City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome to public hearing June 1st, 2026. Consideration this evening ordinance 10-26.

Ordinance 10-26, an ordinance for additional appropriations, Muncie Police Department.

Is there any representative from the Muncie Police Department? Anyone willing to speak on this ordinance? seeing and hearing them. Ordinance 11 days 26.

Ordinance 11 dash 26. And ordinance for additional appropriations. Muncie Fire Department.

There's someone from wishing to speak on ordinance 1126.

Oh, thank you Ricky answer newsman author This seems strange because it's a public hearing it's public hearing about Spending five million dollars over whatever was budgeted out 20 or 25 for public safety last year And I find it strange that they're not here to explain it. I think they were having to appropriate for the income tax but again I got no answers nobody's here to explain it and I would suggest this maybe people found a couple weeks ago you try raising taxes on this community and people are going to say no in the meantime as far as police I'm still wondering about all the capital improvements like electric cars motorcycles things like that and how that improves public safety I saw there was another police action shooting the other night I think it's the third in don't know six months and I don't think in my time over half century I've seen three different police shootings including a disabled veteran in his house where they made a welfare call so I would hope that you do a little bit more oversight public safety we still spend what is about two-thirds of city government on public safety and hopefully we'll get some more answers tonight why you need five million dollars more thank you

Hi, my name is Rob Miller. I'll keep it short, talking about both these public safety things. I'm kind of confused. Two of the largest lie-ins on both of these were for PERF. Shouldn't that have been in the budget? And I'm just asking for an explanation. Obviously, you don't have to answer me, but I'm just speaking it out. Why wasn't that in the budget? Like, it seems very odd that we wouldn't have budgeted for retirement funds in the initial budget. So I think the community deserves an explanation. And I think as counsel, this sets a pretty bad precedent for you in the future if they can just kind of forget things and say, oopsie, and come to you six months later for more money, kind of winding around the whole budget thing, right? So this is increasing the police budget by what? $5 million. And I get there's part of this is fuel and that stuff. And I support that, like give them the money for the fuel. But how did we miss $3.5 million for the retirement fund in the initial budget? Like maybe there's an explanation, but I'm not seeing it out here as a taxpayer. So I would like that answered someday, but I don't know if we'll ever see it.

Christopher Bilbrey, and I know that this is a public hearing and you guys generally sit there quietly as we speak. And as the last gentleman said when he stood up, that he stands up and I hear a lot of people say, I know you guys aren't going to give us an answer for questions that we ask. And I just want you guys to start off and maybe think when you hear this that that's how the public comes to you. That's how the public comes to these things, knowing that they're going to ask questions or make statements that you guys are not going to speak on or not going to answer questions. And that's very frustrating and that's not what should be happening. While that might be the protocol here in the public hearing, Once we get out of the public hearing and into the council meeting, you guys should explain things. You guys should answer questions. And you should be willing to back and forth with your employers. So just FYI, it's rather... heartbreaking to hear that that's the mindset of the citizens as they come up just knowing straight off the bat that, well, I'm going to be up here speaking, but you guys aren't going to give me any answers. It's a damn shame. Thank you.

Good evening. Dan Burford, Fire Chief, City of Muncie. When nobody spoke on the police, I was just going to wait and we can discuss this because I know you guys can't interact with us during the public hearing. But I do want to say this isn't all new for police or fire appropriations. That's the way the ordinances read for additional appropriations. This is a correction from what was approved by this council. during the budget hearings that was lost in the gateway. And so when the funding came out, it was funded back at the 2025 budget lines. So that was what we're doing here. We're actually asking for correction to get through what was presented and what we all discussed during the budget hearings last fall. So I'll be back up during the regular meeting where we can discuss that together. But just so the audience knows, since they've been speaking about this, this is not police and fire asking for $5 million additional dollars. This is a correction of our Fire Department's Fund 105, Police Department's Fund 106, which are our lit funds. So I'll be happy to come back in a little bit, and we can have some more discussion. So thank you.

Anyone else wishing to speak? Public hearing.

Good to see you. Please take your seats.

Please stand for the pledge of allegiance

Dr. Taylor, please. Dr. Taylor.

Let's pray. Gracious Father, we just thank you today for the opportunity to come together once again to discuss the business of your city, Father God. And we ask that you bless each and every one here and open up their hearts and minds for all the business and transactions that may come forth. It's in Jesus that we pray. Amen. Amen.

Councilman Jerry Dishman.

Mr. Dishman, would you speak into the microphone so we can all hear what you're getting ready to say?

We got a fresh battery in it? She was born in Terre Haute and has become a Muncie legend. She began her career in Muncie as an award-winning professional ballroom dance teacher at Arthur Murray Studios. She saw a newspaper ad for an executive director with the Muncie Visitors Bureau. She applied and got the job. Right away, she threw herself into projects and events and designed to draw people into Muncie and entertain the ones that live here. Her signature event was Summer Heat, widely successful hot air balloon festival at the Muncie airport that spanned into a weekend in the heat of the summer. People still talk about the summer heat. Fast forward to more recent years. She has served on the director of the Muncie downtown redevelopment partnership. She oversaw the residents of the downtown and produce and concert with hundreds of partners, events like the Muncie Growl, Rib Fest, Light Up Downtown, First Thursday, and Fire Up Downtown, a downtown version of Summer Heat. Our friends and family will talk about the work she has done and the events she has produced for generations. It's such a pleasure and an honor to give My friend, my good friend of many years, the citizenship for May 2026, Vicki Beach.

Thank you very much for this consideration. I really, truly appreciate it. But I want to shout out to all of the people over the decades who have loved and supported this community in downtown and love to share this with them. Thank you.

Roll call, please.

Mr. Dishman.

Present. Ms. Selby. Present. Mr. McIntosh.

Present. Mr. Mason. Here.

Ms. Pannell.

Here.

Mr. Garrett.

Here.

Ms. Dillian. Here. Mr. Masham.

Here.

President Green.

Here. I have a motion for approval of minutes.

So moved. Second.

Roll call.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Moving on to appointments to boards and commissions. We have one for the Human Rights Commission. Do we have nominations?

Mr. President, I have the nomination of a longtime special needs teacher at Muncie Central High School, retired now, Linda Pong Benner. And she's here, if you'd like to speak to her.

I'll second that.

will thank you for that nomination. First, I'd like to thank all of the members of the council for allowing me to be nominated for this position of Human Rights Commissioner. I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself. I was born outside of Muncie. I've lived in Muncie 56 years. I was raised through the polio epidemic. I experienced discrimination by the Klan. I received a Master of Arts degree in education from Ball State University. I served 10 years as an assistant director of education for a nonprofit. I also worked 32 wonderful years of teaching special ed at Muncie Central High School. And four years I was a consultant for the state to help license Indiana teachers. Lastly, I have lived in Muncie since 1970, and since I'm only 39, you know that's a little hard to figure. But I have observed employment trends, housing, education, and public accommodations throughout those years change. I hope you will continue to consider me as a candidate for this position. I would pledge myself to serve all residents of Muncie and help in any way I can. God bless and good evening to all of you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Mr. President, I also have a nomination. I nominate Daisy Dale. Daisy's here to speak. Second. Second that.

Good evening, council. My name is Daisy Dale. I'm a resident here in Muncie. I work at Bracken Library as an evening staff member. It goes without saying that I don't represent my employer, but I am proud of the work that I do. I am currently serving as a board member of Muncie Queer Alliance, a local nonprofit focused on LGBTQ issues in Muncie and Delaware County. With collaborating with MQA, a lot of my experience and advocacy has been through our events. We provided free meals, educational panels and even a vendor fair back in March. This Thursday we're opening an art exhibit at Cornerstone called Matters of Pride. They'll be open until the 26th and we're also hosting a film series this month where I'll be leading discussions. So for example for Juneteenth we're showing a recent biopic on civil rights leader Bayard Rustin and just recently we showed a documentary on activist Harvey Milk. Besides my advocacy with MQA, I'm also known for having two former mayors in my family, one of which being George Dale, who served the role in the 1930s. He was most famous for his opposition to the Ku Klux Klan, and in Muncie he became the most vocal opponent of the bigotry and especially violence of the group. For his opposition in his own newspaper, he was frequently attacked physically and threatened with legal action, though as a result of his journalism received national attention. In 2023, I decided to continue the legacy of the paper by publishing articles under the same title. Other than providing local news, it's a project for linking Muncie's long history of labor and civil rights and making it applicable to advocacy today. And so since restarting, I've been asked to do speeches and lectures, wrote my own local history book last year, and I've started getting more involved with our local historical society. As Council is aware, two years ago I asked members to pass Resolution 14-24, a resolution acknowledging Transgender Awareness Month and encouraging our Human Rights Commission to do research on trans healthcare. Prior to this being brought to our Council, a similar resolution passed in the city of Bloomington had inspired me to try getting it passed in Muncie. And since then, other localities in Indiana have considered their own, including Lafayette and also Kokomo. The last thing I want to say is that I just want to assure counsel I understand the confidentiality is important with the role. I want people to feel comfortable approaching the HRC about any complaints. And as someone who had to deal with harassment, I'll just say harassment in the last word place, I know the kind of powerlessness people have to deal with on those situations. And I'm especially against the commission being perceived as partisan or if information is being given to political parties. And I'm in the interest of giving it a solid reputation. And with that, if there are any questions, I'm happy to answer.

Thank you. Any other nominations? We'll do. We'll call and mention the name that you want to vote for.

This is really tough. I think we have two qualified people.

Yes.

Very qualified. It's just hard. Can I abstain? I just can't make that decision right now. They're both qualified. I'm sorry.

Ms. Powell?

Dale.

Ms. Dillion?

Dale. Mr. Garrett? Linda, please.

Mr. Basham?

Banner.

Mr. McIntosh?

Dale.

Dale.

Linda .

Dale.

The owner the much the animal care services we have two openings Do we have any nominations for those positions I In Muncie Animal Care Services, we have two openings. One has to be a veterinarian. Do we have any nominations?

