Mayor hosts local public forum

People with concerns ranging from train speeds to tax sales met with Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler during a public forum Tuesday.

Tyler invited Muncie residents to his office from 4 to 6 p.m. to share their concerns and propose ideas on how to improve the city.

“It’s so interesting to listen to the different ideas, thoughts [and] issues people might have,” Tyler said.

One woman who Tyler said was more than 100 years old came to the his office because she had never seen it in all her years of living in Muncie.

Another man addressed his concern that the Muncie website listed churches when some faith-based organizations have other names.

Tyler fixed the problem immediately by changing the website to use the phrase “Places of Worship.”

Sometimes the issue is more complex like what the Quinn family is experiencing.

In the summer of 2011, a train killed Austin Quinn just one month after he graduated from Burris Laboratory School.

His parents and sister, Ball State student Sarah Quinn, talked to Tyler about lowering train speeds in Muncie.

David Quinn, Austin’s father, believes higher train speeds in a city means more people can get hurt.

“It puts people’s lives in jeopardy,” he said.

Tyler hopes they can find an answer for the Quinn family.

“We’re working towards a very positive solution for everybody,” the mayor said.

David Quinn said speaking with Tyler directly was valuable.

“Because he’s a former firefighter and state representative, I wanted his opinion of it,” he said. “I think it’s a great program.”

Tyler agreed that the public forum has been a success.

“I was trying to think of a way to make contact with my constituents, and one of the things I’ve seen over the years is if you do a public forum mayor’s chat, many times people that want to come in and talk about something like that, they don’t [usually] get the chance to,” Tyler said.

He had 10 visitors this year, and last year he had three. He sees the increase as a promising sign.

“Even if it’s something you can’t resolve, they feel a heck of a lot better about it at the end of the day because they talked to somebody that was honest with them and at least tried to help them in their situation,” he said.