By: Mike Rhodes—
Muncie IN—Mayor Dennis Tyler met with about 100 residents of the Westbrier neighborhood group on Tuesday to explain and answer questions about the city’s plans for the Storer Elementary property. The meeting was held at Riverside Avenue Baptist Church. Muncie City Council members Brad Polk and Dan Ridenour were also in attendance.
The school is scheduled to be demolished by September of 2018.
The building and foundation will be removed, according to Mayor Tyler, in addition to the outbuilding and parking lot. (Mayor Tyler found out about the outbuilding and parking lot removal the day after the neighborhood meeting.)
Mayor Tyler indicated that the city does not have any interest in further development of the property unless the drainage issues are fixed. Mayor Tyler said due to the water drainage issues in the area, the Muncie Sanitary District will address the drainage issue as one of their top 5 projects for 2019.
Drainage issues on Mansfield and Johnson Circle, right by Storer Elementary. Photo by: Mike Rhodes
Mayor Tyler said he has been working with Muncie Community Schools to salvage 2 relatively new boilers inside Storer and hopefully move them to Grissom Elementary. The removal of the boilers is scheduled to take place on August 3, 2018. If everything works as hoped, the boilers should be reinstalled at Grissom before winter begins.
These two relatively new boilers (left side of photo) will be saved and possibly installed at Grissom Elementary. Photo by: Mike Rhodes
Mayor Tyler said he is also working with MCS to save the handicap playground equipment located on the Storer Elementary grounds. Investigations are underway to find the manufacturer of the playground equipment in order to get their guidance in removing the equipment from the ground. The city would like to move the playground equipment to Grissom Elementary.
Another smaller area of playground equipment currently located on the south side of the property will stay.
Mayor Tyler fielded questions for a number of hours. Most questions from the audience related to drainage and flooding issues in the area. Attendees who live north and south of the ditch and east and west of Tillotson explained the drainage problems in detail during the meeting.
Drainage ditch on the southside of the Storer property. Photo by: Mike Rhodes
Mayor Tyler indicated that the Surveyor’s office and the County Drainage Board have the responsibility for most of the drainage ditches in the City of Muncie.
Many questions fielded by the mayor were about how government works and what particular departments were responsible for.
Mitch Isaacs, Executive Director of Shafer Leadership Academy was in attendance and said,“Mayor Tyler spent nearly two hours responding to public comments. He did yeoman’s work by delivering an informal seminar on the structure of local government. Many of his comments clarified the roles and responsibilities between government agencies and underscored how confusing the layers of governments are.
“I was impressed by the Mayor’s willingness to engage the public and by his desire to educate. This is one of the reasons why Shafer Leadership Academy is partnering with Muncie Action Plan, Building Better Neighborhoods, and the Bowen Center at Ball State University. The Interacting with Local Government series is designed for anyone who wants to better understand the services and structures within our local governments. Each session will cover the basic structure, offices, and activities of a different level of local government. This series is ideal for any citizen who wants to more effectively engage local government for resources, assistance, or changes in policy.”
Citizen Access to City Government
Monday, August 6th
5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
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Citizen Access to County Government
Monday, September 10th
5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Innovation Connector (1208 W White River Blvd)
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Citizen Access to State Government
Monday, October 1st
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