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MENTONE – The pavilion at Mentzer Memorial Park has a new name: The Gathering Place.
Mentone Town Council voted on the name Wednesday.
The town had a contest to for community members to submit names for the new pavilion.
There were 37 unique names suggested for the pavilion at Mentzer Memorial Park, Clerk-Treasurer Amanda Yaprak said. Some of the options included Egg Capital Pavilion, Evergreen Tower Pavilion, Mentzer Pavilion, Rita Price Simpson Pavilion, The Viking Ship, The Gathering Place and Chicken Coop.
Council members wrote down the names they liked best Wednesday. They also asked Utilities Superintendent Josh Shepherd to vote.
With the vote split 2-2 between The Gathering Place and Mentone Community Pavilion, Yaprak was asked to break the tie. She picked The Gathering Place after randomly drawing the piece of paper with that name on it.
Earlier in the meeting, the council also approved submitting a letter of intent for a Community Amenities Program (CAP) grant, as well as moving forward with a Creating Places grant.
Zach Dripps, director of operations and community development with the Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG), talked to the council about the possibility of using the CAP and the Creating Places grants for phase two of the park upgrade project.
Launched as part of the Orthopedic Industry Retention Initiative (OIRI), CAP is a 50/50 matching grant up to $500,000 the town could use for a community amenity.
If the town was interested in using the CAP grant, Dripps said they would have to send a letter of intent of what they wanted to use the money for. Once the letter is approved, the town will be invited to apply for the grant. The application has to be submitted by June.
Creating Places is a state program through the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. Drips said Creating Places is a crowd sourcing program, where the town would set up a campaign where they would ask the public to donate toward the project. The state would provide a match for as much as the town would raise, anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000. The campaign would be between 30 and 60 days, determined by the town.
Dripps said the town would work with a campaign team and there is no deadline of when the town would have to reach out to the state. However, he said it can take two months to get the campaign launched. He suggested possibly waiting until the spring time.
In other business, the council:
• Heard work on the intersection of Ind. 19 and Ind. 25 is still a work in progress.
During October’s meeting, Councilman Tim Croy said he was contacted by the railroad company about making the intersection safer. That day, a train had collided with a semi-tractor-trailer.
Shepherd said Wednesday that he called NIPSCO about putting another light in the area. He also ordered street signs with reflective tape on the top of them for the intersection.
• Tabled an addendum for a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to hopefully bring more housing to Mentone so town attorney Austin Rovenstine can look at the addendum.
If the addendum is OK with Rovenstine, the council approved for Council President Jill Gross to sign it.
Jessica Hauck, talent and housing manager with Kosciusko Economic and Development Corporation, said the addendum was to add the Housing Resource Hub into the agreement in case a nonprofit corporation developer needs to step in to move the project forward.
Hauk said the addendum does not commit the town to develop with the Housing Resource Hub. It is just in case a nonprofit corporation needs to come in to help, they would be the ones to do so.
The council approved and signed the original MOU in May.
• Heard from Jesse Bubb, who asked going forward with developing 3-1/2 acres behind Rabers Kountry Store LLC and putting 15 to 20 mini homes for people aged 50 and older. He asked about the costs in putting septic into that area. He also asked about the process of annexing the entirety of the land as half of the land is in town limits and half is in the county.
Rovenstine said a petition would have to filled out for annexation. There would have to be a hearing and neighboring property owners would have to be notified.
Yaprak said a financial plan will also have to be done and that is something that will need to be figured out.
Rovenstine suggested Bubb keep in touch with Yaprak until the financial aspect is figured out.
• Heard leaf pickup will continue until it snows. It is requested residents keep leaves on their lawns and not put them in the street.
