Tag:government
Culver Redevelopment Commission
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:
- Munroe suggested that the group continue their consideration of facade improvement grants as were discussed extensively last year. I suggested that they approach Trent Bennett regarding participating in a Task Force or Sub Committee in order to complete this project since he was so heavily involved in it the previous year. They thought that was appropriate and planned to contact him. They are going to consider this at their next meeting when they have a better handle on financing.
- Winters suggested that the group consider funding or helping to fund a sidewalk project which would extend the sidewalk along the west side of Lake Shore Drive from where it stops up to the intersection with S.R. 10 and then west along S.R. 1o to the Family Dollar store. He suggested this due to the number of Culver Academies students that walk this route to the Park ‘N Shop and to the Family Dollar. Obstacles concerning this were discussed including that part of the area was not in the TIF District and part of the area would be on INDOT Right-of-Way. They are going to consider this at their next meeting as well.
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.
OUTRAGE of the Month from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Taken from the March 2012 Issue of Free Enterprise Magazine produced by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Visit www.FreeEnterprise.com
Super Tuesday Thoughts
All of the news organizations are lathered up about today being “Super Tuesday“. It’s all a little frustrating as I generally feel like the decisions on the national candidates have been made long before Indiana’s Primaries roll around. Hoosiers have the opportunity to support candidates financially before the primaries, but in the end it’s the votes that count. I guess we’ll have to see if the new method of awarding delegates makes Hoosier votes relative this year.
Along with the changes with the national delegate counts, we’ve seen some local changes as well. For those of you that haven’t seen the new district maps, Marshall County occupies the majority of Indiana House District 17. Fulton County to the south shares a portion of District 17 as well. (See the map to the right) We will no longer be “represented” by Nancy Dembowski as she will be in District 20. The latest information I’ve received is that she didn’t file to run so she is retiring after this year. That will leave Tom Dermody to run unopposed in the general election. Mr. Dermody is the current Representative for District 20.
There are currently two Republicans, Francis Ellert and Tim Harman, running in the primary to represent District 17. As of this time I haven’t had the chance to learn too much about Mr. Harman, but I did support Francis Ellert in 2010 (previous blog post here) and feel he would do a good job representing the interests of our district.
On the Senate side, Marshall County is split along what appears to be township lines. (See the map to the right) West Township along with Union, Green, Walnut and Tippecanoe Townships along the south side of the County fall into Senate District 18. District 18 covers all or part of 5 additional counties south of Marshall County. The remainder of Marshall County is part of Senate District 9 which includes portions of Elkhart, Kosciusko and St. Joseph Counties to the north and east.
State Senator Randy Head currently represents District 18 which includes Culver. Senator Head came to Culver to speak last Saturday, but unfortunately I was unable to attend. Hopefully Culver generated a good turnout for him! Senator Head is running unopposed in the primary and general elections.
State Senator Ryan Mishler currently represents District 9 which includes Plymouth and the remainder of Marshall County to the north and east. Senator Mishler is running unopposed in the primary and general elections.
I would encourage you to take the time to learn about Francis Ellert and Tim Harman. We often mistakenly think that our State representatives aren’t important, but they are key to decisions that affect our daily lives and how competitive our State is nationally and worldwide. I’ll be cursing their decision a few years back to go to Daylight Savings Time when the alarm goes off next Monday just as I cheered their decision to implement Right to Work in the current session.
Culver Garden Court – Permission to Occupy!
This past Tuesday we had our PTO (Permission To Occupy) meeting with HUD for the Culver Garden Court. This released the building to the property management company (Bradley Residential Management, formerly Real Estate Management) and they started to move furniture in that day. There were a few minor cleaning issues and some general touch-up items to be completed and they are underway. We will be moving the equipment and trailers off the site this week. The first residents will be moving in on Monday of next week! We’ve had to kick one future resident out multiple times over the past month as he’s been impatient to move in! Ha!
Due to the timing for completion of this building, there were a few items escrowed including the landscaping. This is scheduled for installation later this Spring. If our Spring comes in as mild as the Winter has been, we should be able to get an early start on it. Since it includes seeding, we don’t want to push this too early though.
We think this has been a successful project and we have gone over and above since it’s in our home town. There will be an announcement for an Open House and Ribbon Cutting coming out soon which we’ll include as a post here. We look forward to seeing you there!
We’ve included a few additional pictures after the jump.
Culver Knox Box Program
Since the walk-thru with the Emergency Services Personnel last week, I have made several presentations on a proposed Knox Box program for Culver. Initially I spoke on this topic with the Town Council on Tuesday the 14th. The Fire Chief and the EMS Director were both at that meeting and were charged by the Council to come up with a program. They also asked the Clerk to look into any insurance implications. The Council also agreed with my recommendation that it go before the Plan Commission as a possible addendum to the Zoning Ordinance so that when additional Knox Boxes are installed, they are installed in a uniform fashion. I agreed to carry that suggestion to the Plan Commission, which I did on Tuesday the 21st. They expressed interest as well, though no action was taken to move this forward at this time.
I have also contacted the Culver School System regarding this new program as I think they should consider implementing it. The Culver Union Township Library has also expressed interest. I’m hoping the program will take off! This will bring Culver in line with other area communities.
