Grant may be sought

Representatives from a regional economic development group presented information to Jay County Commissioners this morning about a Brownfields grant program being pursued by the district.
Sheila Cannon and Tom Farris of Energize-ECI, which represents nine area counties, spoke about the grant opportunity that could help clean up properties with potential environmental issues.
The grant is being pursued by a four-county regional planning district, which includes Jay, Blackford, Delaware and Grant counties.
“We do have a lot of Brownfields,” said Cannon of the district. “There’s a lot of possibilities for the four-county area I serve.”
The district can seek up to $1 million in grant funds through the competitive national grant program.
“We don’t know how successful we’ll be,” Cannon said.
“If we don’t have an application in, we don’t stand a chance,” Farris said.
The grant would cover 100 percent, requiring no financial contributions from any of the counties in the district.
In order to form a comprehensive list of Brownfields in the district, Energize-ECI is compiling a inventory based of properties already identified by the Environmental Protection Agency and is asking for the counties to help by self-identifying other locations that are in need of remediation.
“We need to reach out to the communities in each of the four counties,” Cannon said.
Energize-ECI will be hosting a public outreach meeting at the Horizon Convention Center, 401 S. High St., Muncie at 4 p.m. on Sept. 22. Suggestions or comments may also be mailed to Energize-ECI, P.O. Box 912, Muncie, IN, 47308 or e-mail to Cannon at [email protected].
In other business this morning, the commissioners:
•Were informed by Jay County Surveyor Brad Daniels that he received a letter from the Town of Redkey, stating that residents expressed concern that drainage work was not being done in the town.
Daniels said he talked with town councilman Doug Stanley and recounted several projects done in Redkey over the past couple years.
Daniels said that Stanley planned to relay the information at the next town board meeting.
•Waived representation on a watershed joint board in Adams County, turning administration over to the Adams County Drainage Board. Jay County only holds about 20 percent of the land in the watershed and Adams County already handles all of the maintenance.
•Were informed by Daniels that the Blackford County Drainage Board asked the county to waive representation on a joint board for the Big Lick Creek.
Daniels advised the county to not waive rights since Blackford is reportedly planning to complete a new project on the creek and that there has been some public resistance to the new work.
Daniels said the two counties collect and keep assessments separately and that he would like for that to continue in the future.[[In-content Ad]]