While Democratic mayoral candidate Dennis Tyler's platforms rely on changing ways things have been done in Muncie, Mayor Sharon McShurley is running for reelection to continue the progress she's made in Muncie.
"We've set the basis for our accomplishments, and I'd like to be able to continue on with what we've worked on," she said. "We have participated in creating and retaining over 2,000 jobs here in Muncie and in Delaware County, and jobs are the upmost importance to everyone in our community."
McShurley, the Republican mayoral candidate, reflected over her past four years as mayor and shared with listeners her hopes for the next four years if re-elected on WCRD on Wednesday night. Democratic mayoral candidate Dennis Tyler spoke on "Radio Sweetheart" on Tuesday night about his hopes if elected as mayor.
McShurley said she would also like to continue the progress she has made with bettering neighborhoods in the Muncie community. Her example of this progress was when she began as mayor, there were only five neighborhood associations and now there are 23.
She said her largest goal for her next term if re-elected would lie within Muncie neighborhoods, since 14.2 percent of properties in Muncie are currently abandoned.
"I want nothing more than to leave a second term and not only have even better infrastructure in place than what we've already started, but to have real investments in our neighborhoods, where people really have a sense of pride in their property," McShurley said. "That people have come in and ... built new homes in the empty lots that we're not going to have and there's a sense of community in each of those neighborhoods," she said.
She also spoke on the importance of Ball State students voting, even if they are only staying in the Muncie community while in college.
"I think with the students, they are coming from different communities clearly and often aren't off campus," she said. "What I have found is the students who actually come off campus and start interacting in the community, that they have a much different feeling about the city than those who pretty much just stay on campus or are coming back and forth to home."
Tyler said he believes the lack of bipartisanship in Muncie is what may turn students off from voting, but McShurley said bipartisanship has had little interference in her job as mayor.
"Both parties have to be wiling," she said. "We've tried to find ways to work around them or with the few who are willing to work with us, so it does make the job more difficult, but we've been successful in doing so."
Many see the divide between the Muncie community and Ball State as a large barrier, but McShurley, as a non-traditional Ball State graduate in 2000 and former employee of the political science department and provost office, said that shouldn't be the case at all.
"Ball State to me is part of Muncie," she said. "To me, [the Muncie community and Ball State] are intertwined very, very closely, and I think that is partly because I've spent a great deal of time here on campus. I would really like the students to understand that they do have an impact on our community, and we do want them to be involved and engaged."
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