The Bremen Town Council members gathered with various department heads and Troyer Group officials Thursday morning to discuss the town’s upcoming Stellar projects.
The county was named a Regional Stellar Community in December 2019. The Town of Bremen was awarded Stellar grant funds for several projects including the Jackson Street project which involves an outdoor pavilion, stage area, a lot of greenspace, new trees, benches, and lighting to create a downtown community gathering area. The town was also awarded funds to rehabilitate the pool. A splash pad was added by an outpouring of public support to make it an Aquatic Center.
The Jackson Street project was awarded $1.2 million and the pool project was awarded $1.5 million with local match money provided by TIF Funds.
Both projects have been pushed back from their original timelines due to the pandemic and other delays.
Bids for the Jackson Street project will be opened during the town council’s April 10 meeting, while the Aquatic Center project needs to be complete and paperwork closed out by December 31, 2024, if an extension cannot be granted.
The issue the council is facing is the increase in costs for the projects due to inflation. In order to fund both projects, the council has to come up with $1 million.
The council is awaiting word from Priority Project Resources Grant Writer Shannon McLeod who is expected to speak with the Office of Community and Rural Affairs, the facilitator of the Community Development Block Grant funds through the Regional Stellar Communities program. She will ask the officials if the Jackson Street project could be eliminated and that grant funding be used toward the Aquatic Center project.
The three council members present, President Bill Daily, Michael Leman and Rick Graverson, stated that it is their goal to go through with both projects as they will lead to growth, promote community pride and attract people to the community. Additionally, they do not want to jeopardize future grant funding opportunities from the state if a solution is not available. Councilman Jim Leeper was absent from Thursday’s meeting.
While they await word from McLeod, the council asked how they could resolve the $1 million shortfall. Bremen Park Superintendent Brian Main stated that he came up with a working funding plan that could resolve that issue. He suggesting using $400,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds, $150,000 from the park’s Non-Reverting Fund, $100,000 from donors or other means, $50,000 for the park’s Capital Improvement Fund, and another $400,000 in TIF Funds, if all funding is approved by the town council, Bremen Park Board and the Redevelopment Commission.
Mike Reese from the Troyer Group has been working on the designs for both projects and said alternates could be worked into the bids to help bring down the cost.
The council members discussed the importance of both projects and several comments were given about making the projects the best they can be without having to omit features only to regret that decision down the road when costs could become more of an issue. The collaboration from several entities coming together to work on these projects and solutions was noted as having a positive impact on the situation to do what is best for what would benefit Bremen.
Decisions will be made in upcoming meetings.
