Following months of discussion on the Bay County Community Center’s aging gym floor, county officials are proposing measures that would see the existing floor at the center, 800 John F. Kennedy Drive, refinished rather than be replaced.
Commissioner Brandon Krause, D-1st District, explained that refinishing the existing maple floorboards would save the county a significant amount of money, while still providing results comparable to actually installing a brand new floor.
“If we just lift the floor up, replace the pieces that are missing, and then tighten up and refinish it, it’ll be just like having a new floor, but at a ridiculously lower cost compared to a new gym floor,” Krause said. “I think what’s big for Bay County is we’re using taxpayer resources and doing everything in-house.”
According to county officials, the cost to replace the gym floor would likely be about $70,000. The cost to refinish the floor and complete some other cosmetic projects in both the big and small gyms at the center would cost $12,950, according to county documents.
County documents further state that the funds would be appropriated from within the county’s currently approved 2014 budget.
The plan’s introduction comes on the heels of discussion at recent county meetings that saw commissioners note the aging state of the floor and the need to provide an environment that will help drive traffic through the center and serve community needs. The issue was mentioned first in early March, when Commissioner Ernie Krygier, D-2nd District, broached the issue at a meeting of the County’s Ways and Means Committee.
Bay County leaders are scheduled to vote on the proposed plan at a meeting of the Ways and Means Committee scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, at the Bay County Building, 515 Center Ave. If approved, the plan would likely go for final approval from the full Bay County Board later this month.
Aside from refurbishing the large gym floor, the project also includes fresh paint on the walls and ceiling of both gyms, a refinished exterior for the large gym’s bleachers and “other small miscellaneous cosmetic upgrades that will enhance the overall look of the community center.”
The project will also see the tile floor in the community center’s smaller gym refinished.
In the large gym, the project to refurbish the existing maple floorboards involves removing each one of the 28,000 boards and then cleaning and reinstalling them, documents state. Boards that can’t be salvaged will be replaced with “very few new pieces of maple,” which the county estimates will cost roughly $500.
Though asbestos is present in the large gym’s floor, documents further state that county employees were recently trained by a representative from Sierra Technical Services of Freeland LLC in methods necessary for asbestos removal. Krause noted that the skills gained by county employees will likely be useful in the future.
The proposed project would begin during the second week of August, following the completion of Bay County’s summer recreation program. Krause is enthusiastic about the effort.
“We were seriously leaning towards getting a new gym floor and then came up with this,” he said. “To be able to save the taxpayers that kind of money and still give them a great service, it’s just priceless.”