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Made@Plainfield

Made@Plainfield is a 100,000 square foot higher education facility was developed by the Town of Plainfield to offer adults of all ages the opportunity to receive training, certifications and degrees that align with and support local industries. 

In June of 2022, the Town Council voted to take on over $37 million dollars worth of DEBT to finance Made@Plainfield.  See June 8, 2022, Town Council Meetings Minutes and Resolution 2020-27 for details.

Made@Plainfield is a partnership that includes Plainfield Community School Corporation, the Town of Plainfield, Ivy Tech Community College and Vincennes University. 

Made@Plainfield is occupied by the following groups:

CSO designed the facility.

The facility opened on July 29, 2021.

Plainfield High School has had the following number of students enrolled in classes at Made@Plainfield:

  • 2021-2022 school year = 3 students

  • 2022-2023 school year = 2 students

To date, the Town has made $5.286 million in payments on the DEBT we took on to build Made@Plainfield:

  • 2021 - $1.826 million

  • 2022 - $2.308 million

  • 2023 - $1.152 million to date (another 1.37 Million is due July 2023)

In 2040, the Town will have paid over $42.6 million dollars to build Made@Plainfield.

 

Editorial Comments and Thoughts by Kim White

Why is all of this an issue to me?

Originally when I heard about a vocational facility being built out by the high school, I was super excited.  The thoughts of having our students stay in Hendricks County for vocational training was a godsend; we could stop bussing our students, and other Hendricks County high school students, to Area 31 at Ben Davis.

However, these rumors were wrong; a vocational school for high schoolers not what was intended. Even though, the idea of this facility was that of OUR school superintendent, Scott Olinger, and a person from Ivy Tech (information presented during a Citizen's Academy session).

Instead, we built a facility to educate adults.  Not high school students - even though it's on land that the school district owned and in the high school parking lot.  The building has been built to educate our warehouse workers.

After visiting the facility in November 2022, I am glad to find out that hardly any high school students (a total of 5 since the building was built) attend classes there as there is absolutely NO SECURITY.  No control of access of anyone at any time.  For those of you who have students in our schools and/or volunteer at our schools, security is something we take great effort in providing.  But - not at Made@Plainfield.  So, again, I'm glad we do not have many students enrolled there.  

I started wondering - what does Ivy Tech or the other groups pay to rent the facility from us?  Who pays the electric bills?  Who pays for the maintenance of the facility.

I've submitted multiple requests for information to the Town - asking how much rent do we receive and could the Town provide me with the leases for the tenants of the building.  See Access to Information for details.

In summary, the Town's responses were:

     Rent:  ". ,. . there are no documents responsive to your requests."

     Leases: "Regarding the lease agreements with the town for the Made@Plainfield facility, there are no documents responsive to your request because the town neither owns nor manages that facility.

What ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

The Town does not have any documents that show Ivy Tech, Vincennes, Indiana State, etc. pay RENT?!  I get that these groups are not-for-profit, but shouldn't they pay the bills?!  Why should my tax dollars be used to provide a building for them to teach their classes that they charge money for?!

The Town doesn't OWN the land nor the building?  We have $37 million dollars in DEBT for MADE@Plainfield on the books.  But we don't own the land?!  We don't own the building?!

According county records, the Plainfield Redevelopment Authority owns the property and building.

The Plainfield Redevelopment Authority is part of the Town of Plainfield.

What's going on?  ​

 

The more I ask, the more concerned I get about what is going on in the Town.

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