Rec center's fate in doubt as debate resumes

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Construction on the community recreation building launched by the Western Elmore County Recreation District late last year stopped Jan. 11 after the board of directors voted to suspend the building contract. All heavy equipment and bulldozers present earlier this month are gone, leaving a large hole on the eastern side of the property and an office trailer. WECRD director Art Nelson has spoken in favor of terminating the contract to build the 23,000 square foot facility.

by Tim Bondy

Mountain Home News

The fate of a community recreation center remained in doubt as debate resumed on a possible new direction for the agency overseeing that project during a public meeting last week.

The Western Elmore County Recreation District held its first meeting following the resignation of director Mollie Marsh earlier this month, leaving behind directors Art Nelson and Judy Mayne, who were elected to the board in November.

Both board members started the meeting ...

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This issue needs to be put to rest. If there is ANOTHER open director position, someone please tell me what I need to do to get involved. Enough already. It is time for accountability and transparency.

-- Posted by Albert Clement on Wed, Jan 27, 2016, at 4:33 PM
I'm embarrassed to be a resident of Mountain Home. It's on, it's off, it's on , it's off. You already collected our tax money to build this, so get it done! The ground has already been broken. Back in the early 60's I was a young kid living in Wisconsin in a small town of 2,000. We had a YMCA and it was immensely important! We had safe place to play, exercise and learn. in my opinion, kids and young adults in Mountain Home don't have a decent place to go. A YMCA would also be a Godsend for us grownups too. Please get this built! You won't regret it.

-- Posted by Davenfely on Wed, Jan 27, 2016, at 5:51 PM
Remember that the outgoing board decided to start this project 21 DAYS before the election, then said they would not go forward in response to citizen outrage, then 4 days later voted to go ahead all PRIOR to the election. The current board members stated during the election process that they would postpone the building of a facility that despite having many amenities removed, would have not only used all the money collected over 15 years but the taxes for the next year, just to complete. There would have been no money to open the doors had it continued. The current board would rather provide a building that can be used by all and be open/maintained with the monies collected. Meeting tomorrow for you to attend Mr. Clement, I think you can volunteer at that meeting or ask your question.

-- Posted by B Mullen on Wed, Jan 27, 2016, at 9:51 PM
Davenfly, the YMCA pulled out and that was done with the previous board members supporting it. The YMCA was never approved by the voters and they were brought in with no public input. Not saying they are not a good organization but it was being crammed down the community's throat. I believe the YMCA pulled out when the previous board removed many aspects of the building, like lockers, paved parking, sidewalks, window coverings and a few more things.

-- Posted by B Mullen on Wed, Jan 27, 2016, at 9:55 PM
Read the full article and I must say it is very biased. The current board is trying to correct the selfish acts of the previous board. Very little reference to the acts of the previous board just prior to the election. And while the election was in Nov, the new members were not to be seated till Jan. One accepted the seat early but the other one was never offered that option. Instead the outgoing board president made decisions that the community is going to suffer for months. Why not report on that Mr. Bondy? Oh wait that would mean being unbiased and reporting facts, something this paper has not done for this subject.

-- Posted by B Mullen on Thu, Jan 28, 2016, at 8:39 PM

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