmel is known nationally and internationally for the 140-plus traffic circles that appear in intersections around the city. As of July 2021, the city had 12 sculptures at roundabouts at a total cost of $2.4 million. In December 2021, the city announced four additional car-themed sculptures planned on 96th Street roundabouts at a cost of $2.5 million.Whether for massive, transformative development projects or art throughout the city, Brainard has spent money with a focus on making Carmel a unique place in Central Indiana.
In 2015, Brainard-backed candidates that now sit on the city council were victorious in the election that year. “It doesn’t mean we’re going to have a rubber stamp. It means we sit down and work out issues, we don’t beat up on our city in the media and that we value each other’s ideas,” Brainard said in 2015.As drivers cruise along Keystone Parkway in Carmel, they have Brainard to thank for the lack of stoplights.
The efforts began shortly after Brainard took office in 1996 when Carmel started entering public-private partnerships to build a downtown.