Name: Representing:

Samantha Bobbitt Daviess County Commissioners

Michael Sprinkle Daviess County Council

Mary Ann Brown Town of Alfordsville

Dale Delong Cannelburg Town Council

Heather Davis Elnora Town Council

Mike Healy Montgomery Town Council

Benjamin Douglas Odon Town Council

Lee Coffman Plainville Town Council

Mayor Joe Wellman City of Washington

Ed Michael Greene County Commissioners

Joe Huntington Greene County Council

Robert Uland Bloomfield Town Council

Mayor Roy Terrell City of Jasonville

Mayor John Wilkes City of Linton

Scott Powers Lyons Town Council

Stacy Henry Newberry Town Council

Gary Frye Switz City Town Council

Terressa Sparks Worthington Town Council

Trenton Hinkle Knox County Commissioners

David Culp Knox County Council

Mayor Thomas Estabrook City of Bicknell

Howard Lanam Bruceville Town Council

Pat Doades Decker Town Council

Connie Dinkins Edwardsport Town Council

Matt Powell Monroe City Town Council

Randy Rinsch Oaktown Town Council

J. Nate Yagle Sandborn Town Council

Mayor Joe Yochum City of Vincennes

Danny Wathen Wheatland Town Council

Rodney Fish Lawrence County Commissioners

Julie Hewetson Lawrence County Council

Judy Carlisle Bedford City Council

Jennifer McNeely City of Mitchell

Bill Kendall Oolitic Town Council

Dan Gregory Martin County Commissioners

Randy Wininger Martin Country Council

David Johnson Crane Town Council

Mayor Noel Harty City of Loogootee

Dick Cresgy Shoals Town Council

Executive Board:

Mike Healy — Chairman

John Wilkes — Vice Chairman

Randy Wininger — Secretary

Joe Yockum — Treasurer

Rodney Fish — County Representative

SIDC STAFF

Greg Jones

Executive Director

gejones@sidc.cc

Michelle Carrico

Program Manager

michelle@sidc.cc

Jenny Dearwester

Housing Program Manager

jenny@sidc.cc

Audrey Conlon

Project Specialist

audrey@sidc.cc

Rhonda Rumble

Program Specialist

rhonda@sidc.cc

Matt Sward

Development Specialist

matt@sidc.cc

Rex Knight

Project Coordinator

rex@sidc.cc

Janice Taylor

Administrative Specialist

janice@sidc.cc

Page 4 of 4

CELEBRATION!!! THE 2019 CEDS IS HERE!!!

CHECK IT OUT ON THE NEWLY RENOVATED

SOUTHERN INDIANA DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION WEBSITE!

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

HOUSING

RURAL TRANSIT

TRANSPORTATION

ENVIRONMENTAL

BROWNFIELDS

Facebook.com/

southernindianadevelopmentcommission

www.sidc.cc

P.O. Box 442

Loogootee, IN 47553

812-295-3707 phone

812-295-3717 fax

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

2019 CEDS is

approved

2

Director’s Notes 2

Small Urban &

Rural Planning

Program

2

OCRA Projects

Recently Funded

3

A Brownfield

Story

3

Owner

Occupied

Housing

3

SIDC Board

Members &

Staff

4

NEWS LE T T E R

2 0 1 9 S U M M E R

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T :

2019 SIDC

CEDS IS

APPROVED

THOUGHTS

ABOUT

PROVERTY

EPA

PROGRAM

UPDATE

Page 1 of 4

2 0 1 9 S U M M E R

SIDC has many projects to celebrate but

none as inspiring as completing the Com-

prehensive Economic Development Strate-

gy. The CEDS is inspiring because it re-

quires the coordination of over 100 resi-

dents and 20 local partner organizations to

develop and offer input on the regional

strategy. Special thanks to Purdue Center

for Rural Development and USDA Rural

Development for their role in completing

the plan. From the community input three

overarching goals were revealed 1. En-

hance the Quality of Life in the Region 2.

Capitalize on the Regional Assets 3. Foster

Regional Collaboration. The CEDS was

approved by the Economic Development

Administration in July and is now being

implemented by SIDC and its partners.

ities. SIDC anticipates receiving a contract

with INDOT to count Daviess, Knox and

Martin Counties over a three year period

starting in 2020.

