Winona Lake Town Council Tuesday approved two resolutions to provide funding to local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first resolution passed was $30,000 from the town’s Economic Development Income Tax fund to be used exclusively as rent forgiveness for the shops and businesses in The Village at Winona.
Town Manager Craig Allebach said that when the health emergency began, he and other leaders had discussions about helping the businesses.
Nick Hauck, managing director of The Village, said businesses there we given free rent in April and May. The passing of this resolution will provide another half month of rent abatement for the shops.
“So that means the shops will have 2-1/2 months of rent forgiven for 2020, which is pretty awesome and it’s honestly a godsend to most of those businesses,” he said. “The restaurants were the only ones legally allowed to be open for a majority of this, and when the state opened up for curbside in April, some of the shops were able to do that but it’s hard to operate a business curbside, very challenging, so this honestly is huge for the town to do this for The Village and the shopkeepers down there.”
Businesses not in The Village will also be covered with a second resolution that passed Tuesday for $30,000 to be distributed through Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. The town of Winona Lake contributed the $30,000 for KEDCo to administer.
KEDCo CEO Alan Tio said the money from Winona Lake will be used specifically for Winona Lake businesses.
“We anticipate being able to utilize these dollars to help business owners see their way through and come up with recovery plans and go foward,” Tio said. He said business owners can fill out an application on KEDCo’s website that is “very simple and just provide some narrative.”
“We always say we work with businesses at any stage, but it also means getting through some of the more difficult times and seeing the way through,” he said.
Also Tuesday, the council:
• Approved a resolution to appoint Meghan Lincoln as the chief deputy clerk. Town Clerk-Treasurer Kent Adams said doing this simply gives Lincoln the statutory authority to act on his behalf if he were unable to be present.
• Heard from town attorney Adam Turner that the town’s purchase of the northeast corner at the Argonne Road viaduct has closed. Allebach said the town purchased the land for around $18,000 and that the previous owners then took $10,000 of that money to buy and plant 40 trees in the Village at Winona. Hauck added that 40 trees was almost the exact amount lost in last June’s wind storm and that the owners used the remaining money from the sale and donated it to The Watershed Foundation.
“So we appreciate the sale and we appreciate them giving back those dollars,” Allebach said.
• Heard from Parks Department Director Holly Hummitch that no Fourth of July activities or food are planned this year. A full reopening plan for the park will be released soon. Allebach said it will open in phases, beginning Sunday.
• Heard from Tom Miller, street superintendent, that he and town engineer Aaron Carl have spent several days assessing drainage issues after the recent rainfall. Both Miller and Carl agreed that the town’s drainage systems are being worked through and that the water was down as of Tuesday.
Miller also wanted to publicly thank the citizens of Winona Lake for being proactive and not flushing wipes and other objects down the pipes.
“With all this water that we’re experiencing, we haven’t had any plugs and I?think we’re very fortunate in that respect because I know a lot of other communities don’t have that privilege,” Miller said. “So I really want to reach out and thank people for being considerate about that.”
• Heard from Town Marshal Joe Hawn that since the pandemic began, domestic disturbance calls have been up.
• Got a reminder from Hauck that there are rules when it comes to using the Winona Lake trails and those include all bicyclists must be wearing a helmet and no strollers are permitted.
“That is super dangerous with collisions,” Hauck said of strollers.
He also wanted to remind those who visit the trails, particularly since the weather is getting nicer, that the trails are directional and certain rules apply to walkers and mountain bikers. Also, there are two red gates at each of the trail main entrances. When those gates are closed, the trails are closed. As of Tuesday evening, the trails were closed due to the amount of rainfall.
Anyone with questions about the trails can visit www.winonalaketrails.com for more information.
The next Winona Lake Town Council meeting is 6 p.m. June 16 at Town Hall.
