Controversy over a lack of public storm shelters could lead city officials in a new direction when considering what projects to include in a potential bond issue.
For now, public talk about a bond issue remains on the back burner as the city on Tuesday waited to put the wraps on its estimated $18.3 million budget for fiscal year 2011-2012. The Council approved the budget unanimously.
Support for a bond issue began building during budget hearings in May as Council members reviewed requests of city department heads.
For the last two years, Library Director Desiree Webber has requested $1.4 million for an expansion to add an estimated 7,200 square feet to the existing 13,000 square feet of that facility. Besides the library, other items Council members have offered as potential ideas include new fire trucks and expansions to Town Center's senior center, workout rooms and banquet hall. Also, expansion of parking at Wild Horse Park has been discussed.
The Council is under some pressure to get a bond package together to tackle city needs before school district officials take their own estimated $70 million bond plan to voters in April.
City Manager Mike Rutledge said the Council has not begun formally talking about a bond package, but he believes it may be an opportunity to address a concern that has ballooned in recent weeks — public storm shelters.
“Town Center has a great potential to expand,” Rutledge said. “If we expand the library, we would certainly be remiss if we didn't figure in a way to do a certain amount of sheltering.”
The furor over the status of the shelters began earlier this year when it was announced school buildings would no longer be open to the public during severe weather. It re-intensified last month when a tornado chewed its way across western and northern Canadian County, leaving rubble and death in its wake. The tornado was on the ground for almost two hours, and its path stretched 75 miles, National Weather Service officials estimated.
Both city and school officials said it was impractical to offer storm shelters for a few hundred when the city's population is estimated at 17,395. The city had previously used Lakehoma Elementary and the mid-high as shelters.
School and city officials reversed course Tuesday, approving a resolution of support that Lakehoma be opened during “extreme weather events,” utilizing a network of volunteers. Even with this resolution, Rutledge said the city may be able to turn a problem into an opportunity.
Rutledge said the city might want to consider a storm shelter as part of a new building to the south of Town Center that would also serve as an events center. Such a facility could be a multipurpose events center that would take the pressure off the banquet hall at Town Center and allow city staff to repurpose that space for needs such as new athletic workout facilities.
Town Center has no storm safe rooms, but city staff follows an emergency storm plan that includes first warning users the city is under a watch and, if necessary, gathering them in two small meeting rooms in the center of the facility.
Justin Battles, parks and recreation director, said there may be 30 to 60 people in the building during a weekday, but special events at night and on the weekend can draw several hundred to the facility.
“Events centers in the metro area do pretty well,” Rutledge said. “We have a proximity to the airport. If we did something like that, we could change the use of the current banquet hall and transfer the meetings rooms over to the new facility.”
An events center could also attract a motel to the city — an economic development goal that city officials have outlined in the past.
Trying to find the best mix of projects to sell to voters will weigh heavily on city officials because the last two bond packages floated were defeated. Both ballot measures offered to voters centered on construction of a new baseball complex at Wild Horse Park and concrete reconstruction and expansion of Czech Hall Road. Both were handily defeated. Last month, the city began repaving the north mile of Czech Hall Road and that work does not include widening the street. As for baseball, city leaders are trying to set aside money to begin work on the project.
Battles, who oversees Town Center except for the library, said the first needs he sees are expansion of the weight room and aerobic facilities.
“Right now, we have several aerobics classes that have to move out into the gymnasium,” Battles said. “It's not really a fad. This has been a constant for almost 12 months. Really with Town Center, our memberships have become what I call 'saturated' for the simple fact you come into the weight room in the evening and it's really hard to jump on to a machine. There is not a lot of open space.”
He said he worries there are people in the community who used to be members but became frustrated because there are not enough exercise machines.
“Maybe all of our members or people who would like to be members, don't feel like they can take advantage of all that we have to offer just because of the limited space,” he said.
An estimated 240 people use the aerobics classes every day.
The banquet hall is also seen as a concern because it is too small to handle events such as the annual Chamber of Commerce banquet. That event has since been moved out of the city.
“The banquet hall has been talked about throughout the city here,” he said. “With organizations such as the chamber and some of the school outings we have hosted in the past, we are no longer hosting them because of our size.”
An item so far not on the radar is an additional pool for older teens, adults and seniors. The city's previous pool in Curtis Park was closed when Town Center was opened. That closure angered some, and some residents still voice frustration about a lack of a larger pool to serve teens and adults.
“Did we do the wrong thing?” Rutledge said. “No I doubt it. Everything I see looks very darn good. When Wild Horse Park was purchased and built, there was a lot of negativity. They said it would never work, and people wouldn't come to it. And we proved that wrong.”
Battles started with the city in April 2002, and Town Center opened in July 2002. He said the older Curtis Park pool had maintenance issues that needed to be addressed.
“There was some cracking in the concrete,” he said. “There were some other things that were going to have to be updated that were expensive such as the pump and how we operated some of the drain systems. But my understanding is that the attitude was, we got a new pool, and we were shutting the other one down.”
The Town Center pool was designed with a specific age group in mind.
“It's (Town Center's facility) a splash pool,” he said. “Our demographic is children through age 14. It is a family pool. There is no major deep end with a diving board. For our market, we are pretty busy.”
Rutledge said he is not hearing anyone asking for a new pool but does hear other needs voiced such as expansions of the banquet hall, workout areas and library.
“There is a multitude of ways to go,” he said. “Every one of them has a price tag. That is what is going to be critical. We have had a dismal response on the previous bond issues. I am concerned about that. I think we must be cautious as we move forward. We can't let out ideas get too big or get out of line.”