With a month to go until the municipal election, the Muncie City Council considered and tabled a major want from Mayor Dan Ridenour – essentially an $8 million contract to replace a fire station on the city’s east side.  IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports.

The resolution is called a “build, operate, transfer” agreement.  In practice, it would let a developer build a new building for fire station 6 at McCullough Park.  The construction cost is nearly $8 million, including the demolition of the existing station.

Greg Martz of GM Development – which would build the new station if approved – says building a new fire station next to the current one at McCullough Park would mean there’s no interruption of services.

He says a new building would solve several current problems – mold, structural issues, lack of separation of men and women, and gear storage that puts cancer-causing particles into the living area.

“If any of you have visited it, you can actually tell when you enter this living area – just because we’re not around fires all the time, I’m sure the firefighters can’t smell this – but you can smell it in the living area.”

Several firefighters spoke in favor of the project at a public hearing, confirming problems with all Muncie fire stations.  Others had planned to speak, before the council tabled the resolution with a 5-4 vote.

In statements at the meeting, most council members say they want the city’s fire stations to be renovated or replaced.  Republican Troy Ingram explained why he motioned to table the issue.

“Just like a lot of the people in the audience, this is the first time that I’ve seen pretty much all of this information.  And to be perfectly honest, I would like to see the facility studies.  I would like to see the location studies.  And I would like to be involved in the design and budgeting.”

The resolution is being sent to the council’s Public Works Committee for further consideration.  It’s chaired by Republican Ro Selvey.  She voted no to the table vote, saying conditions at station 6 were embarrassing.

“That fire station – it’s sad that we allow people to sleep in there.”

The council tabled the resolution at the end of the meeting.  At the beginning, it moved its next meeting from the night before the municipal election to the week after.  That means the council will know by its next meeting which mayor and council members will next lead Muncie beginning in 2024.

Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour was not at the Monday night council meeting.  On his campaign Facebook page, he writes “Our fire department deserves better treatment.”

Ridenour’s challenger, City council president Jeff Robinson, previously said he prefers to have the city to borrow money to pave more roads instead of building “Rolls Royce” stations when “mid-size sedan” stations would do.

Stephanie Wiechmann is our Managing Editor and “All Things Considered” Host.  Contact her at slwiechmann@bsu.edu.