Stephen Brand – Candidate for Delaware County Commissioner
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Stephen Brand for Delaware County Commissioner
I want to thank county employee Mike Jones for this question: As the board chairman of the Muncie Sanitary District – How much money have you provided the City from the Districts Revenues?
How much have the sewage rates increased under your watch?
Mike – this is often misunderstood and your misunderstanding gives me yet another opportunity to clarify for others.
The Sanitary District and the city are two totally separate entities.
I know of no legal mechanism to convey funds from the Sanitary District to the city.
We have not raised rates a single penny for Muncie Sanitary District users under my leadership. In fact, my motto is to provide a better service for a better price. I have been on record many times stating that I will not raise rates and that we will find other ways to cut costs while still providing exemplary services. All of this while managing a long-term control plan to separate storm and sanitary sewers.
The Muncie Sanitary District quickly settled a long-term contract dispute with Liberty Regional Wastewater District under my leadership and for a better rate than Liberty had before, which means we lowered their rate.
We settled the long-term agreement with Delaware Regional Wastewater District under my leadership and cut their rate basically in half, which means we dramatically lowered their rate.
We have cooperated with the city by coordinating required stormwater and sewer projects with other city projects and restoring road surfaces which benefit everyone in the process.
We passed two cooperative resolutions with the county under my leadership. The county owns all the bridges, including the ones inside the city limits. One resolution states that the sanitary district will maintain the levee, which is a requirement from the army core of engineers, under and immediately adjacent to the bridges that are owned by the county at no cost to the county.
The second resolution states logjams trapped by county bridges will be managed and removed by sanitary district resources with flat rates charged back to the county up to a maximum of $50,000 a year. Through good management, we have never reached the maximum in any given year. Both of these cooperative resolutions save the county and taxpayers a tremendous amount of money while providing the sanitary district with better controls for maintaining Army Corps of Engineers standards.
As I’ve often stated, my goal is to get the commissioners to cooperate better with other entities, including the city, the county council, and the regional counties.
With my future leadership, the county will return money to the taxpayers, strengthen the general fund, and improve the quality of services.
Just another day-Trump on the prowl
I’ve been reading comments about Trump cozying up to Putin. Just for the record, Putin is the President of Russia. Russia and Ukraine are in conflict. Got it? There have been several conflicts between countries going on and Trump was instrumental in getting resolutions. Check it out for yourself.
He invited President Zelenskyy to the White House to talk thru the conflict. It didn’t go as well as it should have, but it was a start. So, would you say Trump was cozying up to Zelenskyy? Of course not. You can’t resolve anything unless you talk to both Presidents. And in my opinion, Zelenskyy came unprepared. You can have your own opinions on that.
When Harris first ran for president, she didn’t make it out of the primary. Her campaign funds ran out and her campaign staffers jumped ship. It was interesting that Biden tagged her as his running mate. Very similar to when Biden ran against Obama. Obama picked him as his VP. I can’t say if it was nefarious or just what Democrats do. But it seemed odd.
In politics, sometimes your candidate wins and sometimes loses. It’s not the end of the world. We have had elections since the inception of this country. They have always been combative. Because let’s face it, everyone wants to win. Take for example when Clinton beat out Bush. It was devastating to me because I didn’t like the things Clinton did as a Governor, and he basically did the same as a President. And speaking of Clinton, let’s throw in some redistricting history. As Governor, Clinton and his Secretary of State (don’t know his name redistricted a section of Arkansas which lessened the Black vote. They were given a short time frame to fix that unfortunate “Snafu”. So, there you have it.
To claim a commercial was glorifying Nazi Germany and having meltdowns on a blue jean commercial was ridicules. But what was ridicules and very much like Nazis and Hitler, is to have students on campuses targeting Jewish students, faculty and probably staff because of a conflict in the Middle East. Something they more than likely don’t even know enough about. Because let’s face it, that area of the world has been in conflict for hundreds and hundreds of years. America is like an embryo compared to the Middle East.
I’m not a scholar on the Final Solution, but I know enough to understand what the Nazi regime is and was. And I have been a voter in presidential elections since 1976. So, I am familiar with how it works, too.
So, when things don’t go your way, please remember you will most likely face that many times in your life. Because “that’s just life.”
Sure, microfilm and microfiche machines may be outdated. But if you want to do a deep dive into history, they can be your best option. Or subscribe and pay a fee for Newspapers.com.
