Posted on July 21, 2017
Author Anita Goodan, WKVI
The Starke County Commissioners are looking to appoint a representative to the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission (K-IRPC) Board.
Betty Dotlich recently resigned as Starke County’s representative. That resignation will need to be filled soon.
The K-IRPC Board meets quarterly in Monon and the county does offer a stipend for mileage. Commissioner Kathy Norem mentioned that this serves as a good opportunity for a candidate to get his or her feet wet in county government. It is an annual appointment made by the commissioners. If the person chosen to fill the position does not feel comfortable in continuing in the role, the commissioners will simply appoint a replacement.
Letters of interest be addressed to Auditor Kay Chaffins at 53 E Mound Street, Knox, IN 46534.
Showing posts with label Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commisssion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commisssion. Show all posts
Friday, July 21, 2017
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Grant Funds Unlikely for North Judson Building Demolition
Posted on June 21, 2017
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
It’s looking unlikely that North Judson will be able to get grant funding to help demolish a downtown building believed to be in danger of collapse. Part of the structure at 205 and 207 Lane Street already collapsed in on itself on May 11, forcing North Judson to close off a portion of its downtown area.
Town officials asked the Kankakee-Iroquios Regional Planning Commission if any resources were available to help cover demolition costs. The problem, according to Clerk-Treasurer Alicia Collins, is that a blight elimination grant would take too long, and the state’s urgent need funds are designed mainly for weather-related emergencies, meaning the emergency demolition wouldn’t qualify.
The town didn’t have much more luck with state lawmakers. “We contacted both our legislators and just got back a kind of generic ‘We’ll look into it,'” said town council member Jane Ellen Felchuk. “But I had it from another source that the state doesn’t have any money they’re passing out.”
A demolition quote previously received by the town was for over $250,000. The town council voted earlier this month to reject it, in part, because of the high price. Town Superintendent Marshall Horstmann told the town council Monday that since then, three companies have expressed interest in doing the work. One of those planned to visit the site Tuesday.
All demolition quotes are due by Friday, July 7 at 3:30 p.m.
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
It’s looking unlikely that North Judson will be able to get grant funding to help demolish a downtown building believed to be in danger of collapse. Part of the structure at 205 and 207 Lane Street already collapsed in on itself on May 11, forcing North Judson to close off a portion of its downtown area.
Town officials asked the Kankakee-Iroquios Regional Planning Commission if any resources were available to help cover demolition costs. The problem, according to Clerk-Treasurer Alicia Collins, is that a blight elimination grant would take too long, and the state’s urgent need funds are designed mainly for weather-related emergencies, meaning the emergency demolition wouldn’t qualify.
The town didn’t have much more luck with state lawmakers. “We contacted both our legislators and just got back a kind of generic ‘We’ll look into it,'” said town council member Jane Ellen Felchuk. “But I had it from another source that the state doesn’t have any money they’re passing out.”
A demolition quote previously received by the town was for over $250,000. The town council voted earlier this month to reject it, in part, because of the high price. Town Superintendent Marshall Horstmann told the town council Monday that since then, three companies have expressed interest in doing the work. One of those planned to visit the site Tuesday.
All demolition quotes are due by Friday, July 7 at 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Bass Lake Beach Replenishment Considered by Starke Park Board for Future Grant Application
Posted on June 15, 2017
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
The Starke County Park Board may have missed this year’s deadline to apply for a grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, but plans are already in the works for next year’s grant cycle.
Edwin Buswell with the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission met with the park board Tuesday. He explained that up to $200,000 in matching grants are available from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. To qualify for that money, the park board recently completed a five-year plan.
One area that board members feel could use grant funds is the Bass Lake Beach, specifically, replenishing its sand. Resident Steve Lucas has been discussing that effort with representatives from the DNR Division of Water. To see what such a project would entail, park board members plan to schedule a site visit with DNR officials.
