City Council Approves Facade Improvement Matching Grant Guidelines
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Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
Warsaw City Council approved guidelines for facade improvement matching grants during its meeting Monday night. Council President Elaine Call made the motion, seconded by Jerry Frush. The purpose of the facade improvement matching grant program is to stimulate efforts to improve the street appearance of downtown Warsaw’s commercial and business facades. Mark Dobson, Warsaw-Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce president, presented information on the facade improvement matching grant program during the meeting. Dobson thanked Clerk-Treasurer Lynn Christiansen for her work on the facade grant program. “What we’ve tried to do is make the facade program more user friendly and business friendly,” Dobson said. Dobson said the program has eliminated people accessing facade grants solely for a sign for a business. He said there was an instance of a business owner who purchased a sign for their business through the facade program, but did not improve the facility. Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said updating the facade grant’s purpose is to make sure those who apply for the grant know what is expected of them. The program has been funded by the city of Warsaw and will be administered by Warsaw Community Development Corp. The program guidelines now state funds may be awarded for improvements to a facility image of up to $5,000 for building facades, storefronts, awnings and signs. The facade grant programs will not pay for signs unless they are part of an image enhancement project that includes improvements to the building. For fiscal year 2013, there is a total of $25,000 available for the program, and the 2013 grant cycle will begin Jan. 1 and run until Sept. 31 or until funds are fully committed for projects. In the event that not all funds are committed in 2013 by Sept. 30, a call for additional projects will be issued by WCDC. Unused funds will revert back to the city after Dec. 31 except for those committed to projects in process. Projects must be compatible with the vision and goals of Warsaw and Warsaw Community Development Corp. Only one grant is available per numeric address within any one year grant cycle. However, a second grant may be applied for the following year provided the work completed represents a new project on a facility. The grant committee will meet monthly to review applications and/or on-site inspections with the applicants as necessary. In other business, the council approved amending the 2013 salary ordinance to include a salary for a certified patrol officer for Warsaw Police Department with a $1,677.05 bi-weekly salary. Jeff Grose, deer task force chair, provided an update on the city’s deer reduction efforts. Grose said there have been 68 deer taken so far with two months to go.
