Hamlet officials are asking for the public’s help to qualify for a $40,000 planning grant. The town is working with HWC Engineering to put together a comprehensive plan. Up to 90 percent of the $44,000 cost could be covered by grant funding.
In order to show the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs that there’s public support for the effort, officials have developed a brief survey, according to Town Council Member Brian Earnest. “It’s just basically a little survey, talking about ‘Would you like us to move forward? Do you support the effort of us moving forward with it, and then what aspects of the town would you like to see addressed within that plan?'” he explained during Wednesday’s council meeting. “Something that we give to OCRA when we apply for the grant to pay for the comp plan. I’m going to go door-to-door this weekend, probably, in my district, and see if people would be willing to fill them out.”
Another step in qualifying for the planning grant involved updating the town’s Fair Housing and Drug and Alcohol ordinances. When the Kankakee-Iroquios Regional Planning Commission provided sample language, council members were concerned that it didn’t explicitly list accidents as one of the circumstances that would allow the town to test its employees for drugs or alcohol. Council members made the addition and adopted both ordinances Wednesday.
Hamlet, North Judson, and Starke County are all working on comprehensive plans, in preparation for a potential regional Stellar Community application.