I do believe the Muncie Element Animal Care Shelter Director did suggest a couple, a veterinarian and another person.

Yes, Mr. President, may I make two nominations? Yes. The name of Dr. Andy Phipp of Maplewood Animal Hospital and also Haley. I'm not Haley Perkins. The other nomination is, no, I'm sorry. Yes, the other nomination from that board, well, I only see that one. So let me just nominate Dr. Andy Phipp as the veterinarian.

I'll second that.

Do we have any other nominations?

I would like to take the superintendent's recommendation and nominate Haley Perkins, who's the current board president. Reappointment a second.

OK. Do we have any other nominations for those positions?

They will do roll call. Yes.

For both.

Oh, there are only two.

There are only two.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Moving on. Ordinance is previously introduced. No, no.

What about the committee report?

Do you have committee reports?

I do.

You have one? Okay. I'm sorry.

The committee youth center report. On the evening of May 21st, 2026, the Community Youth Center Committee held their first meeting to elect officers for the committee. In attendance were Mayor Ridenour, Council President Green, Council Person McIntosh, Keta Edsel, Tammy Harris, Courtney Marsh, Leslie McCorry, and Jasmine Taylor. Officers were elected with the following results. Jasmine Taylor was elected president. Vice president is Leslie McCrory. Secretary is Courtney Marsh. Proceeding the election of officers, the question was asked about what are the duties of this committee and what it consists of. The Mayor read from Resolution 15-25, Section 4. Duties of the Committee. The Committee shall be responsible for obtaining public input and advising the City of Muncie regarding the development of a community center. The Committee shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, considering the feasibility of creating a community center in a vacant building located in Hicken Park, as proposed by the Mayor, exploring alternative locations for the development of a community center if necessary. Advising the mayor regarding the needed features and components of a community center and identifying and exploring additional funding sources for the community center. I, Councilperson McIntosh, opened the nominations for president and at the same time wondering why there were eight people present instead of seven. Didn't understand why Council President Green was in attendance. It's not on the committee. I am personally wondering if there is a need for this committee as decisions for the site, which was made by its administration, are in place while excluding the committee input, and what it is to be used for seeming to have already been decided by this administration also. The purpose of the committee is to include public and committee input. How have things already been decided upon when the committee just had its first meeting? We were told that the nonprofit organization Brothers 2 Brothers will be operating on the second floor, a decision also made by this administration. Immediately following the meeting, I was told about the senior citizens have already toured the building, the building while hoping this will be a place for them to meet. I feel that resolution 15-25 has been disrespected and manipulated by this current administration. I would like this council to consider the results of my report of the community youth center's first meeting. Do we really need a committee? My personal thoughts are the 20 plus years of waiting for the city of Muncie to do the right thing that it promised and the promise is never going to happen. In my opinion, the community center should be put into place, industrial neighborhood, excuse me, it was taken from and promised to be put back. In closing, I am asking my colleagues to speak on this report, please. Thank you.

Mr. McIntosh, may I? Yes, go ahead. Okay, I do agree. I think it needs to be put back. I mean, none of us did this to the city. It was done way in the past. And it needs to be back where it was promised to be. I mean, in the industry neighborhood. And the industry neighborhood was generous. I mean, I was... the one who wanted to include more people. And I know how difficult is that. And they welcomed that with open hearts. But the location should be industry. And I thank the other people on the committee for being open to allow, not to allow, to include. Allowing is not, they will allow anybody. But include people in the conversation. So I will have to agree with you as a council person at large that it should be in industry. And that's my personal view and opinion.

I'll speak on that too. I'm going to go ahead and piggyback. I grew up at the Ross Center. I grew up on West 17th. I could ride my bike to my community center. That was back in the 90s, you know, the great Nickelodeon days. But I could ride my bike to my community center. That is a very big opposite. You have to be able to ride your bike. And your parents know you can ride your bike to that community center. And the biggest thing is We have community centers that are spaced out. They should not compete against each other for grant money. They should be spaced out enough where one gets one, one gets to the other. And I grew up playing at the Ross Center Basketball League. We went to the Bewley Center. We went to the Multi Center. We went to all the centers and played basketball. And all of them were thriving. We need to get back to that. There's a lot of stuff going on that we see in the news and we see all that. This is why. This is the number one reason why we see that is because our kids have nowhere to go. They've got to have mentors. They've got to have coaches. They've got to have places to go. I'm a firm believer in that, too. The community centers are number one. It starts at home, number one. and then the community members number 2 that's where they're at so I I thank you from I can hush.

Mister president, I'm sorry go ahead.

You know, I agree with the Council of Macintosh the center should be put back in the industry. In 2006 when they came through with the hope 6 grand. They had a had a banner that said that it community center would be built In the first phase of construction. We're taking our community center. Land to put housing. You know we've lost what? 34 generations of kids yes, you know every time you look around. We have in prayer vigils for shootings and they're talking about these kids with guns. well that's the very reason why they have nowhere to go but the streets and the street gets a hold of them too late you know it's too late so yes we need that community center in our community so i agree with all of this but i also

feel like it's a slap in the face to the to the community that they that you know this that we've put together this committee and then the people who are on the committee aren't even you know that you get there and all these decisions have been made there's no input from the community itself and that was the whole point of putting this commission together this committee together and now they're not getting input and the decisions have already been made so I mean I think that right there is even It's as important as the fact that they're looking outside of industry.

Right.

I agree with Mr. McIntosh. It should be put in the industry neighborhood. I think there should be a new building, not a used building. And I've been around. I've been around to the Ross Center. I've been to the Buley Center. I've been to the Boys and Girls Club. I've been all over. and uh i remember when i think it was mayor dan cannon wanted to took the property to make in the millennium project down there and he said that he would get it put back i mean the administrations after administrations didn't put it back i think it's time that they need to put it back with a new building And I agree with Mr. McIntosh.

Mr. President, I'll make a comment just because Mr. McIntosh asked us all to weigh in. I agree with you, Councilman McIntosh. I think that it belongs in the neighborhood of which it was taken from. But I also strongly agree with what Councilwoman Gullion said in that the committee, which the nine of us voted for to allow community input, has been hijacked, for lack of a better word. And decisions were made before the committee ever met, which is disappointing. And it breaks public trust. So thank you for your report.

Let me add my comment as well. Thank you. Councilperson, Councilman, that for that report, we empowered that committee to make decisions. This council empowered that committee to make decisions. And I think you've spoken eloquently about that empowerment and that committee stands.

Thank you.

That's all I have.

I'm going to repeat a comment I made last council meeting and I know Mr. Scaife said something back about it which is I still believe that the whole council and I can't speak for everyone or actually now I can speak for everyone because I heard everyone's opinion that we stand by what it's meant to be by its purpose and we will do everything we can to help make sure it happens. Mr. President, I would like to make a nomination during nominations for a committee that I forgot to mention for the school board.

Oh, the school board. Yes. We have a nomination to make to Ball State for the school board. Okay.

Mister president, I would like to re appoint and re nominate miss with Tasha barn Griffith for the Muncie school community board miss with Tasha barn Griffith would have loved to be here to speak to us that she is doing what's her second love is besides running the YWCA and be in supporting our students. She is attending the Muncie central graduation. which she wouldn't have missed for anything. So that's, she's not here. But I do have few sentences to say about her. As an educator for Muncie Community Schools, with her leadership and her knowledge, as a teacher, I feel empowered and respected more. I feel they worked circumstances, they helped us ease circumstances. We had issues with... not health care but insurance our raise went up higher too so they worked really hard to get us out of the deficit she also i've seen her care answer families like if the family member called a board member she's solved issues worked with administrators and it would be as an educator an honor for me to be represented or have her on the board i have a second for that second

If I may, Mr. President, could you explain why this wasn't on the agenda?

Yes. I just received a phone call recently concerning this and didn't have the opportunity to do that. So if you have someone that you'd like to nominate,

no i just seconded okay miss selby's nomination i just wanted to know why we didn't know anything about it until tonight mr president yes mrs griffin is a wonderful wonderful um nominee but i am disappointed that we weren't made aware of this beforehand so we could tell the public that those that that position was available so that they could express interest but but that that's my only comment

I just I want to follow up too on that just about the the human rights group i mean i had sent out um mrs dale's uh bio because she had reached out to me and so i shared it with the entire committee just so that people would know and could do the research and we were just and i think that ms binner would have been an excellent uh you know she was an excellent candidate too but this is the first that i'd heard of it um that that she was going to be here so i would yeah i would like to see us get these things in advance also and share with each other so that we'll know what's coming up and we can do our research i

This has to be done before July 18th for the state. So there is time limits, and I apologize. I did communicate her nomination under her willingness with President Green. And July, that nomination should be turned in to the state by July 18th. So I just want to let you guys know that.

We've got time.

No, sorry, not July 18th. June 18th. I apologize to you. June 18th.

It has to go through Ball State.

Again, I'm not objecting to that nomination. I'm just stating that I feel that it should have been put to the community so that if there were others that were interested, they could have written a letter to council. That's all.

Sure.

understand agree agreed to all those in favor i guess let's do roll call make sure it's right uh yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes Any other committee reports? Move on to new ordinances. Orders 9-26.

Ordinance 9-26, an ordinance of the city of Muncie, Indiana, approving matters related to lease financing a fire station project.

I have a motion to introduce.

So moved.

Second.

I second. Roll call.

I have a question. Yes. I have a question. In the ordinance itself, the first page. It says, whereas the petition has been carefully considered and investigations have been conducted by the council both before and after the filing of said petition. My first question is who conducted the investigation and where are the results? Because I did not receive them. May I have an answer from council? Which council member conducted an investigation? So none of us. So that's not true. My next question is on the third whereas. Whereas a detailed summary of the project has presented to council together with plans, specification, and cost estimates of the project, has anyone received a detailed summary of the project? No. OK. So that's not applicable either. What else in this ordinance isn't accurate?