Should the county decide to pursue grant funding, starting now would give them a chance to coordinate with Callahan Development, LLC, which leases the property from the county. It also gives them time to start raising money for the local match. Grant applications for Land and Water Conservation funding are due June 1, 2018.
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
The Starke County Park Board may have missed this year’s deadline to apply for a grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, but plans are already in the works for next year’s grant cycle.
Edwin Buswell with the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission met with the park board Tuesday. He explained that up to $200,000 in matching grants are available from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. To qualify for that money, the park board recently completed a five-year plan.
One area that board members feel could use grant funds is the Bass Lake Beach, specifically, replenishing its sand. Resident Steve Lucas has been discussing that effort with representatives from the DNR Division of Water. To see what such a project would entail, park board members plan to schedule a site visit with DNR officials.
Should the county decide to pursue grant funding, starting now would give them a chance to coordinate with Callahan Development, LLC, which leases the property from the county. It also gives them time to start raising money for the local match. Grant applications for Land and Water Conservation funding are due June 1, 2018.
Thursday, January 5, 2017
North Judson Council Reorganizes, Selects Town Attorney
Posted on January 5, 2017
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
North Judson has a new town attorney. The town council approved a contract with attorney Justin Schramm.
Clerk-Treasurer Alicia Collins notes that Schramm already has some municipal experience. He currently serves as the town attorney for Winamac, Monterey, and Francesville.
Schramm will have some work ahead of him, as he takes over in North Judson. The town faces a lawsuit from the operator of its short line railroad. North Judson has also been taking legal action against various property owners, in an effort to crack down on unsafe building violations.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the North Judson Town Council also made several yearly appointments. Wendy Hoppe has once again been selected to serve as council president. She will also remain the council’s representative on the Starke County Economic Development Foundation Board of Directors, while Jane Ellen Felchuk will continue to serve on the Starke County Environmental Management Commission.
Alicia Collins takes over as the town’s representative on the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission, and council members were appointed as liaisons with each of the town’s departments.
Thursday, December 22, 2016
North Judson May Reapply for Community Center Grant in Future
Posted on December 22, 2016
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
North Judson may try again for grant funding for a planned community center. The project narrowly missed out on a Public Facilities Program grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs.
Clerk-Treasurer Alicia Collins says project organizers met last week with officials from the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission to review the scoring of the project’s grant application. They determined that the project came in third place, but only the top two were selected for funding. KIRPC officials felt it would be worth trying again, according to Collins.
North Judson has been partnering with Wayne Township on the project. Collins says one of the next steps will be to meet with the township board, to discuss how they would like to proceed. She adds that the town would like to move forward with some version of the project, and expects discussions to continue in 2017.
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
North Judson may try again for grant funding for a planned community center. The project narrowly missed out on a Public Facilities Program grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs.
Clerk-Treasurer Alicia Collins says project organizers met last week with officials from the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission to review the scoring of the project’s grant application. They determined that the project came in third place, but only the top two were selected for funding. KIRPC officials felt it would be worth trying again, according to Collins.
North Judson has been partnering with Wayne Township on the project. Collins says one of the next steps will be to meet with the township board, to discuss how they would like to proceed. She adds that the town would like to move forward with some version of the project, and expects discussions to continue in 2017.
Friday, December 9, 2016
North Judson Community Center Grant Denied
Posted on December 9, 2016
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
Funding for a planned North Judson-Wayne Township community center has been denied by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. Organizers were hoping to get a $500,000 Public Facilities Program grant to help cover the projected $840,000 cost.
North Judson Clerk-Treasurer Alicia Collins says the next step will be to meet with officials from the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission next week and go over the scoring from the application. They want to see if the project scored high enough to make it worth trying again for the same grant.
Community centers are listed as one of the eligible projects in the Public Facilities Program. However, Collins says project organizers didn’t realize they would be competing with libraries and educational facilities.
Last week, OCRA announced the Town of Walkerton had been awarded $400,000 through the program, for the construction of a new library. This cycle’s other grant recipient was Orange County. It got $500,000 for upgrades to its First Chance Center, which provides employment help and other services for people with disabilities.
