Now that Starke County is taking legal action against the owners of the SYSCO property, Hamlet Town Council President Dave Kesvormas wants the town to join in. The complaint filed by the county in Starke Circuit Court accuses the owners of “unjust enrichment,” after the county invested at least $1.6 million in site improvements with the understanding that a new facility would be built, bringing about 300 jobs.
But during Wednesday’s town council meeting, Kesvormas argued that the town also lost money on the deal, specifically when it comes to a wastewater plant expansion that may not have otherwise taken place. “The town does have an interest in this and that was, when we did this, if you look back in the records, the town did ask for a grant to upgrade,” Kesvormas explained. “And some of that upgrade was to repair stuff and to straighten stuff out, but on the other end of it is capacity was added down there. That cost us money that we have bonded. It’s part of that sewer bond, as well as lots of other expensive engineering and upgrades that were done to that in thoughts of taking on that park.”
But it was also pointed out that much of Hamlet’s cost was covered by grants, and the town’s agreements were apparently with the Starke County Economic Development Foundation, rather than the company itself.
Kesvormas again voiced his frustration that the site may be left as farmland, after all of the investments in infrastructure. “That would be kind of a slight to the town and to the county because there’s fire hydrants out there. There is sewer out there. There is a water tower out there that we don’t use. And if that were the case, that it was all converted back to farm land or back the way it was, I might as well as the town put that on eBay and auction off the water tower for scrap because it wouldn’t be worth anything. We would have no use in it,” Kesvormas said.
Town Attorney Martin Bedrock agreed to look at Starke County’s legal complaint, to see if it would be worth it for the town to take action, as well.
