The city of Truesdale is seeking additional funding to afford its portion of the cost of a community center and storm shelter to be built at Bruer Park.
Project bids submitted to the city in …
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The city of Truesdale is seeking additional funding to afford its portion of the cost of a community center and storm shelter to be built at Bruer Park.
Project bids submitted to the city in August had T S Banze Construction as the low bidder at around $1.5 million, said project engineer Bart Korman with Lewis and Bade. That doesn’t include the cost of engineering that has already been done.
Costs for the project are being financed by a 90-percent cost share from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s “safe room” grant program. However, FEMA will only pay for elements that are necessary for a storm shelter.
That leaves Truesdale to cover the full cost of features such air conditioning, kitchen equipment and other features that would make the building useful as a community center.
So although Truesdale’s portion of the project cost-share is $186,000 under the FEMA grant, officials said the city’s total expenses will be closer to $300,000.
Truesdale is now pursuing added funding, such as an additional grant or low-interest loan, to cover that gap in the cost. Without that, Mayor Chris Watson said that, Mayor Chris Watson said Truesdale might not be able to afford the project.
“We may have to get creative,” Watson said. “I definitely don’t want to put the city on the hook for a $300,000 project if it means we can’t build roads, or can’t get a sewer project up and going.”
Truesdale’s Board of Aldermen had scheduled a special meeting Sept. 2 to discuss additional funding options. Boonslick Regional Planning Commission is assisting in the search for grant or affordable loan funding.
Watson said the project needs to be officially awarded to a contractor by the end of September. He expressed optimism that there will be a funding option that allows Truesdale to afford the project. But ultimately, the decision to move forward will be up to aldermen, Watson said.
If construction is initiated, the city would be on a strict timeline to complete the building within FEMA’s requirements.
Korman, the project engineer, said the construction contractor would have one year to complete the project after being directed to proceed.
“If we can get the foundation in before bad weather ... (the contractor) would be on a schedule of about eight to nine months,” Korman said. “It’s kind of key for everything to get moving forward.”
