Commissioners Approve $50K For Housing Initiative
October 14, 2020 at 2:52 a.m.
Commissioners Approve $50K For Housing Initiative
By David [email protected]
“It is so unique for KEDCO as an economic organization to be involved in this initiative, as well as this is an all-hands-on-deck opportunity. We need to get your help to get the word out that we are working to promote workforce housing around the county and, really, all four corners of the county,” Tio said.
He said from the countywide housing market potential strategy, that the county commissioners helped fund, “We know that there is more demand for workforce housing than what the market is producing. So, again, we stepped into the gap, work with each community, we’re in the community and identify where are the areas where housing would make sense. Help them evaluate those areas, help them find if there are shortfalls in infrastructure or other areas to deal with. Come up with solutions, how would we address those.”
Tio said KEDCO then matches up builders, developers and partners to make more housing possible.
“So at the end of the day, we just would help navigate that entire process,” he said.
KEDCO has agreements with the towns of Syracuse and Milford and is working with the city of Warsaw.
“But, and here’s the ask: We’re finding that a number of the areas in the county we’re working in are actually incorporated Kosciusko County. The areas where the towns, the cities don’t have the resources they can bring to help us with this predevelopment work,” Tio said.
KEDCO has a revolving loan fund set up to pay for that kind of work, and when KEDCO finds a developer, the developer pays the loan back.
“But if we’re in an unincorporated area of the county, we have our half of the match; we do ask the community to” provide the other half of the match, he said. However, for the unincorporated areas of the county, the match partner is missing. He asked the commissioners to appropriate or allocate $50,000 of their special projects fund to serve as the local match, which will be matched to state dollars, to pay for pre-development to get a site ready for development.
When the loan fund gets paid back from the developer, the money then goes toward the next development site.
“But, again, we’re finding that there are areas in the county that are not within the towns and cities that they have dollars to use,” Tio said, and the $50,000 would help KEDCO match that up with state dollars.
Commissioner Cary Groninger said that while the commissioners already committed $100,000 of its $250,000 special projects fund for the Small Business Loan Fund, that leaves $150,000 and $50,000 of that could be used toward the Housing Initiative. He made a motion to commit $50,000 toward Tio’s request and it was approved 2-0, with Commissioner Brad Jackson abstaining.
Bowen Center CEO Kurt Carlson then provided the commissioners with an annual report, similar to what he presented at Thursday’s County Council meeting. With him was Dr. Robert Ryan, who will become the new CEO of Bowen Center in July 2022. Carlson is not retiring, but stepping aside to serve in another capacity. Carlson has been with Bowen for 31 years.
He also mentioned there will be an open house for the Bowen Health Clinic on Oct. 20. It’s a primary care clinic and is already seeing patients. The state also approved it to be a COVID-19 test site.
In other business, the commissioners:
• Approved a request from Terry Burnworth, Pyramid Consulting, to negotiate with vendor J & K Communications Inc., which represents the EF Johnson Technologies Inc. Atlas System, for the final communication service agreement.
With the commissioners’ approval, Burnworth will negotiate an agreement with J & K Communications and forward it to county attorney Chad Miner for his review.
At the Oct. 27 commissioners meeting, Burnworth said the commissioners will receive bids for the various communication tower sites and that also will be when Burnworth presents the final agreement to them.
• Approved the 2021 Pictometry Flight agreement, as presented by County Assessor Susan Engelberth, for $67,000.
She said the flight is the same cost through Michiana Area Council of Governments as it was in 2019.
• Approved Teen Court interim director Lana Horoho’s request to apply for the 2021 Teen Court grant. The County Council approved her request Oct. 8.
The lease agreement between the Teen Court and the county also was renewed. Teen Court is leasing some office space from the county at $3,300 per year or $275 per month. The purpose of the lease agreement is so the county can capture grant dollars.
• Approved transferring the host agreement for the landfill from Advanced Disposal to GFL.
• Approved a number of items presented from County Administrator Marsha McSherry, including: Core Mechanical Services, glycol replacement, $18,757; Johnson Controls, chiller monitoring system, $12,471.14; Johnson Controls, annual service agreement, $11,116; 2021 interlocal agreements with all the outlying police departments for terminal services data; Advanced Products Group, new phone system installation, to be paid out of CARES Act funds, $131,431.15; CSD Group Inc., video conferencing system, $272,375.17.
• Approved Highway Superintendent Steve Moriarty’s request to apply for Community Crossings matching grant from the state. The grant program would provide 50% of the funds the county uses for approved road projects.
• Approved moving the commissioners’ Dec. 15 meeting to Dec. 22.
• Heard from Commissioner Bob Conley that after the next commissioners meeting, on Oct. 27, there will be a dedication for the Gold Star/Silver Star memorial on the back of the war memorial on the southwest corner of the courthouse lawn. The tentative time is between 9:45 and 10 a.m.
