It was an august month of August for Logansport

Last Updated on September 14, 2019 by cassnetwork

Throughout his term, Logansport Mayor Dave Kitchell has shared updates from the city in a monthly column.

In what is shaping up to be a very good year for our community, we had an exceptional month of August that is probably the best we’ve had in the past four years.

The most notable thing that happened was the long-awaited opening of Gothra’s Neighborhood Market on North Third Street. Customers were lined up for the soft opening, and quickly found new shopping carts, new fixtures and some familiar faces from the former Marsh Supermarket which closed in 2017. A steady stream of customers has been visiting the store since. A grand opening is planned for Sept. 21. More details will be announced soon.

The crowd for the open house for the ReVere Homes project on Washington Street came to see side-by-side new homes that are part of the 30-home construction project. Representatives from Crestline, the developer for the project, expect all 30 homes to be either built or under roof by the end of October. That means completion for the project will likely be early in 2020. Even with word that the Logan Square Apartments will open in December, the city still has a substantial number of people looking for a place to live in the community. A brisk real estate market reflects that, and we are working with various sectors to fulfill the need.

During August, I also had the opportunity to meet with Elaine Bedel, head of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, in Indianapolis. It’s my hope that we can further our economic development efforts by better utilizing state resources to market the city and tap resources that will further our ongoing efforts to bring good paying jobs to the community.

On first reading, the city council approved funding for a hotel study for the community. There is developer interest in building one and possibly two new hotels in the city.

There also was interest expressed in two older historic properties. Both the Schneider building on 15^th Street and the former Richardson’s Cleaners on East Broadway have attracted parties interested in redeveloping those buildings.

The city unveiled the first ClearGov financial transparency portal in Indiana. Through the auspices of Horizon Bank, local residents will be able to click on www.cleargov.com to find easy to understand information about Logansport’s finances and demographics. We think more cities and counties will follow our lead in offering this service which opens our books to the public.

We also appointed a new Complete Census Count Committee to help with the arduous task of ensuring an accurate census in April. More than a dozen local residents have agreed to serve.

For the first time, we announced that we’ll consider bidding out trash collection outside the city limits when our existing contract with Republic Services is up in 2020. The move would be beneficial to LMU ratepayers who could receive their trash bill on their monthly utility bill.

Logansport Memorial Hospital celebrated a special evening under the stars. Linda and Barry Baldwin made the 100^th anniversary of the Dentzel carousel in Logansport a special weekened, and that included the annual Shrine Parade.

Finally, the Indiana Department of Transportation cut the ribbon for a new maintenance facility on old Ind. 25 south of the city.

For more updates on what’s happening in the city, click on www.cityoflogansport.org.

It is a pleasure to serve as your mayor. If you have a comment, a complaint or a concern, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at dkitchell@cityoflogansport.org, or by calling our office at (574) 753-2551.