INDOT offers grant funding for road improve-

ments as part of their Community Crossings

Grant Program. Counties, Cities and Towns

are eligible to receive up to $1,000,000 in

grant funding through this program. Both 2019

grant rounds are complete and INDOT will

offer two grant rounds in 2020.

In order to apply for the INDOT Community

Crossings Grant, communities must have an

approved Asset Management Plan. In the past

plans where emailed to LTAP and communi-

ties received an approval letter. For future

grant rounds communities must upload their

Asset Management Plan to LTAP’s new Data

Management System which can be found at

https://ltapdms.itap.purdue.edu/ltap. In order

to be eligible for the 2020 Community Cross-

ings Grant program you must submit your

Asset Management Plan via the Data Manage-

ment System by December 1, 2019. Decem-

ber 1st will be the due date each year to be

eligible for the following year CCMG program.

SIDC is contracted with the Indiana Department

of Transportation to conduct traffic counts in

the five county area as part of the Rural Trans-

portation Traffic Count program. The goal of

the program is to allow for additional communi-

ty input on transportation needs as well as to

collect information on transportation trends for

a specific area, allowing for better informed

decisions for transportation projects in that

area. Each county has counts at least every 5 years and special counts can be requested year-

ly. Multiple sets of data are available for each

county. SIDC collected counts in Daviess Coun-

ty in 2014 and 2019, Greene County in 2015,

Knox County in 2016, Lawrence County in

2017 and Martin County in 2018. SIDC recently

received the contract to complete counts in

Greene County for the 2020 count cycle.

SIDC also contracted with INDOT in 2012 to

collect traffic count data on non-state owned

roads as part of the INDOT Coverage Count

Program in Daviess, Greene, Knox, Lawrence

and Martin Counties. SIDC’s current contract runs through 2019 and includes counts in Da-

viess, Greene, Lawrence and Martin Counties.

Traffic count data is submitted to INDOT to be

used for planning and other state program activ-

If you have questions regarding traffic counts,

Community Crossings or Asset Management

Plans please contact Matt Sward, Development

Specialist, at (812) 295-3707, Extension 30.

of these battles. And progress has been

made since the first American War on Pov-

erty was declared in the 1960’s. That being

said, Poverty still exists and in some ways is

getting worse for children and the elderly

over the past decade. James Powell discussed

how until people in poverty start to gain

access to opportunities and begin to feel a

sense of belonging, even as the symptoms of

poverty may yet improve, the eradication of

poverty will never happen. A problem is that

the public’s image often perceives the People

in poverty as “outcasts” and individuals not

to be fully engaged. This sense of isolation

and not belonging only makes the symptoms

of Poverty worse. A sense of belonging and

having their voice

heard are important for individuals to be able

to break away from the generational trap-

pings of poverty. I ask you to consider how

you can make your governments more inclu-

sive, to think of ways and strategies to allow

the marginalized to have a greater voice in

your community. Inclusive policies help to

make your community a true community,

having a more complete opportunity toward

success. There is still more to do and SIDC

will try to do our part, always mindful of

programs and projects that will provide a

strong sense of belonging for all your resi-

dents.

I was recently at the National Community

Action Agencies Conference and had my per-

ceptions of Poverty challenged by the speaker,

James Powell of the Haas Foundation. I had

always heard about the “War on Poverty,” as

if there are opposing forces at work that can

definitively be won or lost in some orchestrat-

ed battle. These battles are indeed real and

numerous, most often encompassing a lack of

good jobs, bad housing, poor schools, lack of

skills, lack of food, lack of proper sanitation,

discrimination and all the other forms of pov-

erty that manifests itself in society. SIDC has

endeavored to do its part in this war with

programs that help the disadvantaged. Obvi-

ously, there are numerous other partners that

also implement programs created to fight each

“Help to make

your community a

true community.”

Page 2 of 4

2 0 1 9 S U M M E R

DAVIESS COUNTY/WASHINGTON

TOWNSHIP FIRE STATION PROJECT

The Daviess County Commissioners on behalf

of the Washington Township Trustee and Fire

Department received $500,000 for the demoli-

tion and construction of a new four bay fire

station building. Congratulations Daviess

County!

