The Culver Redevelopment Commission (CRC) met for their first 2012 meeting on Wednesday, March 21st. There are two returning members, Grant Munroe and Jerry Ney. There are three new members, Brandon Cooper, Rick Tompos and Ralph Winters. (Cooper was absent.) They reorganized with Munroe as Chair, Winters as Vice-Chair and Tompos as Secretary.
Members brought two issues before the commission as projects to consider for the year:
I presented a proposal that they consider participating in funding of a new Culver Comprehensive Plan. (See 20/20 Vision for Culver) They agreed that this would be a good project as it did impact the TIF District, but they felt it would be appropriate to partially fund it rather than be the sole source of funding. I explained that this suggestion originated with Kathy Clark, a former chair of the CRC. I also explained that I have vetted the idea with Jennifer Laurent, Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) Executive Director, and she had indicated that it was a common use of Redevelopment funds and outlined some steps for them to take. They are going to consider this at their next meeting as well.
They plan to have updated financials for their next meeting so that the new members can familarize themselves with the funding and available funds. They’re behind this year since this was their first meeting, but it sounds like they intend to hit the ground running. Their next meeting will be April 18th at 5:30pm. They are changing their meeting dates to the 3rd Wednesday of each month at the new 5:30pm time.
I will be discussing adding a Knox Box (or two) to the Culver Union Township Public Library (CUTPL) building tonight at the library board meeting. This discussion was prompted by one of the board members seeing my previous post regarding Knox Boxes and Culver Garden Court.
I’m pleased that others in the community are picking up on this. I still believe this is a positive step forward for our community and can lead to greater safety in emergency situations. Knox Boxes can be installed on commercial, industrial, municipal and residential buildings as well as private residences. When combined with a safety walk-thru to familiarize the emergency personnel, this installation can improve safety for both the occupants and the first responders. It can save emergency repair costs as well! If you’d like a quote on installing a Knox Box in your home or business, please don’t hesitate to call! You can also use the Contact Us page on our website here.
Easterday Construction Co., Inc. is a proud member of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) and has been for decades. We have had employees serve on boards and committees at the local and state levels as part of our commitment to this organization. We have sent employees through the apprenticeship program and we often take advantage of their seminars, webinars and safety training. They’re an organization we believe in.
ABC has teamed up with the American Red Cross to help with disaster relieve for the Midwest tornado victims. They are encouraging members and associates to help with this effort. If you would like to contribute to this cause and promote ABC’s efforts, you can do so here. Please consider a contribution to help this worthy cause.
This past Sunday there was a scare for Culver Garden Court. Apparently a grass fire in the adjacent field to the south got out of control and crossed onto the Garden Court property. You can see in the pictures below where it wrapped around the building on the southeast and southwest corners. It burned some of the existing landscaping, the vegetation in the detention pond and melted the silt fence we had along the property line. If obviously could have been much worse!
Other than the respiratory concerns from the smoke, the residents were not in danger. Culver Garden Court is the first Garden Court project to fall under the new fire protection regulations which mandate a sprinkler system. I’m still glad that we didn’t have to test that though!
The landscaping is the last item we have to complete and despite the balmy March weather we’ve been having, we’re a little hesitant to plant grass yet. It will be coming soon though. If you’d like to see the future landscape plan, you can see it here.
I’m not a big fan of Daylight Savings Time as my lurkers already know. It’s not getting any better. Becky’s not a big fan of the deserts of Arizona, but its position as the lone state refusing to participate in this madness makes living there seem more attractive.
I was dragging when I got up this morning and I was dragging all the way through lunch. It’s about 11:00 pm as I’m writing this and I’m not sleepy. It will take me a couple of weeks to get on the new cycle. For those of you that have to deal with me, bear with me please. I will try not to be any more surly than absolutely necessary.
As I was trying to wake up this morning I ran across this article in the LA Times which didn’t make me feel any better with its discussion of the dark side of DST including anxiety, heart attacks and car accidents. Sleep deprivation is a wonderful thing… NOT! Can you imagine having Daylight Savings Time listed as the cause of death in your obituary?
Once again, in an attempt to make lemons into lemonade, I’ll remind you that this is a good time to check/replace the batteries in your smoke detectors. Those of you that are sleep impaired like I am need all the help you can get as you acclimate to this unnecessary assault on your internal clocks… Sweet Dreams!