Community center decision nears

Saturday, September 29, 2012

The WECRD community center will eventually include a swimming pool.

Local representatives will meet next week to discuss plans aimed at building a community recreation center in Mountain Home.

Scheduled for the evening of Oct. 4, the meeting will determine whether to move forward with a capital campaign to build the 33,000 square-foot complex on South 18th East Street.

This effort will need to raise at least $600,000 before construction can start on the $4.7 million facility. If built, it would be the first in a two-phase project headed by the Western Elmore County Recreation District and Treasure Valley YMCA. The second phase, scheduled for the mid 2020s, would include a swimming pool.

The agenda of next month's meeting will include a discussion of a capital feasibility study conducted in April. This study was the first in a two-step process to determine if the community could raise the extra funds needed to build this multi-purpose facility.

Not open to the general public, those expected to attend the Oct. 4 meeting include city officials, Mountain Home School District representatives, local business leaders as well as members from the Treasure Valley YMCA and WECRD. Those interviewed during the capital feasibility study are also expected to attend the meeting.

For more details, see this week's Mountain Home News.

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"Determine if the community could raise the extra funds" but the meeting is closed to the public??? Seriously?

-- Posted by bearhunter on Sat, Sep 29, 2012, at 6:50 AM
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They have never cared what the public wanted before so why start now.They'll raise 600K but will spend 900K to do it.

-- Posted by gmoney on Sat, Sep 29, 2012, at 11:31 AM
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Yes, it is the way Mark Hiddleston and the WECRD Board work. Everything is a secret. The public is good enough to be taxed for this mess but not good enough to be included in the meetings. This bunch will never change. This is nothing more than a private country club for the few. And the YMCA---another joke. Wait till the public finds out what this will cost to have the YMCA involved. Shhhhhhh. That is a secret too.

-- Posted by OpinionMissy on Sat, Sep 29, 2012, at 2:47 PM
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I wonder if this would be covered under the states openmeeting law???

-- Posted by CJ333 on Sun, Sep 30, 2012, at 10:29 AM
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I think they have tried to get public opinion on the Rec Center in the past. We paid big bucks for those market studies to determine what the public wanted in a Rec Center. But to have this meeting closed to the public is outrageous. We're the ones that are paying for this. Time to look at those Open Meeting Laws.

-- Posted by Second Wind on Sun, Sep 30, 2012, at 2:22 PM
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Like soooo many others I wonder why the public is not invited to the meeting. It is our money they are wanting. Is there a discount for seniors, etc? At 60 I might have wanted to use a Rec Facility. At 70 I am wondering how many days I have left and why I've paid so much towards something that has not taken place. Between the WERCD and the school district my social security income has become quite small. I do not believe we have seen much from donations of the wealthy and large businesses who expect us to spend our money on them rather it be business or recreation related. Twelve years to get a rec center, shame on you! Get rid of WERCD and stop charging our homeowners for your failure.

-- Posted by jerbear on Sun, Sep 30, 2012, at 11:28 PM
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Why don't they just call it quits on this, its just like a band-aid being pulled off nice and slow, its just painfull to watch.

-- Posted by shockwave on Tue, Oct 2, 2012, at 9:19 AM
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I think that after twelve years of this we ought to see it through. They have almost 3 million saved. You'd have thought that some kind of center could have been built before now with that kind of money.

-- Posted by Second Wind on Tue, Oct 2, 2012, at 2:24 PM
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