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A community center housing recreation, a library, community college and other organizations could put Ottawa in the spotlight, its advocates say.
And while much progress has been made on such a facility, more work remains, members of a Community Center Task Force said.
“The stage has now been set for the next strategic steps in the process. Those strategic steps and initiatives include governance, capital, communication and finance,” a recent report from the task force said.
Initial plans for the center were unveiled in 2006 by the task force and local entities that teamed up on the project.
Entities that have formed a partnership to continue efforts toward a community center include the Ottawa Recreation Commission, Neosho County Community College, City of Ottawa, Ottawa Library, YMCA of Greater Kansas City, Franklin County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the East Central Kansas Area Agency on Aging Board.
Progress in 2007 included floor plans for the center and pinpointing the location — the center is to be built north of 23rd Street and west of South Elm Street, visible from I-35 and close to the Prairie Spirit Rail Trail.
Land was donated by John Gollier, Bud Ransom, Dennis Spratt, Ernest Ojeleye and Ellen Sinclair of Ottawa Family Physicians. That donation was followed by a donation by Oneta Gaynor, an adjacent property owner and longtime community advocate, who died just before the announcement of her donation was made public late last year.
Task force members said the final and most important initiative of 2008 is financing the center. They said the price to build the center is likely the easiest to understand because factors like square footage are known.
But the total price tag and building drawings have been “somewhat guarded,” the report said, “because no one on the task force wants the community to assume that the Community Center is a done deal.”
This spring, financial support for the center will be gauged through personal interviews, a survey and focus groups.
“It is normal that 80 percent of this project will be funded by 20 percent of the community,” the task force’s report said.
Revenue sources, in addition to philanthropic efforts, include grants from regional and possibly national foundations, and contributions from each of the partnering organizations.
“No partner will be allowed admittance into the community center that cannot prove financial ability for both capital and operational costs,” the report said. “This will assure donors and grantors that there will be long term financial stability to the partnership.”
Despite the other sources, the center still will rely on the financial support of people in the community, the task force said.
And although members of the task force and representatives of the various partners have worked to spread the word about the project, more communication is needed, particularly regarding the financing and long-term operation of the center, they said.
“The progress of Ottawa and its future seem to be inherently aligned with this project,” the report said. “We all think the plan to build a center, with the synergy of the partners through private capital, is sound but we still have many unanswered questions.
“It will take the will and determination of the private sector of the community to make this happen.”
Partners
Ottawa Community Partnership Inc., a newly formed non-profit corporation, is comprised of representatives of community center partners and five members of the Community Center Task Force.
Individuals and the entities they represent include:
¦ Mayor Blake Jorgensen, City of Ottawa.
¦ Therron Dieckmann, director of the Ottawa Recreation Commission.
¦ Vicky Smith, president of Neosho County Community College.
¦ Jeff Coyle, director of Ottawa Library.
¦ Paul Smith, executive vice president/COO of the YMCA of Greater Kansas City.
¦ Kristi Lee, director of the Franklin County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
¦ Elizabeth Maxwell, executive director of the East Central Kansas Area Agency on Aging.
¦ Bill Allegre, Wayne Duderstadt, Jerry Thompson, Tom Weigand and Ed York, Community Center Task Force.
Source: Community Center Task Force
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