As for North Judson’s community center, Collins says organizers will meet with the Wayne Township Board before any further decisions are made. More than $10,000 has been collected in monetary donations for the project.
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
Funding for a planned North Judson-Wayne Township community center has been denied by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. Organizers were hoping to get a $500,000 Public Facilities Program grant to help cover the projected $840,000 cost.
North Judson Clerk-Treasurer Alicia Collins says the next step will be to meet with officials from the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission next week and go over the scoring from the application. They want to see if the project scored high enough to make it worth trying again for the same grant.
Community centers are listed as one of the eligible projects in the Public Facilities Program. However, Collins says project organizers didn’t realize they would be competing with libraries and educational facilities.
Last week, OCRA announced the Town of Walkerton had been awarded $400,000 through the program, for the construction of a new library. This cycle’s other grant recipient was Orange County. It got $500,000 for upgrades to its First Chance Center, which provides employment help and other services for people with disabilities.
As for North Judson’s community center, Collins says organizers will meet with the Wayne Township Board before any further decisions are made. More than $10,000 has been collected in monetary donations for the project.
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Starke County Park Board to Meet with Two Firms Interested in Creating Five-Year Plan
Posted on November 16, 2016
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
The Starke County Park Board plans to meet with two planning firms interested in putting together a five-year plan for the county’s park facilities. The park board has been working with the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Edwin Buswell to find potential contractors. “I think we sent it out to seven or eight agencies,” he told the park board Tuesday. “We included Purdue and Ball State and neither one of them responded.”
The two responses the county did receive came from Arion Consultants out of Warsaw and the Troyer Group of Mishawaka. Buswell said the next step is for the county to meet with the two firms, with each one getting a chance to give a presentation, followed by a question-and-answer session. Park board members plan to conduct those interviews by the end of the month.
Having a five-year plan in place would make the county eligible for grant funding from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. But in order to qualify for next year’s grants, a draft of the plan has to be created and submitted to the DNR by January 15.
During Tuesday’s meeting, resident Kathy Lucas suggested that a link between Bass Lake and the North Judson Erie Trail be considered as the planning process moves ahead. “We have talked to some people,” she said. “We have some ideas that we’re floating. We have some potential donors who might be able to assist. But the idea is that we would either extend the trail or, in the meantime, use existing roadways to reach over to 600, which would then be a straight shot up to the lake. We had a meeting last night of the Prairie Trails Club where this was discussed, and the club is very enthusiastic.”
Lucas believes the link could help boost revenues for county park facilities by attracting new visitors to the area and bringing current trail users to Bass Lake.
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
The Starke County Park Board plans to meet with two planning firms interested in putting together a five-year plan for the county’s park facilities. The park board has been working with the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Edwin Buswell to find potential contractors. “I think we sent it out to seven or eight agencies,” he told the park board Tuesday. “We included Purdue and Ball State and neither one of them responded.”
The two responses the county did receive came from Arion Consultants out of Warsaw and the Troyer Group of Mishawaka. Buswell said the next step is for the county to meet with the two firms, with each one getting a chance to give a presentation, followed by a question-and-answer session. Park board members plan to conduct those interviews by the end of the month.
Having a five-year plan in place would make the county eligible for grant funding from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. But in order to qualify for next year’s grants, a draft of the plan has to be created and submitted to the DNR by January 15.
During Tuesday’s meeting, resident Kathy Lucas suggested that a link between Bass Lake and the North Judson Erie Trail be considered as the planning process moves ahead. “We have talked to some people,” she said. “We have some ideas that we’re floating. We have some potential donors who might be able to assist. But the idea is that we would either extend the trail or, in the meantime, use existing roadways to reach over to 600, which would then be a straight shot up to the lake. We had a meeting last night of the Prairie Trails Club where this was discussed, and the club is very enthusiastic.”