On a personal note. I enjoy sifting through old articles and finding nuggets of gold when researching. But that’s just me.
Trump the new Hitler
I’m sure you have heard the latest news coming from the DNC, that Donald Trump is Hitler. Let me explain, if I may, why this angers me. First, this must be the dumbest statement to date from the Democrats. It does not just anger me; it makes my stomach turn. It is disgusting.
The atrocities of Adolf Hitler were so heinous, that it rocked the modern world. Millions of Jews, Christians, Patriots, children, elderly, disabled people were imprisoned and killed. No one was spared.
The Left has now marginalized millions of people who died at the hands of a maniac. It is disgusting, it turns my stomach.
One year ago, October 7th, 2023 to be exact, during a music festival, Hamas initiated an attack. 364 people were killed, others were taken hostage. The massacre at the festival was the largest terror attack in Israel’s history according to ABC news reports.
Back home, on the shores of the USA, people were cheering the attack. Israel’s flags were being burned. Jewish students on college campuses were frightened and feared for their lives. Understandably, so were their parents and family members. In fact, the entire world was watching the U.S.A. Land of the free and the home of the brave.
CNN — Nov 4, 2023
Students have held hundreds of protests and counterprotests on college campuses since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israelis and Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza in response.
At Tulane, a fight broke out after someone tried to burn an Israeli flag. At Columbia University, posters of kidnapped Israelis were torn down. At Harvard and Columbia, a so-called “doxxing truck” showed up on campus naming students whose organizations co-authored a statement saying Israel is “entirely responsible” for the deadly October 7 attacks by Hamas and “all unfolding violence.” And at Cornell, classes were canceled Friday after death threats were posted toward Jewish students under the username “hamas soldier” on a Greek life website. A few days after the postings, 21-year-old Cornell student Patrick Dai was arrested and federally charged with making online threats. He has not entered a plea.
ON 09/10/18 The Hill wrote, “Maxine Waters mocks: I threaten Trump supporters ‘all the time’”
Waters said she was not threatening Trump supporters or constituents when she called on people to confront Trump Cabinet members and supporters in June, and said Trump was wrong to accuse her of doing so at the time.
”I did not threaten [Trump] constituents and supporters. I do that all the time, but I didn’t do that that time,” Waters said to laughter from a crowd in Los Angeles.
On December 6, 2017, President Trump kept his promise, announcing that the United States would begin recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and officially open our Embassy there.
Congress urged the President to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel with the bipartisan 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act – a call unanimously reaffirmed by the Senate in 2017.
After decades of past Presidents committing to move the Embassy to Jerusalem on the campaign trail, only to renege on those promises while in office, President Trump has fulfilled his promise to support one of America’s strongest allies.
Yes, Donald Trump aspires to be like Adolph Hitler.
iI you are a praying person; you might consider asking God to stabilize this country. Because any sane person would recognize, we are out of control. Take heed to these words,
The Bible verse Daniel 12:4 says, “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase”
2 Timothy 3:1-13
New King James Version
Perilous Times and Perilous Men
3 But know this, that in the last days [a]perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, [b]unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power.
The Political Project Uncensored
Check it out! Commentary from local people on local and sometimes national or world politics.
America’s Councilman Visits Ohio
Delaware County Councilman (Muncie, Indiana) Ryan Webb visits East Palestine Ohio and talks with some of the residents about how Democrat Joe Biden has completely failed them after the devastating train derailment in their community. They are still picking up the pieces 6 months later.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=345844517870763&ref=sharing
President Biden visits East Palestine Ohio
https://news.yahoo.com/amid-pressure-visit-biden-head-131208817.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
On another note, Biden’s visit to Hawaii
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66571294
Comments
Most relevant
Dennis Tyler Sentencing Memo
Naming names….
Please excuse the messy as we try to navigate this new format.
A Twist To Our Stimulus
Do you remember “Make America Great Again”? Or how about “Put America First”? Did you just want to puke when you hear it said? We know many of you cringed or became angry or at the very least shook your head? Who would want THAT?
Isn’t it obvious we chose a different path and our elected Senators, et al gave us what we wanted. $600.00 Thank you kind sirs and madams, thank you for saying “Put Americans somewhere, anywhere, but not first and foremost.” Never mind that Americans have financed the $600.00 but Trump is looking at $2,000 and as of this writing it is still being batted around.
