CIVIC CENTER CONDITION AFTER MOVE DISMAYS DIRECTOR

Calvin Bird, director of the Cape Civic Center, is thankful the Senior Nutrition Center was able late last month to move into a new facility on Clark Street. He just wishes the movers would have cleaned up after themselves.

For about seven years, the Senior Nutrition Center had rented the Civic Center, with senior citizens using the building during week days and the civic center serving primarily Cape Girardeau's disadvantaged youth evenings and weekends.

But when the senior center moved to their new building at the end of June, the civic center was left in disarray.

Bird said he was surprised at the condition of the building after the move.

"My understanding was they would leave things just bare," he said, "that they'd take their stuff, but not leave everything torn up and trashed. I never expected that."

"It's not that I'm mad," Bird added. "It's just that I'm dismayed that they didn't have the common decency of cleaning up after themselves. If you move out of house you're renting, you don't leave it like that."

But members of the senior center's board of directors said the only damage that was done to the civic center was what was necessary to remove senior center equipment from the building.

They also said attempts to meet with Bird and resolve the situation have been unsuccessful.

"We did not do anything intentional there except as a result of removing what was owned by us," said John Seay, vice president of the senior center board. "If there was any damage to the ceiling in the kitchen, it was necessary to remove what was affixed there.

"As far as damage to the center, that was not part of our move at all," Seay added.

Max Stovall, another member of the board, said the board has tried to meet with Bird, but have been unable to contact him.

"That's what we're waiting for now," Stovall said. "He came to the office while we were in a conference, but didn't wait five minutes so we could talk with him.

"Really, we couldn't do anything until we met as a board anyway."

Stovall said he drove five board members to the civic center to look at the damage, but was unable to find Bird.

"We're reasonable people," he said. "We want to get the situation settled."

A tour of the facility Friday revealed two of the center's three air conditioners had been removed and the third was gutted the compressor, fans and wiring was ripped out of the unit.

Thermostats had been torn from the walls and taken; a hole was left in the north wall of the kitchen where an air conditioner had been placed temporarily; a water fountain was gone; light fixtures were removed; ceiling panels torn and missing; insulation ripped from the ceiling and left laying on the floor; and electrical wires were left hanging from the ceiling where kitchen equipment had been removed.

Bird said that after the move he also found his office unlocked and a new cordless telephone missing.

But Seay said the senior center workers were unable to get into the office the day of the move and haven't been inside the building since.

Seay said the two air conditioners that were removed didn't work anyway. "We had no air conditioning ourselves the last couple days we were there," he said.

Seay said he's been told the third air conditioner will work with some repairs.

Bird said he's had to close down the civic center until he's able to find an air conditioner. He also said he doesn't want patrons of the center to play around the exposed wiring.

"My priority is getting air in here right now," Bird said. "We've got a big event coming up and we'll need air conditioning, but we're working on that.

"I'm not the kind of person who cries over spilled milk. We're getting ready to remodel the center and now it's just us," he added. "That's the redeeming factor, and I have to focus on that."

John Mehner, president of the Civic Center board of directors, said he'd heard about the mess that was left behind but hadn't seen the building since the senior center moved out.

"Basically from a civic center standpoint, we're going to put it behind us," Mehner said. "They were good tenants while they were there, but now they're gone and we have to go forward."

Mehner said the Civic Center is focused on a capital campaign that will start this month with hopes of raising $150,000-$200,000 to renovate the center and pay off the mortgage.

"The civic center does a tremendous job with the disadvantaged and at-risk kids, and they do it with zero help from the city itself," he said. "All the funding comes from the United Way and private donations."

Seay suggested the civic center emulate the senior citizens and organize the community to help with the renovation.

He said he hoped the senior center board could get together with the civic center and resolve any differences that might have arose from the move.

"We just need to get together and talk this over, not just have ill feelings," Seay said. "In a public center like they've got, it could be renovated the same way we did our senior center.

"I certainly hope this will create no ill feelings between us and the civic center."