HELMSBURG — Helmsburg residents are taking more steps to take charge of their community’s future.
Jim Kemp, a member of the Brown County Redevelopment Commission, reported on progress at the Oct. 12 RDC meeting. He and other RDC members have been assisting the Helmsburg Leadership Team in trying to solve some of the problems and goals they’ve identified, including improving the curb appeal of their community.
RDC members consulted with an attorney to learn how Helmsburg could form a neighborhood association or homeowners association, Kemp said.
Since Helmsburg is not an incorporated community and has no government of its own, having an association would give it some kind of structure and ability to form neighborhood rules — such as on how properties are to be kept up — and the ability to have a bank account, he said.
About 15 Helmsburg-area residents and other volunteers got together Sept. 23 to fill a 30-yard Dumpster with weeds, limbs and other debris, Kemp said. The RDC is paying that bill with the “sock factory” money — money the county received from the sale of the For Bare Feet sock factory building in Helmsburg.
The RDC also approved paying up to $2,500 to make and install three “welcome to Helmsburg” signs to go up on private property at either end of town on State Road 45, as well as on Helmsburg Road. Helmsburg leaders are in charge of the design, but the RDC will own the signs.
One of the “tools in the toolbox” RDC members are most excited about is a set of resolutions signed Oct. 12. They allow the RDC to buy the “junk” or other personal property of Helmsburg residents with the understanding that the money will be used to haul away or tear down that piece of property. It’s a way to clear blight and clean up cluttered properties that the groups hadn’t known about before.
Previously, the RDC thought that the county would have to buy a property, tear it down or clean it up, and then “flip” it to another owner, Kemp said. This new way allows the property owner to keep the deed to the land, but it gives that owner a way to spruce up the property that he or she might not have had the money to do otherwise.
“(Some people) just don’t have the wherewithal, the strength, the physical resources to be able to get rid of it,” Kemp said.
Property owners will go through a yet-undetermined process with the RDC to make sure that they don’t actually have the resources to do this themselves; and to judge whether or not they’re likely to clutter up the property again, Kemp said.
Coupled with the neighborhood association concept — which could provide incentives for people who keep their homes and yards looking nice — RDC President Dave Redding said “the whole recipe” could help prevent blight from reoccurring.
It’s similar to a program Bartholomew County has that was started with grant money and has become self-sustaining, Redding said.
In that community, this program also has helped homeowners sell their properties when they weren’t able to successfully do that before, he said.
RDC members said they want to continue letting Helmsburg residents drive this process and create their own strategy, but the RDC is giving them a variety of tools to get there — and eventually, maybe these tools could be used in other areas of the county.
The next Helmsburg Leadership Team meeting will start at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1 at Helmsburg Community Church to discuss “Where do we go from here?”
“It has been a full year since the first meeting,” wrote member Cindy Steele. “We want to hear from everyone. This is an important meeting. Bring friends.”
