Last night the Ferdinand town council heard reports from department heads and their monthly reports as well as members of the community. Ferdinand Volunteer Fire Department Chief Dan Lindauer addressed the council regarding a letter the fire department received from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program that informed the fire department a grant proposal that the department had submitted in 2015 had been turned down. According to the letter the department did not score within the competitive range reviewed. The letter states that for the fiscal year 2015 FEMA received over 10,000 applications requesting more than 2.1 billion dollars in federal assistance.
Ferdinand Fire Department was encouraged in the letter to apply for the fiscal year 2016 Assistance to Firefighters Grant funding. Lindauer informed the council the department will use the feedback they receive from the Department of Homeland Security as it regards to information in their application.
BEGLE
The Ferdinand council revisited a tax abatement proposal from local builder and developer Randy Begle and paused the regular council meeting to open discussion in a public hearing. During the hearing the council approved the resolution for economic revitalization as it relates to the tax abatement. Begle of Begle Properties LLC is in the process of developing two additional lots to build duplexes along 5th street, and wants to start an initial 12-unit complex in a two-story apartment building out on the north side of the industrial bypass.
Begle thanked the council for their observations and approval.
MURAL
Mural artist Lisa Thalhammer from Washington,DC provided the council a presentation and asked them to consider sponsoring a grant application for a mural that would be placed on a building along the 1400 block of Main Street in Ferdinand.
Thalhammer was accompanied by local business man Keith Fritz of Fine Furniture and Forest Park English teacher, Rock Emmert. Emmert talks about the idea of the mural illustrating the Ferdinand bull on the building’s side…..
Before any decisions were made the council held dialogue about the logistics of the town taking part in sponsoring the mural suggesting that a non-profit group sponsor it instead. The council decided to have a written agreement in place for room of feasibility and for the council to be removed from sponsorship at any point where the town does not see itself in parallel with the mural’s interpretation.