There are some oddities in this bill. One would wish and hope when a bill is brought forward, any bill, not be filled with craziness. So in haste, we will provide you with a taste of what else is in this bill. According to The Guardian we’re getting new museums, support to reincarnate the Dalai Lama, permission to reproduce Smokey the Bear without worry of ending up in prison for six months. And if you own a race horse…
Good night, Irene! Here we are in a middle of a pandemic, many people out of work, small businesses barely hanging on and we have all these feel good things that certainly can wait. I’m sure having a Latino and a Women museum is very noble, but something tells me there are plenty of Latino that would need the money and lots of women out of work, too. We know a few.
We can’t get visit the salons, or fly in a commercial airplane. We can’t attend family gatherings or entertain guests. Sometimes we can’t even get toilet paper. There are some who do have a waiver on these things. You won’t see their utilities shutoff, or end their entertaining or visitng their families. After all “I am a father” claimed the mayor of Denver. As if this is something only he holds the title.
If it’s dangerous for us, why isn’t dangerous for them? Do they have or know something we don’t?
Till next year…Happy Holidays and a better New Year to you all.
It’s Election Time! 2020!
Todd Donati – The Transparent Candidate
Excerpts from the Muncie Star Press:
Todd Donati was the chief financial officer of The City of Muncie, and was Director of the Muncie Redevelopment Commission under the
Dennis Tyler administration. These articles and quotes represent some of his activities that are concerning for his re-election.
Dick’s Sporting Goods 2 Million dollar subsidy
February 7th 2015 Keith Roysden, The Star Press “TIF districts generate development, debate”
Citing Delaware County’s 6.6 percent unemployment rate in the latest figures released by the state, Donati said TIF is an economic game-changer. “If we didn’t have TIF in place, our unemployment could be 10 percent,” Donati said.
Donati said Muncie and Delaware County “are far more efficient” in their use of TIF than some other communities and cited job creation for the Muncie Marketplace, including Dick’s Sporting Goods, of 400 temporary construction jobs and 135 permanent jobs. The city provided $2 million in incentives for $14 million in development.
“School and library officials have complained that TIF takes revenue away, but TIF proponents argue that in most cases the new revenue would never have happened.” Which is unprovable.
Last week’s Ball State report maintained that TIFs “are not an effective economic development tool.”
“In fact, we found that in the average county, creation of a TIF district led to fewer jobs in manufacturing and retailing as well as a slight drop in the number of businesses,” Hicks said. The economist said that might be because some jobs are shifted and other areas “suffer the job-killing effects of higher tax rates.”
August 2nd, 2016 Keith Roysden, The Star Press “Another Muncie store closing”
When The Star Press reported in July that MC Sports was closing, the 2014 opening of Dick’s Sporting Goods, a national retailer, was also cited. On Tuesday, an economist said the closings were related.
“There is absolutely no doubt the Dick’s Sporting Goods deal was the straw that broke the camel’s back on MC Sports and Dunham’s,” Ball State University economist Michael Hicks said Tuesday. “We are in the fourth or fifth iteration of government subsidizing new development at the urging of property developers, consultant firms and bond attorneys,” Hicks said Tuesday. “Each time a shiny new strip mall is opened, a small-business owner somewhere else is eventually put out of business. “The cycle continues. Consultants get rich, local economic developers claim jobs and local taxpayers get struck with empty retail infrastructure they didn’t need, and not enough money to fix the schools they do.”
When the city brokered a deal to get a developer to build retail centers including Dick’s Sporting Goods in 2014, economic officer Todd Donati said the intent was to keep local shoppers in Muncie, where they would spend their money, rather than see them go to other communities.
Roberts Hotel Renovation
April 3rd, 2014 The Star Press MRC meeting, whitebox Roberts, Donati went out and “solicited two quotes” one from Advanced Walls and Ceilings and one from Pridemark. Advanced Walls and Ceilings came in with the lower quote.
July 13th 2014 Keith Roysden, The Star Press “High tech in downtown Muncie?”
Although work is ongoing, the Innovation Zone project could cost more than $300,000 and be complete this fall. In recent months, the Muncie Redevelopment Commission approved payment of more than $300,000 and $18,000 to Pridemark Construction and Advanced Walls and Ceilings, respectively, for remodeling and finishing the MRC-owned space on the first floor.
