Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH WEBSTER - Bob Murphy gave the town council good news and bad news Wednesday regarding future application for a $500,000 Community Focus Grant to help develop the former elementary school into a community center.
More than 2,600 letters and return postcards were sent to town and township residents and about half have been mailed back. The results show 52 percent of households have low incomes. However, Murphy said, only 48.7 percent of the individuals marked low incomes. The grant depends on a return of 51 percent of individuals reporting low incomes.
The results are being compiled at IPFW.
"There is half a million dollars out there we can't get because people won't send their damn cards back," Murphy said during the public hearing.
There may be confusion for town residents because many already returned surveys. The first survey results were for a prior grant application round.
This second mailing is for the current grant season, and cards and letters urging people to respond have been sent out twice. The survey period ends in two weeks.
Murphy said he suspected many one- and two-people households have not responded.
