Episode 740

#740 | Sunday, September 27, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

September 27th, 2026

2 hrs 6 mins 2 secs

Link with Timestamp

Download MP3 (115 MB)

Your Hosts
Tags
muncie muncie indiana city of muncie muncie government muncie politics winchester winchester indiana city of winchester winchester government winchester politics dan ridenour mayor dan ridenour carl malone parks superintendent carl malone jeff howe muncie redevelopment commission mrc director deputy mayor acting mayor contract contract employee bob mccoy mayor bob mccoy social media controversy local government local politics east central indiana indiana politics randolph county tuhey tuhey pool muncie parks department muncie parks board muncie city council finance committee dale basham jerry dishman william mcintosh 2027 muncie budget city budget government accountability government transparency city leadership public administration city contracts conflicting statements government confusion public oversight taxpayer accountability facebook facebook post term end of the term december 31 2027

About this Episode

Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey explores a bizarre and increasingly confusing situation in the City of Muncie, Indiana, involving Mayor Dan Ridenour, Parks Superintendent Carl Malone, contract employee Jeff Howe, and Tuhey Pool.

The issue arose during Parks Superintendent Carl Malone's appearance before the Finance Committee (comprising Muncie City Councilors Dale Basham, Jerry Dishman, and William McIntosh) on Thursday, September 24, 2026.

While discussing Tuhey Pool and the disastrous 2026 pool season, Parks Superintendent Carl Malone told the committee he was no longer in charge of the facility.

Malone explained that, because of his illness and absence, he could not speak in detail about much of what happened this year. That is understandable. However, Bilbrey believed that upon his return, Malone would have received a full debriefing on what took place so he could try to correct issues going forward.

That did not happen; Malone continued to offer little information about what went wrong, what would change, and how Tuhey Pool could improve for next year and beyond.

Then came the surprise.

Malone said control of Tuhey Pool had shifted to Jeff Howe—a city contract employee who serves as Director of the Muncie Redevelopment Commission. He has also been named Deputy Mayor and served as the "Acting Mayor" during Mayor Ridenour's medical leave. All of this, despite many still questioning the legality of his contracts with the city.

Malone also said Howe now has a team working on the pool.

That was news to Bilbrey. Honestly, it came as a shock!

Apparently, it was news to members of the Muncie Parks Board, too.

So Bilbrey started asking questions.

He emailed Mayor Ridenour and several others for clarification.

The Mayor responded quickly—and the answers directly contradicted what Malone told the Finance Committee.

According to Mayor Ridenour, nothing had changed. Tuhey Pool remained under the Parks Department and under the authority of Parks Superintendent Carl Malone.

So what the hell is going on?

Who is actually running Tuhey Pool?

Did responsibility shift to Jeff Howe?

Why did the Parks Superintendent tell the Finance Committee one thing while the mayor says something completely different?

Which story is the Finance Committee and the council as a whole supposed to use to build the Parks Department's budget?

How do they know who is telling the truth about this or anything else?

What do the other City Council members think?

What does the Parks Board know?

How can anyone responsibly budget, plan, or hold anyone accountable when city officials apparently cannot even agree on who is in charge?

Bilbrey walks through the backstory, the conflicting statements, the unanswered questions, and what he believes is really happening behind the scenes.

Then Bilbrey heads east toward Winchester, Indiana, where a controversy has been brewing for several days.

He examines what appears to be a political and social-media faux pas posted on Friday, September 25, 2026, that may involve Mayor Bob McCoy. Let's just say Winchester residents are NOT happy.

This episode covers the Muncie and Winchester governments, questions about city leadership, conflicting accounts, budgets, and the bigger question of who the hell is actually responsible for what.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 740: https://youtube.com/live/_TNl-DBTIcE

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Connect with The Political Spotlight team on social media:
Facebook 1: https://www.facebook.com/Bilbrey318
Facebook 2: https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalSpotlight318
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
Twitter: https://x.com/BilbreyLIVE
Email: [email protected]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🚨🚨🚨
'The Political Spotlight'
LIVE Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. (ET)
Hosted by: Kristopher H. Bilbrey
Produced by: Kate Thornburg & Brandon Rudd
https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://rumble.com/c/ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
https://www.facebook.com/Bilbrey318
https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalSpotlight318
https://www.tiktok.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://x.com/BilbreyLIVE
Email: [email protected]
© 2026 Mud Creek Studio.
—