The Marshall County Council voted to buck the Culver Stellar Grant application with a letter of support after hearing from Stellar committee members Ginny Munroe, Culver Town Council President and Culver Town Manager Jonathan Liest.
Munroe told council members that after reworking the comprehensive plan Culver undertook several utilities and infrastructure projects getting the town ready for additional growth. She said the second round of projects, those proposed for the Stellar Grant are quality of life projects that are designed to grow the population in Culver and their school system. Munroe said they want Culver to be stellar all year round and not just in the summer time when the population triples.
Culver’s Stellar committee found that successful grant awardees were able to show a partnership with others in the county they were located in, thus the need to seek at-least a letter of support. Munroe said, “I know you are at budget time. If you found extra, I know none of us find extra money in the line items, you could pledge $10,000 a year for four years if Culver was successful on the Stellar Grant application.” She said that money could be used for a local match on any of the projects.
It was noted that the township was supporting one of the grant projects, the Cavalier Sports Center. They plan to create a soccer field area with a walking path, playground and dog park.
Munroe said, “Should Culver become a designated Stellar Community, we will receive in the neighborhood of around $6 toward these projects.” Many of the grants to work the various projects do have a local match, typically 20%. Munroe said they are currently working to come up with the local match for each individual project prior to final submission. Must matches are pending a win in the application project.