OCRA Project Funding Rounds in 2020

There will be two rounds of funding next

year. First Round proposals will be due on

April 3rd with applications due May 22nd.

Second Round proposals due August 28th

with applications due October 16th. This

includes infrastructure, public facilities, and

Main Street projects. Anyone wanting to submit an application needs to be preparing

for those requirements and contacting SIDC

soon to begin the process if not already start-

ed.

Community Planning with Grant and

Local Funds

Greene County was one of five recipients of

the inaugural Broadband Planning Grants with

OCRA planning funds.

The Town of Shoals received planning grant

funds for a Water and Wastewater Utility Plan

that will be complete in early 2020.

The City of Bicknell is being assisted by SIDC to

complete a Five Year Master Park Plan to pro-

vide opportunities for funding with DNR and

other funding agencies.

Do you have a Plan that needs updated??

Any community with projects need to be get-

ting ready now! Planning grants can be submit-

ted at the end of every month, so please con-

tact the SIDC office with any questions or fu-

ture projects.

Please contact Michelle Carrico, Program Man-

ager (ext. 29), Rex Knight, Project Coordinator

(ext. 25), Rhonda Rumble, Program Specialist

(ext. 26) or Matt Sward, Development Specialist

(ext. 30) at (812) 295-3707 if you are interested

in learning more about the funding programs.

Page 3 of 4

mately 14 housing units

City of Huntingburg - $350,000 to assist

approximately 14 housing units

The OOR program provides homeowners

with a more safe, energy efficient, accessi-

ble, and livable home. Some new features

of the owner occupied rehabilitation pro-

gram include adding veterans and a target

population and also homeowners are no longer required to have liens on their

property for the rehabilitation work that is

completed on their home.

SIDC is currently administering OOR

projects for the following communities:

Town of Bloomfield– antici-

pate assisting 9 housing units

City of Petersburg – antici-

pate assisting 7 housing units

City of Washington – antici-

pate assisting 7 housing units

Lawrence County – assisting

14 housing units

SIDC is currently working with four communities

in preparing 2019 Owner Occupied Rehabilitation

applications to the Indiana Housing and Communi-

ty Development Authority. Grant applications are

due in December 2019 with award announcements

anticipated to be in March 2020.

Any community interested in the 2020 Indiana

Housing & Community Development Authority OOR program or any other housing related pro-

ject should contact Housing Program Manager

Jenny Dearwester or Project Specialist Audrey

Conlon at 812-295-3707.

SIDC has been awarded three Housing Preser-

vation Grants (HPG) from the USDA Rural

Development each in the amount of $59,784.86

for a total of $179,354.58 for the SIDC area.

The HPG funds will be used in the unincorpo-

rated areas of Greene County, City of Linton,

and the City of Loogootee as leveraging funds

for Indiana Housing and Community Develop-

ment Authority owner occupied housing reha-

bilitation grants.

The following communities received grant

awards from the Indiana Housing and Commu-

nity Development Authority in early March

2019 for the purpose of owner occupied hous-

ing rehabilitation within their respective corpo-

rate limits:

City of Bicknell - $275,000 to assist approxi-

mately 11 housing units

Town of Monroe City - $275,000 to assist ap-

proximately 11 housing units

Town of Oaktown - $275,000 to assist approxi-

mately 11 housing units

City of Vincennes - $350,000 to assist approxi-

The successes had with the EPA Brownfield

dollars were numerous. With $500K of EPA

Brownfield funds, SIIDC was able to leverage

an additional $11M in private and public dol-

lars spread out over 17 projects throughout

our region. SIDC hopes to do much more.

Keep in mind that SIDC still maintains an active

Brownfields inventory for our region. Sites can

be added when we learn of them. Also, Phase

I assessment funds are still available through

Indiana Brownfields and Clearance Grants

remain available through the Indiana Office of

Community and Rural Affairs. For information

call Rex Knight at 812-295-3707, extension 25

SIDC recently closed out its 3-year EPA Brown-

field Grant Program. An effort was made to

renew the Brownfield Program for another 3

years, but the EPA did not award the grant

funds to SIDC this round. Unfortunately, this

impacts SIDC’s ability to provide Brownfield

funding assistance to our region for this year.

SIDC does plan on resubmitting for the EPA

funds at the end of this year.

Before After