Tio Gives Redevelopment Commission Updates On Projects
WARSAW — Despite the brief loss of power in downtown Warsaw, the quarterly Kosciusko County Redevelopment Commission meeting went on as planned Thursday, June 13.
Alan Tio, chief executive officer of Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation, was present to give an update on three projects his team is currently working on.
The first project discussed was how KEDCo’s infrastructure development committee has been looking at ways KEDCo can support the development of the Warsaw Municipal Airport.
“There are a number of very big ticket items to be completed at the airport, as far as upgrades, in order to make sure that the airport is competitive and able to keep — and hopefully expand — the private aviation there,” said Tio.
The second project is exploring broadband deployment in the county. “What we are doing is identifying a list of all the service providers who have the ability to serve Kosciusko County,” said Tio. “Our volunteer committee will then go and contact them, ideally to determine what’s available currently, what could be available and what are the things to get done.”
The third project he discussed was working on opportunities for future industrial development. Tio said that this project is just in the very initial planning stages and he isn’t sure what the future development would consist of yet.
During the TIF district review section of the meeting, the commission looked at the Van Buren, US 30 West and Dreyfus TIF districts.
The Van Buren TIF District has a cash balance of $107,203.23. It was mentioned that this money could be used for the CR 1300N extension project but no formal request for the money has been made. The US 30 West TIF District has a cash balance of $57,532.40 with no current requests for the funds.
The Dreyfus TIF District has a current cash balance of $193,943.17. This money has been allocated for the Louis Dreyfus drainage project. Kosciusko County Surveyor Mike Kissinger was present to give the commission an update on the project. Kissinger explained that the project bids received so far have been above the initial project estimates due to the current excess of contractor work.
Kissinger is confident that with the amount of money allocated, the project would be completed through part one, which is through the town of Claypool. The project’s second-phase extension will likely be funded through the traditional drainage reconstruction process where landowners will help pay for that portion. The drainage board will consider awarding the project on June 27.
The commission was presented with the annual TIF excess AV certification. This determines that there is not an excess of TIF funds and that the commission won’t be distributing a surplus of funds. The commission approved this certification.
The next quarterly meeting will take place at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, at the Kosciusko County Courthouse.