Donati and Baker said they hope that tenants will fill some of the space on a long-term basis, as they do in the Innovation Connector building west of downtown, leaving other space for people who might be in town for a day for business and want a quiet space to work, with access to an Internet connection and other office features.
The Innovation Zone is only 5,000 square feet of the 11,000 square feet the city owns on the first floor of the building. Construction is also underway on just over 1,000 square feet of space for the Center for Vital Aging.
And there’s still 5,000 square feet of space to fill in the area that was formerly occupied by the restaurant at the Roberts Hotel.
“We would like to get a restaurant or a small grocery in that space,” Donati said.
MADJAX
June 28th 2016 Keith Roysden Star Press
Scott Truex, director of facilities and development for Sustainable Muncie on Tuesday acknowledged that Nichols inspected the work done by his own construction company (Capitol Consulting)
“Muncie Redevelopment Director Todd Donati “engaged Craig to do the work and that all got done before it was transferred to Sustainable Muncie,” Truex said. “That decision on hiring Craig was done through that process.”
“We didn’t make any decisions on that,” Truex added. “It was done as the city bought it.”
December 14th, 2017 Keith Roysden, The Star Press Madjax financials don’t add up, council member says
There were two sets of documents sent as discovery in the hearing,” Donati said. “One that I was provided by an accounting firm that was completely up to date and that’s what I gave council. The other were documents sent by somebody else that were not updated.”
It is those earlier documents that Ridenour is referring to, Donati maintained.
Donati said “you can look at financials all you want, but right now the current revenue coming in is over $200,000 a year, and with anticipated revenues as more spaces become available with the bond, that’s well over another $200,000. That’s more than enough to cover the bond.”
May 19th, 2016 Keith Roysden The Star Press “$100Ks paid to Nichols part of FBI probe”
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in demolition claims paid to companies connected to Muncie Building Commissioner Craig Nichols are part of the FBI investigation of city government.
Nichols has long been a city demolition contractor through his company Advanced Walls and Ceilings. But The Star Press has learned that another company with ties to Nichols, Capitol Consulting and Property Management, has won many demolition contracts from the city and Muncie Sanitary District in the past several months.
Capitol Consulting was paid $144,800 for demolition work for the city and sanitary district in 2015 and $150,325 so far in 2016, city records reviewed by The Star Press show.
“Capitol Consulting was paid considerably more for demolitions for the city of Muncie. In January, the company submitted an invoice for $44,900 for the demolition of six structures. The city paid $10,000 and a note on the invoice read, “Todd Donati to pay balance.” Donati is the city’s chief economic development officer and president of the Muncie Redevelopment Commission.
”Donati seeks property tax break for his own house
Official: House tax break request withdrawn
November 13th, 2016 Keith Roysden, The Star Press
“City officials were asked to consider a property tax break for a new house being built for the city’s top economic development officer (Todd Donati)”
“The Star Press obtained a copy of the proposed ordinance for the Donati house at 4800 W. Legacy Drive from a member of Muncie City Council. The move to create an economic development target area for Donati’s house appears to be the first of its kind among ordinances that have been proposed to the nine-member city council in recent years.”
“The ordinance, if it had been approved, would allow “a deduction from the assessed value of said real improvements for three years,” according to the terms of the measure. Donati and his wife’s names are cited throughout the ordinance as the owners of the house to be built, and county property records confirm they are the owners of the property at that address.”
Kitselman Pure Energy Park and Gary Dannar
February 26th 2016, Keith Roysden The Star Press
Mayor Dennis Tyler confirmed Friday that the $3.5 million would be the city’s first big financial commitment to the project.
City council’s final approval of the bonds, likely to come in April following the March introduction, would mean $3.5 million in the bank for gradual disbursement for infrastructure improvements for the property, city economic development officer Todd Donati said Friday. The bonds would be repaid from tax increment financing (TIF) revenue from development of the project. Work to be funded includes the Bunch Boulevard relocation.
The Star Press Keith Roysden April 22, 2015
The city included the area in a tax increment financing (TIF) district in 2013, Muncie Redevelopment Commission director Todd Donati said Wednesday. Although sometimes controversial, TIF can allow government to take a portion of property tax revenue increases to incentivize and attract development through infrastructure improvements.
The Muncie Industrial Revolving Loan Fund board will meet at 10 a.m. Thursday to consider a $450,000 loan request for the Kitselman development. The loan would be tied to the creation of 100 jobs, Donati said. Dannar already has a 2013 loan worth $150,000 for his Mobile Power Station project.
