More bad news at Senior Center

“There are serious structural problems and we are going to have no choice but to repair them,” she said. The structural problems relate to age not the flood. 

"We think of that as a new building, but it's 25 years old," the mayor said.

She said the walls were built with metal studs. The metal has rusted at the bottom. The architect who designed the building was stripped of his license a short time afterwards when a building he designed in Scottsboro caved in during construction, city clerk Betty Jones said.

There’s rust on some exterior windows as well.

The city’s current architect, Emmett Smith, has some very good ideas about how to make repairs and how to change the layout of the Senior Center and make it more user-friendly, the mayor said.

“There’s a lot of unused space in that building,” she said.

The city expects to get an insurance settlement from the burst pipe, the mayor said. But she indicated they will have to put some money with the insurance proceeds to make the repairs.

“It’s just something we are going to have to do,” Mayor Dollar said. “We have no choice.”

“Do we know the magnitude of the cost that will be involved?” Councilman Rich Russell asked.

Mayor Dollar said it was too soon to know the exact cost. 

She said they’re thinking they might get more interest by combining several jobs into one project.

“The Lurleen Pavilion needs rehab,” she said. “Kiwanis Pier is going to require some work. So is Rotary Cabin. If we combine all these, I think we will get more interest from contractors. It’s like the restrooms on the walking trail. We couldn’t get a bid on them until we combined them with the gym project.”

She wants Council members to see the damage for themselves. To that end, she has set up a field trip to follow the Council meeting on Feb. 6. The Mountain Valley Arts Council has asked the Council to visit their facility.

“We will have a light lunch there and then travel to the Senior Center,” she said.

Seniors are still having many of their activities in the Senior Center, she said. They just can’t use the big room. For activities that need that much space, they are going next door and using the Rec Center.