Muncie City Council takes first step in approving No. 6 Fire Station bond for $8.7 million

MUNCIE, Ind. — After much debate, the city council gave an initial unanimous approval by voice vote Monday to issue city bonds of up to $8.7 million to construct a new No. 6 Fire Station in McCulloch Park to protection of northeast Muncie.

While everyone on council seemed in agreement with the need for a new station to replace the aging one along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at the north end of the park, the cost and method of getting it built has raised questions among some newly elected Democrats.

The matter is not yet settled as the the bond issue will need to go before the council for a second approval and council Attorney Dan Gibson told The Star Press that a public hearing would need to be conducted to create the mechanism through which the city would spend money from the bond. The council also voted unanimously to approve an ordinance that authorizes appropriations from bond proceeds for the fire station.

Mayor Dan Ridenour told the council that one of the reasons he wants to build a "top-notch" station is to provide a tool for retention and recruitment of firefighters and EMS staff, as well has provide a facility in which neighborhoods along the "MLK corridor" can take pride. Plans call for Economic Development Income Tax money to be the primary source of paying off the bonds. Property taxes would serve as a backup means of repaying the bond, should that ever become necessary.

Ridenour said that EDIT funds should provide more than enough to complete the payments in coming years and that no other city department will receive less in EDIT funds because of the bond payments.

The fire department is also contributing $125,000 annually from its EMS funding to contribute to the replacement of Fire Station No. 6, and the department will also provide another $125,000 from that fund annually to go toward replacement of Fire Station No. 5, Ridenour said.

More: Council approves reworded resolution for a new fire station at McCulloch Park

The mayor said that the city was being "pounded" by communities to the west of Muncie that hire experienced firefighters and EMS personnel from Muncie by offering more money and the city needs to respond by offering better facilities.

"This is a commitment they will see, they will understand, and they will be proud of," Ridenour said of Muncie's fire and EMS staff.

Ridenour negotiated a 10-percent salary increase for firefighters this year.

He said the new fire station could be built cheaper than the one now planned but the city doesn't want something that "looks like a pole barn."

Later in the meeting, council member Sara Gullion said she and council member Harold Mason Jr. traveled to Fort Wayne recently to see a new fire station that opened in that city late last year. The Fort Wayne fire station cost $4.4 million or about half of the $8.7 million bond Muncie is dedicating to the new No. 6 Fire Station.

"I think the main concern is the cost," said Gullion, who also noted other stations will have to be replaced in coming years.

More: Proposed fire station No. 6 passed on to incoming council after debate

Gullion showed photos of the new building during the council meeting.

While there were some significant differences between the Fort Wayne station and what is proposed for Muncie, including the use of cubbies to provide sleeping privacy for men and women rather than separate rooms, Gullion noted that there were separate locker rooms for men and women and that exterior of building "doesn't look like a pole barn."

Gullion said she knows that costs are increasing and the city couldn't build two fire stations for the amount the administration is preparing to spend. "But maybe we could get one-and-a-half."

Originally the administration was planning to construct three new fire stations. As costs and interest rates rose, the plan changed to include two stations, Fire Stations No. 6 and No. 5, which is located along Tillotson Avenue near Ball State University and IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital.

It was noted by council member Nora Powell that Fire Station No. 5 is not large enough to house the aerial equipment needed for the tall buildings in its area.

Much research concerning the Muncie stations has been done by GM Development, a company based in Henry County that builds fire stations across the state. Under the proposal with the Ridenour administration, GM Development would oversee construction of Fire Station 6 under a build, operate and transfer agreement or "BOT" with the city.

More: Proposed fire station No. 6 passed on to incoming council after debate

The development company stands to be awarded the business of overseeing construction of the station according to plans created in conjunction with the city.

A similar BOT agreement had also been planned with GM Development for the operation of a solar field at the 53-acre contaminated brownfield where a transmission plant along Eighth Street used to stand. The city council eventually nixed the plan in 2022. That called for the city to spend $11.5 million to create the solar field in a lease agreement with GM Development.

GM Development's political contributions to mayor

As is common for companies and people doing business with local government, GM Development has made political contributions to candidates for local office.

Greg Martz, managing partner with GM Development, is listed on the financial reports for the Ridenour campaign for re-election as having donated $2,000 to the campaign in April 2023, and GM Development itself was listed as donating another $2,000 to the campaign in August 2023.

"In my opinion he is a wonderful mayor," Martz said of Ridenour.

Since Martz met the Muncie mayor, he said he has concluded Ridenour is "a seriously good person," and that is why he contributed $4,000 to his re-election.

His company's response to the city's requests for proposals came back in 2020 for the proposed solar project and in 2021 for the fire station, Martz said, well before the contributions to Ridenour's campaign.

Martz lives in Henry County and he and his wife eat, shop and do business in Muncie a great deal. He said the contributions came at golf outings for the Ridenour campaign.

He also said that he does contribute to other mayoral campaigns in places his company does business but only to the candidates he thinks are doing a good job.

While a BOT agreement allows a single company to create a project without the bidding process, it can also allow for more control of the project, including such things as assuring a contractor uses local labor. GM has completed similar projects across the state.

Members of council members and members of the audience said during the Monday night meeting said that the issue has dragged on too long. A committee involving firefighters and members of the council had worked for months on the plant that led to the current proposal.

More: New No. 6 Fire station put on hold while council studies proposal by Ridenour

Ridenour said there are other projects in the works for the MLK corridor and the boulevard is also is scheduled to be paved this year. The new station, which has support of the Muncie Parks Board, would be part of the improvement in that neighborhood.

David Penticuff is a reporter with The Star Press. He can be contacted at dpenticuff@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: City Council studies cost of new fire station, OKs bond on first vote