TIMES UNION REPORTS – Middle District Kosciusko County Commissioner Cary Groninger approached the County Council Thursday about a grant request that could help the small towns in the county with economic development.
The Council unanimously approved the resolution to pursue the grant.
Groninger said Wednesday he was in a meeting with several officials talking through different opportunities that were out there now. He said in talking with Michiana Area Council of Governments Executive Director James Turnwald, Turnwald made him aware of the Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program (HELP). The due date for the grant is Oct. 1.
“To kind of give you a vision of this, years ago there was a program called Stellar Communities. There were several communities in the area that applied for that. I think Warsaw and Winona Lake did one together; they weren’t selected. But this is something similar to that,” Groninger said. “My vision for this is, what they’re trying to do is create a position that’s like a project coordinator that would be for the whole county.”
He said a lot of the small communities are running pretty short on staff as far as having part-time clerks, staff and elected officials who “just don’t have the horsepower to apply for grants and/or even use some of their ARP (American Rescue Plan) money.”
The HELP grant – through the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) – would provide about $20,000 – half of a project coordinator’s salary – for the first year. From there forward, it would be up to the county to pay for that person’s salary.
“That person does not have to be a county employee. I have talked to Turnwald earlier today. It is something that could be outside of our employment if we felt that would be a better way. It doesn’t have to be a county employee,” Groninger said. “This is something that started a couple of years ago when the (Kosciusko County) Community Foundation went around and had their Hometown Chats.”
Through those Hometown Chats, it was learned that most of the communities in the county lacked planning. “That kind of started our whole Forward Kosciusko comprehensive planning,” he said.
“As we’re rolling through that process, we just had We Exist week on kind of our land use. That’s progressing nicely. We hope to have that done shortly after the first of the year for use. They’re identifying each one of these communities has its own plan and is identifying different projects that would really enhance these communities and really help them kind of have their own placemaking, their own amenities that can really kind of have their own place in the county,” Groninger said.
Warsaw, historically, has done a lot of the heavy lifting in the county, he said. “This would be a real opportunity for these small communities to have the resources they need, as far as a grant coordinator and a project coordinator, to maybe get some of these projects done that historically they have not been able to do.”
Along with that, Groninger said, is a matching grant for up to $1 million.
“So some of the ARP monies that these communities would be using, or/and the county, would be matched up to a total of $1 million per entity that would apply for it,” he said. “It not only helps pay for that coordinator for this first year, but then it also could be up to an initial $1 million of funds that could be used to match our ARP funds, for not only the communities, but also the county.”
Looking at the big picture, he said he was looking at how the county could enhance a lot of the small towns.
“Historically, Warsaw gets a lot of those opportunities and has the resources and staff to be able to do that, whereas the smaller communities – Mentone, Silver Lake, Milford – they really struggle to be able to have people to do that,” Groninger stated.
He said the grant could really help the county’s small communities. They would be able to figure out, through planning, how to smartly spend the ARP funds instead of on flash-in-the-pan type of things.
“My hope would be, it’s not just spending the money we already have, but let’s leverage that money with additional grants,” he said, noting there are a lot of grant opportunities out there.
Groninger said the coordinator position would be there until the ARP money runs out. The ARP money can be used to pay for the coordinator’s salary.
“It’s something that I’m really excited about from the perspective that it could really help some of the communities in our county really have an opportunity to find their own little special niche in our county,” Groninger concluded.
Councilwoman Joni Truex said she thought it was a great idea and made a motion to approve. County Auditor Michelle Puckett stopped her and told her she still needed to create the resolution for the Council to sign in order for it to go forward. The resolution has to be in hand before the application can be submitted by Oct. 1.
Based on Puckett’s guidance, the Council approved a motion adopting the resolution as it states that the Council would support the coordinator position at $20,000 for the first year, which will allow the county to apply for the grant. There is no guarantee that the county will be awarded the HELP grant. The position will be funded by ARP funds for as long as the ARP money is there.
“I think they can do a lot of things in the few years we can utilize the money for that,” Truex said.
Groninger said, looking forward, if the county really sees a value in the work the coordinator is doing – for example, bringing in millions of grant dollars to the county – “I guess the thing is, we don’t want to kill the golden goose, but at the same token, we want to make sure it’s a wise use of it and we’re really seeing a return on the investment.”
He said the county first has to be selected to receive the grant.