I'd be happy to address the council members' questions, if I might.

We have to introduce it first. Oh, sorry. No discussion until it's introduced. So we have a motion to introduce. We've got a second. We need a roll call on it to introduce it. Yes.

Yes.

I'd like to get more information, so I'll say no right now.

This is for introduction. We have to introduce them.

No, all due respect, you have to have a motion and a second to introduce them. Then you have discussion. We did. We did.

We did have the motion. We did have the second.

Legal, do we not have to introduce it and then open to discussion? At the beginning of the year, you

Okay. Public comment.

If I might. My name is Dennis Auden. I've been up here before. I'm with Bose, McKinney, and Evans. We're serving as bond counsel on this financing, and we prepared this resolution. And it is the language that was referenced by the council members, kind of the statutorily prescribed language. Now, in terms of what constitutes an investigation or plans and specifications, that's really up to the council we want you to be fully informed i know we've been up here before talking about this project we have greg martz with us today who's been working with the fire department on this bob swentz is a financial advisor there are in the last resolution you adopted there was a depiction of the fire station with some schematics so that that was done back in November. I have that resolution. But if there's more information that you think you need, we're more than happy to provide that information. So I just want to make that clear. We're just introducing this tonight. We've got the taxpayer petitions now signed and verified by the auditor. And so this is the next step in the process. I have another question then.

I'm curious why the last time we did this for Station 5, we were sold on that bots are the greatest thing since light spread for these. And this, suddenly, we are looking at, we're not looking at a bot any longer. Can you explain why this is different?

Yeah. And I have the time to where we actually do. And I was going to mention this in my remarks this evening. We're contemplating a public hearing on a B. O. T. Agreement at the council meeting next month. We'll have that resolution in form of agreement filed. We'll also have an appropriation resolution filed as well to appropriate the proceeds of these bonds. So it's contemplated that the same procurement mechanism will be used for this fire station. Number five.

Yes. And I'm sorry if I spoke out of turn, you called on me, and so I had those two questions. Number one, the questions I think that we're asking, I don't want that to be manipulated into saying that we don't support public safety, because we absolutely do. Councilwoman Gullion and I toured Station 5 in February of 24, 25. And it is in desperate need to be redone desperately. And so that's not the issue. But imagine our surprise, my surprise, when I opened up the ordinance and I saw two things on the front page that weren't accurate. And it made me leery of the rest of what was within. I also had the question about the bot. And I hope that we are able to get more information before we move forward on this. Not saying that we won't do it because... It is needed, but there's a lot of questions now.

Certainly. We understand and will strive to answer those questions and have all the information for the council to make informed decisions.

So why would the lease financing be better than the buy, build, operate, and trade?

Yeah, that's a great question, Councilmember. They're actually two separate distinct items. The BOT refers to the procurement method for selecting the contractor. And back three or four years ago, kind of a global procurement was done for the BOT process on the fire stations. When we did fire station number six, we came before you with a public hearing and a BOT agreement before you. We're planning to do the same thing with this project as well. That addresses the procurement, kind of the public bidding aspect of it. The question about lease financing versus the other financing method used back, I think it was 2024 when we did that fire station, has to do with debt limit and capacity of the city for financings. When we did, and I'm going to look at Bob Swens because he can nod his head here and come up if you have more questions about the numbers. When we did fire station number six back in 2024, that financing structure didn't need a lease financing because there was enough constitutional debt limit capacity for the city at the time available. Since we did fire station number six, that took up some of that capacity. So the mechanism to fund this fire station is now through a lease financing mechanism. And that's why you're seeing these lease documents. It's a financing tool that's commonly used in Indiana. I'd be happy to go into it more if you've got more questions.

Okay, so these type of projects are often Tax exempt rates?

Yes, sir. These would be tax exempt.

Mr. President, thank you. And are you not prepared if we pass this introduction to spend the month in addressing the issues that have been raised tonight before final passage next month?

Yes, certainly, Councillor. I've heard the questions tonight, and they can be emailed to me. I mean, I can address them, or you can send additional questions to me, and we can get together with the team and provide you with responses ahead of next month's council meeting.

Would would it be possible then since we talked about finding additional information if we sent ordinance 9 dash 26 to the public services committee not not interfering with introduction or progress but just so that we can have a formal committee meeting with chairman Jerry dish man to receive that information that not just Council but also the public can be made aware of of how we're going to proceed. So I make a motion that we send ordinance 9-26 to the Public Services Committee for further review.

I'll second that. OK. Well, thank you very much for your time, and we'll look forward to responding.

If I might have a point of order. Counselor, we have a motion and a second on the desk. We also have a recommendation and a second to send it to committee. What are we expected to vote on here, first and second?

If it's going to the committee to make amendments, is that what you're proposing?

Not even amendments, just for further review and to find out information about what's within. So we would need to introduce, correct?

Yeah, it needs to be. The main question hasn't been answered yet. So you can make a motion after it's been introduced to send it to a committee.

I'm not clear you have to say that again we have two motions and seconds on the open we have a motion and a second to introduce and a motion and a second to to send to committee. Does the send committee override the motion to introduce, or must we vote on both of them?

So it needs to be introduced, and then it can be sent to a committee. OK, gotcha. Vote on whether or not to introduce, and then someone can make a motion on whether or not you would like that to go to a committee.

OK, that's fine.

Any other questions?

Thank you. Okay, thank you.

I would just like to take this opportunity to say a reminder that a while back I was told that the citizens of this community at these meetings were embarrassment for people that were looking on. And I think that the beginning of this Ordinance 926 just showcases how that's not exactly the truth. It's more like the council is the embarrassment. And I would admonish you and say please do what you can to know what you're doing up here so you don't look foolish. Okay. Thank you. Number one, I am also concerned about BOT versus what this is, but then there were some other issues in the ordinance. The building corporation. The building corporation is mentioned in the ordinance, and it talks about people being named to that board. Who are those people that was named to that board? When was that board created? Put the people on that board. If they're not on that board yet, when will that board be created? Who will put those people on that board? And why must this always be so... Look, if secretive is not the word, maybe it shouldn't seem secretive. If it's a little bit more open, then maybe it should appear to be more open. It... Talks in there about the controller doing some things rather than the board. I just want to make sure that we know what's happening because we're going to talk about a resolution later on that has some questions concerning the controller. So I just want to make sure that when you guys are voting on this, if we have questions like that, that you guys are concerning that and we're asking those and we're making sure that we're not putting the cart before the horse. So thank you very much.

It hasn't been said out loud, but I want to make sure everyone understands. The city can't statutorily borrow any more money. That's what we're talking about here. We've reached a limit that the state has said no more. So I'm not saying this isn't an emergency. Sarah says, I talked to her yesterday about this, actually, that the fire station is a dire strait. So if we're going to go around State law basically and then I understand it's legal. We found some lawyer loophole to get through it. That's fine, whatever But we're talking about a crisis at this point right because we can't borrow any more money On our debt books, so we're going around it because this is an emergency to solve So my question to everyone involved in this including the mayor and council and everyone is is Are we spending the money wisely? So we're spending $11.5 million. Is that the cheapest we can do this for? I'm not saying we should build the worst building ever that's going to be replaced in five years, but have we actually looked at what we're building? Has the community seen what we're building? Is it the best use of funds in an emergency? And those are the questions that I want to know. I don't think that anyone wants the firefighters to live in a black mold infested building. I don't think anyone wants the ladder trucks to be halfway across town when they need to serve Ball Memorial and Ball State. I don't think that's the question here. It's just, you know, we're talking about using some weird procedure to borrow money beyond what the state says we should to do this. So I wanna make sure that council understands that we need to spend the money as frugally as we can in this situation. to make sure that the city is not in even worse shape when the next emergency happens. Because trust me, our entire infrastructure, all of our buildings that are old, all the fire stations, we know that the police department has trouble. These are all going to be people coming to you in the next couple years asking for emergency money. And if we spend this money today and it's more than we needed to spend, that's more money that won't solve a future crisis. So I'm just asking you guys to hit the brakes for a second here and make sure that we're spending this money wisely.

Hello, council. My name is Iris Lane. Rob put it very eloquently. I'm going to say what my mama said and what my grandma said, and that's don't lease. Bye.

Thank you.

Elizabeth Edgell, IU is giving $1.5 million to this project, right? Weren't they also giving to the crisis center, too?

Wayne Scaife. I'm about to blow a gas. Man, y'all, this is ridiculous. She started off reading the ordinance with two lies in it. So it's already misleading. We shouldn't have even been this far. We shouldn't be talking about bot procurement. None of this stuff. This is crazy. It shouldn't have went this far. If the thing started off with lies in it, it shouldn't even be discussed. Why are we even talking about it? This is crazy. Y'all need to do better, man. This is crazy.

Anyone else wishing to speak?

Good afternoon, evening, Council. Jason Chafin, president of Local 1348, my two firefighters. I just wanted to say, again, thank you for all you guys. Again, this is, between the two stations, a five-year journey from our first meeting Firefighter committee appointment, you know and some counselors that aren't even here now we're involved and it's spanned more than one, you know generation Election season but obviously, you know Norrin and Sarah went out and met with Ball State and helped secure that money and had played a role and Looking at the station and all you guys have played a role through this journey and getting these stations fixed over the last five or six years now, so Obviously, I look forward to having all your guys' questions answered at a public hearing so we can get this rolling next month. And like the first gentleman said, the BRAT process is a completely separate resolution that will come. So thanks, guys.

Thank you.

Anyone else? We have a first and a second on this will call.

Yes, yes. I'll say yes.

Yes.

Right now will say no to get more information, please. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Mr. President, yes, I'd like to make a motion that we send ordinance 9 dash 26 to the public services committee for further exploration and answers to questions that council and the public may have.

Motion and a second. Any questions? We'll call. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Ordinance 10-26.

Ordinance 10-26, an ordinance for additional appropriation, Muncie Police Department.

Anyone wishing to speak on this ordinance?

