Jim Kenney Center & Marina

There was a joint meeting last night, Tuesday, April 28, at Village Hall with six members of the FOP and four councilmen. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the 99 year lease agreement that the FOP/FOPA has for the "Jim Kenney Youth Center" as it is named on the lease papers. The lease was signed 33 years ago in 1976. The amount for the lease was $1.

Somewhere along the line it was brought up that up to nearly $1 million in grant money was available from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources but only if the village had sole possession of the property. The money is intended to upgrade and refurbish the facilities. Such things as rebuilding the basketball court and adding lights, adding play ground equipment, dredging Little Yellow Creek and building improvements were mentioned.

Again village officials stressed that it is not their intention to take over the operation of the facilities despite rumors to the contrary that are circulating around town. They have been told that to be eligible for the grant money the village had to be the only ones shown as having possession of the facilities. One Property Committee member stated that the village can not afford to run things up there. Another told the FOP members present "It's your building. We do not want it. We just want to fix it up."

This past Monday members of the Property Committee and other village officials conducted an inspection of the buildings. They came away impressed with the condition of the main building according to newspaper reports. There are new sub-floors and one councilman indicated that it is structurally sound with a good roof and no signs of neglect.

One FOP member stated that over the years they have made many improvements and the village has shown no interest in it in the past 33 years. Their main source of revenue is from dock rentals at the marina. A couple of years ago that was drastically reduced when Buckeye Water was in the process of building the new pump station. It is hoped that now that is completed the renters will return. Both the Center and the marina are operated by the FOP. There is no sub-lease for a boat club.

One of the activities normally held up there is Senior Bingo that usually runs until the end of December. With the loss of the marina revenue and the average cost of $500 per month for heat and utility bills last year was the first time they shut it down in October. Also the annual Christmas toy drive and give-away is held there. The building is still available for other activities.

Back when they got started the village obtained a grant for them in the neighborhood of $100,000. It was with that and a lot of volunteer help that got them started. The lease was in effect when they got that grant and that prompted the question of why things have changed.

Now here is the kicker that came out of last night's meeting. The available grant money that is said to be there through all this is coming from year old information. No one has talked with ODNR recently to check if it is still available. That was the first time that was ever mentioned.

That brought a quick end to the meeting after it was decided that one committee member is going to have the newly hired grant writer to check things out and another is going to check with the folks at ODNR. Hopefully there is still money out there. I think FOP Trustee Ed Wilson summed it up best saying "Get the money, fix it up and let's go home."

Hopefully they can Eddie, hopefully they can...

ole nib