Fifty-five applications were submitted for $2 million available in the Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program’s downtown revitalization effort.
Beth Fields, the county’s HELP coordinator, told Wayne County Council members on July 3 that 42 applications were received in Richmond, seven in Cambridge City, three in East Germantown and one each in Spring Grove, Dublin and Economy.
“I was very pleased that our smaller communities are participating,” Fields said.
The program has $1 million available for Richmond downtown and Depot District business buildings and $1 million for projects in Cambridge City, Dublin, East Germantown, Economy, Milton and Spring Grove downtowns. Grants of up to $100,000, require a 25% match — for example, $25,000 on a $100,000 grant.
Applications were due July 1. They will be scored and grants awarded based on those scores.
The program is meant to rehabilitate retail or commercial building space to breathe life into downtown areas. Richmond chose to include the Depot District in its program.
Steve Higinbotham, the county’s director of facilities and development, told council that more than 40 structures have been identified for the HELP blight program. Participating HELP communities and communities contributing to the consolidated EDIT fund are eligible to receive money to demolish unsafe structures.
Communities will take bids and be reimbursed for demolition costs. Any money they can recover through liens or legal action would go into their unsafe building funds for future demolitions.
The downtown revitalization and blight programs are among 33 included in the county’s HELP effort.
Bridge projects
Council voted 6-0 to appropriate $900,000 from the county’s bridge fund to cover shortfalls on two bridge projects.
The first appropriation was $250,000 for concrete repairs to the arches and piers of the G Street Bridge in Richmond. The county plans continued dialogue with Richmond Community Schools about safety fencing on the outside of the bridge. RCS had requested fencing that will cost an additional $222,000.
A $650,000 appropriation enables a Sample Road bridge project to go out for bidding.
Rising construction costs have caused bridge project prices to rise from original estimates; however, the Indiana Department of Transportation is not providing additional funding to help cover those increases.
Other business
- Council approved spending $20,000 from its one-time expenses fund to buy license-plate readers for the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office. The money will come from a grant from the Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative that previously supplied $102,000 for drug-identification machines.
- Dan Burk, the environmental specialist for the Wayne County Health Department, will receive a $3,244.80 raise for supervising the environmental side of the department. The raise will be retroactive to Jan. 1. Burk has performed in the supervisor’s role while the department has been without an executive director, a position that’s not planned to be filled.
A version of this article appeared in the July 10 2024 print edition of the Western Wayne News.