Saturday’s meeting was well attended and went quite well. There were two County Council representatives, one County Commissioner and four Culver Town Council Members. There were also three members of the Culver Redevelopment Commission there. All of them were in with a mix of citizens from Culver and Union Township. All told, there were 30+ in attendance.
Jerry Chavez, President of the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) lead a group discussion on the needs of the County, both in the area of Economic Development and the deterioration of County Roads. Handouts were provided showing the an increase in paving costs of 98% since 2003 while highway funds have actually decreased. The Local Option Highway User Tax (LOHUT) was discussed. Chavez said, “The State is giving us the tools to handle our problems ourselves. We need to use them.” He also noted that the State was considering matching County LOHUT funds… meaning if we don’t have the LOHUT in place, we will not get that funding.
Last week MCEDC had a Marshall County Vision Meeting in Culver with a select group of Culver representatives. Those representatives helped refine the message and selected a date for a Town-wide meeting. MCEDC hopes those representatives will also help get the word out to assure a good turn out. The message we’re sharing is a call to action. The more people that hear this directly from the source, the more clearly the message will be recommunicated. Invite you friends and neighbors. This is important to us all.
Thank you to Rich West and the Culver Cove for hosting!
Kevin L. Berger was reappointed as Culver’s representative to the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) Board of Directors. Berger has represented Culver since the corporation’s inception in 2007. Berger commented, “I am pleased that the Town Council continues to have confidence in my representation. I attend nearly every Town Council, Plan Commission and Redevelopment Commission meeting, to stay aware of what is going on in Culver. Through my involvement, MCEDC has been instrumental in updating Culver’s Tax Abatement program, bringing industry to the table to pursue Culver initiatives, moving the Entry Level Housing Task Force forward and most recently helping to put Culver initiatives into the Northern Indiana Regional Cities proposal and then following through to help assure our region was selected as a Regional Cities recipient.”
From the right: Regina Emberton – President and CEO of The Michiana Partnership, Jeff Rea – President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County, Diana Lawson – Executive Director of the Elkhart County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Jerry Chavez – President & CEO of the Marshall County Economic Development Corp.
MCEDC‘s President, Jerry Chavez, was on Economic Outlook last month discussion the Regional Cities Initiative and Marshall County’s role in it. As previously discussed here, Marshall County, St. Joseph County and Elkhart County form one of three regions in Indiana that were awarded $42 Million in State grant money. Check out the video link here.
The Easterday Construction family lost another member last week. Kathy Pearson succumbed to her cancer after a three year, protracted battle. She kept her spirits up until the end. She came to the visitation for my grandfather on December 7th, only a couple of weeks ago, and promised we would get together for lunch again soon. Sadly that didn’t happen.
Kathy was a fixture at Easterday Construction Co., Inc. for 38 years. KP to those of us in the office. When she retired at the end of 2014, she left a void that was impossible to fill. I gave some of her history with the company here in a previous post. That barely scratched the surface of the contributions she made.
History is a huge part of what was lost with her passing. Kathy remembered past projects nearly as well as I did in my tenure, but she also could tell me the history of projects before my time. She remembered past employees, subcontractors and suppliers, filling in gaps in things I had forgotten or never knew. She remembered phone numbers almost unerringly and served as a virtual rolodex when I would ask for a number or name that wouldn’t come to me. Long before it was “Ask Google” it was “Ask Kathy”.