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Mexico council opens hearing on $500,000 CDBG request for Presser Arts Center addition
Summary
The Mexico City Council opened a public hearing July 22 on an FY2023 Community Development Block Grant application seeking up to $500,000 to support a roughly 4,711-square-foot addition to the Presser Arts Center at 900 S. Jefferson for classrooms, a ceramics shop and community programming.
The Mexico City Council on July 22 opened a public hearing on an FY2023 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application that would support a new addition to the Presser Arts Center at 900 South Jefferson.
Rita Jackson, introduced by council staff to present the project, said the addition would be about 4,711 square feet and include an education space, a ceramics/steam shop with potter wheels and a slab roller, a flexible classroom with a baby-grand piano, screening space for film, a full kitchen for culinary classes and an accessible restroom. Jackson said the space would be used for summer and after-school arts programming, disability-arts initiatives, theater set construction, culinary courses and other community workshops.
Jackson said the CDBG program allows funding for public facilities and community development activities and that the city is proposing a community facility grant with a maximum request of $500,000. She reported bids received for the project total about $2.3 million and outlined other proposed contributions: $15,000 in in-kind city staff labor and roughly $1,785,000 in cash donations and pledges to the Presser Arts Center.
Local volunteer John Hessler, who said he volunteers with the VFW to build Presser sets, told the council the expansion would relieve cramped workspace that forces some set-building to be done outdoors. "The zing shop addition would be a huge benefit for us," he said.
A council member asked for clearer wording in the written materials after observing a sentence that could be read to imply the city is providing the large cash sums rather than those amounts coming from donations. Another council member agreed that the wording should be clarified before materials go to media or the public.
After public comment and staff responses about grant timing — staff said demolition-grant materials would be submitted this week and that CDBG cycles for FY23 and FY24 were being processed by the state — the council moved to close the hearing. Later in the meeting the council passed a resolution (Bill No. 2020-0443) authorizing the city manager to pursue CDBG activities to seek funding for the Presser Arts Center project.
Next steps: staff will finalize the application materials and submit grant paperwork per state deadlines; the council authorized pursuit of funding but made no additional budget appropriations at the July 22 meeting.
