Meer Department Heads Make Their Voices Heard
Michigan City Mayor Ron Meer’s administration banded together over the weekend (10-27-19) to show their overwhelming support for his leadership as well as their current and future department initiatives and vision.
“In January 2015, Mayor Ron Meer appointed me as Superintendent of the Michigan City Parks & Recreation Department. In the nearly five years that I have been serving our community in this position, we have accomplished a long list of projects and objectives.
Two of the most high-profile projects have been the completion of the Washington Park Master Plan and the initiative of renovating our neighborhood parks with more modern equipment and becoming ADA compliant.
To date, we have upgraded six of our neighborhood parks to current standards and continue with our aggressive approach of one park per year. Mayor Meer has been an outspoken advocate in support of the Michigan City Parks & Recreation Department.
Moving forward, we anticipate the continued implementation of the Washington Park Master Plan, with new amenities, as well as the completion of the Singing Sands Trail that will provide even more recreational opportunities for our community.
As Superintendent of the Michigan City Park Department, I proudly serve our community and support Mayor Ron Meer.”
Jeremy Kienitz
Michigan City Park Department
Superintendent
“The Michigan City Human Rights Dept. wishes to acknowledge Mayor Ron Meer’s effort to promote diversity and inclusion in the city. Mayor Meer has supported the Human Rights Dept. by suggesting and encouraging efforts to network with state, local and national organizations.
As a result, my department has established relationships with organizations such as the International Association of Human Rights Agencies (IAOHRA), Indiana Civil Rights Commission (ICRC), The Indiana Consortium of State and Local Human Rights Agencies, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and IVY Tech.
Mayor Meer strongly encourages citizen participation in programs at IVY Tech and the AK Smith Career Center, designed to help individuals develop certifiable skills, that will keep our citizens employed in local industrial occupations, while steadfastly working with the Economic Development Corporation to retain established businesses and attract new companies to Michigan City.
Mayor Meer has supported the Michigan City Human Rights Commission with his assistance in securing funds that have been used to help the commission support initiatives such as the Becky Williams & Judi Huber scholarships, MLK Breakfast, PFLAG Pride Parade, Disability Awareness Month and the Humanitarian of the Year event.
In my position as the Executive Director of Human Rights, I believe that the concerns that I have shared with Mayor Meer regarding education, employment, housing and community relations have been given sincere consideration.
I am confident that under Mayor Ron Meer’s leadership, we will continue to make progress in creating an all- inclusive and diverse community, should he be reelected, as mayor of this great city!”
Carl Ridle
Executive Director of Human Rights
Michigan City Human Right Dept.
“I would like to thank Mayor Meer for the opportunity to help launch the Michigan City Promise Scholarship program. As Director, I have worked closely with Mayor Meer to bring awareness of this program to students and families in Michigan City.
We have awarded 68 scholarships to students for a total of $375,000 and these students have worked a combined 8,800 community service hours. Students are attending 17+ colleges, universities and we look forward to adding our fourth class of scholarship students in June 2020.”
Nancy Smith
Director, Michigan City Promise Scholarship
“Mayor Meer has a strong commitment to environmental protection, public health, and public safety. Under his leadership the Sanitary District successfully
achieved compliance with the State of Indiana’s Agreed Order for Clean Water Act violations attributable to the previous administration’s failure to properly operate and maintain the wastewater treatment facility. This compliance plan included $12 million of upgrades to the wastewater treatment facility and sewer system. Since then, the Sanitary District has operated its facilities with a high level of compliance and efficiency, without the need to raise rates in over 7 years.
Mayor Meer has also provided the strong leadership necessary to address the dangers of childhood lead poisoning, by ensuring our drinking water is safe and by creating the Michigan City Committee on Lead – the only such city sponsored group in the entire State of Indiana. Through his leadership, the Lead Committee has successfully implemented public and neighborhood outreach to our community on the dangers of lead, especially as they relate to lead-based paint. In 2019, Michigan City was awarded a $2.3 million dollar Lead-Based Paint Remediation Grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to help eliminate the dangers of lead-based paint in our neighborhoods where it’s needed most.
