The Scoop - March 21, 2016
Posted by Michael Frueh
on Mar 31, 2016
The city and county are working to sell vacant properties through the Land Bank.
Invocation was by Bob Fett.
David Runk asked the club if we are interested in 2 study abroad teams this year, instead of our normal one. Due to demand, we could host a team from 2 separate continents in the same year. If you are interested in making this happen, please contact David and offer to help.
David also showed 2 videos to the club that showcased how our club makes a difference in the world. One project was helping a village with clean water - something our own club has worked on in some detail with Bob Ruehl in Honduras.
Mark your calendars for May 7th - our Spring Blood Clinic.
Peggy Ehora provided Fellowship, and focused on spring's first day. Her story about men going to the store over their lifetime was humorous and a bit too close to the mark. She also recognized the great efforts of the Spartans and the T-Birds in the state basketball tourney.
Our speaker was Peter White, City Land Officer, and Rachel Gilroy, Allen County Treasurer. They discussed how the Land Bank works, and discussed several paths to purchasing a property currently in the bank. This is important, as many homes are currently vacant in the county, and that means no tax revenue. The Land Bank's chief goal is to get a property sold before the property's physical condition deteriorates too much, so it can become a tax generating property once again, bringing much needed funds to the county. This problem is not isolated to just Lima - even large cities like Cleveland and Detroit has reclaimed numerous parcels - in some cases returning them to agricultural production.