Whew! Glad the rain has stopped before contractors are due to give a final once-over of the needed repairs and replacement of a floor to the Recreation Community Building.
Now that we know we’ll never have that much rain again, we can feel confident about investing $155,000 into the WPA building. Again.
Last October, the building’s floor was ruined by flooding not dissimilar to what has occurred over the last few days. Then, it rained just shy of eight inches over the course of four days.
That it’s taken six months to get the ball rolling on its repairs, could have saved us from having to replace the floor twice over.
And, as before, FEMA reimbursed the city more than $300,000 for the damage. One of these days it’s going to catch on that Riverside Park is prone to flooding.
According to Register historian Bob Johnson, the building was flooded twice before the John Redmond Dam was completed in 1964, and again in 1986, 2007, and 2018.
So maybe we should question whether it’s good stewardship to plan for a major investment in an 80-year-old building every 10 or so years.
What’s the answer?
It’s time to put our heads together to figure one out.
The community needs such a venue, as proven by the demand about town these past several months for alternate places for athletic pursuits as well as events.
So go ahead and replace the floor to buy us time.
But please, don’t look at it as the final solution.
— Susan Lynn
