Responding to repeated requests for more emphasis on recreation and fears the city may sell its ball fields, the Centerville City Council Tuesday agreed to appoint a citizens committee to study funding to hurry along development of the city's new 23-acre recreation complex.
Residents at the city's public hearing on the proposed 1992-93 budget two weeks ago told the council they think recreational facilities should have equal, if not greater, priority than a new city hall.About two dozen showed up at Tuesday's budget work session before the regular council meeting, and more appeared during the meeting to repeat their pleas.
During discussion preceding passage of the city's $2.83 million general fund budget, the council agreed to appoint a citizens committee to study additional ways to fund construction of the recreation complex being built on 23 acres along the I-15 frontage road.
Those funding alternatives could include a general obligation bond election, although several proponents of more funding for recreation also told the council they oppose taking on additional debt to support it.
The city will charge the study committee with looking into state and federal grants, private funding, a tax increase and other ideas, reporting back to the council by mid-July.
A bond vote could be held with the November general election if the city decides by Sept. 1 and puts the question on the ballot, Mayor Michael Kjar said.
Several residents expressed concern about the city's plan to build a new $2.1 million municipal complex on Main Street, on land the city has acquired adjacent to Founders Park.
The long-range plan calls for building the new city hall and then selling the city-owned property on the north side of Parrish Lane, between 400 West and the frontage road, which includes the current ball fields.
New ball fields will be built as the recreation complex to the north is developed. They could be ready within two years if the city seeds the 23 acres this summer, Kjar said.
Some parents, saying the baseball program is the heart of Centerville's summer recreation program, pressed Kjar for a guarantee that the new fields will be ready for play before the old ones are sold or leveled. Kjar declined to give an ironclad guarantee.
There is no potential buyer for the city property waiting in the wings right now, Kjar said, adding that if one appears, it will take time for financing and other details on a purchase that large to be worked out.