Congratulations to Jim Clevenger
Congratulations Jim! I’ve worked with you as Culver’s Town Attorney, Marshall County’s Attorney and briefly as MCEDC’s Attorney. I’ve always known you to be cautious and ethical, working to keep his clients out of trouble. No surprise that you were on the State’s Ethics Commission, though I didn’t know about it until seeing this award upon your exit from the Commission. 14 years! Way to go!
Best wishes for your next endeavor. Thanks for your years working to keep the State on the straight and narrow. Please keep up the good work and apply those principles here too!
Clip Wamsley
Claiborn M. “Clip” Wamsley has been a friend of Easterday Construction Co., Inc. for decades. We’re all saddened by his passing. We feel for all our friends at First National Bank of Monterey as they work through this loss.
Clip was an iconic character in our region, through his work in our communities, community organizations and schools. His story of working his way up from a teller to bank president is one of those inspirational tales that is hard to believe, but stands as a testament of what hard work, perseverance and loyalty can bring. He led the bank through much of their first 100 years and was there to celebrate their century mark in 2010.
Easterday Construction Co., Inc.’s ties to Clip and the First National Bank of Monterey (FNBM) have resulted in multiple collaborations. We built the Culver branch of FNBM as a new building when they expanded to Culver. When FNBM expanded to Winamac, we built an addition to that building. We completed an annex addition to the FNBM home office in Monterey and reworked the roof of the FNBM North Judson facility giving it an entirely new look. We have completed much of their maintenance and improvement work along the way.
We’re saddened by his passing and wish his wife, Alice, and the rest of his family peace and comfort.
Stepping Down from MCEDC
After 13 years helping to move Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) forward, I have stepped down from my position on the board. I originally sought and received appointment in 2006 to represent the Town of Culver on the organizing committee and I saw that through to the organization of the 501(c)6 corporation in 2007. Last month I completed my fourth 3 year term on the MCEDC board of directors. During that time I have served as an officer for all but two of those years. I served as Board Chairman, Vice Chairman and most recently Secretary/Treasurer. With my retirement, there are only two of the original members still on the board. Change can be good, but with it can come a lack of history, so I leave with mixed feelings.
The organization struggled at its inception. The organization that I helped form was at least the second attempt at a county-wide EDC. There was a lot of back and forth about how funding should occur and how to determine representation. Kevin Overmyer deserves much credit for making the current version work. His efforts in organizing the players behind the scenes and then assuring that there would be financing was critical to getting the EDC started. Securing the lion’s share of funding support through the County, while agreeing to only one representative on the board set an example that the municipalities could follow. Our organizing committee met with other ongoing EDC’s to get a feel for how operations should be managed and worked with Ice Miller attorneys to make sure the organizing documents gave us the proper mix of control and flexibility. Roger Umbaugh, the organizations first chairman, was instrumental in using his contacts to connect us with the right people. Pam Davis came on as Office Manager at the beginning and has been a fantastic asset on the one constant for the organization. Looking at the cooperation occurring across the county today, it may be difficult for some to realize the early struggles. Things such as finding an office location, hiring an executive director and determining a name & logo were all considered carefully against the backdrop of some continued push and pull among the member communities. At the board, we often joked that the old basketball rivalries die hard.
During my time as chairman, I suggested a county-wide meeting to help foster better cooperation. The board supported this initiative and again, Kevin Overmyer stepped up to help make the first meeting at Swan Lake happen. Thus, Marshall County Development For the Future (CDFF) was born. While the germ of the idea was mine, it would have never happened without the help of others. Pam Davis was invaluable in making the connections and getting people committed to come. Her suggestion to ask Shawn Peterson from the Corporate Partnership for Economic Growth (CPEG – now defunct) to come in as an outside facilitator was inspired. Shawn did a fantastic job of getting our community leaders to open up and engage with each other, breaking down barriers that everyone came to realize, never should have been there. He drew out the leaders and got us all talking about what we could do together. MCEDC and Marshall County owe him a debt for his assistance.
I believe the first tangible thing that came from CDFF was Argos’s purchase of land for an industrial park. Argos officials came to a meeting and announced they were doing this and said they wouldn’t have done so without broadening their thinking at CDFF meetings. This has led to the construction of a shell building on that property. Marshall County would not have rallied to be included in the St. Joseph and Elkhart County Regional Cities Initiative if it weren’t for CDFF. Because of that, Regional Cities has injected millions of dollars into Marshall County and made us more visible to the State as a whole. The support that Culver received from CDFF was instrumental in the Stellar Communities designation we received. Without CDFF it is unlikely that OCRA would have suggested that Marshall County compete for designation as a Stellar Region or that Ginny Munroe would have stepped up to lead that county-wide initiative. Those are just a few of the benefits achieved from CDFF and it makes me proud to have been a part of it. It has evolved over the years, but still serves as a place for Marshall County leadership to come together.
