Another disagreement between Muncie’s mayor and the Muncie Sanitary District is being made public this week.  As IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports, it’s over the employment status of an administrator who is pleading guilty to a federal felony charge.

Nikki Grigsby (Photo: Muncie Sanitary District)

Last July, MSD district administrator Nikki Grigsby was arrested by the FBI, which says she steered work towards a local contractor in exchange for kickbacks.  She was placed on unpaid administrative leave that month.

This winter, Grigsby signed an agreement intending to plead guilty to a federal felony.  Because of that, in a written statement in late March, the Muncie Sanitary District says Grigsby “is no longer employed” by the department.

Now Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour is asking Grigsby’s status be formally confirmed to the city.  In a letter sent to MSD’s Bill Smith last week, Ridenour says the city’s personnel office needs to finalize Grigsby’s payroll and benefits.  But he says the city doesn’t know whether she resigned or was terminated, and when that happened.

The MSD board last met on April 8 on a public Zoom chat because of COVID-19 restrictions.  That meeting lasted three-and-a-half minutes.  Smith said it was to approve bills, and promised a longer meeting later.

 “So this is going to be a very short meeting.  We’re just going to do the minutes, going to do the bills that need to be paid.  And then we’ll put everything together for the next meeting in two weeks – we’ll have all our things that we need to pass at that point of time.”

Earlier this year, Ridenour’s administration filed a lawsuit against the MSD board over whether City Engineer Brian Stephens-Hotopp is required to hold one of the board seats by law.

The sanitary board’s next public meeting will also be live-streamed on Facebook.  It is scheduled for Wednesday, April 22, at 11:30 AM.