Posted 12:24 am Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Coffee City Community Center Nears Completion For Residents
By BETTY WATERS
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
COFFEE CITY -- A community center nearing completion here will give residents a place for recreation, club meetings and other events, as well as provide a refuge in inclement weather, Mayor Tony Moore said.
"It's a fantastic project; it's an achievement for the citizens of Coffee City," Moore said.
The groundwork for construction of the community center was laid when former Mayor Glenn Bourque successfully initiated an application for a $250,000 grant from the Texas Department of Rural Affairs to fund the project. The city provided $12,500 in matching funds.
Since Moore came into office about a year and a half ago, he has shepherded implementation of the grant and overseen steps to build the center.
The metal building cost about $160,000 and the remainder of the grant money went for engineering, architectural and administrative fees, Moore said.
The 4,000-square-foot structure sits east of City Hall on a tract of land the city already owned. The grant funded construction of the shell of a building, which is almost finished, Moore said.
Construction started about three months ago and the structure is 83 percent complete, Moore said. Windows and doors still have to be put in according to specifications.
The city council allocated another $27,000 in its budget for more work on the project that will involve construction of a shower, two bathrooms, a kitchenette, an office or two, a pantry/storage room plus purchase of a generator.
The community center also will have a 2,000-square-foot open room for activities.
It will be "perfect," Moore said, for meetings, wedding receptions, bingo and other activities. "We are going to use it for everything," he said, explaining that residents will be able to rent the facility.
It will give them a local place for activities instead of having to go to Frankston or Tyler, Moore said.
A rental fee schedule still to be developed will take into consideration whether users plan to clean the community center themselves when they are finished or whether the city will have to have it cleaned.
The facility also will serve as a refuge at certain times for residents, Moore said.
In this rural community, the weather occasionally knocks out electricity for days or weeks and residents will be able in the future when that happens to come to the community center to warm food in the kitchenette and to shower, Moore said.
Moore anticipates the portion of the construction project funded with the state grant will be finished in early February and the remainder of the project completed by September.
City officials are considering purchasing land stretching from behind the recreation center to the banks of Lake Palestine, Moore said. While that project would be far in the future, Moore said, the land could be cleared and turned into a city park with picnic tables, a pier/dock for fishing and a basketball court.