Conley said, “The Gold Star award is for mothers who lost children in world wars. The Silver Star ... includes the entire family of anyone who lost loved ones in foreign conflict.”
“It is so unique for KEDCO as an economic organization to be involved in this initiative, as well as this is an all-hands-on-deck opportunity. We need to get your help to get the word out that we are working to promote workforce housing around the county and, really, all four corners of the county,” Tio said.
He said from the countywide housing market potential strategy, that the county commissioners helped fund, “We know that there is more demand for workforce housing than what the market is producing. So, again, we stepped into the gap, work with each community, we’re in the community and identify where are the areas where housing would make sense. Help them evaluate those areas, help them find if there are shortfalls in infrastructure or other areas to deal with. Come up with solutions, how would we address those.”
Tio said KEDCO then matches up builders, developers and partners to make more housing possible.
“So at the end of the day, we just would help navigate that entire process,” he said.
KEDCO has agreements with the towns of Syracuse and Milford and is working with the city of Warsaw.
“But, and here’s the ask: We’re finding that a number of the areas in the county we’re working in are actually incorporated Kosciusko County. The areas where the towns, the cities don’t have the resources they can bring to help us with this predevelopment work,” Tio said.
KEDCO has a revolving loan fund set up to pay for that kind of work, and when KEDCO finds a developer, the developer pays the loan back.
“But if we’re in an unincorporated area of the county, we have our half of the match; we do ask the community to” provide the other half of the match, he said. However, for the unincorporated areas of the county, the match partner is missing. He asked the commissioners to appropriate or allocate $50,000 of their special projects fund to serve as the local match, which will be matched to state dollars, to pay for pre-development to get a site ready for development.
When the loan fund gets paid back from the developer, the money then goes toward the next development site.
“But, again, we’re finding that there are areas in the county that are not within the towns and cities that they have dollars to use,” Tio said, and the $50,000 would help KEDCO match that up with state dollars.
Commissioner Cary Groninger said that while the commissioners already committed $100,000 of its $250,000 special projects fund for the Small Business Loan Fund, that leaves $150,000 and $50,000 of that could be used toward the Housing Initiative. He made a motion to commit $50,000 toward Tio’s request and it was approved 2-0, with Commissioner Brad Jackson abstaining.
Bowen Center CEO Kurt Carlson then provided the commissioners with an annual report, similar to what he presented at Thursday’s County Council meeting. With him was Dr. Robert Ryan, who will become the new CEO of Bowen Center in July 2022. Carlson is not retiring, but stepping aside to serve in another capacity. Carlson has been with Bowen for 31 years.
He also mentioned there will be an open house for the Bowen Health Clinic on Oct. 20. It’s a primary care clinic and is already seeing patients. The state also approved it to be a COVID-19 test site.
In other business, the commissioners:
• Approved a request from Terry Burnworth, Pyramid Consulting, to negotiate with vendor J & K Communications Inc., which represents the EF Johnson Technologies Inc. Atlas System, for the final communication service agreement.
With the commissioners’ approval, Burnworth will negotiate an agreement with J & K Communications and forward it to county attorney Chad Miner for his review.
At the Oct. 27 commissioners meeting, Burnworth said the commissioners will receive bids for the various communication tower sites and that also will be when Burnworth presents the final agreement to them.
• Approved the 2021 Pictometry Flight agreement, as presented by County Assessor Susan Engelberth, for $67,000.
She said the flight is the same cost through Michiana Area Council of Governments as it was in 2019.
• Approved Teen Court interim director Lana Horoho’s request to apply for the 2021 Teen Court grant. The County Council approved her request Oct. 8.
The lease agreement between the Teen Court and the county also was renewed. Teen Court is leasing some office space from the county at $3,300 per year or $275 per month. The purpose of the lease agreement is so the county can capture grant dollars.
• Approved transferring the host agreement for the landfill from Advanced Disposal to GFL.
• Approved a number of items presented from County Administrator Marsha McSherry, including: Core Mechanical Services, glycol replacement, $18,757; Johnson Controls, chiller monitoring system, $12,471.14; Johnson Controls, annual service agreement, $11,116; 2021 interlocal agreements with all the outlying police departments for terminal services data; Advanced Products Group, new phone system installation, to be paid out of CARES Act funds, $131,431.15; CSD Group Inc., video conferencing system, $272,375.17.
• Approved Highway Superintendent Steve Moriarty’s request to apply for Community Crossings matching grant from the state. The grant program would provide 50% of the funds the county uses for approved road projects.
• Approved moving the commissioners’ Dec. 15 meeting to Dec. 22.
• Heard from Commissioner Bob Conley that after the next commissioners meeting, on Oct. 27, there will be a dedication for the Gold Star/Silver Star memorial on the back of the war memorial on the southwest corner of the courthouse lawn. The tentative time is between 9:45 and 10 a.m.
Conley said, “The Gold Star award is for mothers who lost children in world wars. The Silver Star ... includes the entire family of anyone who lost loved ones in foreign conflict.”
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