Lucas believes the link could help boost revenues for county park facilities by attracting new visitors to the area and bringing current trail users to Bass Lake.
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Starke County Park Board Seeks Consultants for Five-Year Plan
Posted on September 22, 2016
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
The Starke County Park Board is moving ahead with the process of finding a consultant to create a five-year plan for the county’s park facilities. A comprehensive plan is required before the county may receive grant funding from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
During Tuesday’s park board meeting, Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Edwin Buswell gave board members a list of options for moving ahead with the planning process. One that was previously discussed was getting a grant to pay for the plan. Buswell said Tuesday that the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs offers grants of up to $15,000 for that purpose. But it would cost Starke County an estimated $6,000 or more to hire a consultant to conduct a county-wide income survey to prove Starke County’s eligibility for that grant.
Buswell also told the park board that KIRPC could create the park plan itself for a cost of $10,000. “You wouldn’t get the same level of detail in what we do as what the consultants do,” Buswell said. “You wouldn’t get engineering designs. You wouldn’t get detailed cost estimates if we were to do it. Basically, we’d be meeting the requirements of DNR. We’d be establishing goals and objectives.” Alternatively, KIRPC could do some of the preliminary work, while leaving it up to the park board to write the actual plan.
In an apparent effort to move the process along, the Starke County Commissioners agreed earlier this month to appropriate up to $15,000 to help create the plan. With that money available, the park board chose to have KIRPC advertise for proposals from outside planning firms. Buswell also agreed to contact of few of them directly, along with Purdue and Ball State Universities. Starke County is interested in having students create the plan as part of their coursework, in an effort to save on costs. Board members would then have the opportunity to review the proposals and interview prospective consultants. Buswell said that once a planner is chosen, it will typically conduct a survey, as well as a series of meetings with various groups that have a special interest in the parks, as well as the general public.
One issue to be addressed in the planning process is how much oversight the park board should have over various open areas and recreational facilities in the county. Starke County Attorney Marty Lucas has been trying to assemble a list of potential county park facilities. Additionally, Starke County Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler presented his own list of properties the County Highway Department is asked to maintain. “I get, every day, asked to maintain public property that’s not roadways,” Ritzler said. “For example, Koontz Lake has a beach too and they have more people who live there, and I was just asked to bring 50 tons of sand there today. I think the park board could help administer that.”
The hope is to have the five-year park plan completed in time to make the county eligible for 2017 DNR grants. That means a draft has to be created and submitted to the DNR by January 15.
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
The Starke County Park Board is moving ahead with the process of finding a consultant to create a five-year plan for the county’s park facilities. A comprehensive plan is required before the county may receive grant funding from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
During Tuesday’s park board meeting, Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Edwin Buswell gave board members a list of options for moving ahead with the planning process. One that was previously discussed was getting a grant to pay for the plan. Buswell said Tuesday that the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs offers grants of up to $15,000 for that purpose. But it would cost Starke County an estimated $6,000 or more to hire a consultant to conduct a county-wide income survey to prove Starke County’s eligibility for that grant.
Buswell also told the park board that KIRPC could create the park plan itself for a cost of $10,000. “You wouldn’t get the same level of detail in what we do as what the consultants do,” Buswell said. “You wouldn’t get engineering designs. You wouldn’t get detailed cost estimates if we were to do it. Basically, we’d be meeting the requirements of DNR. We’d be establishing goals and objectives.” Alternatively, KIRPC could do some of the preliminary work, while leaving it up to the park board to write the actual plan.
In an apparent effort to move the process along, the Starke County Commissioners agreed earlier this month to appropriate up to $15,000 to help create the plan. With that money available, the park board chose to have KIRPC advertise for proposals from outside planning firms. Buswell also agreed to contact of few of them directly, along with Purdue and Ball State Universities. Starke County is interested in having students create the plan as part of their coursework, in an effort to save on costs. Board members would then have the opportunity to review the proposals and interview prospective consultants. Buswell said that once a planner is chosen, it will typically conduct a survey, as well as a series of meetings with various groups that have a special interest in the parks, as well as the general public.
