Warts and All
I haven’t been posting as often as I would like the last few weeks as I’ve been working on getting another project up in our portfolio. (Not to mention dealing with the holidays, Will and Kathy’s retirement, etc.) Yei-Yei’s Game Room is a project that we’ve been working on since the summer of 2013. We expect it to wrap up this Spring. The project is unique. It is an underground game room with two bowling lanes as the center piece. The challenges of the underground structure adjacent to a lake with the associated waterproofing along with learning a plethora of bowling alley minutia were something out of the ordinary. Anyway, I thought I would include the link to the draft here for anyone who wants to watch the creation and editing process as it goes. I don’t want my lurkers to get bored!
I’m attempting to create some slide shows to illustrate some of the sequencing like I did with the Logansport Library page. I did a slide show for the stairs there. (I’m always amazed when I see how many pictures I’ve taken and yet don’t have the one I want.) There is an issue with the program where it doesn’t like more than one slide show on a page, so I’m attempting a work-around on that.
If you go there and find errors, feel free to let me know. I’m still considering it a draft until I put it in the portfolio link structure so you can find it from the main website menu.
Marshall County Job Growth
Culver government has taken a long break over the November/December holidays. I know the holidays are tough for scheduling meetings, we are having some changing of the guard on various boards and commissions, and we haven’t found a new Town Manager yet. <sigh!> Acknowledging all that, business is moving forward. The article to the right cites “2,153 new jobs expected state wide over the next few years.” That number doesn’t seem as big when you consider that Marshall County businesses are projecting the addition of 500 jobs THIS YEAR! Aggressive Manufacturing Innovations (AMI) is mentioned here adding 250 jobs in 2015. In Culver, Elkay is projected the need for 100 new employees during their tax abatement hearing last year.
Culver’s To-Do list includes the following:
- Complete an Action Plan. This was discussed at the Comprehensive Plan Implementation Meeting last fall. This would be the first step in defining steps to implement the Comprehensive Plan, which leads to To-Do list #2;
- Complete a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). This would put dollar amounts on the Action items so that things can be further prioritized and necessary funds can be budgeted.
- Address the Housing issue. The Town Council made promises to Elkay that they would form a Task Force and address the issues, but so far, the Task Force has yet to meet. I did attend the Affordable Housing Summit in Chicago which was a useful first step, but we’ve yet to have a meeting where I can relate what I learned. (Which is fading fast in my limited memory!)
Next week the Culver Town Council will convene with the new board members, elect leadership and begin making their appointments to the subsidiary boards and commissions. Taking the next steps to kick off the Affordable Housing Task Force and hold an Action Plan meeting can’t happen too quickly after that. Time is of the Essence…
Image Source: Scan from Pilot News 12-20-14
Happy New Year!
Well, here we are heading into 2015. Happy New Year!
Will & Kathy’s Last Day
It’s going to be interesting starting the new year here with Will and Kathy‘s retirement. We wish them the best. We also lost several friends who passed away, including former employee Dave Epley, and two long time clients, Don Neidig and Richard Ford. They will be missed. Dave was a carpenter with Easterday Construction who was responsible for a lot of detailed work of which we’re quite proud. A fair amount of Dave’s work was performed for Don and Richard, both of whom appreciated fine craftsmanship.
There’s no doubt that the new year will bring new challenges. We can only hope they are ones that intrigue us and help us grow. 2014 brought us a mixed group of clients. Some of these were repeat customers that we consider friends and some of them new clients where we hope we have created friendships. Some of our work has been fairly mundane but necessary like replacing roofs, while others will be memorable such as the new Veterans Memorial at Fletcher Cemetery and the bowling alley we helped install in Yei-Yei’s Game Room. For all of it, we thank our clients for their trust and confidence in us.
On the lighter side (hopefully), I ran across this article from Dorkly about all the things we should expect in 2015 per past science fiction movies. None of the films they cite show rosey pictures for 2015, but at least we’ll finally get flying cars from Blade Runner and that cool hoverboard from Back to the Future II! Then again, Arnold Schwarzenegger cloning himself is a bit scary.
Best Wishes for a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous 2015 to all our friends and clients!
Kevin
Image Source: Will & Kathy by Julie Heise
Image Source: Terminator Arnold borrowed from giphy.com
Fond Farewell
Kathy’s First Check
Today is the last day for Kathy and Will Pearson at Easterday Construction. They are retiring and moving on to another phase of their lives. Talk about the end of an Era! Kathy has been here since 1976. 38 years! Will has been an employee off and on totaling about 25 years. I knew them long before I started working for Easterday Construction.
Will and Kathy moved to town when Will took a job running the Inn at what was then Culver Military Academy. Dad likes to tell the story of hiring them:
Kathy Pearson
“Kathy applied for a job with us. I was impressed and decided to hire her, but told her, ‘You won’t be here long!’ None of the previous Inn managers had lasted more than a few years. Unfortunately the same was true for Will. But by then Kathy had proven herself so valuable that I had to hire Will to keep Kathy! Guess she proved me wrong.”
When I was looking for someone in the office a few years back, I knew Will was unhappy where he was, but I was concerned about history and I was concerned about Will and Kathy working together in the office. I asked Dad his thoughts on the subject:
“Will was always a good employee and I can’t imagine that has changed. He wasn’t always the fastest estimator, but he stayed until he got the job done. He was always loyal, conscientious and always did the right thing. I don’t know that you can go wrong with him.”
Will Pearson
Dad was right in both cases. I don’t know that he could have done better than hiring Kathy and I have been pleased that I chose to hire Will.
I discussed their exit with the crew and they agreed that they would like to do an Open House for them so that the community, clients and friends can wish them well. Unfortunately (or fortunately for them) the Pearsons are headed to Alabama for a few months of warmer weather. We’ll have to postpone the celebration until they return. Keep an eye out here for a date sometime in March… but if you happen to catch them before they hit the road, please be sure to wish them well. Everyone at Easterday Construction does… Most of all me… I am not just losing employees, I am no longer going to see two good friends every day.
Kevin
Affordable Housing Conference
On behalf of the Town of Culver, I attended the Affordable Housing Finance Summit in Chicago last month. It was a three day event, running from Wednesday morning through Friday afternoon. It consisted of a lot of interactive presentations as well as networking opportunities. I have some experience dealing with HUD due to our Garden Court projects, but this was like taking a 200 level course when I really needed 101. I do feel like I learned a lot, while it was painfully obvious that I have a lot more to learn.
The dream of “Affordable Housing”
Affordable Housing has long been a topic in Culver. The issue has been further focused due to the completion of the Comprehensive Plan where affordable housing was addressed. The recent tax abatement granted to Elkay where they pledged to add 100 new employees also makes housing a local priority. This has also been a topic at several of the MCEDC Development for the Future meetings as other communities in Marshall County are recognizing the same need. Overall, MCEDC is aware of current expansions that are projected to add 500-600 new jobs in the next 12-18 months. Ginny Munroe, Culver Town Council President, asked me to be on a Task Force to address this issue for Culver. When the advertisement for the Summit came up, I volunteered to attend on the Town’s behalf.
