Kimball takes on new county role

After more than a month on the job, Jay County’s community coordinator is taking root.

Nate Kimball was hired Aug. 14 to serve as Jay County’s community coordinator. His services are part of the two-year contract Jay County Commissioners signed with East Central Indiana Regional Planning District.

Kimball’s job consists of visiting local town, city or county meetings and hearing the needs of the communities. From there, he begins the search to find potential grants or other resources that could be available.

“A lot of what they are wanting me to do is to figure out what the needs are for those communities that often get overlooked by county government,” he said. “If I can figure out what their needs are and see if there is any possibility for grants out there … that’s one of my biggest priorities.”

A Muncie resident, Kimball is a 2019 graduate of Shenandoah High School near Middletown. He earned his associate’s degree in business administration from Ivy Tech Community College’s Accelerated Associate Degree Program — it’s an intensive program that allows students to earn their degree in less than a year — and received his marketing degree in May from Ball State University.

During his time in college, he volunteered with his family’s business, Ashton Land Surveyor of Muncie, and worked with field crews and research teams to gather information.

He noted that the research sent him to various communities in the east central Indiana region, including Jay County.

“That allowed me to realize a little bit more about how the real world works,” he explained.

Kimball worked part-time for Montpelier through East Central Indiana Regional Planning District in 2022 doing similar work to his current role with Jay County. He looked into grants for various projects, several of which are still ongoing. 

Montpelier is applying for a $500,000 grant to bring fiberoptic internet to all its residents. (Kimball noted the city conducted an internet survey to test connection speeds and allow residents to voice complaints about their current provider.) The city is also planning to conduct a multi-million dollar lead line inspection project, find a new use for the former Montpelier Elementary School building and make some additions to Baldwin Park (colloquially known as Airplane Park).

“I had very much enjoyed the work that we were able to do,” said Kimball. “Our number one goal was to try and make the daily lives better for the people of the community (we were) serving.”

According to the $200,000 contract signed by commissioners, East Central Indiana Regional Planning District is providing administrative support and services related to economic development projects, identifying and working with consulting firms, assisting commissioners in vetting and identifying projects and working with local officials. It’s also required to be available for meetings as needed and have a dedicated community coordinator, Kimball, to Jay County year-round.

Kimball is involved with work on securing money from Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) 2.0 and the Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program (HELP), a planning process through the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affair for how to spend federal coronavirus relief funds through the American Rescue Plan Act.

He’s also facilitating work on the owner occupied rehabilitation (OOR) program that is being funded through the $1 million Jay County is receiving for being a part of HELP. The program approved in August by Jay County Council and commissioners will allow low-income homeowners to apply for funding to make improvements to their homes, such as new roofs, furnaces or air conditioners. Between 50 and 75 homes will see improvements from the program, which would likely allocate $10,000 to $15,000 toward each project per guidelines from OCRA’s Owner Occupied Rehabilitation program.

Kimball pointed out there are a variety of grants available from different sources, such as governmental entities or corporations like Walmart or Nike. A part of the key to success is finding grant cycles that align with project timelines, he said. Another is finding grants that have obtainable match amounts, with Kimball noting some required matches may not be affordable for some communities.

When he finds a grant the community is interested in pursuing, Kimball will forward information onto East Central Indiana Regional Planning District’s grant-writing team.

As of September, Kimball was looking into various grants, including funding to purchase new fire trucks for Redkey and Pennville. 

His schedule varies from day to day, shifting between remote and in-person duties as needed.

“My number one goal is to serve those in need,” he said. “I think here, with Jay County, with it being a low to median income range, I think there’s a lot of people who are at least in financial need. And working with grant writers and grant administrators, I think there’s a great possibility to fulfill those needs.”