Mayor Meer’s commitment to improving neighborhoods and promoting economic opportunities for the residents of Michigan City is also highlighted by his administration’s successful acquisition of a $600,000 USEPA Brownfields Grant in 2018 – the largest such grant in the State of Indiana. This Grant will help make many of our abandoned or underutilized commercial and industrial facilities operational again, leading to improved neighborhoods and better job opportunities for Michigan City residents.
Mayor Meer’s dedication to Michigan City is exemplified by his ability to achieve great progress on problematic issues that have plagued administration after administration prior to his tenure. One such accomplishment is the implementation of a corrective action plan for the former Karwick Dumpsite. Although every Michigan City Mayor since 1950 failed to either stop the illegal dumping at this Site or properly cleanup the Site, Mayor Meer has been successful in implementing a $2 Million Corrective Action Plan – without using one dime of taxpayer money!
And maybe nowhere is Mayor Meer’s leadership more evident than with his commitment to cleanliness throughout all Michigan City neighborhoods. Keeping our neighborhoods clean makes Michigan City, a great place to live, raise a family, and prosper.”
Michael P. Kuss, General Manager
Sanitary District of Michigan City, IN
“What I admire about Mayor Meer is his ability to take action. He listens, he assesses the situation, and he moves forward. This has been his biggest offering to our city. This attitude is contagious to all those around him and it is the main reason for the economic comeback and job creation we have seen under his leadership.
The accomplishment that I am most proud that we have worked on together is building a strong partnership with our school system. The city leadership has development an excellent working relation with Michigan City Area Schools under his leadership. We have invested millions of dollars in our schools by providing technology and Chromebooks to our students. we have invested In the Michigan City Promise Scholarship so that we can get more of our kids ready for the workforce. All of this has had a profoundly positive impact on the perception of our schools and our City in the marketplace and this has had a huge impact on economic development.”
Richard Murphy
Controller, Michigan City, IN
“Over the past 7 years I’ve enjoyed working with Mayor Meer to implement his vision for the future of the City. It has been rewarding to work with him on projects like the first phase of the Ameriplex Marquette business park on the city’s south side, which created new living wage jobs for our citizens. Mayor Meer has also worked closely on the implementation of quality of life and infrastructure projects such as various streetscape and road improvement projects throughout the city. The Mayor also worked diligently with me and other community partners to successfully bring the Artspace Uptown Artist Lofts and related investment to our community.”
Craig Phillips
Director of Planning and Redevelopment Commission
Michigan City, IN
“Almost eight years ago, I was presented with an opportunity to join Mayor Ron Meer’s team as his administrator. I can say without a doubt, my choice to work besides Mayor Ron Meer, as a member of his administration, and for the community in which I was born and raised and love so much, has been an honor and privilege. I believe unequivocally that the Michigan City community is in a much stronger position than it was when his administration took office. There has been more success than I can even begin to list, but it is undeniable, that under his watch, the city is doing more with less. It is also a fact that since taking office in 2012, mayor Meer and his administration have overseen more than 1 billion dollars in both public and private investment in Michigan City.
Mayor Meer is a true leader, and part of being a great leader is knowing that your leadership abilities are only as good as the men and women who make up your team.
Everyday I have the pleasure to work with all the Michigan city Department Heads and I am witness to the positive working relationship they have with Mayor Meer. Mayor Meer has surrounded himself with dedicated department heads who manage the hard-working men and women in their various departments. These individuals come to work every day doing their job to the best of their abilities for Mayor Meer and for the betterment of the residents of our community.
I look forward to continuing to work beside Mayor Ron Meer and his entire administration. The knowledge, experience and expertise that Mayor and all the city employees bring to this city and their representative departments is not something that Michigan City can afford to lose.”
Kalon Kubik
Administrator, Michigan City, IN
Mayor Ron Meer has been passionate about making improvements and upgrades to the Michigan City streets, sewers, and infrastructure. As City Engineer, I have enjoyed working with him in this capacity. Over the last seven years, I’ve worked with Mayor Meer to leverage several millions of dollars of state grants through the Community Crossings Grant which we were able to use for city wide street and sidewalk improvements instead of exhausting more Riverboat funds.”
Spike Peller
City Engineer, Michigan City, IN