Published: August 29, 2009 10:52 pm      

Ridgeley opens doors on new Community Center

Officials cut ribbon on 5,000-square-foot building

RIDGELEY, W.Va. — With basketball in hand, Councilman Robert Shipley stepped into the new Ridgeley Community Center and took the first shot — actually three shots — during the center’s ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday.

Mayor Rick Lechliter said everyone was excited to have the project completed and hoped the facility will offer the youth of the Ridgeley area “a few nights of good, safe recreational fun.”

“It’s been about three and a half years since we first got the grant to start the whole process and, after about six months of construction, it was considered complete on July 18,” Lechliter said. “We’re just very happy to have it and are working now to set a schedule for citizens to use to play some basketball and give outside groups the opportunity to rent the facility for their own purposes.”

Along with the new facility came the creation of the Parks and Recreation Committee composed of town officials, sports league officials and coaches and town members at-large.

“Basically, the committee is made up of people from the community who know what’s going on and have stepped up and said ‘I care about this community. This is a nice building and I want to see it succeed, here are some ideas of the direction I think we should take this,’” said Jim Twigg, councilman and chairman of the committee. “Already, we have met two times and discussed initial hours of operation and fees for use.”

Twigg said the committee has discussed having a couple of nights set aside for youth use and other nights for adult use. He said they have also talked about possible organizations in town who may want to use the facility.

“There will be a minimal fee, one for the immediate Ridgeley area and one for the Mineral County area, but it’s not going to be very much,” he said. “This building was not made as a big money-making venture, but we want to be able to pay the bills. So we’re just hoping the people in Ridgeley and Mineral County support the center and come out and use it.”

Twigg said the initial fees and hours will be written up and posted within the next couple of weeks. He said the committee will revisit the issue in a few months in order to review how everything is going, if the hours are working well and if the fees are appropriate.

The 5,000-square-foot building was designed by Alpha Associates Inc. with construction awarded to Palmer Construction of McConnellsburg, Pa., with a bid of approximately $438,000. A groundbreaking ceremony was held at the end of January with construction beginning in February. The building planning and construction cost $550,000, with $500,000 coming from a Small Cities Block Grant and the other $50,000 being borrowed from Standard Bank.

Saturday was also the dedication of the new concession stand for the Cumberland Area Youth Football League. The new concession stand, called Ray Dixon’s Last Stand in honor of the town’s historical and civic improvement committee chairman, consists of two sides, one for Rams’ games, the other for the Hawks, and bathrooms.

And, with a donation of $9,500 from Frankfort Activities Center and individual donations, that money was there to erect the $10,000 stand.

“I began working on the plans in March, which is about the same time the money came in,” Dixon said. “And all of the labor and work was donated by a few parents, coaches and other members of the community.”

Dixon said some of the “major players” in helping build the stand were Bill Scott, Jimmy Hockaday, Gary Bennett and Cliff Kenney.

Contact Tess Hill at thill@times-news.com.