Awarded, rescinded

A lot can change in 14 months.

In May 2019, Erick Gutierrez on behalf of his step-father Leonel Loredo and his mother Valvina Gutierrez, who own the Jalisco Mexican Store in downtown Portland, went before the city’s redevelopment commission asking for about $60,000 to repair the store’s walls and roof.

His request was tabled because he only had one bid for the project. Commonly projects are only awarded funds if they have at least two bids.

At the same meeting, Portland Redevelopment Commission, which had already given HoosierBoy Smokehouse & Brew a $150,000 loan, two-thirds of which would have been forgivable, was discussing possibly giving another $250,000 loan toward the restaurant because the First Bank of Berne backed out of a financial agreement with its owners, Kelly and Ryan Johnson, who were then left without the funds needed to start a restaurant.

Discussion of awarding an additional loan was tabled over concerns of the high dollar amount.

At its meeting Friday, the commission awarded Jalisco a $32,500 grant and rescinded its $150,000 loan to the Johnsons because they no longer plan on opening a restaurant at 105 W. Main St.

It also voted to fund phase two of Portland Main Street Connect’s plan to beautify the downtown area.

The decisions marked a $400,000 swing in loans that could have been handed out to the Johnsons if the board approved them.

That would have made up nearly half of the board’s current budget of $868,027.29.

Commission member Rusty Inman said the Johnsons could possibly sell the property after they began focusing their efforts on opening a restaurant in Dunkirk. Commission money could go back into the building if there is a need for it, either by the current owners or its potential future owners, Inman added.



Jalisco

The commission stopped short of completely funding the store’s renovations because the family had already completed around $20,000 worth of work to the roof.

The commission has never retroactively awarded funds for a project, though it is not out of the scope of its power, community developer Ami Huffman said.

Erick Gutierrez, who was happy and appreciative of the money the commission awarded to Jalisco, said the roof was in such a bad condition that he couldn’t wait past last winter to fix it.

The building’s walls can’t wait much longer for work, either.

“That (south) wall is getting bad … it’s affecting the inside as well now,” Gutierrez said.

He had multiple bids from contractors on the store’s structural rehabilitation for Friday’s meeting, but said some local contractors never called him back after he left 10 to 20 voicemails.

He encouraged any business that is interested in taking the work to contact the store by stopping or on the phone at (260) 726-2434.

When the work is completed, he said he has big plans for the store, with possibly opening a tattoo parlor or barber shop on the building’s west side and painting a mural on the south wall, possibly of the Virgin Mary and/or something that celebrates the Americas.

The store has strong religious ties and is the starting point of the annual walk to the Immaculate Conception Church on the Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe, a national religious holiday in Mexico, on Dec. 12.

Near the store’s parking lot are three stumps where trees used to be. Mayor John Boggs said the city plans on grinding out those stumps, which will make way for the family’s plan to start a garden there.

Commission member Reda Theurer-Miller, who is also involved in Portland Main Street Connect, said it may be possible to place one of the newly acquired benches near the grocery store.



Main Street Connect

The commission voted to award Main Street Connect $75,589 to fund phase two of its effort to beautify the downtown area.

The biggest cost of the next phase is the 45 planters the organization is planning to install and fill with plants along Meridian and Main streets. They are estimated to cost $51,980.

“It will make a statement but it will be costly,” Theurer-Miller said.

The current plan is to have mums in the autumn and cut greenery for the winter.

Other costs planned for phase two include 14 wayfinding signs ($11,300), inserts for trash cans ($2,250) and replacement bulbs for Christmas lights ($200).

Theurer-Miller updated the commission on the organization's progress during the past few months. All benches have been completed by Forrest Johnson of Portland and are ready to be set, and a total of five trash cans have been refurbished.

Phase three will cover sustainability and upkeep of the projects in “an effective and qualitative manner,” according to Main Street Connect’s written update to the commission which was a supplement to Theurer-Miller’s update.

••••••••••

In other business, commission members Joe Johnston, Dave Teeter, Mike Simons, Inman and Theurer-Miller, who met as a commission in person for the first time in nearly five months, finished with a phone call with Ed Curtin of CWC Latitudes. Curtin is the former executive director of the Columbus Redevelopment Commission.

Boggs and Huffman said it could be beneficial to hire Curtin as a consultant because of his experience in redevelopment efforts in Nashville, Indiana, and other places in the southern part of the state.

Curtin noted on the call that a comprehensive plan for redevelopment projects could be used as a way to market businesses and convince interested residents to move to the area.

If Curtin is hired, he can help form a plan with the commission so it has a more defined grasp of its objectives and what it can do with the nearly $1 million it has in its budget.

Commission members in the past have noted they don’t always know what to do with the money or how to attract business to start redevelopment projects.

“It feels like we’re here sitting on dirt,” Teeter said earlier in the meeting. “It’s ridiculous.”