Around 100 residents and community leaders attended a public forum at Allen Community College Monday night to discuss the new activities building being proposed at the college’s Iola campus.
Prior to the meeting, college officials had developed a plan regarding their vision for the facility, which includes a 200-meter indoor track and sports field, stadium seating and weight rooms.
“We have in our mind what we want to do,” said Neal Barclay, president of ACC board of trustees. “We just wanted to see if there was something that we could do bigger and better that would involve everybody in Allen County.”
Iolan Ryan Sparks said he appreciated the college’s invitation for public input, saying it sends the message, “You guys are worth it. I want to listen.”
Iola Mayor Jon Wells was among those who said he’d expressed interest being heard and in building a partnership, arguing that existing facilities in Riverside Park were going to inevitably flood again and suffer extensive damage.
After getting feedback from community members about the possibility of adding a storm shelter, indoor pool and other amenities, the college decided it was time to hold a community discussion, since a larger project would require public funds from the city or the county.
“Any time you get into a major project like this, whether it’s schools or hospitals or anything that people share, it’s not going to be cheap,” said ACC President John Masterson. “And you don’t want it to be cheap. You want it to be well-made.”
He added that if tax dollars were partially used to build the facility, that it would therefore be a public facility open to use by the entire community and not just ACC students and staff.
Masterson added that buy-in from St. Luke’s Hospital, due to assume management of Allen County Regional Hospital this summer, is high.
Masterson said an administrator with St. Luke’s was in Iola recently giving a prospective employee a tour of the town, including the college.
When discussion about a prospective pool came up, the St. Luke’s official told Masterson, “If you ever get to that point, come and talk with us.”
A FEW community members, including former county commissioner Dick Works, said they did not think it was a good use of public tax dollars to build a more elaborate facility with a pool.
As one resident put it, “I think we need to think ‘Allen County’ not ‘Johnson County’ level to support this, to pay for this, because it’s going to cost lots of money.”
Other residents, such as Don Burns, pointed out that debates of this kind have arisen in previous cases such as building a hospital, but argued “we can’t afford to not do things like this because that’s part of the reason we’re losing population. We need to be forward-thinking.”
George Levans, rural LaHarpe, who has exercised at the school’s big barn for nigh for more than 50 years said, “I’ve been coming out here a long time,” to which Masterson interjected, “I’ve been wanting to charge you rent,” eliciting a round of laughter.
“It’s always money, money, money,” Levans said of the opposition to building new.
