An invitation was sent to all Muncie city council members, department heads, and the administration stating, “Two days of strategy, coordination and fellowship. Stay in the historic Potawatomi Inn on Lake James. Bring your families! There are tons of activities at the park and locally for their entertainment. Your hotel room and food costs will be covered by the city, so you will only need to cover the cost of food for your family.” “Tentative Agenda Items: Let us know what you want for your district, get to know the city departments, Long Term Plan inclusion, budgeting 2025 and beyond, and Station 5 and Station 3.”
Various concerns have been brought up by council members and community members alike, first of which is the potential violation of Indiana’s Open Door Policy. Council member Nora Powell brought this concern to the mayor via email stating, “…if more than four councilors attend, it’s my concern that discussing strategic plans or current projects could violate Indiana Open Door Laws.” Mayor Ridenour responded with the following explanation, “This will be a public meeting. That is how other cities have done this. It was presented as a successful best practice method at the Mayor’s Institute by AIM. We will post the event at city hall and at the site. AIM legal concurred that it was proper.”
This author and the Post-Democrat as a whole questions exactly how public can this meeting be if requests for communications surrounding this retreat are not being filled by the administration nor the majority of city council. I am currently working with Indiana’s Public Access Councilor for more information.
Council Members Sara Gullion and Nora Powell expressed concern to the mayor about the retreat being held out of town and where its funding would be paid from. Mayor Ridenour explains, “It has been found that sites just out of town work best. Those sites benefit discussion levels and therefore results for our residents. This is an opportunity for council members to bring goals and hopes for their districts to the administration and department heads.” “This is being paid by EDIT.” The current cost of this retreat is $3,873.65, $3,231.65 for 25 rooms and $642.00 for conference rooms. This does not include expenses for food and beverage, mileage, or any other possible incidentals. Retreats like these are normally run by an impartial, professional retreat facilitation companies. Facilitators are trained to assist in trust building, evaluating goals, identifying and addressing problems, and creating plans to bring back to the organization. Administration facilitating their own retreat, guiding the discussion, without an impartial facilitator brings forward important ethical concerns. Especially when the entire fiscal body has been invited to take part in activities involving “budgeting 2025 and beyond,” “Long Term Plan inclusion,” and Fire “Station 5 and Station 3.”
Nora Powell provided the following emails to the Post-Democrat:
This is an absolutely wild situation!
I have been following this from the start of all of this and I also felt this was a bad idea for the Council! I contacted the Public Access Counselor, Luke Britt, myself… and he also advised that this should be a NO GO for the Council!
As of the date that I type this (Thursday, May 30th, 2024 @ 1:44p)… I have an accounting of the Councilors that are planning to go… those that are NOT planning on going… & those that are STILL up in the air!
Councilors NOT going (as of 05.30.24):
Nora Powell (D – Dist #2)
Brandon Garrett (D – Dist #3)
Sara Gullion (D – Dist #4)
William McIntosh (D – At Large)
Councilors going (as of 05.30.24):
Ro Selvey (R – At Large)*
*Selvey advised that she sent an email to the Mayor’s Administration stating that she wanted to pay for her room and food and any other expenses herself! She stated that she did not want the City (meaning taxpayers) to pay for her.
Councilors that have not responded either way (as of 05.30.24):
Jeff Green (R – Dist #1)
Jerry Dishman (D – Dist #5)
Harold Mason (D – Dist #6)
Dale Basham (R – At Large)
So… as of this time we are still in a place where if those 4 Councilors decide to inform me or the public at large that they are going… then they could have a quorum… and that could be a mess!
Sooo… to make sure nothing happens I just went ahead and booked a room there for Friday, June 7th, 2024… and I’ll be up there and we’ll make sure they are keeping it real!
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I spoke to Jeff Green D1 on 5/28 at the Southside Association meeting. He stated that he will not be attending.