Culver

Marshall County Job Growth

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Job Numbers - Pilot News 12-20-14Culver 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:

  1. 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;
  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.
  3. 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!

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Well, here we are heading into 2015.  Happy New Year!

Will & Kathy's Last Day
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

Affordable Housing Conference

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AHF BadgeOn 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.

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Culver Action Plan

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In October I pressed the Town Council to move forward with an Action Plan to start implementation of the Comprehensive Plan.  Unfortunately the first meeting scheduled was a bust and at the next Council meeting discussion of another meeting got tabled until after the first of the year.  I understood why the Action Plan meeting was put off until after the first of the year, but I think there are discussions that can be had now.  The Town Board, Plan Commission and Redevelopment Commissions are the ultimate arbitrators of how this moves forward.  I put the following thoughts down in an email to chairs of those entities in hopes of getting this moving forward.

  • I pushed this last month because I thought we should develop an interim plan, with the goal of reviewing an action plan in late May or June before budgets are prepared.  I think the Action Plan needs to relate to the budgets, but there are also things that could happen in the next six months that would require time rather than dollars.  The Action Plan should be reviewed and updated annually before budgets.
  • The Action Plan should be part of the jumping off point for the Capital Improvement Plan.  Having a rudimentary Action Plan in place will give Bob and the new Town Manager a jumping off point at the first of the year.
  • The Redevelopment Commission isn’t hamstrung by the annual budget timing, so they could possibly move forward on some spending items that fall in their purview and are suggested by the Action Plan.

Low/No Dollar Action Plan for the next six months: 

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