ANGOLA — The city will proceed with attempts at getting a feather in its hat by being designated a Stellar Community.
Angola Plan Director Vivian Likes said Monday city officials will meet with two consultants on Thursday at 1130 a.m. for fact finding. The consultants went through the Indiana Stellar Communities Program process and are familiar with it.
The city also plans to submit a letter of interest for the designation, which is a marketing tool and chance for grant funding, she said.
“It’s for what doesn’t get funded,” Likes said. “We could continue the downtown revitalization. It’s to provide resources to stimulate the local economy and sustainability.”
Likes said that revitalization could include improvements to sidewalks, lighting and infrastructure on West Maumee Street to the railroad crossing. “They want us to identify projects — ours is to continue the downtown revitalization,” she said.
The city could also look at three of the four “spokes” leading to Angola’s Public Square, namely sidewalks, lighting and any infrastructure needs at least two blocks south, east and north.
Likes said the city became eligible for the designation through the updating of the comprehensive plan last year.
If the city receives the designation, Likes said it would improve the city’s chances on receiving future grants. “If you get the designation, you have three years to complete the projects,” she said.
Likes said the city could also look at “breathing new life into unused buildings” in the downtown, such as remodelings of second floors in the historical district. As for examples of possibilities, Likes noted Trine University’s Furth Performing Arts Center and Cahoot’s Coffee Cafe, which is a joint ministry of the Angola United Methodist and First Congregational United Church of Christ.
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