I was a part of the selection committee as MCEDC has selected and been headed by four different directors over these 12 years. All of them have brought with them different strengths and weaknesses. Throughout this, it has become clear to me that there is not just one way to do economic development. The board’s position is to find the best fit possible and then tailor our mission to maximize the strengths of the individual chosen to perform the day-to-day functions. Not all of these directors have seen eye-to-eye with our communities, which has made having a well placed liaison from each community critical. This can be a struggle for a volunteer board with limited time for daily engagement, but the trust between the community and their representative is important. It’s not just a seat to fill. MCEDC does important things and is making decisions that affect our communities daily. It is a delicate balance of engagement, while avoiding micro-management, that has kept the organization moving forward through its twelve years of existence.
Marty Oosterbaan has been selected as my replacement to represent Culver. Marty’s engagement in the Culver community as well as his key role in the Marshall County Stellar initiative makes him an excellent choice. As a recent retiree, he has the time to be engaged and he has shown he has the energy and drive to make a difference. Removing the onus of attending 3-5 MCEDC meetings per month as well as feeling an obligation to attend as many Culver governmental meetings as possible will be a relief, though I can’t see myself completely disengaging. I wish Marty the best as he assumes this position. In my case, the sense of accomplishment has been worth the headaches. I hope Marty builds on those accomplishments with fewer headaches!
Kevin L. Berger
Blast From the Past: Memory Countertop
This is an old project that came to mind the other day when talking to a new client. Unfortunately I often kick myself for not keeping the best picture record of projects. In this case, I have pictures of the finished counter, but not particularly good pictures of the counter once it was installed. Hopefully there is enough here to give you an idea of what can be done.
This project was the renovation of an old summer cottage. The style was dated, but filled with memories for the Owner’s family. The kitchen and bathroom had deteriorated to the point of discouraging use of the entire cottage. The plan was to do a renovation in the style of the older portion of the home, but including an addition which expanded the kitchen, included a small dining area and created an enlarged bathroom with modern amenities.
The home’s “living room” was in the center with no windows. Everything was heavy woodwork with dark stain. Again, they wanted to keep the style due to the historic ties, but also wanted more light. The solution was to brighten up the kitchen including lots of windows and bright colors and then create a pass-through window to transfer some of the light to the interior living room. It was very important to the family to preserve the character and style of the original cottage, so a lot went into making sure the addition blended new with old.
A lot of discussion went into how to accomplish the connection and it was determined that the pass-through should also serve as a bar top creating a supplemental eating space. A sketch/plan for the top was created and approved. The top cantilevered into the living room space held up with decorative support brackets. The pass-through was cased in oak similar to the rustic trim throughout the house. Plinth’s were used around the opening to cover gaps necessary to fit the completed top into place.
The Owner was a photographic artist and had preserved many historic photos of gatherings at the home. She had a vision of including these photos in the renovation. A little research on our part uncovered a product called Kleer Kote from U.S. Composites. The product is an clear epoxy coating that is self-leveling and creates a glass-like finish. The Owner provided specially duplicated photographs that were compatible with the Kleer Kote and gave us an arrangement she wanted. We then placed them on the top and permanently adhered and protected them with the coating.
For those of you considering this, a few tips on using the Kleer Kote: 1) The product has to be mixed slowly to avoid creating air bubbles , 2) the product is flowable, but thick when applied, so care must be taken not to move the media being preserved during installation and 3) the product is self-leveling, but is syrupy as it goes on, so care must be taken not to over fill the borders of the area being filled. You can work it a little to help the spread, but again, this must be done carefully to prevent creating bubbles.
This is the original cottage before the addition was built. The door shown entered a hall into a narrow kitchen and the room extending on the right was a small breakfast nook. The stairs were in poor condition and the railing was unsafe. The cottage was winterized each year via a series of pipes and valves in the basement. (Which only one family member knew how to do.) The basement walls were deteriorating to the point light could be seen through mortar joints. The breakfast nook itself was actually an addition many decades old, but its foundations were in worse shape than the original cottage foundation which was much, much older.
The renovation included removing the old structure for that housed the breakfast nook and expanding that space to include the new kitchen, dining area and bathroom. The space is still compact, but fitting with the rest of the home. The smaller, high windows were updated, but in a similar style. New steps and railing were installed to improve access. The plumbing was reconfigured and valving was created to make winterization easy and self-explanatory.
There was a tree that was dying near the home which created a potential future hazard. The tree had meaning to the family and was difficult to lose. As a solution, we removed the tree and had a local chainsaw artist create a carving and bench. The bench includes wood burning art and a plaque commemorating family members, their interests and their time at the cottage.
Patrick Young: Weather Quote
“The problem with weather forecasting is that it’s right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it.”
