Small Town News

Council gets community center, park updates

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There was good news and new strategies introduced at the Feb. 9 meeting of the Cheney City Council.

Parks and Recreation director Paul Simmons reported the results of a Jan. 26 meeting with the city's insurance adjuster that clarified the city's financial options 13 months after the Wren Pierson building's roof collapsed.

"We've heard the phrase 'term of impairment' quite a bit throughout this process, and what that is is the reasonable amount of time it would take to rebuild a community center," Simmons said.

Staff had feared that there would be a concrete date when the term of impairment would end, but Simmons said the insurance company would pay the city for the damage as long as they were making "progress forward towards rebuilding some type of building to serve as the community center."

He said the Parks and Recreation Department's rent would cease to be covered by insurance starting April 1, but that was expected and he budgeted accordingly.

The settlement is expected to be between $540,000-$570,000 to go toward rebuilding the Wren Pierson building or constructing a new community center, Simmons said.

"This number has kind of been a moving target throughout this whole process," he said, adding that building repair estimates submitted by NAC Architects helped bring the total up $70/000-$100,000 by giving the city room to negotiate.

If the city decided not to rebuild or build a new community center, the settlement would decrease by approximately $160,000. Simmons added that if a community center were established, the insurance company would pay for code improvements that were required in the Wren Pierson building.

"Say we bought a building and it needed an elevator; that wouldn't qualify under the code improvement because it wouldn't be something that was needed in the Wren Pierson," he said.

The Park Board will discuss the information next, where a plan to move forward will be formed, Simmons said.

Mayor Tom Trulove commended Simmons and other city staff who worked with the insurance representative for their thorough work.

The council also approved an agreement with Sherry Pratt Van Voorhis for work to itemize costs in the 50 acre park designs. Simmons said the work would show the cost of individual items in the park such as fields, dugouts, a concession stand and restrooms.

"This is to provide us with the information of how much it will cost so that we can share that and have a conversation with the community about what can we afford and what can we do," Simmons said.

The city's new garbage cans were on display in council chambers. Public works director Todd Ableman told council members that the new cans will be used in the automated garbage system. The new system features trucks with a mechanical arm to pick up the plastic cans and empty them in the top of the truck.

New cans were being delivered early this week, and Ableman said he expected all city residents to receive them by Friday.

The plastic carts come in four sizes and are on display at City Hall. Ableman said he was working through some issues with navigating alleyways, and encouraged citizens to take their garbage to the street for pickup if it was possible.

Becky Thomas can be reached at becky@cheneyfreepress.com.



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