The Wabash Assessment Coalition has received a $600,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to assess brownfields around the area, Mayor Bob Vanlandingham annouced.
The coalition is made up of Wabash, North Manchester and Wabash County, and the grant, which was formally announced by EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson on Monday, will be used to assess sites in the two communities and the county.
Vanlandingham said this is another example of the three local government agencies working together.
“I doubt that we would have been awarded this grant had we sought it on our own,” he said. “By working together instead of competing with one another, everyone in Wabash County wins.”
Vanlandingham represents the city during the application process. North Manchester Town Manager Dan Hannaford represented that community, while then-Wabash County Commissioners President Barry Eppley represented the county.
Bill Konyha, President and CEO of the Economic Development Group of Wabash County, also was involved in the application process.
The secret to the success, Konyha told the Plain Dealer on Wednesday, is “an acceptance of the fact that we’re all in this together.”
He said the grant is just another way of “thinking globally, planning regionally and acting locally for the betterment of Wabash County.”
EDG brought a consultant, Mike Meddock, vice president of Soils and Materials Engineers Inc., in to talk about obtaining funding for brownfield assessment, he said.
Konya said he broached the idea with the mayor, who wanted to take it farther and involve North Manchester and Wabash County.
“The mayor actually facilitated meetings with the president of the Board of Commissioners, who was Barry Eppley at the time, and Dan Hannaford from North Manchester,” Konyha said. “We brought the consultant in and the four of us sat down and talked through this whole process, and we agreed to for the Wabash Assessment Coalition.”
Konyha, like Vanlandingham, is convinced it wouldn’t have happened without the cooperation of the three entities.
“The past practice of competing with other entities within Wabash County are over,” he said. “If something positive happens anywhere in Wabash County it is positive for everyone in Wabash County. Wabash people work in North Manchester; north Manchester businesses sell goods and services in Wabash.
“The economy binds us, it does not separate us.”
Meddock also credits the mayor for including the other entities.
“Mayor Vanlandingham suggested that a combined application would be much strong, more likely to be awarded if the three entities partnered on this has they had on several projects in the recent past,” he said.
The money will be used to assess possible brownfield sites around the county.
“This will be a chance to truly understand what the issues are and develop a plan to deal with them,” Konyha said.
To see the story on the Indiana Economic Digest website follow the link below:
