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| Dubois renovation project gets funding boost |
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1/20/2017
By Tom Marshall
Senior Advocate writer
The Dubois Community Center renovation project got a considerable boost last week when Traditional Bank donated $20,000 to go toward installation of a new gym floor and a scoreboard.
The project previously received $10,000 from the Mt. Sterling Kiwanis Club for the new gym floor.
The Dubois Community Center Board had hoped to restore the old floor but it is buckled in several locations and is no longer usable.
Traditional Bank and Kiwanis Club logos will be installed at each end of the new court. The board plans to place a Hornet at center court. The Hornets were the mascot at the old Dubois High School, which was destroyed by fire in 1964.
In all, the project has received $443,000 in the form of Kentucky Community Development Block Grant federal funds, $272,772 in federal funds through the Appalachian Regional Commission and $16,169 from the Montgomery County Fiscal Court and City of Mt. Sterling.
Lowe’s has donated $15,000 for a new kitchen.
The community center, which had fallen into a state of disrepair, was closed in 2010 upon order of the local fire marshal. The fire marshal found several deficiencies during an inspection.
Those included the area exits and doors, interior signs and lighting, inadequate heating units, unprotected and spliced wiring throughout the building, missing or broken electrical outlets, junction boxes and panel box covers, holes in the walls within the roof and basement and with the structural integrity and load bearing walls, according to a summary of the project provided by the Gateway Area Development District.
In 2011, the west end wall of the building partially collapsed with the bricks and mortar falling on the gas meter, prompting gas service to be shut off, the summary said.
The Fiscal Court applied for federal and state funding to rehabilitate the facility in 2011 and 2012, but was denied. The Fiscal Court, however, was undeterred and applied again in 2013 and was successful.
The project summary said that it was funded under a national objective classified as “Slums and Blight.” The “Slums and Blight” objective, the summary said, dictates that the federal funds awarded be used only to address code and safety related violations.
Valerie Scott, a member of the Dubois Board, said that hopes are to have the project completed by May.
The plan is to use the facility for community events, basketball, job training and more. It will be open to the entire community.
The board is selling pieces of the old gym floor and commemorative bricks as part of a fundraiser. Pieces of the floor are available for $25 and bricks are $50.
The bricks will be engraved with names or messages and placed near the new entrance being constructed for the facility.
Checks may be mailed to Dubois Community Center, P.O. Box 1452, Mt. Sterling, Ky. 40353. For more information, call Tonia Anderson at 274-8035.
You can also visit “Saving Dubois” on Facebook for details.
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