An ‘Economic Growth and Innovation Partnership Proposal’ from Trine University in Angola, Indiana came in for some discussion during the ‘Commissioner Comments’ portion of Tuesday’s (April 5) St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners meeting.
Terry Katz of the Sturgis Journal has written about the dialogue during the meeting and in other recent conversations in which the proposal has been discussed. To access her report, click on the following link: Trine talk moves with caution
Although commissioners didn’t mention the Trine proposal until ‘Commissioners Comments,’ the topic also came up earlier in the meeting during the ‘Citizens Comments’ portion of the agenda. Tim Carls of Centreville questioned the commitment of $6.9 million from St. Joseph County outlined in the proposal. He suggested the county may need the money for other purposes and talked about “handing out taxpayers’ money out across the state line.” (Tim Carls audio clip – 1:35)
To access an earlier River Country Journal story on the topic – and a related interview with Commissioner John Dobberteen of Sturgis – click here.
So, to be civil about it, I think that if this proposal is accepted by the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners, then they EACH should individually be held financially accountable if it turns out to be a complete failure, waste and loss.
ALSO, we should NOT rely on Trine University or the St. Joseph County Economic Development “Corporation” to provide us with THEIR interpretations of data five years from now that shows how it allegedly benefited all of us. It should be an independent, impartial entity contracted to tell the truth. That should be part of the deal, the CONTRACT.
But hey, if they feel (act) like gamblers, who’s gonna stop ‘em?
GOT CHIPS? Apparently, the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners does. THROW THE DICE!!!!
Ah,…..civility!
Roll the dice is right, and its easy to gamble with someone else’s (our) money.
I would have thought common sense would have prevailed and this would have been a very short discussion with our County Board–then I had to remember what county this was.
Spending public funds on a private, out of state institution–how is that even legal? Even if it were legal, why would you do it. I mean it takes a half dozen millage attempts to get local taxpayers to pass funding for their own school upgrades in their own back yards…the county is considering shelling out $6.9 million? C’mon if it was such a great deal why didn’t Steuben County Indiana support it when it’s in their back yard? I guess Trine had to keep reaching further and further out until they could find a county just dumb enough to consider it, and it sounds like they may have hit paydirt. Didn’t we have a millage proposal for Glenn Oaks….how;d that go? Yet the county seems to be able to bypass that normal due process for investment in education? If they have all this extra cash lying around…divvy it up to our schools and community college. That fund that the county is considering dipping in to took 30 years to build up, and they want to wipe it out by well over 50% for an out of state investment with no guarantee on the return on that investment. That fund is there to protect us tax payers from the “oh sh!t” situations for fixes and replacements so we don’t have to incur any more extra taxes later. We have a sheriff’s jail that was just reported a couple months ago in the Sturgis Journal that will be a major repair to address crumbing deteriorating bricks for starters. And if its such a great deal…let it be voted on the same as any other education investment of this magnitude…by the vote of the people.