A Ball State University trustee and non-profit foundation president is suing the city of Muncie for approving a multi-million dollar loan for a makerspace project.  IPR’s Tony Sandleben has the details.

The MadJax project in downtown Muncie was planned as a hub for business minds and entrepreneurs to get together and create startup businesses.  The idea was to reuse an existing empty building to boost economic growth.

But George and Francis Ball Foundation President Tom Bracken opposed this idea, telling the city in a town hall meeting in 2016 that the plan was a money pit.  On Friday, he began filing court documents to sue city officials, including the city council, which voted in favor of granting MadJax a $4.5 million loan.

In a statement released by Bracken’s attorney, Steven Runyan, Runyan says “Our client Mr. Bracken and other community members have expressed concern about this use of public funds and public credit by the City of Muncie for a very questionable deal that lacks transparency and includes what may appear to be conflicts of interest.”

Bracken is a trustee of Ball State University, which is a partner in the MadJax venture.  In 2016, Bracken proposed putting a green space park with an underground parking structure on the same site at the corner of Madison and Jackson Streets.