December 16th 2016 Audrey Kirby, The Star Press
Thursday afternoon, Mayor Dennis Tyler announced an economic development agreement between the Muncie Redevelopment Commission and Roebuck, LLC. The project is expected to bring more than 40 residential, market-rate units to downtown, along with added commercial space and parking. Donati said, “”Under the terms of the development agreement, the Muncie Redevelopment Commission agreed to provide a commitment of TIF dollars generated from only the increased tax revenues,” according to a release from the City of Muncie.
Donati assures the city is not committed to anything and that the development doesn’t take away from the current tax base.
“We’re out nothing until that development is completed,” Donati said. “It’s like investing in the future.”
Dannar is a South Carolina businessman taking part in redeveloping Muncie’s former Indiana Steel and Wire property — located at Ind. 32/East Jackson Street on Muncie’s east side — into an assembly building for his company, Dannar Mobile Power Station. Work has not yet begun on the project, which was announced in 2015.
In July, The Star Press reported Dannar faced a foreclosure lawsuit, filed by Wells Fargo Bank, in South Carolina, as well as nearly $298,564 in federal tax liens. Dannar’s attorney told The Star Press he’s not the person solely responsible, but only Dannar’s name and the name of his South Carolina firm, Little and Company, were on records.
January 18th, 2019 Seth Slabaugh Star Press “Feds sentencing memo on Craig Nichols: What did the mayor know, and when?”
The Kitselman Pure Energy Park Project was a multi-year public works project to redevelop a brownfield site located on the east side of Muncie. The redevelopment was undertaken by an investor and businessman, Gary Dannar. The city agreed to fund half of the cost to demolish 15 homes in order to redevelop the site; Dannar would pay for the other half. The project was important politically. Indeed, and according to Kidder, Mayor Tyler instructed Kidder to obtain demolition quotes for several houses through Nichols in his capacity as Building Commissioner.
Nichols again saw an opportunity to rig the bidding process in order to ensure that Capitol Consulting and Property Management (CCPM) —of which Nichols had ownership interest — would be awarded the work, and then planned to inflate the cost of the work. To accomplish that, Nichols lied to Kidder, and said that he did not have an ownership interest in CCPM (which bid on the project).
Village Promenade
April 3rd, 2015 Keith Roysden The Star Press “Mexican eatery gets loan; opening plans set”
“Besides determining that the restaurant’s partners had other investors as well as advice from local attorney Tom Malapit and local businessman Ted Baker — who is also director of the Innovation Connector business incubator — the MIRLF required personal guarantees from the four partners in the restaurant.
Todd Donati, director of the MIRLF, also required the partners to send him a copy of the 10-year lease between the restaurant and Village Promenade.
Asked the likely opening date for Puerta al Paraiso, attorney Malapit said, “They’re looking at two weeks.”
MIRLF board chairman Terry Whitt Bailey said the board was reassured in making the loan by the timing of the restaurant’s opening and by its location.
October 8th, 2017 Keith Roysden, The Star Press “Developer still ‘bullish’ on Village Promenade, Muncie”
“It has definitely been a slower starter,” Larry Gough, a managing partner in developer IPA, told The Star Press in an interview this week. “But again, we believe in the long term.
The Muncie Industrial Revolving Loan Fund loaned the restaurant’s owners $125,000 and sued after it went out of business, but Donati said collection is difficult because some of the partners filed for bankruptcy and another is out of the country.
A new restaurant operator in the former Puerta al Paraiso space would likely have the use of some kitchen and dining room equipment the city kept in lieu of recovering its $125,000 loan, Donati indicated.
Donati said he was pleased to hear that Brian Allardt of Coldwell Banker Lunsford had been picked to market the commercial space. “I think they’ll have a better chance of filling it with a local agent working on it,” he said.
Riverfront Development
February 18th, 2018, Keith Roysden, The Star Press “City buys 15 properties for $1.7 million for Muncie riverfront project”
“Todd Donati, executive director of the Muncie Redevelopment Commission and the city’s economic development officer, said the city is working with potential developers on financing and planning the redevelopment.” The new owners, according to the tax records, are variously the Muncie Sanitary District and Delaware Advancement Corporation, a nonprofit that has been used in recent decades for local government projects.
