By BILL MARDIS, CJ Editor Emeritus
The long-awaited and belabored senior citizens project at Eubank has taken the final step toward reality.
“They’re going to work Monday morning (July 20),” Eubank Mayor Frey Todd said late last week after Eubank City Commission awarded a $426,000 contract to Owens Construction Inc. of Windsor. The construction firm will refurbish and remodel a former skating rink at the entrance of Eubank Community Park into a facility for seniors.
The contract for the project with the Casey County construction firm was negotiated after three formal bid advertisements failed to produce a successful proposal.
Eubank Mayor Frey Todd said architects for the project –– Taylor-Whitney Architects of Lexington –– negotiated with all bidders and reached an agreement with Owens Construction. The negotiations followed the third unsuccessful bid-opening in May.
Eubank has a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant to develop the senior citizens center. Problem has been that the low proposal at each of the three formal bid-openings was above the amount available for the project. Following each unsuccessful bid-opening, architects and a project committee downsized the center to reduce the cost.
Eliminated was a planned addition at the front of the structure to house an office, rest rooms and kitchen. These facilities will be inside the original structure. A walking track is still in the plans but will be about half as large as originally envisioned.
“We just had to move inside what we planned outside (in an addition at the front) to bring the cost down,” said Todd. Despite elimination of the planned addition, a front entrance to the center will be created as a part of the downsized plans. Entrance to the skating rink was on the west side of the building.
However, the mayor emphasized that “ ... when finished, it’s going to be really nice ... it’s something the community can use.” Todd said the project should be completed in about six months.
“No way could we have done it without the grant money,” Todd pointed out. However, because it is grant funds, federal guidelines must be followed the first five years of operation, Todd said. This means operational costs must be met with donations; “ ... we can’t charge admission,” he noted.
“Somebody –– we haven’t found anybody yet –– will have to be in charge of the center to schedule activities and maintain the center,” said Todd.
