The Plymouth Board of Public Works and Safety received one proposal for occupancy in the old firehouse on Center Street. The building hasn’t had a tenant in two years.
The owners of His Small Wonders, a preschool and daycare business, applied to use the old firehouse for their needs. Their current facility is being sold and they need to be out by Aug. 31.
The Marshall County Council discussed adding full-time position for a health educator/emergency preparedness coordinator when they met this week.
Health Administrator Christine Stinson explained that the person in the department would assist in her department and with Emergency Management Agency Director Clyde Avery. She said a local health maintenance fund grant along with the emergency preparedness grant will help fund this position with the rest coming from the health department’s budget.
Exterior work on the Rees Theater has started, but more funding is needed before immediate repairs can be done before the winter season.
Brent Martin from the Wythougan Valley Preservation Council and architecture firm SRKM said the roof is bulging from the south side of the building. Immediate repair is also needed indoors as a portion of the ceiling collapsed on the auditorium floor. The repair is expected to cost around $120,000. While grant money won’t be available in time for this work to be complete before November, donations are being sought of any denomination. An account has been set up at gofundme.com/reestheatre for donations as a crowdfunding effort. When you make a donation, that notification can be shared on social media to alert other community members about the opportunity to give to a community landmark event. Continue reading
Four businesses in downtown Bremen are actively seeking to apply for the town’s matching façade grant program.
Bremen Director of Operations Trend Weldy said the matching grants are $5,000. The business owners are getting contractors lined up for the proposed projects this fall. Weldy said 10 companies originally wanted to sign up for the program, but only four are actively going through all of the process to complete projects.
Plymouth Utility Superintendent Donnie Davidson presented the Plymouth Board of Public Works and Safety members with an update on projects this week.
The roof replacement project at the Ledyard Water Treatment Plant and filter room is complete. Davidson said the material supplier will be back soon to certify the project.
The John Glenn Building Trades class is ready to take on another project this school year.
John Glenn School Board member Dennis Holland reported to the members Tuesday night that cement is being poured for a full basement at the site on Walnut Crossing just north of Walkerton. Students will be building a spec home.
Two requests to waive probationary pay for employees were discussed by the Marshall County Council this week.
Community Corrections Director Ward Byers requested waiver for a new case manager who comes to the department with a wealth of experience from Ohio. In addition, the case manager’s pay is based on a federal grant.
Seven people were arrested on Wednesday night after officers executed a search warrant at a home in the 100 block of Green Street in Plymouth.
As a result of a search of the home, Marshall County Drug Task Force officers along with officers from the Plymouth Police Department and the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department filed charges of dealing marijuana, possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, maintaining a common nuisance, and visiting a common nuisance.
The Marshall County Council members held a discussion on an additional appropriation request for continued maintenance at the Shady Rest Home.
The Shady Rest Home returned to the county’s care on Aug. 1 after The Bowen Center vacated the property.
The Town of Bremen is the recipient of some Regional Cities money to aid in a housing project in town.
Bremen Director of Operations Trend Weldy said the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation notified the town that an $80,000 award will assist the developer to help keep a housing project going. The developer bought approximately 14 acres on the southeast edge of town to build condos, villas and homes on 55 lots. There are about five lots that are already occupied with developments with a small home, duplexes and a villa.
The Plymouth Redevelopment Commission will fund a downstream study in the TechFarm area that may ultimately result in the replacement of a culvert under Pioneer Drive.
According to David Miller from Vanco Development, a larger culvert needs to be constructed in the area. The current equipment has the potential to cause drainage and flood plain issues when projects develop on the TechFarm site and the surrounding area. A 100-year flood study was recently released which puts that area in a flood prone zone. All of those findings have led up to the needed downstream study to see how that culvert replacement could affect water flow downstream in the case of a flood event. Continue reading
Plymouth City Engineer Rick Gaul informed the Plymouth Board of Public Works and Safety members this week that several street projects will be contracted out this fall.
“Essentially what we’re looking at doing is having a fall contract,” said Gaul. “I guess most of this list are community crossings projects that we need to get done. What we’re looking at doing is starting as soon as we can this fall. We’ll have 30-some projects.”
Teachers at the John Glenn School Corporation who have been in the education profession for 20 years or longer will receive an appreciation gift. Gift cards will be purchased from the Swan Lake Resort.
Superintendent Richard Reese asked the school board for permission to purchase seven gift cards in the amount of $190 for non-certified and certified teachers who have been dedicated to education for at least two decades. Continue reading
Angela Osterman Meyer, Ph.D., an astronomy instructor at the Culver Academies, will present a solar eclipse program on Saturday, Aug. 19 at 10:30 a.m. and noon ET at the Culver-Union Township Public Library. The library staff will also distribute solar eclipse glasses during her presentations.
Three members of the Plymouth Redevelopment Commission approved a mountain of paperwork Tuesday night to prepare for the renovations of the city building and chamber of commerce building.
The bonds sold for the project on Tuesday and will be closed today. 1st Source Bank will be the bond trustee until the project is done and payments are needed.
The lowest project bid came from Michiana Contracting, Inc. in the amount of $2,198,700. The commission members approved that bid.
Marshall County Coroner John Grolich approached the Marshall County Council Monday morning with additional appropriation requests totaling $28,000 for his department.
Grolich explained that there has been an increase in autopsies performed this year than what is normally budgeted. He added that it’s difficult to predict how many will be done in a year in order to properly budget money. He said many young people have perished in a number of different circumstances and autopsies are commonly ordered in most cases to determine manner and cause of death. Continue reading
The Walkerton-Lincoln Township Public Library Board awarded a bid for the construction of a new library at the corner of U.S. 6 and Washington Street.
The winning bid came from Brown and Brown out of Elkhart in the amount of $1,210,600. Library Director Traci Stewart said the bid was higher than what was budgeted, so the board plans to scale back the project. They plan to do that at their Sept. 12 meeting.
Bids for an ambulance service were opened during Monday’s Bremen Town Council meeting.
Director of Operations Trend Weldy told MAX 98.3 FM News that three service bids were received including one from the current provider. The town asked for three separate bids. One bid was for one ambulance full-time, another was for one-and-a-half and the other for two ambulances full-time. One company only bid on two of the services while the other two companies bid on all three.
Building administrators and Superintendent Richard Reese gave a positive report on the first day of school to the John Glenn Community School Board Tuesday night. Tuesday was the first full day for students.
Reese said the unofficial student count is 1,922 which shows an increase of 21 students from last year. He noted that the number of kindergarten students entering school is less than last year’s outgoing senior class. The state’s official student count day will occur this fall. Real-time attendance is taken every Wednesday.
The Plymouth City Council held two public hearings Monday night.
The Weir family requested the annexation of a portion of their property on Lake Ave. near the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center. The company, Weir Enterprises, is developing a daycare on the south and west end of the property and they would like to separate the parcels so the house would be separate entity.
