Village officials receive approval to redo community survey

KALKASKA – Local officials with the Village of Kalkaska Downtown Development Authority want Kalkaska to be back on what they consider a very important list.

According to Gayenell Gentelia, Main Street program coordinator for the village, Kalkaska was among several northern Michigan communities that fell off a federal list of low- to middle- income municipalities in 2014 as a result of data collected during the 2010 Census.

The village’s score reportedly dropped below the 50-percentile mark needed to stay on the list, down to just over 38 percent. And, that could cost Kalkaska the ability to qualify for funding through the Community Development Block Grant program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

It’s also why DDA officials applied to have an important survey redone, to see if new data will put the village back on that list. The only other option was to wait for the 2020 Census.

“We did get approval to do the CDBG survey again,” Gentelia told members of the Kalkaska Village Council at its regular meeting Monday, April 23.

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