Community Center Capital Project

At a glance

What: Ordinance 918 creates a capital project fund for a new community center (and war hall), with an initial budget of $1,100,000.
Where it stands: adopted October 12, 2026 on a motion by Eddie Horn, seconded by Anita K. Ring. A voice vote was recorded; the captions show at least one "aye" in reply to "all opposed", so the tally is unclear. Check the minutes.
What's next: location, design and final budget are undecided and will come back to the council; the mayor hopes to seek outside funding and naming-rights donors.

Presented by Terry M. Bennett with help from the town manager. The land is a tract on Broad Street near the Blue Compass site that the Lions Club donated years ago; per the town attorney's research the deed limits use to public purposes, so it cannot be sold or surplused. A community center account holds only $1,000, opened last year.
Budget: $150,000 design, $900,000 site preparation, $50,000 contingency. Revenue: $1,000,000 transferred from the general fund (an appropriation of fund balance), $35,000 anticipated interest, $65,000 anticipated sales tax refund.
Per the mayor, the transfer leaves about $4.2 million unassigned fund balance, roughly 74% of the budget. The ordinance does not approve a final budget, design or construction contract.
The mayor said the community center has been the top request at his town hall meetings, growing out of earlier talk of a senior center.

A council member noted the mayor had floated about $2 million and, earlier, $10 million, asked why a $10 million center for a town of about 3,500 would sit at the edge of town, and worried about committing money with a fire department project and debt already underway. The mayor said the figures were guesses based on the fire station cost, and a center could range from a metal building to brick.
Other members and Homer Dearmin said the money is only earmarked and can be redirected; the fund signals commitment to future funders. One member said senior groups she asked favored it. No one reported negative responses other than location.
A resident, Brent Coles, criticized the overall budget during public comment; see Town Budget and Fund Balance.

About 19 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-10-12 - Town Council	19

2026-10-12 - Town Council - Ordinance 918 (community center capital project fund, $1.1 million) adopted after debate over cost and location.
2026-09-14 - Town Council - Mayor said he will propose transferring up to about $1 million of the roughly $5 million fund balance to the community center fund at the next meeting (from auto-captions).
2026-10-27 - 2026-10-27 - Mayor's Town Hall Meeting: mayor said he found no record of claimed donations or accounts so far and will follow up.
2026-10-12 - Town Council - Draft minutes: Ordinance 918 passed 3-1 (Michael Woodcock opposed) with an initial amount of $1,000,000 from fund balance.