LOCAL

Economic development forum focuses on quality of life

The Star Press

Ball State President Geoffrey Mearns answers questions during the third Better Together Public Forum on Oct. 12 at Cornerstone Center for the Arts. Mearns was able to have a discussion with the public and members of the community expert based panel.

MUNCIE, Ind. — To many people at Thursday night's "Better Together" forum, Ball State University is both a major attraction of Muncie, and a reason to work to make Muncie more attractive to students, workers and businesses.

The final of three recent public forums led by Ball State President Geoffrey S. Mearns looked at economic development, and what the city and university could do together to promote it.

Muncie-Delaware County is the economic hub of East Central Indiana "primarily because we have a world-class institution like Ball State right in our midst," said panelist Chris Caldwell, senior vice president of commercial and business banking for MutualBank and chairman of the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

Right from her opening statement, panel member Traci Lutton, vice president of economic development for the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance, emphasized that current approach encompasses more focus on quality of life/quality of place initiatives — including the big asset of having Ball State — as a way to attract businesses.

That interest in enhancing and promoting the city's quality of life was echoed by many speakers throughout the evening's discussion in the Cornerstone Center for the Arts auditorium.

Fellow panelist David Terrell noted that part of his role as director of Ball State’s Rural Policy Research Institute and interim co-director of the Indiana Communities Institute was providing information from university research to communities, including helping them "to understand the paradigm shift of what economic development is. It's not just job attraction; it is the whole picture of community development."

Speakers from the audience and on the panel referred to such quality of life resources locally as greenways, the growth of downtown Muncie and its nightlife, the community's record of volunteerism and charitable foundations. One audience member cited Louisville, Ky.'s promotion of its history as a model, and cited Muncie's own wealth of historic homes, museums and other attributes that could be similarly promoted.

Traci Lutton, vice president of economic development for the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance, listens to questions during the third Better Together Public Forum on Oct. 12 at Cornerstone Center for the Arts. Ball State President Geoffrey Mearns was able to have a discussion with the public and members of the community expert based panel.

Looking close to home for the university, Mearns addressed a question about the importance of development in The Village to neighboring Ball State. Calling the small business district "very important to providing energy and vitality to campus," Mearns said he expected The Village to get a boost from having new health and science buildings constructed just to the north in the next few years, and to having campus greenways added, both of which could send more customers from campus to The Village.

Mearns also invited the public to share ideas for how the university might use the empty lot at the corner of University and McKinley avenue that was formerly earmarked for a new Ball State hotel, but for which there is no current plan. Noting that Ball State isn't looking at using the space for a new academic building, he asked what else might go there to enhance the area.

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Asked after the forum about whether Muncie currently fit the "college town" image that came up several times during the evening, Mearns said he thought the city has many of the necessary assets, but needed to enhance and promote them — including bringing greater vibrance to The Village and getting more faculty living near the campus — to wholly earn the title.

Participants in Thursday's forum also cited getting Ball State students to stay after graduation, attracting young professions to live the community, and simply getting those who work in the community to live here. One Ball State student said he and others of his generation wanted to find ways to fill real needs in the local community, not just be plugged into jobs.

Delaina Boyd, Ball State’s interim associate vice president of community engagement, who said her office's role is to "link the resources of the university to the needs and priorities of the community," replied her office could focus more on communicating those community needs directly to students.

The public levies questions to the panel during the third Better Together Public Forum on Oct. 12 at Cornerstone Center for the Arts. Ball State President Geoffrey Mearns was able to have a discussion with the public and members of the community expert based panel at three different events with varying topics.

One audience question to the panel referred to small businesses being the vast majority of new businesses, and how those might be added. Lutton referred to past efforts to attract bigger companies as "smokestack chasing," but she said that current efforts now focused more on small and entrepreneurial businesses, with the Ball State connection as a major feeder for those.

Another question referred to how to market Muncie to potential businesses despite its tax rates; both Lutton and Terrell emphasized that while businesses want to know tax rates, choosing a location is "a complex process" involving many factors including workforce and other elements as well.

The forum was broadcast live; view the video here.