The Daily Dispatch

A final public information meeting was held last Wednesday to educate Hankinson voters before they head to the polls next week.

A special election will be held from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 18 at city hall. The council has asked voters to approve raising the sales tax 1 percent to pay for half of a new community center.

Absentee ballots are available at city hall.

The American Legion Post announced three years ago they would give the city five years to come up with a solution before they closed their doors. Now there are approximately two years left on the original deadline.

The Hankinson City Council and an advisory board have come up with what they consider the best solution. The plan is to build a new community center on the lot south of the existing hall. Half of the cost would be paid for through the increased sales tax and the other half would be made through fundraisers and in-kind donations. The city of Hankinson and the Community Development Corporation have committed $70,000 to the project. The Legion has also committed $50,000 to a new community center.

Jim Falk, member of the American Legion Post No. 88 and co-chair of the advisory board, said there are some important issues to keep in mind.

“First of all, the vote is the keystone to financing,” he said. “If this vote doesn’t go through, we are dead in the water and I don’t know where we’ll go from there.”

Another important fact to consider is that Post 88 is no longer able to support the building. Operational, maintenance and insurance costs exceed income from rentals, gaming and bar operations. The ongoing losses along with the aging of the Legion membership make continued ownership and operation impossible.

“We know some of you have questions on this, but we want you to know 21 people sat on an advisory board and we all agreed on one thing, to build a new community center,” Falk said.

The original concept was to modify the Legion building to meet code requirements. The board thought remodeling would work until they began looking at bid estimates.

Dick Crooks, co-chair of the advisory board, said the first three options their group looked at were more expensive than building a new building.

“Until we got the figure on what the cost would be, I thought we could invest about $200,000 and get a cadillac out of this building,” Crooks said. “We were shocked to see how much it would cost to bring our building up to code and remodel the interior.”

Members of the advisory board agreed a new building would meet future needs for the Hankinson community.

Nate Falk, member of the advisory board, is in charge of the sub committee for the building. He presented the preliminary floor plan to those who attended the meeting.

Falk said the proposed building would be larger than the Fairmount Community Center and just a little bigger than the KC Hall in Lidgerwood. There will be about 5,000 square feet in the main part of the building, handicap parking and large, handicap accessible bathrooms. The kitchen will be much larger than the current one at the Legion Hall.

He was also happy to say the price for the building has gone down considerably since the last meeting held a month ago.

Since cost is a major hurdle to jump, financing chair Bob Wurl addressed the crowd. The sales tax increase is estimated to generate about $43,000 annually for the next 20 years. There is a roughly $7,000 cushion built-in as $36,000 will be needed in annual debt service.

If voters approve the sales tax increase, Wurl said fundraising efforts will be raised through grants, cash and in-kind donations. There is already $120,000 committed to the project, so about $280,000 needs to be raised. He acknowledged a quarter of a million dollars is a big number, but their group is confident they will receive the necessary donations.

The advisory board is planning a wall of honor to recognize people and businesses for their generosity and support.

“We are looking ahead to progressive community needs,” Jim Falk said. “We are convinced a new building is the way to go.”

Printer Friendly