Culver may have done a post mortem on its 2016 Stellar Communities application, but where to improve for 2017 remains a big challenge.
Stellar Communities is a state program that designates individual communities for fast-tracked state investment in major projects and services. The Culver town government and its Stellar Communities Steering Committee recently met with the state of Indiana to better understand the shortcomings in its proposed projects and presentation after losing out this year to Corydon.
Town Council President Ginny Bess Munroe says presentation time should be shortened in 2017.
“I’m not sure if any of them said anything about the video,” says Munroe. “It had an impact on the community because it went viral at some point. I don’t know what impact it had on them. It did seem like they enjoyed it, and a couple of them said wow, when they were getting on the golf cart, about it.”
Ideas were kicked around in an informal setting during a meeting Monday night.
Among the areas identified for improvement by the state was incorporating more arts, culture, and history into Culver’s Stellar Communities’ application. State officials were reported to like the idea of constructing a fence around an historic tree in the town park in the last couple of years.
Culver’s biggest challenge, however, was ensuring that the community could show progress building toward its selected projects such as the bike trail or affordable housing from year to year. Munroe says a newsletter, or consistently updating social media on their progress may be a good idea.
“Maybe the council could just go out Thanksgiving week or the week before and do a door-to-door newsletter and then we could do another update in winter during Winterfest,” says Munroe.
Corydon was commended for drawing outside investment, even attracting tourism investment dollars from Louisville, Kentucky as part of its application.
The community says they will be submitted a letter of intent sometime in March of 2017 to apply once again.