We have a motion.

So moved.

Second? I'll second. Anyone wishing to speak on this?

Good evening. This is kind of speaking on both 10-26 and 11-26. These are the appropriations that were originally brought to our office for the budget last fall. And basically, it's not adding additional appropriations. It's basically what they have submitted to us. When that was submitted to the state, the software dropped 105 and 106 on those appropriations. And we were in contact with our representative. Now, I will also say that they had many issues with that software besides us, because we sat in on a seminar last week for the budget process for next year. We'll be starting here real shortly. But they've named it 2.0 and it's a whole new software program to fix any issues that they may have. Um, so that's the reason for the additional appropriations on this. Uh, chief, uh, deputy chief Deegan did say if you had any of questions for him that he would be here next month for the hearing, but to also send him any additional questions you might have.

So just for clarification of what you've said, both Ordinance 10-26 and 11-26 are simply the line items from the budget that we adopted.

Right, that were dropped.

That were kicked out from Gateway. Yes. So this is more housekeeping than it is adding additional. Yes. OK. Thank you, sir.

Mr. President? I'm sorry. Thank you. And that's every line, not just the page?

Well, yeah. Well, we have to add the additional appropriations.

Right. And all these items. Yes. OK.

And just for the public's knowledge, Fund 105 and 106 are the Muncie Police and Muncie Fire's local income tax money. They can only be spent on the police and fire. So these appropriations, as we're calling them, but really just filling in the money that was kicked out, could not be used for other departments or things along those lines. So this is money that is collected for the public safety through the Public Safety Lit, which will be used for public safety.

Correct.

Any other questions for council? Any questions from the audience? Roll call. Ms. Towns? Yes. Ms. Coney? Yes. Ms. Coney?

Yes. Mr. Heer? Yes.

Mr. Magidon?

Reluctantly, yes. I feel for my sisters and brothers on the city. Workers would ask me. I don't understand why they still haven't got to take care of. I know that has nothing to do with it, but I have to speak my feelings. So, yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Moving on to Ordinance 11-26.

Ordinance 11-26, an ordinance for additional appropriation Muncie Fire Department.

We have a motion to introduce so moved. I'll second that. And one wishing to speak again on this ordinance.

I just wanted to take this as an opportunity to talk about an event that's going on on Wednesday. At the Muncie Liberation Studio, we're going to have a Know Your Rights training so that we can all, you know, be reminded of our constitutional rights and deepen our...

This is not public comment concerning that. This is on Ordinance 11-26. Chief Berfer, please.

Good evening, Chief Burford. Once again, Muncie Fire Department. I just want to make one small clarification. As I said before, what was being appropriated was mostly what was presented to you. I did have to make one change as the state law changed on the city's pension contribution from what was presented to you during the budget hearings. The state went up from 20.3 to 23.3. percent which was mandated by the state so if you go back to what was originally presented to you last October there is the correction to make sure that we fund those pensions as required by the state so there was one you know almost everything was identical except for that line item that was presented

Mr. President? Mr. Baxter, you had a question?

Sure. Could you give those numbers again, those percentages?

The percentages of the city's contribution for PERF went from 20.3% in 2025 to 23.3% in 2026. And that's decided by a board down at the state, and it's a mandate that we have to abide by.

Yes, Lord.

And so what was the increase in what you originally budgeted versus what you're asking for now?

About 154,000, I believe, is what the increase was.

Follow-up question, Mr. President?

Yeah.

What will be the balance of Fund 1065 with that additional appropriation? Because that is an additional appropriation.

Yes, that one is. And so the total budget would be for the $2,378,309.68. Correct. And so at the end of the year, we should have a balance this year of about $28,000. And you're lit?

Yes.

Okay. Any other questions?

One more follow-up question. I'm so sorry. That differs from what you've told us when you came through the budget process is what you thought you would have at the end of the year.

Yeah. Last year, at the end of the year, we did end with $132,000. Okay. We started this year with $132,000 balance.

All right. I'll look into that. Thank you. Yep.

Any other questions?

No, sir. Thank you very much.

Anyone else? Thank you. Thank you. call yes yes yes yes again reluctantly yes yes yes yes moving on ordinance 12-26

Ornith 12 dash 26 being an ordinance to amend the city of Muncie comprehensive zoning or ordinance from the are to residents zone to the beefy variety business zone on premises located at 44,600 North Wheeling Avenue months, Indiana.

Motion to introduce so moved. I'll second that.

Mr. President? Yes. I just got a favorable recommendation at the Polk Planning Commission. Thank you. Thank you.

Anyone wishing to speak on this ordinance?

Thank you. My name is Brad Warner. I'm a lifetime Muncie resident and Ball State University graduate. I own Studio 22 and have done so since 2002. I'd like to thank my wife, Christina, for being here in support, and also Dr. Sewers, one of my clients. He's going to make a quick word, and Jim is here as well. I'd like to really thank these guys for being here. But I'm representing the church and the rezoning. I'm looking to move my personal training business across the street, which would provide me with more space and be able to better serve the community and really revitalize and put some money into that building and really make it a nice usable building. It's been vacant for a couple of years. So thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you.

I'm Rob Sewer. I'm a physician here in town. I've been a doctor here for 49 years. And I've been a client at Studio 22 for 15 years. And in the nearly 3,000 hours I've spent there, I would just attest to the fact that Brad has a very, very high standard of operation. And from a physician's standpoint, being able to witness what he does with clients and how much safety is involved, I've never seen an injury there. And my personal experience has been initially was to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, which I actually could, but subsequently just to maintain. And just from a healthy standpoint, And now at age 75, I feel better than I've ever felt. But his standard of care, his standard of operation is of the highest degree. And I think that it would be an addition to allow it to expand because it needs to. It's just busier. And I think it would be an addition, a good addition to that area. And it's just literally across the street. So I thank you for this consideration.

Hi, I'm Jim Davis. My wife and I started working out with Brad when he first opened nearly 24 years ago. And 24 years ago, I started getting age-related aches and pains walking up steps. And we started working out with Brad, and they immediately went away. And at the risk of jinxing myself, they've not returned yet. Brad's strength is understanding, you know, how the body works, how the body is built. And he tailors the exercise routines to each and every person. And now at the age of 80, having knee surgery, back surgery, he was able to work around my issues to allow me to keep working out through all of these years. Looking for an inspiration for him. This talk tonight, I was watching one of my workout mates this morning, Barbara, a retired Yorktown teacher. When she's not pumping iron with Brad, she's with her dance club dancing. When she's not doing that, she's playing golf at the country club. Barbara's 95 years old. and still going strong. This is the kind of service he provides. It gives us more activity in all of our years. I highly recommend that you consider the rezoning to allow even more people to enjoy all the benefits that Brad offers this community. Entrepreneurs like Brad should be honored and maintained here in Muncie. Thank you.

My name is Rich Thomas. I'm with Danmore Real Estate Services. I'm the broker for this property and just wanted to say a few words on behalf of the Nazarene Church Organization, who isn't here, and they're pretty excited about this situation. I've dealt with a lot of different church organizations, whether it be the Nazarene, Seventh Day Adventists, or Wesleyan Church Organization, which is kind of what brought me here, here to Muncie, because most of my business is in the Indianapolis area. However, it is very, very difficult. to sell a special use property. And because of that, it's also very, very difficult to get financing. So when it comes to other churches that have contacted me on this property, I know there might be some residents, well, how come the church doesn't buy this type of thing? Well, 30% down is the standard. So if you're a church organization and you buy a $100,000 property, you've got to put $30,000 down for financing. So it doesn't make it easy. in that regard. But Nazarene Church is pretty excited because when you talk about physical health, you also talk about mental health. This is a guy who's done it for a long time. You're still going to get services. You're going to help the community out. You're going to make it easy for folks to get there. And because he's done it for a long period of time, they're excited about that possibility. Okay, so I appreciate you guys letting me speak, and good luck to Mr. Warner. I think he'll do well.

Any questions from council?

Yes. I just noticed in here that it says that the owner intends to sell this property if rezoned. Is there any kind of written contract for that? I mean, I guess my question is because if we rezone this and it's not sold for some reason to Brad, then it could open up to a lot of other different kinds of businesses that the neighbors may not be as happy about.

In looking at this and talking with Brad and the owner, the reason why we looked at the BV was because it didn't allow for a lot of different types of uses. Most of the uses had to be residential-friendly, right? And I do understand that argument, but I think if there's any other type of usage that could be detrimental to residential, it would have to be a whole other reason. But, yeah, Nazarene Church was aware of that possibility and felt like it was a good situation. The pastor who retired from there, lives right behind the property itself. And so they are very aware of things that are going on. We've even had some other possible buyers that want to turn it into nightclubs and things like that. But another reason why we stuck with the BV, if that helps.

Just that BV really kind of helps me out, too. It fits everything Studio 22 needs in your zoning and all that. And it also kind of allows to make sure that, you know, like Ms. Garland said, nothing detrimental moves to that area. So that's a very smart and wise choice of zoning. So I appreciate that. That's just good business on the zoning part and all that. So thank you.

Did that answer your question?

Yes, thanks. Any other questions from council?

Roll call.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

You've been asked to take a short break, restroom break. for adjourn for five minutes

I know I'm always talking

OK. Reconvene the meeting.

That's all for new ordinances. Brings up resolutions.

Mr. President, can I make a motion to table this?

We need to read the resolution first. Let's see which guy will read it. OK.

resolution 8-26 a resolution of the common council of the city of muncie authorizing an investigation into the financial operations and internal controls of the city controls office i make a motion to table 826. okay i'll second that

Does it need to be introduced? Yeah, should it be introduced before you kill it?

I have a motion to bring it on the table.

Second.

Motion, yeah. And now we have a motion.

Oh, sorry. Yeah, I made the motion. Sorry, I was quiet. OK, you made the motion. OK. And so, Mr. President?

