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GATESVILLE – There have been several ideas discussed over the past few years of how to best address physical and mechanical issues with the Gates County Community Center.

The facility, built in 1979, is showing its age, especially with seemingly never-ending water leaks that have caused damage, inside and out.

Gates County local government has secured two, quarter-million dollar grants, combined together to assess the viable life of the Community Center building. Those grants are from the State Capital and Infrastructure Fund (SCIF).

“There have been several additions to the original building,” said County Manager Scott Sauer as he provided an update about the Community Center at the Jan. 27 meeting of the Gates County Board of Commissioners. “There are four different levels of roof. They all leak. They all have multiple rubber layers.”

Sauer said, to date, the county has expended $42,000 of the half-million dollars awarded by the SCIF.

“There was discussion recently about moving forward to try to secure grant funding to build a new community center in the area of the public library,” Sauer said. “The suggestion is that the board take action tonight, directing staff to contact the grant agency to see if we can expand the scope of the grant that’s been offered and convert those dollars from planning to rehab an old building that leaks to the architectural design of a new building.”

Commissioner Dave Forsythe noted that having an architectural design in place makes the proposed project “shovel ready” which, in turn, leads the project to score higher in the process to secure a construction grant.

A motion was approved, without objection, to direct staff to contact appropriate grant agencies to expand the project scope and utilization of remaining SCIF funding, approximately $450,000, for architectural and engineering design services to prepare construction drawings for a replacement facility to be built at the Merchants Commerce Center.