Formerly known as the Bargersville Senior Citizen Center, the Bargersville Community Center will host events for people of all ages.
DAILY JOURNAL FILE PHOTO
The Bargersville Community Center, known as the Bargersville Senior Citizen Center until earlier this month, will undergo extensive renovations.
Most of the renovations, particularly those listed in the “immediate” category by Town Manager Dan Cartwright, will tackle safety concerns and code violations. Town officials need to address those items as the Bargersville Parks Department takes over management of events held at the center, located at 14 W. Old South St. Some of those fixes have already been completed, such as pressure washing the exterior siding, removing a wood post in front of the air conditioner compressors and installing parking bumpers, according to a list Cartwright compiled.
Other changes town officials hope to have completed by Feb. 1 include replacing the two entrance doors with commercial metal doors and frames, complete with a door access system and video cameras. Town leaders also intend to repair an exhaust fan in one bathroom, install carbon dioxide detectors, improve the outside lighting in the parking lot and install a ground-fault circuit interrupter in the kitchen by the end of the month, the list shows.
To fund those repairs, a budget amendment of about $30,000 will need to be approved by the Bargersville Town Council, which has its next meeting 1 p.m. Jan. 31, Cartwright said. The parks department isn’t asking for funds not already included in the town’s budget, but will need the council’s approval to transfer the money to building improvements from the existing capital budget, Adam Stone, Bargersville’s financial consultant, said during the Jan. 13 parks board meeting.
Long-term renovations to the Community Center mostly concern compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, or ADA. Those repairs are not in the 2023 budget and will be included in next year’s expenditures. Long-term changes include an ADA restroom to replace the two small restrooms, moving the water heater to allow access to the electrical panel as the restroom work is completed, adding a gable overhang over the main entrance door, painting the building’s exterior and replacing the building’s gas lines, according to the list.
Bargersville town leaders expect to start advertising the center for community events starting Feb. 1. Before then, town officials will need to develop a rental agreement, complete with rules and regulations people who rent out the space will need to follow, Cartwright said.
Before this year, the Bargersville Community Center had been known as the Bargersville Senior Citizen Center. Opened in 1979, the building’s primary tenant was a group of seniors and veterans who held dinners there every Thursday and on the first Monday of each month. Cartwright, however, said the seniors couldn’t continue renting out the building for events because it was a liability risk. Now, the parks department will be in charge of handling those events.
The agreement between the seniors and the parks department will preserve the building for older residents to use in the long term, said Keith Cecil, president of the parks board.
“We’re doing things to make the building a safe place we can all enjoy as a community,” he said. “We worked out a good agreement with them and if we had not been able to work out the agreement, they would’ve had no choice but to shut down. We never wanted that.”
The building’s preservation is meant for not only Bargersville seniors, but seniors who travel for the dinners from surrounding communities, such as Franklin and Martinsville, said Albert Lynn, who served as the senior center’s president.
Lynn said he’s unsure of what his role will be moving forward, but he intends to be involved in planning senior events.
“A lot of members love this place and a lot of people don’t want to see it go,” he said. “Hopefully we can keep it open for another 43 years.”
