Council members tackle a few items centered on growth for the town
By JESSICA BRICKER
The Markle Town Council will contribute to a marketing budget to produce more videos showcasing what the town has to offer.
Mike Grant made the request Wednesday, noting the total cost for the next set of video work is $5,000 and the town’s chamber has committed $3,000. That left the town with a request of $2,000.
Grant said he would rather do one project at a time in smaller expenses than request a larger dollar amount from the town, and President Matthew Doss said the town will see a return on its investment.
The first wave of promotional work for the town has been well received, Grant said.
Later in the meeting, Vice President Nick Lund said he would like to see a regular item on the monthly agenda to discuss any updates to development efforts for the town’s industrial park west of I-69 in Huntington County.
Lund said as a member of Huntington County’s economic development board of directors, he knows there is a lot of interest in the Markle area by new potential companies.
He would like a chance to update the town council on some of those efforts on a monthly basis.
Meanwhile, the town council is also remaining mindful of precedent being established to help fund other areas of development in the town.
Grant said the developer of the second phase of the Forest Cove subdivision east of Tracy Street in Wells County has an interested buyer of all 18 lots. The buyer, though, wants the developer to pay all the water and sewer tap fees for town connectivity.
In order to do that, the developer requested a discount from the town on those tap fees. The fees would amount to $32,400.
After the council was reminded the town’s redevelopment commission contributed $200,000 from the tax increment financing district last year for infrastructure work at the subdivision, the council denied the request for the tap fee discount.
Doss said he had heard concerns from town residents over that infrastructure commitment.
“I think we’ve already been extremely generous and helpful in that development,” added council member Blake Caley.
jessica@news-banner.com