One issue to be addressed in the planning process is how much oversight the park board should have over various open areas and recreational facilities in the county. Starke County Attorney Marty Lucas has been trying to assemble a list of potential county park facilities. Additionally, Starke County Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler presented his own list of properties the County Highway Department is asked to maintain. “I get, every day, asked to maintain public property that’s not roadways,” Ritzler said. “For example, Koontz Lake has a beach too and they have more people who live there, and I was just asked to bring 50 tons of sand there today. I think the park board could help administer that.”
The hope is to have the five-year park plan completed in time to make the county eligible for 2017 DNR grants. That means a draft has to be created and submitted to the DNR by January 15.
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Starke County to Seek Grant Funds for Park Plan
Posted on July 21, 2016
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
The Starke County Park Board is moving ahead with efforts to complete a five-year plan for the county’s park facilities. Before the county is able to get most types of grant funding for park projects, it’s required to have a comprehensive plan in place.
To put a plan together, the Starke County Commissioners have suggested getting help from the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission. County Attorney Marty Lucas says KIRPC would help Starke County secure grant funding from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs to help pay for the plan. “KIRPC writes the grant, and then if we get the grant, the next step would be to interview, actually, the planners who would write the plan,” he says. “And then you pick one and then go through that process.”
During Tuesday’s meeting, the Starke County Park Board voted to allow the County Commissioners to move ahead with enlisting the help of KIRPC.
But before the county can move ahead with the planning process, the park board first has to get a clearer idea of exactly what properties are under its control. To help with that effort, Lucas presented a preliminary list of about 17 properties that might potentially fall under the board’s jurisdiction.
It includes obvious ones, like the Bass Lake Beach and Campground and the Starke County Forest. However, it also includes other sites, such as land around Bass Lake and Koontz Lake that is not technically under private ownership.
Lucas also included a few park facilities that have traditionally been maintained by townships or by local residents that could also benefit from being included in the county’s park system. This includes various parks and open spaces in the San Pierre area. “So many of these originate as public dedications as part of plats from the late 19th century,” Lucas explained. “That’s kind of their common origin, and at that time it was very commonplace to include common areas in plats, but not anything more than just saying they’re common, public. They didn’t say who was going to manage them. They just said they were public.”
Also included on the list were a few locations, such as the Bass Lake and Koontz Lake dam access sites, that appear to be under state control, but may benefit from some cooperation with the county. Lucas says there are plenty of opportunities for partnerships with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, as well as some other groups, “Some of the examples are, obviously, the municipal park boards for Hamlet, North Judson, and Knox, and also some some of the things like Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum, who don’t just have the railroad museum, but they also are the owner of the right of way of the North Judson-San Pierre Trail and also the rest of the trail, the undeveloped part that extends east from 35, actually all the way to Monterey, though some of that’s outside of Starke County.”
However, in many of these cases, the property’s ownership is unclear, and Lucas stresses that additional research needs to be done before plans are finalized.
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI
The Starke County Park Board is moving ahead with efforts to complete a five-year plan for the county’s park facilities. Before the county is able to get most types of grant funding for park projects, it’s required to have a comprehensive plan in place.
To put a plan together, the Starke County Commissioners have suggested getting help from the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission. County Attorney Marty Lucas says KIRPC would help Starke County secure grant funding from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs to help pay for the plan. “KIRPC writes the grant, and then if we get the grant, the next step would be to interview, actually, the planners who would write the plan,” he says. “And then you pick one and then go through that process.”
During Tuesday’s meeting, the Starke County Park Board voted to allow the County Commissioners to move ahead with enlisting the help of KIRPC.
But before the county can move ahead with the planning process, the park board first has to get a clearer idea of exactly what properties are under its control. To help with that effort, Lucas presented a preliminary list of about 17 properties that might potentially fall under the board’s jurisdiction.