I'd like to make a motion to amend resolution 8-26 now that it's been put on the table I would like to add in section 3a I'm sorry section 2 a number 4 which excludes from the scope of this resolution law enforcement investigatory records criminal investigation work product communication with prosecutors and law enforcement witness interviews and other similar items that's my motion to amend yes second thank you I would like to make a motion present

If I may? Yes. I'd like to amend and take out. Whereas the State Board of Accounts Special Investigation Report of the Parks and Recreation Department covering the period of April 13, 2020 to December 20, 2024 identifies significant noncompliance and deficiencies.

Second.

And that was to strike that, is that correct? To strike that from the resolution?

To strike it, yes.

Mr. President?

Yes.

May I make a comment? Resolution 826 does not look to find malfeasance. It's a fact-finding endeavor to allow council members to learn about the State Board of Account audit findings. Under Indiana Code 5-11-5-1.5, if an audit report contains a repeat finding, The entity is required to submit an official corrective action plan to the State Board of Accounts and the issues which trigger the audit finding must be fully corrected within six months of the date that the plan is filed. If the corrective action plan is not successfully implemented or if the issue is not fixed within that six month time frame, the State Board of Accounts is required by law to prepare a memorandum summarizing the finding and the unfulfilled plan. The State Board of Accounts Uniform Control Standards for Indiana Political Subdivision specifically states the oversight body and the management work together and share responsibility for the development and the implementation of internal controls of a political subdivision. We are the oversight body. The oversight body has the ultimate responsibility to oversee and monitor that the internal controls have been implemented and are being followed by the political subdivision as a whole. The oversight body is by default us, the legislative body. So, I have six pages of repeated findings going back to 2020 and obviously the Internal Controls Plan is not working because they're repeated findings. This is not to find malfeasance that the State Board of Accounts didn't find malfeasance but Per Indiana Code and per the State Board of Count Uniform Control Standards, we must know, number one, what this plan was, and number two, why it didn't work. That's our responsibility. And I feel like Resolution 8-26 is a common sense resolution that builds public trust and creates transparency. Thank you.

Mr. President, are you keeping track? Okay. So our first vote will be on the resolution has been introduced.

It's made a motion.

Motion and seconded. The resolution has been opened for debate. There's a one motion to amend and then there's a second.

And one motion to table.

That was not.

Actually, it hasn't been brought up since it was. It wasn't on the table. Since it was raised. Okay. So there's not been a motion to table since the resolution was properly before the council. The only things that are properly before the council right now are the main question of whether or not to adopt, and that's what you're talking about now.

So going back to honor the original motion to table, would you care to call on Mr. Dishman?

Point of order.

It has been introduced.

It was not. No, sir. It wasn't. It wasn't.

So he can make a motion now, but when he made his motion originally, the resolution was not before the council because there had not been a first and there had not been a second.

But now the president has recognized Mr. Dishman.

Sure was the president?

No, he didn't.

I have not heard Mr. Diffman. That's what I'm saying.

I make a motion to table. I have a question before. That's OK.

So the motion to table, all other motions are secondary to that motion. So it needs a second and a majority vote to table. To table.

OK. Do you have a question? Yes, before. We need a second.

The actual motion to table itself is not debatable. Right.

So we need a second. Do we not? Or it goes right to vote?

No. It needs a second and then a vote. If there's no second, there's no. And it goes back to the discussion. And until there's enough discussion to ask that it be tabled again, you can't ask to table it again. So.

Councilman Gary has a question.

Well. You're not allowed to ask that question. Most of the table's not debatable.

Right. I can't. I can't. I don't have the word.

If there's no second, then debate continues.

Public comment?

A second.

What about that?

So now you have to do a roll call vote on the motion to table.

Wait, what about comment before you do that?

There's no comment period on a motion to table.

OK. Roll call. Mr. Powell?

No.

Mr. Geary?

No.

Yes. I'm confused. I'm confused.

Who did you call? Yes.

Mr. Dishman?

Yes.

Mr. McIntyre?

No.

Mr. Mason?

No. Ms. O'Neill? No.

Mr. Green?

Yes.

Mr. Snowden? No.

Debate's back open.

Now you can ask your question, Mr. Garrett.

So, okay, this is what I have. So say you, Mr. or Councilor Fusca-Powell, sorry, you brought it up that if, say, something pops up that is... out the realm of our duties as the council that goes into a legal aspect that we don't know about. We cannot speak on any of that. We can only speak on what we find in our records, correct?

correct my motion to amend which has is still hanging excludes from the scope of this resolution any law enforcement investigatory records criminal investigation work products communication with prosecutors law enforcement witness interviews and any other similar items this is not about the current ongoing investigation this is about State Board of Account records from 2020 through 2025 which we've had repeated audit findings, and unfortunately, our corrective action plans aren't working. They're not working, and we should know why as a council. We should know why as a council, because it's our responsibility.

Yeah, so I understand now the amendment, because I tried to get your attention. I wasn't able to. Somebody else amended.

I struck.

Would you? Yes, and then I have a question for him. Go ahead, please.

I struck that State Board of Accounts Special Investigation Report of the Parks and Recreation Department covering the period of April 13, 2020 to December 2024 identified significant noncompliance and deficiencies.

OK. Thank you. Mr. President. May I ask Councilman McIntosh a question?

Yeah.

And so by striking that, are you completely removing that ongoing investigation from Resolution eight dash 20 to 26?

Exactly.

Thank you, sir. OK, I do have Mr. President.

Yes, I had a conversation with our prosecutor, Eric Hoffman. There is an ongoing investigation still going on by the state police. And that's the reason I wanted to table it, because I don't want this council to hamper They're when they get ready to prosecute the people that supposed to be doing And I'm just telling you I don't want this council to lose the case for the state police and prosecutor These questions I want I would I would still like to be tabled Okay, thank you

Council, would you step to the... Oh, you have a mic. Great. Okay. So could you tell us with, like, summarize exactly how this resolution looks now versus how it started for the people listening and for us? Because I...

How it looks now versus how it started. So I think the addition in the scope of the investigation that removes law enforcement, investigatory records, criminal investigation, work product, communications with prosecutors, law enforcement, witness interviews, other similar items, I think just explicitly removes any that the council could interfere, obstruct, or even parallel a criminal investigation. So I think that the council has an obligation and is afforded an opportunity to investigate and review the internal controls. I think that that can be done.

carefully and without obstructing interfering or even paralleling a criminal investigation thank you for making it clear and when I spoke with our counselor I said investigation is a very strong word this is more just fact-finding this is not to find malfeasance there was none that would have that State Board of Accounts would have turned over to anybody this is counsel Upholding our responsibility of knowing why our corrective action plans didn't work in the six-month period that's that Indiana code has set forth It's just us finding out so that when people ask us why is this repeated or when we have questions about why it's repeated We'll understand it's not to point fingers. It's just so we can understand why we have six pages of repeated findings of the same thing and excess you know appropriations and internal control issues um it's it's builds public trust thank you any other comments from council this this allows us to do our civic duty without overstepping into

to law enforcement or any ongoing proceeding aspects, correct? This just allows us to make sure that we can do what we need to do and we're supposed to do and not I would say hinder any anything that's going on or or hopefully doesn't go on in the future, but just allows us to do our jobs and basically just do our job just is basically plain and simple and not overstep into the legal aspect realm of where we don't need to be or hinder any investigations or anything. Correct. Correct. All right, thank you. Just kind of playing it down.

That's my understanding.

Okay, thank you. I hear the same thing.

Question. Yes. For council, in this ordinance, is there somewhere which explains how this is going to happen? Yes. Like how the investigation is going to start, the order, who's going to be included.

I just want to know.

May I interject something here to add to your question, sir? You indicated in your legal summary that there were several options to address this review, if you will. It included a standing committee, but it also offered the opportunity for another committee formed to address the specific issue. And perhaps we might leave that to our president to form a committee that would allow that to go forward. That was an option, wasn't it?

there are standing committees that it could be referred to by vote and the president does by the ordinance have the ability to create uh committees that's okay it also specifies that we could do it as a committee as a whole as a council as a whole that is another option too mr president correct i just i sit up here every month

And I understand the frustration of y'all. I really do. I'm there. This right here, we're taking this too far. I'm just sorry I have to say it like that because it's self-explanatory. All we're trying to do is do our job as a council. Y'all sitting up here trying to, never mind. I'm done with it. I'm done.

Mr. President, I would like to make a motion to amend Section 3, Methods of Investigation under A. The complete council shall conduct this investigation through the following methods. Changing it from the council so that it's understood that all nine members, since it is our responsibility to know this, are included in the receiving of the information, not a three-person committee chosen by the President.

Second. I'll second.

We vote on those.

Yeah, so there are three pending amendments, and so we'll have to go through each one of those at a time.

Comment first.

You guys are so bloody afraid. I don't understand it. I'm trying to not have a heart attack. You guys are ridiculous. I mean, bloody ridiculous. Nobody out here, and none of you should think that any of you all are Dick Tracy's, nobody thinks that you guys are investigators or amazing detectives. You're not going to stumble upon some kind of crazy crime. And Nora keeps saying that it's your job to know. We want to know. I don't care if you want to know. We want to know. It's your job to do your job so that we know. None of you are going to find some kind of crime, and none of you are going to affect what the state police and Eric Hoffman and the Delaware County prosecutors, you guys can barely counsel your way out of a paper bag. You're not going to affect this. And Roe, did you not read this? Do you guys not read the resolutions before you come here?

I did read it. Okay, it laid out.

It laid out. All right, I appreciate that.

So there were two choices served, so I needed to know which choice we were going. And I appreciate that.

That is fair.

Thank you.