Tyler’s riverfront district plan hit a snag when it didn’t receive funding from the state’s Regional Cities Initiative in 2015. Officials have said they’ll use other funding to try to accomplish the development.
July 20th, 2018 Keith Roysden “Week Later, City fires developer for Riverfront”
Tyler and the Muncie Redevelopment Commission met in a special meeting Friday morning and rescinded the agreement, signed July 12, with Sora Northeast LLC, which was to oversee Tyler’s White River Canal District, estimated in cost at $75 million.
Tyler said Sora failed to meet a deadline — originally set for July 15, but extended to July 17 because the first date was a Sunday — to produce an equity investment. The company failed to produce $2 million, Tyler told The Star Press.
April 11th, 2016 Daniel J. Kov, Daily Journal, Gannett New Jersey, “Magic Sports developers hit with six-figure lawsuit”
BRIDGETON – The developers of a stalled multimillion-dollar mega-sports complex in Vineland have found themselves in court for a suit by an architectural firm that says it hasn’t been paid for the work it did years ago.
Blackney Hayes Architects of Philadelphia says it is owed exactly $525,612.24 for architectural and design services it said it did for Sora Northeast Development LLC of Sewell and for Ocean County-based Magic Sports Enterprises LLC in 2012.
A nine-count lawsuit was filed in state Superior Court for Cumberland County last month against the two accused limited-liability corporations, along with the heads of each corporation — Gregory B. Filipek of Sewell, who is Sora’s principal; and Ronald Nametko Sr. of Ocean County, who founded Magic Sports and previously served as its president.
Muncie Redevelopment Commission spending flagged
October 1st, 2019 The Star Press Corey Ohlenkamp
The SBOA noted that payments from the Muncie Redevelopment Commission funds containing TIF money were flagged by the agency because they are considered operating and capital costs of the city, not a redevelopment plan or project. The expenses cited by the report were:
- Co: Lab Operating Expenses for $ 127,413
- Parking Garage Operating Expenses for $182,256
- City Operating Expenses for $38,280
- City Capital Expense – Fire Vehicles Payment for $100,000
- City Capital Expense – Park Playground Equip for $34,469
- City Capital Expense – Park Waterline for $5,000
- City Capital Expense – Police Body Cameras Lease for $90,966
- City Capital Expense – Audio/Video Equipment for City Hall Auditorium for $29,070
- City Debt Expense for $49,500
Todd Donati, head of the MRC, said he disagreed with the findings from the SBOA.
WSP Waelz plant tries to pollute in Muncie, People reject it
August 20th, 2019 The Star Press Corey Ohlenkamp “Donati advised Muncie City Council to avoid denouncing proposed zinc plant”
Emails between Muncie Redevelopment Commission director Todd Donati, and city council members show Donati was advising city council to avoid publicly opposing the proposed Waelz Sustainable Products plant.
“It is not in our best interest at this time to be the leaders at running them out of town,” Donati said in his email to city officials in an email dated Aug. 8. Donati said there was still the ongoing potential for lawsuits around the project.
Donati said in the email that despite public perception, every part of the project was handled properly.
“In our research, we knew about Alabama, however, we also knew that this plant was a different process a different age and totally state of the art,” Donati wrote. He also referenced efforts to develop the Kitselman site and how IDEM would not let that project proceed without several feet of a soil cap on the site.
August 20th, 2019 The Star Press Seth Slabaugh “Press release: What Waelz officials, city leaders said”
“Identifying and vetting new business opportunities and partnerships that bring economic and civic benefit to our community is vital to the health and future success of Muncie,” said Todd Donati, Director of the Muncie Redevelopment Commission. “This particular investment would have revitalized a decade-old eye sore, helped to address significant existing environmental issues at the site and generated hundreds of jobs in Muncie. I worked with WSP and its partners for more than a year and at no time, including now, did I feel that they would produce any product that would be dangerous to our community or environment. However, the vocal opposition to the facility by many in our city has made clear that this project would never enjoy widespread community support. While this is not the result we had hoped for, we respect the input from our concerned citizens and will continue to seek new opportunities for the redevelopment of the BorgWarner industrial site and new jobs for the City of Muncie.”
August 20th Seth Slabaugh, The Star Press “Waelz opponents thrilled, relieved, but won’t forget”
Some local government officials praised the massive, though delayed, community response to the project that was first announced in January, though Todd Donati, director of the Muncie Redevelopment Commission, remained defensive.
