The Vision Iowa Board this morning awarded grants to four community attraction projects around the state including one in Shelby County. The Harlan Community School District was awarded $200,000 for the renovation project to Merrill Field. Superintendent Justin Wagner along with other school officials and Harlan City Administrator Terry Cox and Shelby County Supervisor Steve Kenkel received word from the Vision Iowa Board around 10am in Des Moines. Wagner says the project means a lot not only to the school but the Harlan Community.

Wagner says “The overall project is to bring the current complex ADA compliance, to replace existing structures that have been there since the 1970’s. We have been frugal with how we have used the complex but it is a very high frequency used complex. Not for the school district but more importantly we have 80 activities in the community.”

The total renovation project for the Merrill Field Complex is estimated at $1.528 million and before the CAT grant today, the Harlan Community Education Foundation had raised $1.337 million. Now that the estimated cost has been raised, Wagner says work will start in the spring.

Wagner says “We’re hoping to have the project start March 1st. We are hoping to get some out of season costs to save some money. Specifications are being written and we knew we needed those whether we were move ahead or not. So we are hoping by March 1st that we start the renovation project as a whole.”

Other communities receiving grant money from Vision Iowa were the City of Manchester, Putnam Museum of History and Natural Science in Davenport and the Des Moines Performing Arts.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)