But a third grader could have followed the amendments. This was not that difficult. counselor mcintosh was right you guys are taking it too far and it's because a couple of you are so afraid that something's going to be wrong in the mayor's controller's office and you're not even pointing fingers that way no one's at you guys aren't pointing fingers you're not looking for anything like that you're just doing the bare minimum of your job vote and do what the public want you've heard it you've heard the people here clapping I don't care what the mayor wants. I don't care what the acting mayor wants. I don't care what you personally want. You have heard the people here clap when you guys have moved towards approving the resolution. And you guys keep calling it an ordinance. It's a resolution. Vote and get it over with. Do it. And it prescribes through there. 15 some days, you get the information. 15 days later, the council will meet. Quit making this harder than it needs to be. All nine of you are here. You are all elected to do a job. And if you can't do it or don't want to do it, resign.

Chip Taylor, Muncie, Indiana. It's no secret that a lot of times, a lot of the politics surrounding what goes on at council meetings with the city council really just sort of amounts to basically just kind of degenerates into expressions of our opinions about something the administration has done. The administration does something. Some of us cheer. Some of us boo. I don't know that that's particularly productive. I think maybe it represents that people recognize these things are important, and they feel passionate about them, so they want to speak out. But set that aside. This resolution offers the council a chance to take a substantive role in helping to solve an apparent problem and make things better for Muncie and all of us who live here. Okay, which is, I think, you know, what we're trying to do. So I urge you to adopt this resolution. I think some good amendments have been pointed out. It's like, I don't, you know, I don't think anybody wants, like, to interfere with a criminal investigation that came out of the State Board of Accounts investigation, right? And so, and I hope you will, like, address this, you know, it's investigation because, like, that's what you have the power to do. But, like, really, a review is probably a better... a better word for it, and I hope that you'll approach it, as I said, a fact-finding mission. Try and find out what's going on, rather than just another opportunity for partisan cheerleading. Because I think these amendments have been proposed make it crystal clear that you're not trying to interfere in the investigation. I mean, it's excluding some documents that, like, the resolution never proposed you would ask for in the first place, right? It was all internal to the city. I'd also point out that, I mean, some of the findings that Councilwoman Powell is talking about, they're about other issues of internal controls that have nothing to do with what happened at the Park Department. It has to do with, like, spending money that wasn't appropriated by the council. It talks about, you know, improperly spending money from the MVH restricted account, which was something that came up at last year's budget hearing. And these are things that went on like three or four years without being corrected, right? And so, you know, when you go through those findings, I think it would be useful for the council to know, in your oversight capacity and your responsibility for these internal controls, to ask them, like, okay, you know, in 2021, they audited 2020, had this finding, what did you do in response? The next year they had the finding again, what did you do then and why didn't what you did before work? And then the third year they audited and they said the same thing again, what did you do then, right? I don't think any of that interferes with this criminal investigation. asking for, like, the documentation of what the current internal control standards are. I don't see how that interferes with investigation. I mean, at the end of the day, I hope, I believe we all share the goal of trying to make Muncie be the best Muncie it can be, right? And, you know, being the best Muncie we can be doesn't require perfection. Nobody's expecting nobody ever makes a mistake, right? But it does require a commitment to continual improvement. But, you know, this continual improvement is more than just like some sort of technical process, even though it's part of that. It's also a matter of attitude, organizational and community culture. Yet, we have to have the courage to look at our mistakes and figure out what went wrong so we can correct them and improve. We can't flinch or look away when we're faced with that. We've got to have the courage to look at it. We can't get better at something that we refuse to examine. But to get better, we need to believe we deserve it. Right? Before I retired, I worked with public officials all around the state, local governments, and some state agencies. I don't know if you know this, but people around the state have opinions about Muncie. Some of them aren't good. Some of them aren't fair. Right? But sometimes I worry we've sort of internalized some of their worst opinions about us. It's like we don't deserve, like, good accounting or top-notch performance. Look, I know we're not fishers or caramel. Actually, I say thank goodness for that. But the fact is, there are things they have that are beyond our grasp. They're just richer, they're just in a different situation. But we should be reaching for all the good things that are within our grasp. You know, and that's how we get to enjoy the best version of Muncie that can exist. And accurate and effective financial reporting is within our grasp. It's not rocket science, right? We can do this if we try. Now, I know that's not an inspiring campaign slogan, right? Nobody ever got elected to office saying, like, we're going to have good internal controls, right? I mean, it's just not an inspiring thing. But it's important. It's not something that's nice to have. It's a foundation to having success in other things. It'll put other things within our grasp. I'll mention the investigation one time that we learned from that investigation there's $20,000 worth of something that's not within our grasp anymore because somebody took the money, apparently. So you have the opportunity to do something to move Muncie forward. toward being the best we can be. It's part of your job description as city council. It's not gonna interfere with anybody else's job description. It's within your grasp. I hope you have the courage to look squarely at this problem and try and figure out a solution to it. I hope you think Muncie's worth it. I read the resolution. I think it lays out a pretty clear process. There's no need to complicate it. I just urge you to pass this, please.

Hello, council, Iris Lane, Muncie, Indiana. I recognize a few educators on the board, or the council, my apologies. And I would urge the educators to, in the pursuit of education, never stop learning. And this is a moment to continue learning. how you do your jobs better. It seems very clear that Resolution 826 and the proposed amendments lay out a plan for how to continue to learn how to be better council members. And with that, I close. Thank you.

The Indiana Code spells it out. There shouldn't be any questions about it. But to just to enlighten something that happened, Roe, I really do believe you didn't understand. I give that to you. I really do believe there's nothing nefarious behind what you did. But the other three, I believe the reason they don't want it because they're already given that information behind closed doors. They just don't want the rest of you to know it. And that's why they're not behind this resolution. So, and I'm glad you clarified it. No committee, all nine members need to know what's going on with the business dealings of the controller's office. And Brandon, she spelled it out for you. This has nothing to do with the park. And you heard that, right?

Oh, yeah, that's why I brought it up. Right, and I'm glad you brought it up.

But yet we still hear... They didn't want to mess with the state police investigation. It has nothing to do with that investigation. It's everything. Everything. And one thing, the last thing I want to say is, and one reason why this thing should pass is because if you guys do your job and do the oversight, I believe there's going to be a lot more things that's going to pop up on the radar that should have been looked at by the council And if you guys do your job and let the public know what's going on, I'm pretty sure we can get some things done. But no more behind the closed doors meetings with the mayor for three members on this council that I will not say the names. But no more behind the closed doors meetings. Everybody should know what's going on. Thank you.

Elizabeth, I'll be brief. You know, we're seeing a habit here from this administration, and the reason things are so messed up is because they're not being done by policy and procedure from the get-go. And I resent the Colombo attitude here. Well, did we table it? I don't know. you know what happens when you say the word table. I mean, come on, we've been watching this. It's a pattern now. I find it hard to believe that you did all your homework, Mr. Bastion, when you were reading that VOT agreement and you had to hold it up and say everybody, everybody could have read this. Or everybody could learn how to run a meeting too. Everybody could also do their job and learn their job description. This falls under your job description completely. The administration is running over you. We've had three boards where things are already decided before the board even gets there. This is getting out of control. And if it doesn't get stopped, well, I believe we start an election year next year.

I just want to say that you know that it's all spelled out I don't know what about this

that has to have all this partisan. We need to stop playing partisan politics and do what's right for the people that we represent. Skate probably said it right. Those three of you probably already got your answers, what we're looking for. But it hasn't been shared with anybody else. So let's stop playing partisan politics and do right by our people.

Let me answer that, if I might. I don't have any information that you don't have. When this resolution was first presented, there is an issue of information that might come from a review, but that information, That has been addressed by the three amendments. The three amendments make it more reasonable for us to move forward and review a process without involving the investigation or naming names or interrupting an investigation before it's completed.

Mr. President, sorry, they gave me a microphone. It is in the municipal code, our Muncie code, if I may read it, investigatory powers. The Common Council may investigate, one, the department's officers and employees of the city, two, any charges against any department officer or employee of the city, and three, the affairs of a person with whom the city has entered or is about to enter into a contract, B. When conducting an investigation, the Common Council, one, is entitled to all records pertaining to the investigation, and two, may compel the audience of witnesses and a production of evidence by subpoena and attachment served and executed in Delaware County, Indiana. C, if a person refuses to testify or produce evidence at an investigation conducted under this section, the Common Council may order its clerk me to immediately present to the circuit court of the county a written report of the facts related to the refusal the court shall hear all questions related to the refusal to testify or produce evidence and shall also hear any new evidence not included in the clerk's report if the court finds that the testimony or evidence sought should be given or produced it shall order the person to testify or produce but this is actually in our municipal code I don't even I mean honestly it kind of covers what this resolution is it's redundant we have three amendments we need to vote on first I believe

nor had made a motion to strike. Was it?

No, I made a motion to add and set a number four to section two, a which excludes from the scope of this resolution, anything that could potentially affect an ongoing investigation. That was my motion.

Yeah, we're ready to vote for it.

Yeah, we're ready to vote on that. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

the second one the motion was made to strike whereas a State Board of Accounts that paragraph on that second with section sections the fourth whereas my correct sir yes that's correct needs a second

I'll second that. Oh, you had one already? Yeah, he has one already. It's already gone. Oh.

Okay, we'll call.

Mr. Garrett? Yes. Ms. Nelson? Yes.

Mr. Dixon?

No.

Mr. Mason?

Yes.

Ms. Howell?

Yes. Ms. McIntosh? Did you say McIntosh? Yes. No, I can't argue with that. Ms. McIntyosh? Yes.

Mr. Batchelor? Yes.

Mr. Green? Yes.

and was there a third one the third one was a motion i made which would be to add in section three part a the entire uh city council shall conduct this investigation through the following methods so i would just it just adds the entire did i say complete the complete council as um shall conduct this information rather than committee say many yes okay thank you yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes mr. president I make a motion that we adopt resolution 8-26 as amended. I'll second.

Roll call.

Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes.

All right. Yes.

No.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Moving on to table resolution 4-26. Still tabled. Raises to other business.

