What is the future of Meyersdale's Community Center? Here's what is being done

MEYERSDALE ― What will it cost to upgrade the Meyersdale Community Center to bring it up to building codes?

That is the question Meyersdale Council is facing, as it gathers facts on what the nearly 90-year-old structure at 215 Main St., which houses the municipal authority office, borough office, conference room, police, a private school, and offers the gym for the annual Lions pancake meals, indoor sports practice, vendor fairs and other events.

But, the building needs a lot of work.

The Meyersdale Area School District deeded the building to Meyersdale Borough Oct. 1, 1974, with the provision that if the borough does not use it as a center for the community, the deed reverts to the school district.

Last spring, the borough council invited district officials to a meeting to discuss the long-term plans for the community center, said Councilwoman Karen Gnagey in an email.

At the council's March meeting, several community members spoke in favor of keeping the building rather than giving it back to the school district and moving the offices to other buildings in the borough.

"Members of council simply asked for the data on how much it costs to operate the borough functions in the community center. It costs much more than utilities," Gnagey said. "In 2023, we budgeted over $60,000 in operational costs, not including the shed at the playground, which also has heat, water and sewage expenses. With the borough’s millage rate already being among the highest in the county, we wanted to make an educated decision on what was best for the taxpayers of the borough."

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Building codes are the laws that set requirements for how structural systems, plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, natural gas systems and other aspects of residential and commercial buildings should be designed and constructed.

The council also has to figure out how the borough will get the money to do this without using taxpayer money, Gnagey said at the meeting. She said ARPA non-matching grant funds are available for up to $2 million. ARPA, the American Rescue Plan Act, was signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021, to guarantee direct funding to all cities, towns and villages in the United States.

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Gnagey requested a meeting with the Pennsylvania Municipal Code Alliance, which does building permits and zoning, to discuss permits and receive a critical analysis of the building. Councilman Tom Smith and Gnagey met with an engineer to inspect the building and give the council a report.

Council President Jeff Irwin said Gary Miller from Allegheny Mountain Research walked through the building. He took samples of paint coming down the stairwells and ceilings, and said the building has no lead-based paint that needs to be handled.

Originally it was a high school

The original structure along Main and Grant streets, opposite the grade school building, was built on property owned by the Hocking family and bought for $5,500. Built as the new high school, the structure included an auditorium with a stage that seated 350 people, vocational agriculture, vocational economic and commercial and advanced science departments. The work on the structure started Dec. 1, 1935, and was completed Aug. 15, 1936.

The five rooms and the auditorium were estimated to cost $87,000. The federal government contributed $32,000, according to information provided by the Meyersdale Public Library.

It housed the Meyersdale high school until September 1959, when the high school moved to its new location just south of Meyersdale borough. The building then housed part of the elementary school classes until 1974, when the new elementary school was built beside the high school along Route 219.

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Community center supporters

"Do we want to try to save the building? It's a very important project," Irwin said. "I think the community is supportive of the project."

Kurt Woolslayer of the Meyersdale Lions Club read a letter on behalf of the club, objecting to the closure of the community center. He said the Lions have used the building for more than 50 years, and help with repairs, upgrades and upkeep with labor and financial assistance.

"People enjoy coming to the school for nostalgia because of the old building. It's part of our history and is actively used daily," Woolslayer read. "Students can use the indoor facilities for practice and fundraising activities. We truly believe that closing the community center would be detrimental to our community and the preservation of our town's history."

Marcella Dupre, a student at Meyersdale Area High School, said the community center has impacted her since she was 12 or 13 years old and practicing youth softball in the gym. She said she circulated a petition around the school and received 50 signatures fully supporting the community center staying open.

"The youth are the future of Meyersdale. When people come to town they remember the historic structures," Dupre said. "Remodel the community center. It would be detrimental to the generations to come if you tear down the building or close the doors."

Steve Spochart, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority of Somerset County, was invited to the meeting to speak about grant opportunities and also about funding blight remediation in the community. He said what the council needs to do is decide on its plan.

"What do you want this to be? What is it that you want? Lay it out," Spochart said. "Then the practicality of what's first. Look at all avenues to get the funding. You have to have credible engineering and architects."

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Repairs have been made

The Maple Tree Association, led by many local volunteers, applied for and secured grants for a new roof, electrical upgrades and other projects. A new furnace was installed in 2019 with an estimated cost of $300,000, but with COSTARS it cost the borough $100,000. The new roof was put on around 2010-11.

COSTARS is the state's cooperative purchasing program that serves as a conduit through which registered and eligible local public procurement units and state-affiliated entities are able to leverage contracts that are established by the Department of General Services to cost-effectively and efficiently identify suppliers with whom they do business.

In November, the borough submitted a grant for police equipment in another non-matching grant opportunity."We are hopefully going to get some funding to enhance our capabilities at no cost to the taxpayers of Meyersdale," Gnagey said.

"With the narrative and drawings prepared for this grant, even if we aren’t successful in this first attempt, we will have current information to apply for other facilities grants in the future. The county commissioners, Sen. Stefano, Rep. Metzgar, and Congressman Reschenthaler will be asked to write letters of support for this grant. County Commissioners Brian Fochtman and Irv Kimmel were invited to our March meeting and strongly supported the borough’s efforts to look for grant funding and said they would gladly write a letter of support," she said.

Gym floor project

At the meeting, the council accepted a quote from All American Athletics LLC to make repairs to the gym floor.

Fundraising efforts over the past five years raised $34,000 for the gym upgrade project, said Councilman Tom Smith. The quote is for $18,000. The quote was procured through COSTARS.

As part of the project, the gym floor will be refinished, loose boards repaired and replaced and dead spots fixed, Smith said. The rest of the money will go toward lighting, new basketball backstops, basketballs, restriping the floor and a portable net for volleyball. The walls will also be repainted.

The project will begin May 1 and take 10 days, Smith said.

"People donated money for that so we got to use it for that," he said. "We keep on looking at other things and are still accepting donations at the borough office."

Madolin Edwards can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Meyersdale borough looking at future of the community center