Elmwood council discussing text notifications

By JOHN A. BALLENTINE
For The Weekly Post

ELMWOOD – The Elmwood City Council met March 15 without an agenda item listed. Therefore, the meeting was limited to discussion of topics that included a notification system, extending a Tax Increment Financing district and a tree in Central Park.

City Clerk Bethany Lovingood informed the council that the city could purchase a texting notification system for $4,800. The council suggested tracking just how many notifications, such as boil orders, street closures, etc., that the city would utilize in order to determine if it would be enough to justify spending nearly $5,000 for the system.

Councilmember Robert Paige said that during a meeting with school officials and township representatives, “I made the proposal that we extend [TIF 2, the downtown business TIF] for four years, but it’s only really for three [years].”

Paige explained that in the fourth year of the extension, the city would give tax money back to the taxing bodies.

Economic Development Director Amy Davis added, “There’s a misunderstanding that TIF 1 [the subdivision TIF] is receiving TIF 2 monies. This is not accurate. It’s actually opposite of what everyone thinks is happening.”

March 31 is the date for the annual TIF Review Meeting. All taxing bodies are invited to attend and city officials will show the numbers from the TIF districts at that time.

Discussion occurred concerning a tree planted last May in Central Park that caused the Strawberry Festival food tent to be relocated from its usual location. Paige said he plans to move the tree to accomodate the tent.