Roachdale awarded $500,000 grant for community center project

ROACHDALE -- The Town of Roachdale was awarded a half-million-dollar grant Thursday as the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs announced the awarding of more than $11 million in federal funding to 21 rural Hoosier communities.

"It's very, very exciting news," Roachdale Clerk-Treasurer Debbie Sillery told the Banner Graphic, noting that residents have been stopping in the town office to applaud the announcement.

Town mural on side of building scheduled to become new Roachdale Community Center, financed, in part, by a $500,000 grant award to the town Thursday.

Roachdale will use the $500,000 grant to repurpose the former TDS Telecom building at 204 N. Indiana St., Roachdale, as a community center.

The project will include the demolition of outside structures, addition of exterior elements and interior renovations to create an assembly room, commercial kitchen and small group and senior citizen meeting rooms.

The building that will serve as the future Roachdale Community Center is also home to the Roachdale town mural.

The site was donated by TDS Telecom, the local phone and internet service, which had used the building for its regional corporate offices before totally vacating the premises in 2016.

Overall the Roachdale project is expected to cost $556,300. Besides the $500,000 in grant funds, the balance consists of the local match -- $5,000 in previously paid preliminary engineering fees; $2,000 in previously paid land surveying; $11,823 from the town's philanthropic capital held by the Putnam County Community Foundation and $37,477 from town EDIT funds.

Indiana Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch made the grant announcement.

"We must continue to provide support for our rural communities if we want to keep Indiana's economy thriving," Crouch said. "Through these grants, local governments are able to enhance their quality of life for their citizens and encourage more growth opportunities."

Applications for round three of the federal Community Development Block Grant Program were due to OCRA Feb. 9. The state distributes CDBG funds to rural communities to assist units of local government with various community projects such as improving infrastructure, downtown revitalization, public facilities improvements and economic development.

The Roachdale grant was awarded through the Public Facilities portion of the grant program.

Goals of the Public Facilities Program are to improve the quality of place, to generate jobs and spur economic revitalization through improving community facilities or historic preservation projects. Eligible community facilities include community centers, daycares, libraries, museums, senior centers and performance spaces.

Other communities awarded grants through that program were:

-- Jasper County, $500,000 for construction of a new fire station for the Wheatfield Volunteer Fire Department.

-- Marshall County, $500,000 for construction of a multi-purpose community building at the county fairgrounds in Argos.

-- Randolph County, $500,000 for a new fire station on three acres owned by the White River Township.

-- City of Washington, $500,000 for the construction of a PACE child development facility as an addition to an existing structure on the west side of Washington.

Awarded grants through the Stormwater Improvement Program, which strives to reduce flooding, to cut stormwater treatment and energy costs, to protect rivers, lakes and vital landscape, and spur economic revitalization, were:

-- City of Cannelton, $519,600 for a project to address drainage in three areas that regularly flood.

-- Town of Linton, $600,000 for stormwater system improvements including new inlets and manholes, new sewers and rehabilitation of existing sewers.

Awarded grants through the Wastewater Drinking Water Program were:

-- Town of Crothersville, $550,000 to reduce the inflow and infiltration and directly impact the wastewater treatment plant.

-- Town of Decker, $550,000 to replace existing pipelines from the treatment plant.

-- Town of Dugger, $550,000 to install new PVC water mains to replace existing transit piping and new service connections and water meters for each consumer within an area affected by the new pipe installations.

-- City of Greenfield, $500,000 to rehabilitate 6,300 feet of sanitary sewer and replace a few blocks of laterals.

-- Town of Marengo, $362,697 to modernize the wastewater clarifier, effluent, return sludge pump station and scum pit to put the town in compliance with Indiana Department of Environmental Management requirements.

-- Town of Marshall, $120,000 to install an additional nine water valves and six new fire hydrants.

-- Town of Middletown, $550,000 to install a new sewage macerator, replace a flow monitor and rehabilitate the primary clarification structure at the wastewater treatment plant. Collection system improvements include construction of 650 feet of new sewers.

-- Town of Montgomery, $700,000 to install cured-in-place pipe on approximately 10,000 linear feet of existing gravity sewer line and 60 lateral connections.

-- Town of New Ross, $550,000 to rehabilitate the wastewater treatment lift station and lagoon.

-- Town of North Judson, $550,000 to build a new water well, add a backup generator for the water system and rehabilitate the town's two water towers.

-- Town of Trafalgar, $700,000 to rehabilitate and replace non-compliant, outdated and deteriorated parts of the water system.

-- Town of Versailles, $550,000 to replace and rehabilitate manholes, sewer lines and a remote monitoring alarm system.

-- Town of Winamac , $700,000 to modify existing wastewater stabilization lagoons.

Through the Blight Clearance Program, the Town of Milton was awarded $469,000 for demolition of a vacant and dilapidated school building, clearing the site and creating a green space.

Funding for OCRA's five CDBG programs originates from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant program. The Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs administers the program for the state of Indiana.