Mayor Damon Welch said during Tuesday’s  (March 22) City Council meeting that the city will submit a letter of interest for the “Stellar Community” designation through the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs at the end of April.

The Stellar Communities Designation Program is a multi-agency partnership designed to recognize Indiana’s smaller communities that have identified comprehensive community and economic development projects, the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs website stated. The program was launched in 2011.

“The road to reach this point has been years in the making,” Welch said. “We look back at the beginning of ENVISION Jefferson County. That Vision & Action Plan began the conversation about the future of our community. It involved hundreds and hundreds of residents giving their thoughts and ideas which became a vision and laid the groundwork for our next steps.”
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Plans for the former Keller Manufacturing Co. property mixed-use redevelopment site have been modified with the reduction in funding from county government and the Harrison County Community Foundation, Stellar Communities officials explained Wednesday, March 8, at a quarterly update on all things Stellar.

The hotel and convention center aspects of the plan have been scratched, but Keller park (west of the railroad tracks near Big Indian Creek) and the residential portion (east of the tracks) remain in the works.

The Harrison County Council pulled its funding commitment of $4 million, and the Harrison County Community Foundation followed suit with its $2.75 million.
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NORTH LIBERTY — Thanks to being designated a "stellar community" by the state, it didn't take long for this small town to do some heavy lifting.
North Liberty was named a participant in the state's three-year Stellar Communities program in 2015, and that status has helped it quickly get grant funding for projects.

Just a little more than a year ago, ground was broken to transform a parking lot into a downtown park.
About eight months later, Jack Elstro Plaza opened to the community at 47 N. Sixth St.
In January, the plaza played host to the city's annual Meltdown Winter Ice Festival, and many more activities are being planned for the park once warmer weather arrives, including the weekly farmer's market.

BEDFORD - Bedford will use more than $2.6 million from the Indiana Department of Transportation for its Downtown Square streetscape project. The city says the project is part of the Indiana Stellar Community initiative.

Construction on the streetscape project is expected to begin this month. The planning process included meetings between city leaders and downtown merchants to discuss ways to make downtown Bedford more business-friendly. The funding also includes Community Crossing Grant funds, which will allow the city to address traffic

Midwestern Engineers, Inc. has received a Merit Award for Engineering Excellence from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Indiana.
The award was made in recognition of the 4th Street Water Main Cured-In-Place Pipe Rehabilitation Project in the City of Huntingburg Indiana. The project revitalized a more than 120-year-old cast iron water main in downtown Huntingburg, providing the infrastructure core for future downtown development projects associated with the Indiana Stellar Communities Program. Engineers Richard Burch and John Wetzel led the project for the firm.