County Council Approves Grant Application Request

Last Thursday the Marshall County Council considered several requests to apply for grants. 

Chief Probation Officer Jim Bendy asked to apply for the Indiana Office of Court Services (IOCS) Pre-Trail Grant.  He told the council this would be the fourth year he has applied for the grant that funds one probation officer and the pre-trial position.  This year the Marshall County Probation Department received $112,000 and Bendy said he plans to request $115,000 to $120,000 for next year’s grant. 

The council unanimously approved the Probation Department’s request to apply for the grant. 

Faith Freed, Administrator of the Marshall County Health Department asked to apply for two grants.  Freed said the first grant is for the Supplemental Workforce in Schools Grant.  At the time of her request she told the council she doesn’t know the amount or when the grant is due but because her last request was denied, she wanted to let the council know as soon as possible about the grant opportunity they have.   

The second request from the Health Department was for the Supplemental Immunization Funding Grant.  This is the grant that was denied because it was applied for before receiving approval from the council.  The council also had concerns about the amount of grant funds that were being used for media advertisements of immunization clinics. 

With this second request, Freed sought $56,156 from the state for the grant, more than $100,000 less than the prior grant.

The County Council approved the request and member Will Patterson said, “Thank you, guys, for working with us and Commissioner Klotz as well and going through this and following the rules that we have in place and still being able to get the job done.” 

It should be noted that Faith Freed submitted her resignation and Friday, April 14^th was her final day with the Marshall County Health Department. 

The final grant request came from the Marshall County Park and Recreation Board.  Board President Greg Hildebrand and Secretary Deb VanDeMark asked for approval from the council to apply for the NIPSCO Environmental Action Grant.  The Park Department recently found out that they were not successful in applying for the Community Foundation grant.  The board was made aware of the NIPSCO grant on Thursday; April 6^th voted to apply for it that night.  The issue they faced was that the grant was due the next day and the County Council didn’t meet until the 13^th.   Hildebrand notified council members on the evening of April 6^th of their decision to apply. 

During the County Council meeting on the 13^th, it was noted that the county’s ordinance only requires notification for state and federal grants and this NIPSCO grant is a private grant, so the county didn’t need to bring it before the council.  The council did approve of their decision to apply.  The grant funds will be used to eradicate invasive species of plants in the Memorial Forest and at the Trails at Mill Pond.