North Manchester Introduces Facade Improvement Program
Posted
Jordan Fouts-
NORTH MANCHESTER – Town Council had its first look at a program to help downtown businesses improve their building facades Wednesday.
Council members James Smith and Laura Rager introduced an ordinance for the program, which they had been developing since spring.
Council President Chris Garber noted the program “comes from our frustration with not being able to get grants, so we decided to set up our own program.”
Eligible businesses would be able to apply to the program and receive 80 percent of funding for facade work from the town, on a first-come, first-served basis as funds are available.
The ordinance sets no budget for the program, and money available will change from year-to-year.
North Manchester will designate the architect and approve the facade design for a given project, and the town manager will inspect the project.
The council also had its first look at a tax abatement for Shepherd's Chevrolet which is planning a $800,000 expansion.
The expansion will allow the company to retain its existing 23 employees as well as add four new jobs with a yearly payroll of $155,000, said Bill Konyha, president of the Economic Development Group of Wabash County.
The town will see an additional $4,495 in payroll taxes the first year after the expansion, Konyha added, and a total of $382,000 in 10 years from all employees.
A public hearing will be held before council votes on the tax abatement.
Council members also approved the purchase of two trucks for the Public Works Department, at about $18,000 each. The two older vehicles were traded in for $1,700.
Public Works Superintendent John Mugford then reported that the town wells have seen a drop of about five feet, which he said isn't cause for too much concern.
“It's not the well capacity you have to worry about, it's the (water) plant capacity,” he told council, adding that they only once passed one million gallons.
Garber thanked Mugford for the cleanup his crew did after recent storms, though a few trees and limbs remain in people's yards.
Council members remarked after the meeting that the storms were worse for North Manchester than the 2008 ice storm, leaving a dozen roads blocked by debris and power lines and causing power outages that lasted up to four days.