It includes obvious ones, like the Bass Lake Beach and Campground and the Starke County Forest. However, it also includes other sites, such as land around Bass Lake and Koontz Lake that is not technically under private ownership.
Lucas also included a few park facilities that have traditionally been maintained by townships or by local residents that could also benefit from being included in the county’s park system. This includes various parks and open spaces in the San Pierre area. “So many of these originate as public dedications as part of plats from the late 19th century,” Lucas explained. “That’s kind of their common origin, and at that time it was very commonplace to include common areas in plats, but not anything more than just saying they’re common, public. They didn’t say who was going to manage them. They just said they were public.”
Also included on the list were a few locations, such as the Bass Lake and Koontz Lake dam access sites, that appear to be under state control, but may benefit from some cooperation with the county. Lucas says there are plenty of opportunities for partnerships with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, as well as some other groups, “Some of the examples are, obviously, the municipal park boards for Hamlet, North Judson, and Knox, and also some some of the things like Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum, who don’t just have the railroad museum, but they also are the owner of the right of way of the North Judson-San Pierre Trail and also the rest of the trail, the undeveloped part that extends east from 35, actually all the way to Monterey, though some of that’s outside of Starke County.”
However, in many of these cases, the property’s ownership is unclear, and Lucas stresses that additional research needs to be done before plans are finalized.
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Funding Efforts Moving Ahead for North Judson Community Center
Funding Efforts Moving Ahead for North Judson Community Center
Efforts continue to move forward to obtain grant funding for a new North Judson-Wayne Township community center. An update on the project was given during Monday’s North Judson Town Council meeting.
Clerk-Treasurer Alicia Collins says a letter of intent has been submitted, and now the town is waiting to hear back from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Edwin Buswell has previously said that the next step would be a formal application for the grant due in June, with the final results being expected in August.
In order to determine Wayne Township’s eligibility for grant funding, income surveys have been sent out to randomly-chosen residents of the township who live outside the Town of North Judson. Collins is calling on residents who received a survey to fill it out and return it, so the grant application process can move ahead.
If approved, the grant could cover up to half the cost of the proposed community center, which would be located on donated land north of the town’s fire station. In order to help raise money for the local share of the cost, the North Judson-Wayne Township Fire Department is hosting a Country Breakfast this Saturday at the fire station beginning at 7:30 a.m. Tickets will be eight dollars, with the proceeds going to the community center project.
Project organizers say additional donations can given to the North Judson Community Center Fund at the Starke County Community Foundation.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
North Judson Moves Ahead with Grant Application for Water Tower Project
The Town of North Judson continues to move ahead with its water tower rehabilitation project. The Town Council Monday approved a resolution to submit a planning grant application and commit $3,300 for the town’s share of the project cost. Commonwealth Engineers, the firm selected for the project, is proposing a $30,000 budget.
The Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission has been working with the town to secure grant funding from the state, and KIRPC Executive Director Edwin Buswell was at the meeting to help town officials continue with the process. At this point, he’s asking the council to update some of the town’s ordinances to bring them in line with the state’s requirements. As part of that effort, an updated Fair Housing Ordinance was presented for first reading Monday.
Buswell also provided the town with a revised Drug Policy Ordinance, but when Town Attorney Rachel Arndt reviewed it, she noticed a problem. “There’s a provision in there that says that we wouldn’t randomly drug screen, and so I just wanted to point that out to you because currently that’s our practice,” she said. “So if we pass that, then we’re going to have to do away with the random drug screens. So that’s just something you all need to think about and decide.”
Council members decided that the ability to conduct random drug screenings was something they didn’t want to see taken away. Buswell agreed to discuss the matter with state officials to see whether the grant process can move ahead without that provision before the council formally considers the new ordinance.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
North Judson Chooses Engineering Firm for Water Tower Project
The Town of North Judson has chosen an engineering firm for its water tower rehabilitation project. A committee of town officials, along with a representative from the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission, interviewed three potential contractors and chose Commonwealth Engineers.
