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Get your questions ready: Rec panel on TV this Sunday
News · August 15, 2007
Mayor Sandy Hatfield wants an answer: After seven years, numerous meetings and a scaled-down version of the original project, do the city and school finally have the kind of recreation center proposal West Branch residents want?
“We want to present the package to the community and have them say yes or no — not maybe — but yes or no,” she said.
The latest, $5.2 million version will appear on West Branch’s public access cable television 6 p.m. Sunday.
A panel made up of steering committee members will offer a PowerPoint presentation and answer questions from the public in a show that could last up to 90 minutes.
Hatfield said the group has worked hard from the beginning, listening to residents questions and concerns and reworking the project to keep the cost from getting out of control. Some $1 million was cut from the original plans.
“We have not tried to blow smoke or pull the wool over people’s eyes about project costs,” she said. “This is a big undertaking, but we understand that West Branch needs some kind off vision.”
The committee, she said, worked to keep the rec center from becoming “too grandiose,” but allow for future additions when feasible.
“We want it to look nice,” she said, “and be something we can be proud of and be a place where we could bring together people of all ages.”
Residents who are not able to watch the panel discussion are invited to ask for a videotape of the show, Hatfield said.
Hatfield and others have been seeking out donations since the beginning. Between private and business donations, plus $1 million from a School Infrastructure Local Option tax from Johnson County that hinges on the passage of the Sept. 25 Local Option Sales Tax, the committee could have more than $2.7 million toward the project.
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