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Commissioners press to reopen Nelson Heights Community Center for summer programming; staff provide construction timeline and partner outreach
Summary
Commissioners urged the county to reopen Nelson Heights Community Center for summer activities and mentoring. Interim County Manager James Brown said construction is slated to finish by mid-to-late July and staff are vetting nine community organizers to run programming; several commissioners urged short-term use while work continues.
Commissioners renewed calls on April 15 to reopen Nelson Heights Community Center for summer programming, after the facility has remained closed during ongoing repairs.
Commissioner Long, who placed the item on the agenda, said the community needs the center open for summer months and that the board should not wait to spend the full renovation budget before allowing limited programming. “Having the center closed for 2 years is not serving anybody in that community,” Long said.
Interim County Manager James Brown told the board he provided a construction calendar and that Prime (the general contractor) currently projects full construction completion by mid- to late July. He said staff are exploring whether parts of the interior could be made safely available sooner for after-school or summer activities and that he and Commissioner Henderson met earlier with one prospective organizer.
“We are still currently looking at that,” Brown said, adding staff had identified nine community organizers to evaluate as potential partners to operate programs at the center.
Commissioner Edwards urged progress and said he expects staff to keep moving: “We wanna get something done for this, especially for the kids of that community.” Commissioner Henderson said modest short-term funding could support a small summer program and asked for community involvement; he referenced figures discussed in the meeting, saying “with $120,000 you could get that little pro summer program… and then have enough money to continue to give them at least that, $8,000 a year for maybe 1 year.” Commissioner Mason suggested using the Washington Street facility model — county-owned building maintained by the county with multiple nonprofit partners delivering programming — rather than assigning long-term management to a single organization.
No formal vote was taken; staff said they would continue partner outreach and return with recommendations and a timetable for limited reopening and summer programming.