Opposition to the project began growing after the joint venture Waelz Sustainable Products filed a construction permit application in April with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management — disclosing the project’s potential to emit large amounts of mercury and lead into the air.
When the permit came out is when questions started,” Donati said at the press conference.
He noted that several different local government entities “had a lot of open meetings … We weren’t hiding anything and were willing to answer questions.”
The public didn’t raise objections early on, Ring told officials during the news conference, because “it was billed as an environmentally friendly recycling facility.”
“It was,” Donati answered before being cut off by city attorney Megan Quirk, who said, “We’re not going to debate that…
September 5th, 2019 Corey Ohlenkamp The Star Press “Redevelopment commission doing homework before buying Waelz property at former BorgWarner”
MRC Director Todd Donati said they will have to budget to not only buy the land, but maintain it as well. Donati told the commission they were estimating $800,000 would be needed.
The actual land purchase would be $400,000 or less, but after becoming the steward of the property, the MRC would need to promote the site for development to companies and maintain it while they owned it.
Donati said that more on the actual budget needs and the land acquisition would be handled in the commission’s October meeting.
February 29th, 2020 Corey Ohlenkamp The Star Press
Former BorgWarner site still hasn’t been purchased by the city, despite a promise to
By Sept. 5, 2019, the city was still “finalizing” parts of the deal to buy the land.
Officials at the time said that they had a letter of intent with the company to purchase the property, but were in the “due diligence” phase of researching what taking over the land would mean from a legal and financial standpoint. Then-MRC Director Todd Donati said they would have to budget to not only buy the land but maintain it as well. Donati told the redevelopment commission they were estimating $800,000 would be needed. MRC notes from October also referenced that they were still researching what needed to be done but then there is no reference to the project in either November or December. (Dave) Smith and the MRC have had issues tracking down original contracts the city entered into with companies. During the February meeting of the MRC, several contracts were being “tracked down” by officials. This included reaching out to HWC Engineering for their copy of the original contract between the two entities. “The City and Redevelopment Commission signed a letter of intent to purchase the site, but it appears they have reneged on that commitment.”
Hicks says the MRC and Donati are disseminating false claims and studies
January 6th, 2020 Seth Slabaugh The Star Press “How to save Muncie Mall: Water park, fitness center, megachurch?”
The redevelopment commission has made several attempts to bring new housing to Muncie, which Donati likes as a contingency for the mall, “but we’re not getting any support for that from the Ball State economists,” Donati went on. “(BSU economist) Mike Hicks seems to disagree with us. As long as he keeps bringing that up, people will think twice about doing new housing in Muncie.”
Hicks conducted a study that found that the redevelopment commission paid for a housing study that falsely claimed the Census Bureau was projecting population growth in Muncie. The commission declined to retract its work.
“Then, quite shockingly,” Hicks told The Star Press recently, “the same wholly fabricated population projections re-appeared in a study backing the new Riverfront Apartments. The whole of the community backers of the project, including the two most prominent members of the board of Next Muncie, were duped into testifying before the common council to ask for tax incentives to support a project based upon raw lies and fabrication.”
Hicks now says, “He is now in a consulting group with Fallon and Ferris that are promoting the same discredited study.:
February 29th, 2020 Corey Ohlenkamp The Star Press
Former BorgWarner site still hasn’t been purchased by the city, despite a promise to
By Sept. 5, 2019, the city was still “finalizing” parts of the deal to buy the land.
Officials at the time said that they had a letter of intent with the company to purchase the property, but were in the “due diligence” phase of researching what taking over the land would mean from a legal and financial standpoint. Then-MRC Director Todd Donati said they would have to budget to not only buy the land but maintain it as well. Donati told the redevelopment commission they were estimating $800,000 would be needed. MRC notes from October also referenced that they were still researching what needed to be done but then there is no reference to the project in either November or December. (Dave) Smith and the MRC have had issues tracking down original contracts the city entered into with companies. During the February meeting of the MRC, several contracts were being “tracked down” by officials. This included reaching out to HWC Engineering for their copy of the original contract between the two entities. “The City and Redevelopment Commission signed a letter of intent to purchase the site, but it appears they have reneged on that commitment.”
Muncie State of the City Address
“Mayor Dan said what? We’re interested, tell us more!”
If you missed the City of Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour’s state of the city address, you can watch it on Facebook. It’s very interesting.
Muncie Politics 