The Centerville City Council this week voted to buy a pioneer-era home on the south side of the new City Hall complex for use as a museum and possible senior citizens center.
The city will pay $230,000 for the Thomas Whitaker home and its 1.3-acre site at 165 S. Main St. The home is owned by Helen Wright, who bought it in 1974 from a descendant of the Whitaker family."I'm thrilled. I'm just thrilled," said Clara Goudy, president of the Centerville Historical Society, which has been lobbying the city for years for a museum to display the society's collection of artifacts, documents and pioneer-era journals.
The council held a special public hearing Tuesday to open its current year's budget and appropriate $250,000 for the project.
The extra $30,000 is for unanticipated expenses and possible repairs, but City Manager David Hales said an appraisal of the home by architects and staff members from the Utah Historical Society shows the house to be in good repair and of significant historical value.
The council took $50,000 from the City Hall capital improvements fund and will borrow $150,000 from its sanitation and water funds to make the purchase. The loans will be repaid with interest over three to five years, fiscal analyst Blaine Lutz said.
Noting that the acreage around the home adds open space to the city complex on Main Street, the council said it would be a good site for a fifth county library, among other possible uses.
The city has expended a lot of resources providing parks and recreation facilities for young people, Mayor Priscilla Todd said, and feels it appropriate to do something for its senior citizens.
In a related action, the council also voted to submit an application for $300,000 in federal CDBG grant money throuhg the Davis Council of Governments for improvements to property such as sidewalks, parking and handicapped access.