Sand Mountain Reporter

Councilman Chuck Ellis said a resolution and a financial commitment from the city could help land government funding in order to build a new senior center in Albertville.

Ellis said he would like the council to vote on the resolution Monday at its regular city council meeting.

“A strong city has strong facilities for their kids and strong facilities for senior citizens,” Ellis said.

Ellis recently had a meeting with Ethan Vice from Congressman Aderholt’s office to discuss the grant application process along with other specifics on how to secure funding for the project.

Vice told Ellis some of the key things the committees that award the grant money look for are plans that show how the money will be used and how the project will come to fruition.

“Whenever he told me this I immediately knew the first thing we would need to initiate some type of commitment and form a resolution, to show not only those guys, but also the citizens of Albertville that we are serious about it,” Ellis said.

According to Ellis, a big first step would be for the city to pass a resolution which calls for a “full commitment to achieving and securing federal funding for a new senior center,” according to the sample resolution Ellis provided.

Ellis would also like to see the city pledge $50,000, which would be used for match money to whatever grants the city would receive.

“This resolution I drew up is just an idea,” Ellis said. “…There are some monies discussed in there that when doing it I know we have a sum of money we are able to use.

“What I was thinking was along the lines of putting a set amount in an escrow that could be utilized for this, unless we really needed it,” Ellis said.

Ellis said the money he was thinking of would come from the “monies we received from the windfall of the $750,000.”

The money being referred to is the $750,000 the Albertville City School Board gave to the city.

He also said there was a need for a new center because the aging facility currently being used could possibly pose some danger to the seniors using it.

The city of Arab recently built a senior center that costs about $3.5 million but Ellis said he would be happy if the city got a grant for $500,000.

He said the city had a realistic chance of getting the $500,000 and that would allow them to build about a 4,000 square foot facility.

He has estimated the costs for the project to run between $380-400,000 and said the rest of the money would be used to purchase land.

“There are stipulations on some of the money,” Ellis said. “Some say you can use grant money to purchase property. Some say you can’t.”

Mayor Lindsey Lyons said “laying the ground work for this is a necessity, but quite frankly it is going to be 2011 before this could be realized.”

Share | Save | Mail | Print | Letter

Follow the Reporter on Twitter:

SMR News and
SMR Sports

Serving Albertville and the Sand Mountain region

Publisher: Ben Shurett

1603 Progress Drive
Albertville, Alabama 35950

Tel: 256-840-3000 | Email

A Southern Newspapers publication.