Staff photo by Renee Bruck
A long-range vision and years of community input led to a phone call to Madison City Hall on Wednesday with good news from Indiana’s lieutenant governor.
Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch told Madison’s Stellar Communities team that the city was chosen as the 2017 Stellar Communities Division I designee.
Following a visit to the area, state officials determined that Madison, indeed, was ready to move forward with the program that supports community planning and development initiatives.
Crouch made the call to Madison officials around 2 p.m. Tuesday, about 90 minutes before city officials gathered community leaders to announce the city’s selection.
Madison was chosen over Greensburg and Vincennes for this year’s Division I designation. State officials announced the Town of Culver as the Division II designee for 2017.
“We are proud of you already,” Crouch said in the call to officials. “We know that you’re going to transform your community, and you’re going to take everything to the next level so thank you all for your commitment to making your community the very best it can be.”
Mayor Damon Welch thanked community officials and residents for their help and input throughout the lengthy process during the announcement Wednesday afternoon, but he admitted he wasn’t too sure of how the announcement was going to go when the call came in Wednesday.
But now the designation is official – the real work begins.
“We don’t understand how much this means to our community,” he said, noting how being a finalist in the state program has already attracted attention to the community.
Madison officials outlined projects in a strategic investment plan that they hope to complete with the help of $6 million in funding through the Stellar Communities designation, but Welch warned the designation doesn’t mean the city simply receives the state funding all at once.
“They don’t write you a check for $6 million and give it you,” he said. “They have to match up the funds with the projects, and as you get the projects going, they release the funds for the project.”
He urged community members not to get inpatient with the projects because not everything will happen all at once.
“This is not going to all happen overnight,” he said. “It’s over a three- to four-year period of time.”
Still, the process will help to fast-track several projects in the community that could have taken a decade or longer to complete otherwise.
“When you invest $6 million and put it into a community, wow,” Welch said. “It can really help you move forward.”
“This is fantastic.”
A Stellarbration, hosted by Crouch, will be held at the Indiana Statehouse next week to celebrate the 2017 designees. The event will include presentations from Madison and Culver officials, a release said. A local Stellarbration celebrating the Stellar Communities designation will be held in Madison on Nov. 15.
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