ANGOLA — Trine University and Steuben County Commissioners will meet March 21 to discuss the latest version of an economic development proposal from the university.
On Friday, commissioners received documents relating to the $13.8 million plan, which includes three of the four projects Trine first proposed to the county late last year.
A $7.5 million biomechanical center originally proposed by Trine appears to be headed to Fort Wayne in a partnership between the university and Parkview Health, Trine officials said last week.
One of the documents to be reviewed March 21 is a 78-page contract between the university and Steuben County. It calls for each entity to spend $6.9 million on the remaining three projects.
“We’ll each be reading (the contract), and we’ll see what’s in that proposal,” Ron Smith, president of the county commissioners, said Monday.
Information from the university lays out in detail what would be expected of each party. The contract calls for a lease that would make the county a tenant of the project’s buildings on the Trine campus. The county would be expected to pay annual rent and provide insurance and maintenance, among other responsibilities.
The amount of rent to be paid and the length of the lease are left blank in the proposed contract and apparently are still to be decided.
The 78-page document replaces a 10-page memorandum of understanding that the county commissioners refused to sign at a meeting Jan. 24. Four days later, commissioners invited Trine to continue discussing the project.
If the new agreement is approved by the commissioners and the Steuben County Council, the proposal calls for design and engineering to begin this month, with construction starting in May.
A six-member negotiating committee of local government officials sent a letter to the commissioners Thursday, asking them to approve the agreement and offering funding support from local cities and towns. The letter says the committee met four times to discuss the agreement with Trine.
The three components remaining in the proposal are the Rhoads Center for Entrepreneurship, Bock Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology Commercialization Lab. Developing them would cost $13.8 million, to be split evenly by Trine and local government, the proposal says.
The agreement says Steuben County’s $6.9 million share of the cost would be made in cash and would be limited to spending on capital expenses — such as buildings and equipment. In previous discussions, Trine asked the county to spend part of its Major Moves money from the 2006 lease of the Indiana Toll Road.
Trine’s $6.9 million would come as a combination of cash, project support and project start-up and development costs for the next three years. Trine would pay for staffing, maintenance and development of the centers for first three years.
“It is Trine’s hope and expectation that the Centers will be financially sustainable long-term. … Trine will use its best efforts to operate all of the Centers for not less than six years,” the proposed agreement says.
Trine would select a construction manager, architects and general contractor for the projects, according to the agreement.
The Steuben County Economic Development Corp. could move into one or more of the centers, the agreement says.
Trine also would establish a scholarship loan program for Steuben County residents to study toward undergraduate degrees. Loans would be up to $2,500 per year and would be forgiven if a recipient works and lives in Steuben County for three years after graduating or ending studies.
A local negotiating committee that is recommending approval of the agreement includes Bill Booth, Steuben County Council; Dave Martin, Angola City Council; Chris Snyder, Fremont town manager; Brent Shull, Hamilton Town Council; George Schenkel, Clear Lake Council; and Ward Odom, Hudson Town Manager.
“We believe the partnership between Steuben County and Trine University will directly lead to increases in job creation and retention potential, increased investment in new and existing facilities, and increased taxing revenue for all taxing units of the county,” says a letter from the negotiating committee to the county commissioners.
The letter adds, “Currently, four local communities have indicated a willingness to provide potential funding in support of this proposal, and we hope you do the same to complete the necessary $6.9 million local match.”
The letter does not specify how much money the cities and towns would contribute to the project. The Hamilton Town Council has scheduled a special meeting Thursday at 3 p.m. in the Vistula Head Start building to discuss the Trine proposal. Snyder said other the communities interested in providing money are Angola, Fremont and Hudson.
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