Article submitted by Jamie Fleury, The Pilot News Staff Writer
CULVER — After an update by Laura Walls, President of Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC), the Culver Town Council requested increased in-person updates at meetings and increased transparency.
The council reviewed the updated agreement with MCEDC and the expectations of certain deliverables moving forward. Town of Culver Attorney Jim Clevenger and MCEDC Attorney Jeff Houin had reviewed the contract changes with leadership in Culver to include additional responsibility to make reasonable efforts to assist in the creation of an E-hub including locating a suitable site in Culver, educating stakeholders on the investment, providing information, providing guidance on completing the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) grant application and assisting with submission of the grant to the Regional Development Authority (RDA) of the South Bend and Elkhart Regional Partnership.
MCEDC will be required to continue to participate in the Crossroads Culver Development Initiative by serving on a subcommittee or the steering committee. MCEDC will also advise and guide Culver on the Business Attraction Plan, the Marketing Plan, and the Workforce Development Plan including reviewing and updating each.
MCEDC will be expected to provide technical assistance with all of those initiatives.
Culver Town Manager Ginny Bess Munroe referred to the revised expectations as an addendum to be added to the original MCEDC contract. It included detailed expectations and the document differed from what other towns are using. Compensation for services was agreed upon at $10,000.
Munroe asked Walls if the drafts provided were from former President Jerry Chavez’s time serving. The refined expectations were pulled from past plans and agreements with MCEDC that Culver felt were not completed.
Walls was not able to answer that question virtually. “I haven’t seen any existing plans but I will go back and look.”
Walls updated the council that MCEDC will be moving away from the Business Expansion and Retention (BEAR) model previously used. Rather than present an inquiring business with a 24-page questionnaire, MCEDC is going to use a more focused approach that Walls described as “nuanced for each business.” Interviews will continue to be conducted, but with a more useful model than previously utilized by MCEDC under former leadership.
Munroe referred back to the addendum with the revised expectations.
Don Fox is serving as the Town of Culver appointee on the MCEDC Board of Directors. Walls detailed that the overall sense of the board was that goals had not been reached for Culver and will be placed as an agenda item for meetings with increased monitoring for accountability. Mr. Fox will be reviewing progress at each MCEDC board meeting.
The addendum was dated effective through December 31, 2022.
Attorney Janette Surrisi, sitting in for Attorney Clevenger, advised the council that the Services Agreement had no effective end date listed. “It just references a renewal term that is not defined.”
She sought clarification on what the MCEDC Board of Directors the Culver Town Council wanted in terms of those effective dates matching and avoiding an automatic renewal feature. Before the parties entered in to an agreement, Attorney Surrisi wanted the parties to understand that at first review it appeared that the Service Agreement would be ongoing without the additional clarification.
Manager Munroe stated that the original contract allowed Culver to terminate that part of the agreement at will; Attorney Surrisi specified that the contract was binding apart from a “material breach”.
Attorney Surrisi recommended that the inclusion of a clear termination date on the Service Agreement as well. “Just to clear up that ambiguity.”
The town council approved the agreement pending inclusion of that date on both the Addendum and the Service Agreement. The goal moving forward will be to have updated contracts for 2023 and every year moving forward with clear start and termination dates to be signed every December to streamline and define expectations and deliverables consistently and annually with MCEDC.
Walls updated the council on the READI grant funding as the county moves toward the application drop line. The Plymouth manufacturing center sold which resulted in $400,000 in Regional Cities funds. The $400,000 paid back to the RDA was issued as a loan not a grant but will be made available again in grant funding.
Walls explained, “They are ready to redeploy those funds for E-hubs. The Regional Cities dollars will count as a private match on a READI application. It is my expectation and plan that we will have an E-hub Project for Culver in READI with at least $200,000 in Regional Cities funds as part of the private match. The proceeds, the net profit, from the sale of the manufacturing center, the MCEDC Board has committed 100% of those funds to READI Projects to be part of the private match.” Walls noted that the private match portion of the READI Projects will be the most challenging part.
Member Bill Cleavenger asked Walls why Culver was only getting $200,000 toward an E-hub as opposed to the $400,000 promised. “Laura, we were promised $400,000 and you’re giving us $200,000. Where’s the other $200.000?”
Walls informed the council that the other $200,000 will be allocated to an E-hub in Plymouth.
Walls explained to the council that the MCEDC Board of Directors had been advised that Culver and Plymouth would both be getting $400,000, but in reality, there was only $400,000 total. That $400,000 will be split between Culver and Plymouth with $200,000 going to each. Walls reiterated that those promises had been made by leadership before her time. She said she wanted to remain optimistic about the miscommunication and misunderstanding and assured the council that moving forward such things would be clear.
Council President Bill Githens said, “I think you understand, Laura, that the council has concerns over the years about monies and where they’re going and how they are spent.” He emphasized that the lack of in-person visits and clear communication has created hesitancy within the council.
Walls agreed to attend the April 12th meeting in-person and agreed to continued and increased communication with the council. Cleavenger asked for additional clarification on the matter to be brought to the April meeting but Walls could not guarantee additional information could be verified without access to the former President. Moving forward she emphasized increased and consistent communication and transparency.
Githens responded, “We appreciate your honesty and your digging. We just take you at your word that you are going to see us more often and be more open with us. We look forward to having that opportunity to work with you. We’ve got an airtight agreement now.”
During a discussion later during the meeting, the matter regarding the E-hub grants was visited again.
President Githens concluded, “Like I was saying, moving forward she needs to get her ducks in a row and come to us and tell us what’s going on. We’ve got to hold MCEDC’s feet to the fire. Which we haven’t necessarily always done.”
Town Manager Munroe advised the council that they need to decide if they will apply for a READI grant for an E-hub or one of the other projects such as housing. “If that $200,000 is intended for an E-hub and we don’t want to do an E-hub, that’s fine.” If that is the case, she advised that they need to update the RDA so that they can reallocate that funding appropriately for municipalities that do want to establish an E-hub.
Kevin Berger, a former appointee to the MCEDC Board of Directors was recognized for having attending Culver Town Council meetings when he was responsible for communicating and keeping the council informed.
Mr. Berger stated, “The RDA grants had at one point been available in the amount of $400,000 to Culver and $400,000 to Plymouth. This was part of the Regional Cities Initiative. Neither municipality was willing or ready to move forward at that time. Former MCEDC leadership negotiated another use of the funding in the form of a loans for the manufacturing centers in Argos and Plymouth. This kept the money in Marshall County. The RDA was under no obligation to agree to further use of the funding for development, but they did, which was positive for Marshall County. An amount of $800,000 was communicated to the MCEDC Board of Directors with $400,000 to each of the two municipalities when in reality the loan was for $400,000. In the end, keeping the money here was a good thing, but just not as much as was promised.”
President Githens emphasized that moving forward Walls and MCEDC will be expected to communicate clearly.