Mr. President, I have another business before we invite the public up. I appreciate you letting me speak. I sent an email last week, and I wanted to, I don't know if you received it, and so I wanted to read it into the record. President Green, I'm requesting that you make a formal inquiry to Mayor Ridenour in your role as the President of Muncie City Council regarding the status of contract negotiations between the City of Muncie and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, otherwise known as AFSCME. The last update Council received was from the administration in an email from the Mayor on December 29, 2025. City Council adopted the most current collective bargaining agreements at the beginning of 2026 for both Firefighters Local 1348 and Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 87, but we have yet to receive a resolution for the 2026 collective bargaining agreement for AFSCME Local 3656. During the budget process, each department head included a 4% raise for employees in their proposed budget. And then, as then finance chair, I questioned if the city had available funds. Controller Craig Wright assured the finance committee that even with decreasing property tax revenues as a result of Senate Bill 1, The city could afford to give all employees a 4% increase given that Mayor Ridenour had pledged to subsidize the general fund with $900,000 in edit dollars. The council verified the funding was available and adopted the appropriations in Ordinance 33-25. The AFSCME employees are carrying the lion's share of the hardship our city employees experience as a result of the Senate Bill 1 strategies announced by Mayor Ridenour at his press conference last August. These include static wages in the face of increased health insurance premiums, a hiring freeze, and encouraging full-time employees to transition to a part-time status. Even under these circumstances AFSCME employees continue to give the city their best. I hold the firm opinion that feeling appreciated and valued by your employer goes a long way towards improving the employee's quality of life and quality of place both of which Mayor Ridenour spoke of in his State of the Community Address last March. They have earned and deserve this salary increase, which was promised during the Mayor's Press Conference last August. The funding has always been there to provide these raises and invest in our employees. I am optimistic that your inquiry will reveal that a 2026 collective bargaining agreement between the City and AFSCME, which includes their salary increase, is being prepared for submission to the Clerk's Office for our July meeting. Respectfully, Nora Powell. Thank you.

I want to thank the city clerk for reading 3208 it's something that I have

Brought to you guys several times over the last several years at various points. And so I'm appreciative that she did that. And hopefully you guys will take it upon yourselves to go home and read it as well. I might get it tattooed right here so every now and then I can just lift it up and be like, hey, you guys can do this right here. I just really, again, want to talk about how embarrassing it was tonight. Your performance just was not good tonight. And I think every time it's like that, we have to tell you. You need to be told, and you need to feel bad about it. You need to go home and feel bad about it. And you really need to pray and talk to your friends and family members and ask, hey, should I do this again? Should I not do this again? You're going to be filing to run for re-election here in just a couple months, January. And I think there's several of you up there that really need to consider just not doing that. I think there's several of you that could probably consider resigning. I know you're not going to do that. I don't know why. Think about it. You wouldn't have to deal with me anymore. Wouldn't it be great just to be able to tell me to go pound sand or whatever? Just not even talk to me. That'd be fantastic. Hey, you could not answer emails. You guys are good at that. The last thing I want to send off with is I know that I've emailed this to you guys, and I appreciate that several of you have talked about this, but I do want to put it on the record. Back last October, there was a situation where you guys had had a little bit of a meeting before the meeting and then a meeting during the meeting, and I was concerned that it was an open-door violation. I got up, I said that. There was some back and forth, and you guys didn't think it was. I did file a complaint with the public access counselor. The public access counselor did file the advisory opinion. I was correct. The council did commit two open door violations. You guys all have copy of that now, and I'm sure that the city's aware of that. So I was right. Nothing's going to come of it. But the reason I told everyone that I was so concerned about this is there was a situation like that in Henry County about seven years ago, and the person who actually got the advisory in their opinion filed suit, and it cost Henry County $10,000. So I'm not going to sue the city for this. That's not what the point is. I'm not trying to hurt Muncie. I just want you guys to be aware of it. and I am thankful that there are several of you that have approached me about that, but I feel it's important to put that on the record. So thank you guys, have a good night.

Thank you.

The second person who signed after Bill Breece signed in cursive, and I'm going to give that to the President to see if he can read it. Do you remember if somebody's second person signed them? It does not look...

Was that your handwriting? Yes, sir. It does say yes, sir. I work with doctors.

Thank you. You're passed. Mr. Wainscott.

This is a record for me. I've never spoken this much, but y'all caused me to get up here and to this microphone. First of all, thanks, Councilman McIntosh, for reading that. committee report. My question is, nobody answered. What about the eighth member? Who approved that? It's not in the resolution. And you can speak, man. I know he's sitting up there like Mafia Don, but don't be afraid to speak.

I read my report.

I mean, who approved it? It lists seven members, and now there's an eighth person on there. Who approved it?

I got no approval. You got what I got.

Bro, now you see what I was talking about? I don't get too happy on this community center stuff. I'm sorry. Because now we're being bamboozled again because not only is he giving the money, he's deciding who's going to go in the building. That wasn't part of it. We don't have input. It's our building. And another question. What about this church on Mock Street? I'm hearing that's where it's going instead of Higgin Park. That's across 12th Street, which is out of Industry Neighborhood. The resolution says it's going to be in Industry Neighborhood.

Is that for me? Is that my three minutes? No.

Oh, okay. What you doing keeping my time? So that's another issue. So I don't know what's going to happen with this committee, but the way it's going, it's like the mayor said, I'm giving the money, so I'm going to run everything. And that's not the way the resolution was written. And the last thing I want to say, it's a shame that the person who's given all the financial answers up here Ms. Powell is not on the finance committee. So what's going to happen? Am I correct? You're not on the finance committee?

No.

So what's going to happen next time the budget comes up and the person we was getting all the answers for don't have the answers because you guys decided to do it different when all nine members are not on the finance committee and you took her off who has all the answers to share with us. And she was the only one really sharing it with us. So that's a disservice to the people that voted for you. Thank you.

Ms. Elizabeth Etchell. She left, okay, thank you. Mr. Rob Miller.

Hi. This is more for the public, but also if any one of you guys wanted to donate. The Muncie Central Neighborhood Association has started a capital campaign to work on the Emily Kimbrough House. If anyone's not familiar with the Emily Kimbrough House, it's the home that the neighborhood that puts on the Washington Street Festival owns. We use it as a community gathering center. Nora's nodding her head. She's been there many times. But there's some pretty urgent repairs that need to be done. We've raised actually quite a bit of money already, but if we get money this week, it can go into some matching funds that's potentially available for the state. After that, still appreciated, but your money will be more than doubled if you can donate this week. The details for that are muncie-ecna.org. There's a link on there for the capital campaign. Every little bit helps. It does go back into this neighborhood. So I know Ro let us letter of support. So thank you, Ro. You're welcome. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you.

Ms. Iris Lane?

She left.

She left. Ms. Willow Craig?

I've been to two of these now and I've watched a couple more with my mom. One thing I've noticed is many of like you just let people go on and on like you just completely forget about the three minute rule while for others you just you are heavy on it because you just don't want to listen to them I guess. I also get, like, if someone's, like, crying, like, okay, that's okay. Give them an extra 30 minutes, like, 30, whoa, 30 seconds to, like, a minute. Another thing I notice is I rarely see any of you out and about. Like, I do, as you know, I do a lot of things with my dad. And on top of that, I'm a student in middle school. I'm 13, I do at least five extracurriculars, and I play instruments, and I still have time to hang out with my friends. I don't see, I rarely see any of you guys doing anything at all. None of you guys were posted about being at a cleanup like last month. I went to at least one of them and my dad went to like three. Some of them got canceled, but he still was there to see that they got canceled. I see Sarah and Nora places, and yes, I saw President Green at Cooley Park, I believe last Tuesday. But that was the first time he had been anywhere with our neighborhood association in months. I'm just saying, if you're going to be as a council, at least be somewhere and show that you are helping the community. And no one listens to kids my age. I'm 13. Nobody's going to listen. So I hope that you guys will listen to me because you guys are a lot older than me and will maybe take my advice and stop complaining about what's going on around and do it yourselves.

Thank you. Mr. Norman Hawkins.

Norman Hawkins, and I live in the industry neighborhood. And I'm a concerned citizen about this center. I grew up at the multi, and I think the center should be put back in industry. And the perfect place for it is he can park. The mayor was going to build houses over there. Whatever property he was going to designate, for those houses, that's where the center should go. And he should donate the land or sell it to industry for a dollar. And also, it's a slap in the face, you know, to the community, the industry community. It's just like taking your new Chevrolet into Chevrolet place. And they say they're going to replace it. You go to pick your new Chevrolet up, and you got a Model T Ford. And if they're not going to do anything with it, there's Sutton School sitting out there. If it's going to be a community center, same thing. Ball State probably owns it, from what I gather. Ball State could sell property to industry for a dollar or donate it. And there's been a lot of industry students that has grown through Ball State and graduated. I put through to Ball State myself. One's an educator and the other one's a psychologist. So Ball State, you owe me. So do something for the neighborhood.

Thank you.

