Divided Delaware County Council joins local Regional Cities Initiative

The vote came during Tuesday's council meeting and went along party lines, with council's four Democrats voting to join the Regional Development Authority proposed by the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce and three Republicans voting against.

"It's just another layer (of economic development efforts,") Republican Jane Lasater said. Fellow Republican Ron Quakenbush added, "I can't see layering another group of people who are not elected."

GOP council member Scott Alexander noted the amount of funding the county already commits to economic development "and the results we're getting are not satisfactory."

But Democrats — including council member Mike Jones, who has been most vocal in his skepticism of the regional proposal — voted to join.

The vote went in favor of the plan despite questions — some of them addressed by Terry Murphy of the local Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance and attorney Nick Tokar — about how much control the county would give up to an appointed RDA board.