KIRPC helped North Judson secure a grant for the project, which involves maintenance work to the town’s two water towers. Clerk-Treasurer Alicia Collins says a public hearing was held during Monday’s town council meeting to discuss moving ahead with the grant. A KIRPC representative explained that the town wouldn’t have to compete for the grant funding. Instead, it qualified based on the results of income surveys taken last year.
While the grant only covers the maintenance of the water towers, Collins says it also lays the groundwork for future improvements, although that would require a separate grant. She says discussion on the project will continue at future council meetings.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
North Judson Moves Ahead with Water Tower Project
The Town of North Judson is moving ahead with efforts to rehabilitate its two water towers. The Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission had determined the town was eligible to receive grant funding for the work.
Last week, representatives from KIRPC and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs visited North Judson to review the terms of the potential grant. Now, the next step is to choose an engineering firm to do the work. Clerk-Treasurer Donna Henry says the town had gotten six proposals by Monday’s deadline. During its meeting Monday, the town council formed a committee to review the proposals and recommend an engineering firm. That committee will consist of council members Jane Ellen Felchuk and Justin Davis, as well as town superintendent Marshall Horstmann.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
North Judson Qualifies for Grant Funding
The Town of North Judson has qualified for a grant to help the town rehabilitate its two water towers.
Clerk-Treasurer Donna Henry says the Kankakee Iroquois Regional Planning Commission has reviewed the resident income surveys and determined that enough households meet the income requirements to allow the process to move ahead.
KIRPC will publish a notice this week to notify engineering firms interested in the project.
The North Judson Town Council was given an update on the grant application during its meeting, Monday.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Town of North Judson Preparing for Water Grant Application
Published: March 4, 2015
By: Tyler Maffitt, WKVI
Plans are in the works in North Judson to rehabilitate a couple of water service structures.
The North Judson Town Council discussed a grant application during their meeting Monday night so work can begin to improve the town’s water towers and treatment system.
Clerk-Treasurer Donna Henry says the water towers are in need of rehabilitation.
“Maybe repainting on the inside, definitely repainting on the outside,” says Henry. “But you know, doing some rehab on the inside and – I’m not quite sure what else concerning our water system is included in that – but a big part of it is rehabilitating our water towers.”
Before submitting an application for the grant, an income survey must first be conducted.
The Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission will be mailing the income survey to many North Judson residents in mid-March. A significant portion of those surveys is expected to be completed prior to grant approval.
Henry says North Judson would require a certain income level before qualifying for grant funds.
“To determine what our ratio is, about low to moderate income households and I’m not sure what those numbers actually are but KIRPC (Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission) would be able to tell that,” says Henry.
North Judson has two water towers – one at the west end of town, the other downtown – both are in need of work.
Once the income surveys are submitted, the application for construction could be submitted by the summer.
By: Tyler Maffitt, WKVI
Plans are in the works in North Judson to rehabilitate a couple of water service structures.
The North Judson Town Council discussed a grant application during their meeting Monday night so work can begin to improve the town’s water towers and treatment system.
Clerk-Treasurer Donna Henry says the water towers are in need of rehabilitation.
“Maybe repainting on the inside, definitely repainting on the outside,” says Henry. “But you know, doing some rehab on the inside and – I’m not quite sure what else concerning our water system is included in that – but a big part of it is rehabilitating our water towers.”
Before submitting an application for the grant, an income survey must first be conducted.
The Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission will be mailing the income survey to many North Judson residents in mid-March. A significant portion of those surveys is expected to be completed prior to grant approval.
Henry says North Judson would require a certain income level before qualifying for grant funds.
“To determine what our ratio is, about low to moderate income households and I’m not sure what those numbers actually are but KIRPC (Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission) would be able to tell that,” says Henry.
North Judson has two water towers – one at the west end of town, the other downtown – both are in need of work.
Once the income surveys are submitted, the application for construction could be submitted by the summer.
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