Lt. Governor Discusses Suspension of Stellar Communities Program

While Constellation of Starke’s hopes for a Stellar designation will have to wait a year, Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch is optimistic that regional collaboration will continue. The designation would make Starke County and its communities eligible for millions of dollars in funding. The region was a finalist last year and was working on plans to reapply, when the program was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lieutenant governor tells WKVI News that the decision was made to free up funds for the state’s COVID-19 Response Program but also to uphold the integrity of the Stellar program’s planning process. “With things being in flux and being fluid and so much uncertainty, that could prove to be a difficulty at this particular point in time, so that was another reason why we put things on hold,” Crouch explains. “It’s just changed everything that we’re doing.”

When Stellar does resume, Crouch says the plan is to continue designating Stellar regions rather than going back to individual cities and towns. “The Stellar regional approach has proven to be very, very effective in producing collaboration and getting communities to work cross-borders and across political lines and work together to promote their communities.” She says that’s something that can continue during the COVID-19 emergency, even though that means working virtually.

Crouch adds that Constellation of Starke still has $333,000 that it got for being a finalist last year. “We checked a couple of weeks ago, and they haven’t designated what they’re going to spend that on,” she explains. “And that money can be used either to continue to plan for the regional coordination or it can be used for a particular project that they submitted in the regional development plan.” Using the money for park improvements or possibly a county-wide art installation are some of the ideas that have been discussed.