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Russellville Community Center needs hashed out with town council
RUSSELLVILLE — Though a contract meant to outline upkeep of the Russellville Community Center was approved last month, town leaders were met with frustration about this matter Wednesday evening.
With some of its members present, Darrell Wiatt, who heads the board responsible for events at the former high school, brought questions to the Russellville Town Council as to utilities and other needs. He opined that the town has not paid it forward.
Wiatt found himself at odds at points with Council President Cary McGaughey, who defended the town having many other obligations of its own.
“We have to have a moneymaker every month to stay ahead of all the bills,” Wiatt put forward about the community center’s efforts. “We are getting tired and we’re getting older.”
Wiatt said it has been a “nightmare” since the town moved its operations there in 2019. This came about when the Russellville Town Hall was condemned after a property next to it collapsed due to high winds.
More to the contract, Wiatt cited a section stipulating the town being responsible “at its own cost and expense” for repairs and maintenance to the building’s property, as well as for structural needs which would include the roof.
Wiatt and supporters have campaigned for repairs to the roof, even pursuing a $500,000 grant through the Office of Community and Rural Affairs. However, it was suggested that the grant was not secured.
Wiatt honed in on the town giving the community center $250 a month, saying that this does not cover its utilities and rental of rooms. McGaughey returned that many items inside some rooms belong to or are used by the center anyway.
“You constantly say the town is using all these rooms, but yet you have just as much stuff in some of them rooms,” McGaughey said.
Wiatt said that the town’s giving $5,000 for fuel oil has not changed in two decades. He cast this as representative of the broader issue of the town now supporting the community center.
“We need more help,” Wiatt said. “I don’t understand why, if you thought $5,000 was enough then, why hasn’t that amount increased?”
Wiatt outlined that the community center has paid for a water heater, two stoves, a new hood and a new furnace, along with replacing its lights with LEDs. He added that a ditch has also been repaired at its expense.
“The town can only do so much for the whole thing,” McGaughey responded. “You’re wanting roads done, we’re trying to do everything we can. We can’t give all the money that’s left over every year to the community center.”
Wiatt, however, said that the center has paid for all the electricity, as well as over twice the amount for gas compared to the town. Expenses, he said, also include workman’s comp, a custodian and septic, water and trash services.
“I’m not signing any contract with you, until you start being fair,” Wiatt said ultimately for his part. “I want you to know that we are grateful for this building, and the fact that you do pay some of the insurance. But what about all the other bits?”
“You guys keep saying, ‘Hey, let’s work together,’ but all I hear is you griping about somebody,” Councilman Tony Riggen said. “You’re not helping your own self; you’re literally creating a bigger problem.”
To bring the point forward, Town Attorney Stu Weliever provided the contract does not exist because it has not been signed. As such, it was agreed that the expenses as a whole should be reviewed.
In other business:
• The council approved a $1,505.06 bid from Simpson Farms for 80 tons of stone for Railroad Street, specifically from Public Street to Jefferson Street. It was noted that Co-Alliance drains this section.
While Town Marshal Matt Biggs was absent, Clerk-Treasurer Martha Mandleco, Councilwoman Cathy Jones and Street Supt. John Boller also attended the meeting.
The next regular meeting of the Russellville Town Council is set for Wednesday, June 28 at 7 p.m. at the community center, 300 N. Harrison St.