Uncle Sam may pick up the tab for a planned multi-purpose building and storm shelter at the Lowndes County sports complex site, according to County Administrator Jay Fisher.
The Department of Defense offers the Defense Community Infrastructure Program grant, which focuses on helping communities near military installations raise the quality of life, Fisher explained. Only local governments co-located with a military installation may apply.
Because of the size of the surrounding community and of Columbus Air Force Base itself, the grant would cover 100 percent of expenses with no match, Fisher said. The multipurpose building was estimated to cost around $10 million.
“Communities can apply to DoD for a grant for upgrades for things the military base would need but can’t get funded on their own,” Fisher said. “(First District Representative) Trent Kelly’s office sent us the information and asked us to look at it and see if it was something we were interested in.”
One prospective county project stood out to both Fisher and President Trip Hairston: the gymnasium and multipurpose building recently proposed as Phase II of the sports complex. In addition to the gymnasium, it includes several meeting rooms and will be built to serve as a storm shelter.
There is not currently a public storm shelter available west of the Tombigbee River.
“On (Columbus Air Force Base’s) unfunded list has been a fitness center,” Hairston said. “It’s been on their wish list for years.”
Fisher — who retired from CAFB as its vice wing commander in 2017 — said the recreation center on base was built in the 1950s and is “tired” and unable to meet the needs of the base’s population.
“It’s a gymnasium, with a single old-school hardwood basketball court,” he said. “There are men’s and women’s locker rooms, a room with exercise machines and another, newer room that has free weights.”
Because it’s an old building, it’s plagued with problems such as unreliable air conditioning and cramped space, he said.
“They’re never going to get the funding to build a new facility because of the way that military construction dollars are,” he said. “If you want to modify a building you have a better chance of getting money, but they’ve polished that about as much as they can polish it.”
Most base personnel live off-base, and serving them means serving the wider community, too, Fisher said.
“About 30 percent of people from the base live on the base,” he said. “The other 70 percent live Downtown, they live in apartment complexes, in New Hope, in Caledonia. They are us.”
Hairston said he thinks the project stands a good chance of getting funded.
“Projects must break ground within a year and be complete within five years,” he said. “Any of the other pie-in-the-sky long-term projects we’ve been talking about aren’t as shovel-ready as this one. We don’t have full drawings, but have options and price structures and we have a footprint out there — the road has been semi-paved and they are moving a lot of dirt.”
The grant application does require a third-party to review cost estimates, Fisher said.
“The people who design the facility can’t provide the cost estimate,” he said. “We have engaged a contractor that will review them for us.”
At its last meeting the board of supervisors approved up to $10,000 for that review, Hairston said. He is optimistic that the review will be complete by the July 18 application deadline.
“It’s good for the community, it’s good for the base, it’s a good project,” Hairston said.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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