The Starke County Commissioners will soon enter into contract negotiations with officials from the Starke County Economic Development Foundation.
The current contract expires March 1.
The commissioners have made it known that they would like to see changes within the organization to ensure the best service to the community. A study of the Foundation was completed by Thomas P. Miller and Associates last summer. According to the draft study, the biggest recommendation was to split the Starke County Economic Development Foundation from the SCILL Center so the Foundation can mainly focus on economic development, housing and placemaking, while the SCILL Center can focus on workforce development and training. The pair would still coordinate to support each other with economic development efforts.
The commissioners agree that the SCILL Center should continue and programs within the organization are important, but they say funding of the programs could be done with grants or other funding. While the amount of county funding has differed since its inception, the county has paid $80,000 for the SCILL Center programming for at least 15 years. The commissioners and county council members have asked Foundation representatives for several years to find another way of funding programs with reportedly no progress.
During last week’s meeting of the Starke County Commissioners, County Attorney Marty Lucas said a cooperative agreement could be negotiated with the county’s municipalities. He added that it is in the county’s best interest to get the most out of the county’s financial contribution toward the contract.
“I think they do a lot of things, but the question is – I don’t want to be knocking anybody, but I’m not sure they’ve been real responsive to the requests that the elected officials have made over the years in terms of they kinda listen and do what they’re going to do. Maybe they’re doing the right thing, I don’t know. If you’re paying for something, you have deliverables and it hasn’t been real clear on the deliverables end I guess is what I’m trying to say.”
Talks on the contract will begin soon.
