Mayor Greg Ballard lost a vote in the state Senate today when a Marion County fire consolidation bill fell on a 24-to-26 vote.  Did it have to?

Democratic Senators from Marion County complained that they wanted to talk to the Mayor about the proposal and never heard from him. 

Oh, there is a meeting scheduled for Friday, when, Senator Jim Merritt (R-Indianapolis) says, the Mayor intended to talk about the fire consolidation bill. 

The bill is dead.