A La Porte County Life in the Spotlight: Ron Meer

ron-meer-ltmPerhaps no one knows the ins and outs of Michigan City more than Mayor Ron Meer.

Born and raised in what locals often refer to as “Our Fair City,” Meer put in more than two decades of work in the city, including eight concurrent years serving on the City Council, before he was elected Mayor in 2011.

“There probably isn’t an alley or street in Michigan City I haven’t been on,” Meer said, referring to the several years he spent as a street supervisor for the Michigan City Sanitary District. “(Working for the city) gave me a great understanding of inter-departmental cooperation,” he said. “Right now, that is at its best. Departments used to be more territorial, but now tend to work side by side to get things accomplished more effectively.”

While working with the Sanitary District, Meer spent a lot of time working alongside the Street, Refuse, Police, Water and Fire departments - which came in handy as he would already be familiar with the majority of city workers by the time he was elected as the city’s executive officer.

That inter-departmental cooperation is what Meer prides himself on being able to accomplish as Mayor. The cooperation was never more apparent than during the winter of 2014, when the city saw a near record-breaking amount of snow.

“This winter was the worst we’ve seen in 40 years, and I thought all departments did an excellent job in removing snow from the streets, sidewalks, downtown area and city alleys,” he said. “All departments pitched in, anybody that had a truck or plow, even private companies, were involved and it hasn’t always been that way.”

Meer also points to a pair of incidents within the last year where the city departments worked hand in hand with emergency responders, county departments and private businesses in saving lives. During “The Mircale on Mount Baldy” last July, Meer was out of state on a three-day vacation when he began receiving texts and emails indicating a boy had been buried under 11 feet of sand at Mount Baldy, a popular sand dune located just west of the city within the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Just as soon, he was hearing about the incident on national news.

“I stayed in phone contact with emergency personnel that evening, who kept giving me updates,” Meer remembers. “I wasn’t even here, but I have such confidence in our department heads working together. They don’t always see eye-to-eye, but come together when needed.”

A late-January fatal accident on Interstate-94 also showed that dedication, as the public and private sector stepped up to save numerous lives.

“Both of those incidents show that if something bad does happen, we are ready,” the Mayor added.

Before Meer was Mayor, he was the voice of the city’s Third Ward as their representative on the City Council from 2003-2011. It was as a councilman that Meer showed his dedication in speaking up for his constituents. He said his desire to run for office in the first place stemmed from “a couple issues where people of the Third Ward did not feel we were getting enough representation.”

An issue involving a floodplain in the area led to the creation of Striebel Pond and removed the ward’s Village Green out of floodplain.

Quickly after he began his first term on the Council, things were getting done. A total of $15 million was spent in the Third Ward during his eight years of representation.

He also was careful not to dismiss any issue, following up on all residents’ concerns with the city.

“I was a bit of a pest as a councilman,” he admitted. “I was logging in several calls to remove trees and other specific projects. I would follow up on citizens concerns and issues. I was once told that if every council representative was like that, it would be hard for some departments to focus on anything else.”

The addition of the city’s skate park, improvements on Willard Avenue, the removal of hundreds of dilapidated structures, the pavement of streets and alleys and $8 million being spent on Striebel Pond alone are hard examples of the positive changes he spearheaded on the city’s west side.

Meer spent two decades working for the Sanitary District (including six years while on the Council), but was let go in 2010 after becoming the center of a controversy that began when he notified state officials of health and safety violations occurring at the District, which included runoff into Trail Creek that was not reported. After being suspended, Meer was fired for reporting the problem to state officials instead of his immediate supervisor at the District.

“I knew there are risks anytime you can tell someone doesn’t want you to expose things, but I was obligated, not only as citizen but as city councilman, when I saw things not properly addressed or reported,” he said. “I came forward in a public avenue, during a city council forum and said that things were contaminating the creek and getting in Lake Michigan.”

In June of 2010, the District endured a federal raid that began a case that to this day has not been resolved. Meer eventually won a whistleblower lawsuit after being backed by the Indiana State Attorney General and awarded a monetary amount of $215,000 for being wrongfully dismissed.

But it was the backing of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), who found several examples of wrongdoings within the District, that served as foreshadowing of improvements that would be made in the future.

Michael Kuss, a senior environmental engineer with IDEM who issued an inspection report from May 13 to June 18, 2010 that found among others - 16 “plant operations and maintenance concerns” at the Sanitary District, now heads the District after being appointed by Meer when he took office.

“I knew I needed to get someone who knew the ins and outs of wastewater and stormwater,” Meer said. “He had 20 some years of experience in Indiana so I was compelled to ask if he’d come in. Bringing in an expert who is passionate about the environment has paid off.”

Meer says “great strides” have been made at District since, thanks to Kuss and a District board just as focused on correcting all the issues. Currently, $7 million is being used in Sanitary District projects that will remedy problems identified by IDEM and the Environmental Protection Agency.

“We identified what was wrong and now there is a plan to address all those issues so we can protect the environment and prevent overflows,” Meer said.

As Mayor, Meer has been at the forefront of the continuation of a number of projects to improve the city, including the addition of several new businesses and department stores at the Dunes Plaza shopping center, the addition of a public access site for fishing at the former Georg Marine site and Phase II of the Michigan Boulevard beautification project.

“That’s what I have to like most about being Mayor - seeing things get accomplished,” Meer said. “In this position, you get to see things through from planning to completion.”

Meer looks forward to the next year-and-a half of his term, which will include the implementation of many of the initiatives included in the Lake Michigan Gateway Implementation Strategy, which will include the transition of certain city streets from one-way to two-way thoroughfares and other aesthetic improvements.

“Methodically moving forward” with the project to relocate the city’s police station to the Eastport neighborhood and the recent award of $10 million in tax credits from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority to help proceed with the Artspace project at the city’s Warren Building are other ways the city is improving on Meer’s watch.

“Getting those tax credits was the result of a lot of work from a lot of people and I was honored to be the person to run the ball across the goal line on that,” he said. “If we could get that pillar to go with the Lubeznik Center, we will see the rest of that corridor from the lake to 11th street thrive.”

Having a pro-active mayor like Meer in office only builds upon a city that has so much going for it. A picturesque lighthouse that serves as the backdrop for Washington Park, often referred to as the city’s “crown jewel” serves as an anchor for the North End and one of what Meer calls the city’s “best feature.”

“We are trying to set an atmosphere where folks want to bring their business here,” he said.

In 2015, Meer is “absolutely” running for re-election because “one of the things (about being Mayor) is that things don’t move as fast as you’d like. It takes time to accomplish things, so I plan on at least one more term. I would like to see a lot of the things we started come to completion and keep the momentum going.”

Ten years from now, Meer says Michigan City will be “significantly improved.”

“As I was looking at the Lake Michigan Gateway presentation - some of those things are going to be done in phases over six months, a year, three, five, and 20 years out. We know that doing things in next five years will have significant impact on years to come.

“Improvements already occurring in our downtown will have a contagious affect on the rest of our community. It will be thriving, active and we want that activity all the way from the south side to the lake.”