Aaron Zolman, right, speaks on Wednesday, Sept. 7, at Mentone Town Hall regarding using some of Mentone’s American Rescue Act Plan funds from the federal government on projects to better the town via the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs’ Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program. Mentone is one of four towns in Kosciusko County to participate with the county in HELP, and Zolman served on one of the committees to help determine projects for the town to complete. Listening at the table are from left: Mentone Town Council Member Tim Croy, Town Clerk-Treasurer Amanda Yaprak, Town Council President Jill Gross, Town Council Member Shelly Krueger and Town Attorney Andrew Grossnickle. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

MENTONE — Mentone leaders are planning to revitalize Mentzer Park using some of the town’s American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Before the start of regular business at its meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 7, the Mentone Town Council approved allocating 30% of its ARPA funds to complete various projects to renovate the park.

Council members’ decision was made as part of the town’s participation in the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs’ Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program. OCRA created the program to assist Indiana counties and communities with spending their ARPA money on projects to better their communities in four specific areas: Advancing E-Connectivity; Enhancing Quality of Place; Promoting Community Wellness; and Strengthening Local Economies.

OCRA chose Kosciusko County as one of only a few communities to participate in HELP, and four towns in the county agreed to participate as well. Along with Mentone, the other towns are Etna Green, Milford and Pierceton.

Through HELP, the county has a community coordinator, Amy Roe, who is helping guide those in the area through the process.

She and OCRA will assist participating entities in gaining additional funding sources to further the monies for projects. To help with deciding on what projects the county and the four towns will implement, committees have been formed, with there being one committee for each of the four subject areas.

Mentone representatives from the four committees addressed the council on Wednesday, presenting ideas on projects that could be completed through the program. The committees met several times to discuss ideas for the projects, with feedback also coming in from the public via an event earlier this year and an online survey.

The Mentzer Park idea was the suggestion of two of the committees: Promoting Community Wellness and Enhancing Quality of Place. Lee Ann Rock and Chris Treber respectively presented for those committees.

Both committees suggested a number of projects to be done in the park. Those laid out in the committees’ notes include: new playground equipment; paved pathways in the park; a walking path around the park; a splash pad; a new pavilion with a kitchen and restroom; workout stations; and a disc golf course.

The council agreed to work on all those items using 30% of its ARPA funds aside from the splash pad. Leaders discussed concerns about maintaining it and being able to complete it by 2026, which is the deadline for projects using ARPA funds.

Instead council members decided to relegate the splash pad idea to a separate list of ideas to be accomplished hopefully in the future. HELP is designed to encourage participating entities to come up with a main project or projects to be completed using ARPA money and put others on a separate list to hopefully be accomplished using ARPA funds or those from grants or other funding sources.

Mentone is planning to use 30% of its funds for the park project as that’s the percentage that’s required by HELP for participating entities to invest in a project or projects. That ensures that the town will get a match of the same amount of money from OCRA.

As Mentone is getting $218,547.81 via ARPA, the 30% is more than $65,000, meaning that Mentone will have a little more than $131,000 for park updates.

If it chooses to, the town may also delegate more of its ARPA money toward the park project or use grants or other sources of funding for it as well.

As discussed Wednesday, the town still has its $200,000 given to it by the K21 Health Foundation that it could use for the park project or other ones if they fit under K21’s requirements. Treber also mentioned that the town could try to seek funds from the Zimmer Biomet Foundation for projects.

The council also approved moving forward with other projects presented by committee members in terms of putting them on the separate wish list to hopefully be accomplished in the future.

Additional projects Treber’s group came up with included: putting a sidewalk to Dollar General on the edge of town; installing Hometown Heroes banners in honor of veterans; and improving the facades of buildings and adding murals.

Rock’s group’s additional project included working to improve food access in town through such items as a community food pantry and community gardens and greenhouses, as well as to educate people on healthy choices.

Stephen Boggs presented on behalf of his Advancing E-Connectivity committee. Their projects included: helping seniors and others in the community with computer training; offering larger computer screens at Bell Memorial Public Library; and adding other technology at the library to better help people use computers.

Aaron Zolman represented Strengthening Local Economies. His committee’s projects included: Trying to obtain more land for the town for business and housing purposes; and starting an entrepreneurial ideation program, which would encourage youth and community members to bring new businesses to town.