Portland to seek lobbying help

Portland is ready to find out if having a Washington lobbyist can help lure federal money to East Central Indiana.
At its meeting Monday, Portland City Council approved $15,000 annually for each of the next two years to hire Washington firm Keller McIntyre and Associates in partnership with several other area communities.
Council also agreed to put up signs along Wayne Street in an effort to keep traffic away from the parking lot of The Rock church and learned the timeline for a Ball State University study of the city’s downtown.
The vote to hire Keller McIntyre came following a second presentation to the council by a representative from East Central Indiana Regional Planning District, which is organizing the effort. The goal is to partner with other government units — Delaware County, Grant County and the cities of Winchester and New Castle among them — in an effort to bring federal funds to the area.
The lobbying firm’s main focus is to work with appropriations committees within Congress to help get projects funded, explained Brad Bookout of the regional planning district. It will also help with grant writing and other functions.
He noted that partnering is the only way communities in the area can afford to hire such an organization.
“When you can pair Portland with Winchester and Muncie and Grant County and New Castle, when you put these all together, we are a Tuscon,” Bookout said of the Arizona city of more than 500,000 that is one of Keller McIntyre’s clients. “We’re a big area with a lot of needs.”
Council voted 6-1 in favor of hiring the firm, with Mark Hedges dissenting. He had questioned whether the $30,000 spent would promise any return.
There are no guarantees, Bookout said.
The agreement with Keller McIntyre, which in the past helped Indiana Westleyan University secure $1.3 million for water infrastructure improvements and nearly $900,000 for its nursing program, is contingent on other cities and counties coming on board. Hiring the lobbying firm is expected to cost between $75,000 and $90,000 per year.
Council members Judy Aker, Janet Powers, Donald Gillespie, Kent McClung, Michele Brewster and Hedges, with Bill Gibson dissenting, also decided to put up “No thru traffic” and “Dead end” signs on Wayne Street near its intersection with Lincoln Street in an effort to help stop the flow of traffic through the parking lot at The Rock. The area that runs south of The Rock and its parking lot and north of Strohl Appliance and Electronics and MainSource Bank is not a street, although it has been used as one for decades.
Pastor Jeff Horsman was at the meeting following up on a previous request for help from council to reduce and slow down traffic in the area because of concern for churchgoers and employees. He said he’d prefer not to block off entry to the parking lot from the east side near Wayne Street in an effort to be a good neighbor to businesses in the area, but that it has been considered.
Gibson voted against the signs, saying he doesn’t believe anything short of blocking off the parking lot will solve the problem.
Geesaman also told the board the first meeting regarding a Ball State University study to help the city develop a downtown redevelopment plan is slated for 6 p.m. Aug. 31. The site has yet to be determined.
Students will survey and gather information on Sept. 7, with a presentation of preliminary findings Oct. 12, presentation of proposals for the city on Nov. 9 and a final presentation on Dec. 7. In May, council approved $5,193.63 for the study to create the redevelopment plan.
In other business, the council:
•Discussed briefly what streets and alleys are slated to be paved this year. Geesaman, in responding to a question from Hedges, said work that was postponed last year because of flooding will go forward this year and that multiple companies have been asked to bid on new projects. The mayor said he would bring a list of streets to be worked on to council’s next meeting Aug. 15. A June 17 story in The Commercial Review detailed that plans for paving this year include: Main Street between Morton and Pierce streets; Vine Street, Fifth and Sixth streets between Meridian and Bridge streets; a north-south alley between Meridian and Shank streets south of Eighth Street; and the intersection of Adams and Wayne streets.
•Was updated by the mayor that bids for replacement of an 18-inch sewer line that runs along the north side of the Salamonie River will be opened at Thursday’s board of works meeting. The line, which has been problematic because of its condition and the fact that multiple larger lines feed into it, is slated to be replaced with a 42-inch line. Geesaman emphasized that the change is part of an effort to mitigate downtown flooding, but is not expected to completely eliminate it on its own.
•Learned renovation work to the exterior of city hall is planned to begin in the next few weeks. The project to install a new stone veneer on the front and sides of the building is expected to take six weeks.
•Heard from Geesaman that skate park equipment that had been in the parking lot at Milton Miller Park has been moved to storage. The mayor noted that there has been interest in purchasing the equipment.
•Were updated that the city is continuing to secure paperwork from attorneys for its purchase of the foreclosed home at 509 E. Walnut Street, which sits above a problem sewer line.
•Paid claims totaling $1,303,324.71.