Last month we reported that the Ridenour administration was attempting to skip bargaining agreements with AFSCME Local 3656, and that effort has continued into the next council meeting. Ordinance 12-24 was taken off the table for a second time last night, and both Craig Wright and Matt Wagley continued to push for the 10% raise that the administration offered, citing inflation, but without agreeing to the contract agreements with the union.
After AFSCME president Nate Burgess asked for the ordinance to be tabled again, it was a 7-2 vote to follow suit and table it. The two votes against tabling were R-Dale Basham and R-Jeff Green. When Basham was approached by the Post-Democrat about both his decision not to table the ordinance and if his vote contradicted his support from Fire Fighters Local 1348, he only repeated his support for the ordinance without elaborating further.
Dale Basham answers rushed question by the Post-Democrat.
Muncie Land Bank Gets High Support by Council and Residents
While Resolution 5-24, a resolution to reaffirm support for the Muncie Land Bank, was likely to pass prior to any discussion, nearly 40 minutes of comments from the audience with enthusiastic support followed and the vote was unanimous.
Ridenour Administration Decides Not to Close Wheeling for July 4th
Yesterday, and prior to the meeting, the City of Muncie announced that Wheeling Avenue would not be closed as has been tradition in Muncie in previous years. Council-member Nora Powell expressed frustration that the announcement came just a few days prior to Independence Day, and her and many other expressed concerns over safety. While council-members have been given little information, the Mayor’s Office can be contacted either by email (mayor@cityofmuncie.com) or phone (765-747-4853).
The vast majority of Munsonian’s received the news through a Facebook post. The reactions seen above were last updated July 2nd @ 10:55am.
I’m convinced that some big donor or affluent local bitched to the mayor and secured a favor. Corruption comes in many forms with this GOP