Excuse me, I was wondering if I could still sign up or maybe take the place of three people who passed on their time, please Is that possible at all Miss Leslie McCrory Miss Leslie McCrory

To the City Council of Muncie, Indiana. I'm grateful for this council's work to elevate community input by passing resolution 15-25, quote, establishing a committee to study the development of a community center to replace the former South Madison Community Center. I moved to South Central Muncie just after the demolition of the multi. My work in reconciliation as a neighbor, pastor, and advocate has repeatedly pointed me to address our community's ongoing plea to right that wrong. I was excited to represent South Central on this advisory committee and was elected vice president of that committee at its May 21st meeting to elect officers. Mayor Ridenour requested that we meet at 1910 South Mock, formerly called Industry Methodist Church. It is outside the industry neighborhood, about a five minute drive from where the multi stood. As I stated in that meeting, if the problem we are looking to solve is simply that Muncie needs a community center, the Mock Street building makes perfect sense. It has three levels of an educational wing as well as an outbuilding and sanctuary that would be well utilized for community events. However, the problem we were tasked to address was that of replacing the multi, which was promised to the industry neighborhood two generations of children ago. I asked which problem we were tasked to solve. The mayor answered that a Mock Street Community Center was the only feasible option using edit funds right now, and that this administration would not be able to heal the wounds and broken trust from taking away the multi. The Muncie Mission has donated this building to the city. At about the same time, it was announced that the city was donating the Crisis Center to the Mission. I have been unable to determine how those exchanges came about. But as a result of that gift, our group's task is simply to advise how to make Mock Street usable by the community. For South Central, this repurposing of buildings is a double whammy. We are losing the closest attempt at a crisis center just to our west on 8th Street and a promised community center to our east in Industry. We wanted a crisis center and a community center near our borders. We will get neither. This move, while perhaps well-intentioned, further damages trust in our local government. I cannot lend my efforts to it while working in good faith to build trust. At South Central's May 26 board meeting, I announced my intent to resign from this advisory board, as it will not address the needs and concerns of the community to which I am most accountable and called. The board unanimously declined to send another representative to this committee in my place, also for those same reasons. If this plan goes forward as is, we bless our Southside and Blaine neighbors to do good work with the city at this community center. We hope that the city would collaborate with you, listen to you as experts on what your neighborhood needs, and that you will have the creativity, clarity, and passion required to see a project like this through. But we will lament with our industry neighbors whose concerns will not be addressed again. However, if AFTR Council communicates with this administration and the EDIT funds are made more flexible to address what we hold are primary concerns of trust building, collaboration, and the replacement of the multi, let me know so that we might reconsider our role going forward. We must remain focused on doing healing work on Madison Street. We will all need to give our best to it. So thank you, Council, for your initial resolution. Do not lose your resolve.

Thank you for your comments.

In the meantime, stay in touch. South Central meets fourth Tuesdays.

Thank you. Ms. Jeanetta Presley. Mrs. I'm sorry.

So I am here about the funds for the opioid. So I talked to Pastor Neil, and he was going to try to come this evening, but he didn't make it. But he had told me that kind of the same thing has happened with that money, that has happened with the money for their center, is that the mayor already had a plan for it. And it didn't make a difference to what the board or people that they brought together to decide what to do with that money. He already made a plan. And so Neil had told them that, well, he's not going along with that. That's not happening. because that money needs to be utilized for people to get into treatment and also housing because now we have this new law that's coming in effect and we're going to have homeless people that isn't going to have housing but he doesn't want to use it for treatment or for housing. So I think we need to think about what we are doing with these funds that we have and the position that you're putting people in when you put them in these roles, because Ms. Courtney is devastated from what has happened with everything with the community center. I am devastated that this money for the opioid is not gonna go where it needs to go either. That's all I have to say.

Mr. Paul Partizano, please.

Okay, before I get to my main points, I wish the middle schooler hadn't just left because I wanted to address her. I'm a retired high school teacher. And I'm as serious as a heart attack. My goal every year of school was for my kids to learn more than I did. And they taught me so much. And I listened. And I just want to tell her, yes, adults will listen. Teachers will listen. You will teach them a lot. So keep there. And the gentleman who's working for the Emily Kimbrough House, She's got at least one book in our library that is very much worth the read. So there might be a couple, but I read one of them. I can't remember the title, but it's really, really a good read. Okay, here's why I'm up here. The good news is there's progress in communication on the former BorgWarner site. At least in communication terms, things are moving forward. And I talked to Councilmember Garrett earlier and he's going to know more on the 23rd. of June. And that's a win-win for the corridor between Muncie and Yorktown. Both communities, everybody is going to win with that. And I know there are a lot of issues tonight that are important. And I know we have challenges throughout the city. And let's get these community centers going, get them where they should be, and doing what they should do, because that just anchors our community. And let's work on progress for the people who are struggling. Okay? We can do it. We can do it. You know, the two barriers, one barrier is structural and the other one is attitudinal. Those are the two barriers. So if we can reduce the barriers, we can do a lot of things. Thank you.

Ms. Courtney Marsh.

Good evening, Council. My name is Courtney Marsh, resident of Muncie. First, I would like to say thank you so much to the young lady that you just heard. She's an amazing attribute to not only the city of Muncie. She's everywhere. She does it all, right? But she's also an amazing piece to the Southside Neighborhood Association Board. And as she stated before, there were a lot of cleanups last month. And unfortunately, there weren't a lot of representatives from the city council at most of those that we saw. You could have been behind the scenes. I know there's a lot of work that goes into that. Preferably in our neighborhood, we always reach out the week before. So you may have been one of the people that submitted an address and we just don't know that. You may have been a person that coordinated a meetup spot for your volunteers. You may have done a lot of things. There's a lot of pieces into those things. Um, but it is important that the public see you. It's important that they see that you're a part of those neighborhoods that you're a part of the community that you sit up here and you talk about. And as you've heard tonight, and sometimes maybe not the nicest fashion, so. I want to work on that, but you have kids that are out there looking at you. You have adults that are out there looking at you guys. We're taking your advice, listening to what you say. And we come here so that we can learn about the city of Muncie and all the things that are happening, right? All the ordinances and the resolutions and the whatnots and what have yous. We stay here all night. We've been here for two hours already. I don't feel like we've accomplished much in the two hours that we've been here, and that's a little sad. It's two hours we've missed with our families, our loved ones, sitting at home on the couch to enjoy a night where we can actually do that, because some of us, as you know, don't get the opportunity very often. I want to appreciate and thank Mr. Councilman McIntosh for his board report tonight. What he said was very true and very valid. Everything that he spoke here was very truthful. And it hurts our hearts to know that we were advised as a committee. We have two amazing council persons that asked for that resolution to come to light. We tried very hard, very hard in January to meet, in February to meet, in March again to meet. that wasn't acceptable, that wasn't okay, because not everyone was invited to the table. That, at that point, had not been addressed on who the invitees and who invitees are at that point, right? So who's to point fingers and say so? But when we finally do get to have a meeting, an actual meeting where everyone is accounted for, an additional person was asked to be there due to the transition of mayors right now, we're getting information that clearly was not just done overnight. And I can say that very broadly. The information that was given to us at that meeting was not an overnight conversation. That church did not just fall into the lap of anyone. Because if it had, it would have done that years ago when the church disbanded. That's my neighborhood. I know that. I follow the church. I know how long it's been sitting stale. And it just seems odd to me that all of a sudden, When all the other movement in the city happens, so does it. And we're informed, not asked, but informed, that if we'd like to pursue being a part of this committee, that we'll maybe do it there, period. That's unacceptable. That is unacceptable. As a committee, that's not OK. You all entrusted us. One moment, please. You all entrusted us to be on that committee, right? Everybody up here shook their heads and nodded as we came in in February and announced that. Everybody was just excited when Mr. Millimack decided to announce the fact of who the people are or were. But nobody is mentioning the fact that a lot of decisions were already made without our questioning. There was no consent at that. And that's supposed to be our task. That needs to change. And we need your support in order to make that change. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

Ms. Jasmine Taylor.

Good evening, city council, neighbors, and community leaders. I'm Jasmine Muncy, resident. I am the newly elected president for the steering committee for the community center. I was one of the youth who the South Madison Community Center was taken from and the Unity Center promised to. But yet, 20 years later, here we are. I'm representing industry neighborhood on this committee and I Do want to thank mayor right now we're for recognizing a need for a community center on the south side of town But however tonight I do want to ask which neighbors and stakeholders have been consulted in this process and In my role with Habitat for Humanity, we recently partnered with Urban Life CDC, the Land Bank, and Ball State Urban Planning. We surveyed over 250 residents in the industry neighborhood. And throughout that process, one message was clear and consistent. Residents want a community center in their neighborhood. Time and time again, it was identified as a top priority and a critical investment in the future of our community. I also want to remind everyone that the industry neighborhood has been promised a community center for more than 20 years. That need has not disappeared. Our youth need safe places to learn and grow. Our families need access to resources and opportunities. Our seniors need spaces to gather and stay connected. Many industry residents walk to where they need to go, making a neighborhood-based community center not just beneficial, but essential. As an industry representative on this committee, I have spoken with the neighborhood association and leaders, and we're asking the city to honor its longstanding commitment by building a community center in the heart of the industry neighborhood. The people of industry have waited for decades with patience and hope. We are simply asking that the promise made to our neighborhood finally be fulfilled. I would love for all of us to look back 20 years from now and know that we were part of something bigger than ourselves, that we came together to help restore a community center our neighbors needed and deserved, a place that strengthened families, supported youth, connected seniors, and became a lasting investment in the future of our neighborhood. Thank you for your time and consideration.

You all make mistakes all the time. I think I should be afforded the right to show up a few minutes late and still be allowed to speak at a public forum to my fellow community members. May I be afforded the right to speak? Okay, I'll keep it brief. But firstly, I just wanted to, last month someone came up here, they didn't have running water in their house. I wonder if there's any follow-up on that, because that is...

Yes.

So could you say something about that, if that's been resolved at all?

I did reach out to the Muncie Housing Authority and Indiana American Water, and what she conveyed to us wasn't exactly what happened. You know, the Muncie Housing Authority called the water company out because they couldn't get access. And I don't want to put business out there in the street, but it wasn't the housing authority's fault.

to say that. I just wanted to make sure there was something done on that, but thank you. One other thing, just a community event happening this month at the Muncie Liberation Studio, organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the Black Alliance for Peace. We're doing a community safety training to know your rights when law enforcement or ICE show up, you know your rights, you know how to safely document and remind, just build that community strength and community networks because this is something that's important for everyone because ICE does not really care whether you're an immigrant or not. They racially profile people to detain them, and they often deny them their rights, and that's why it's important for us to have those safety plans in place and know our rights. So thank you, and then lastly, happy Pride Month, everyone.

You didn't give the date and time.

I'm really sorry about that. But it's every month, first Wednesday of the month. So that's June 3rd, July 1st, August 5th at 7 PM, Muncie Liberation Studio, 1809 West University Avenue. If you need a flyer, come up to me afterwards, please. Dinner is provided.

Dinner is provided.

I make them second.

All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.