July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.

JJCL funds supported (2/10/04)

Learning center hopes to get Weiler Building soon

By By Mike [email protected]

An advisory group is recommending that $50,000 in economic development income tax proceeds be used for continued support of a local learning center.

Members of the Jay County EDIT Advisory Committee agreed this morning to make the recommendation to Jay County Commissioners regarding the John Jay Center for Learning. The center also was given $50,000 in EDIT funds in 2003.

The committee also received an update from two JJCL officials about increasing enrollment and the attempt to acquire a deteriorating downtown Portland building as a possible future permanent site for the learning center.

Doug Inman, who is president of the JJCL Board of Directors, told committee members that negotiations are currently under way with Paul Detwiler, the owner of the Weiler Building on the southeast corner of Main and Meridian streets.

The JJCL has acquired the mortgage on the property, and filed a foreclosure action last week in Jay Circuit Court against Paul Detwiler and his wife Sally, who are residents of Floyd County in southern Indiana. JJCL is asking the Detwilers to sign over the deed to the property in exchange for dropping the foreclosure action.

“We truly believe the renovation of that building will be a catalyst for downtown Portland,” Inman said this morning. “(The Detwilers) do not want to see the building torn down. I’m hopeful we can reach an agreement soon.”

EDIT committee member Sam Shoemaker, who is also executive director of JJCL, said that the center has served about 1,000 individual students since beginning operations in the fall of 2001.

The county commissioners and council will have the final say on the $50,000 allocation for the center.

Also this morning, members of the committee delayed making a detailed recommendation about what should be done with a special distribution of EDIT funds.

County auditor Freda Corwin, who sits on the committee, said that approximately $203,000 in EDIT revenue was sent to the county in January, with instructions to place it in a rainy day fund.

No such fund exists in Jay County, but the county council is likely to consider that action during its monthly meeting Wednesday.

Robert Quadrozzi, executive director of Jay County Development Corporation and chairman of the committee, prepared six possible recommendations for use of the money.

Those recommendations included targeting them to general county projects; dividing the money among the county and six incorporated towns and cities; bolstering JCDC’s reserve funds; supporting Jay County Community Development; supporting technology infrastructure; and paying for an update of the county’s strategic development plan.

Although the money will be placed in a rainy day fund, it can be tracked separately from other county money. To be spent, the use must fall within the guidelines of the county’s capital improvement plan for EDIT funds. If it does not, approval of the commissioners must be obtained.

Current JCDC board president Chuck Huffman and past president Ramon Loucks said they both felt strongly that some of the money should be used to bolster JCDC’s financial situation. JCDC has drawn down an average of $19,000 per year in reserve funds over the past few years to fund operations. Its reserve account will be less than $30,000 at the end of this year, Quadrozzi said.

In other business this morning, the EDIT advisory committee:

•Approved recommending that a total of $125,000 in EDIT funds to allocated for two road projects in 2004 — the re-surfacing of county road 500 South from county road 1150 West to Ind. 1; and the possible construction of a new entrance/exit for the Dunkirk Industrial Park connected directly with county road 400 South.

The county road 500 South project, which will benefit those going to and from The Andersons grain terminal southeast of Dunkirk, will cost about $100,000 for approximately two and a half miles.

No final decision has been made whether to construct the new entrance to the Dunkirk Industrial Park. The new entrance would be on the south side of county road 400 South, about 700 feet east of county road 1150 West.[[In-content Ad]]
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