Jackson mayor set to revive push for community center

JACKSON, Mo. -- The drive to build a community center, put on hold about a year ago, is about to resume.

A committee has been studying the proposition for a number of years, but the city backed off on proceeding because the Jackson School District was pushing a bond issue of its own.

Uncertainty has existed over whether the schools will use the center and help with financing.

The schools are about to issue a report on their capital plans that will enable the city to know whether it has a partner or will proceed with the project alone. Either way, Jackson will pursue building a community center, Mayor Paul Sander says.

"It has not been forgotten."

At Monday night's meeting of the Jackson Board of Aldermen, Sander distributed a Missouri Municipal Review story about a new community center in Nixa. The Nixa center includes offices, classrooms, a community wing, basketball and volleyball courts, a children's area and indoor walking track and a cafe. The city also just opened an 11,000-square-foot aquatic center.

Nixa financed the center after four failed attempts to pass bond issues by committing a portion of new sales tax revenues to the project and by signing a long-term lease agreement with St. John's Health Care System in Springfield, Mo.

In other business:

Sander congratulated Janet Sanders on her recent election as vice president of the Missouri Flood Plain Managers Association. Sanders is Jackson's planning and zoning supervisor and flood plain administrator.

The Board of Aldermen approved a $5,000 donation to the Jackson Jaycees to help finance the Fourth of July celebration.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182