The Vern Burton Community Center

The Vern Burton Community Center

Proposed Port Angeles budget includes money for Civic Field boiler, Vern Burton Center roof

PORT ANGELES — Civic Field could get a new boiler and the Vern Burton Community Center’s gym a new roof, thanks in part to new city utility tax revenue.

Port Angeles City Manager Dan McKeen laid out these two items during a presentation on the preliminary 2014 city budget last week.

The council will hold the last of two public hearings Dec. 3 on the city’s proposed $129 million city budget, containing a $19.1 million general fund.

A City Council vote is scheduled to follow.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

The funding proposals, made possible through $389,000 in new city utility tax revenue expected from a rate increase going into effect Jan. 1, call for $50,000 for the new boiler and $50,000 to help pay for the new roof.

The money for the community center roof would be added to $100,000 already set aside in the city’s general fund, according to city figures.

Another $150,000 for the new roof would come from the city’s revenue from lodging tax, paid by the hotels and motels doing businesses within city limits.

Corey Delikat, the city’s parks and recreation director, said the total $300,000 would replace the gym’s dome-shaped roof, which has leaked during rainstorms for years.

Water finding its way through the old roof to the gym floor below often means putting out buckets to collect the water during events, Delikat said.

The leaky roof also forced a youth basketball tournament on Presidents Day weekend to be moved to the Roosevelt Middle School, Delikat said.

The new roof would ideally be made of a thermal plastic and look similar to the doomed roof over the William Shore Memorial Pool, Delikat explained.

The Civic Field boiler, which once provided hot water to the field’s locker room showers, has not worked and has been “red-tagged” since 2007, Delikat said.

“Because of the boiler being red-tagged, [athletes using the field] cannot shower at Civic Field, unless they want cold water,” Delikat said.

The 2014 budget proposal also includes $60,000 for new lighting at Civic Field at Third and Race streets, where high school sports games are played.

This is the first chunk of funding set aside toward the total $355,000 needed to replace the field’s light banks since Port Angeles voters rejected a 2012 bond issue that would have replace the field’s lights, boiler and turf, Delikat said.

“[The $60,000] is a good starting point,” Delikat said.

If the 2014 proposed budget is ultimately approved with these funding items intact, Delikat said his department would be able to purchase a new boiler and likely go out to bid for a new community center roof next year, with the hope of beginning roof replacement in late spring or early summer.

________

Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.

More in News

2024 timber revenue shows Jefferson below average, Clallam on par

DNR timber delay could impact 2025 timber revenue

Forks council looks to fill vacant seat

The Forks City Council is accepting applications to fill a… Continue reading

Charter Review town hall set

The Clallam County Charter Review Commission will conduct a… Continue reading

EYE ON BUSINESS: This week’s meetings

Breakfast meetings with networking and educational… Continue reading

Port Angeles sends letter to governor

Requests a progressive tax code

Courtesy of Rep. Emily Randall's office
Rep. Emily Randall to hold town hall in Port Townsend

Congresswoman will field questions from constituents

Joshua Wright, program director for the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition, stands in a forest plot named "Dungeness and Dragons," which is managed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Currently, the DNR is evaluating Wright's claim that there is a rare plant community in one of the units, which would qualify the parcel for automatic protection from logging. Locating rare plant communities is just one of the methods environmental activists use to protect what they call "legacy forests." (Joshua Wright)
Activists answer call to protect forests

Advocacy continues beyond timber auctions

Port of Port Angeles talks project status

Marine Trade Center work close to completion

KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
The Rayonier #4 logging locomotive on display at Chase Street and Lauridsen Boulevard in Port Angeles, is the focus of a fundraising drive to restore the engine and further develop the site.
Locomotive viewing event scheduled for Sunday

“Restore the 4” project underway

Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News
Port Townsend High School culinary arts student Jasper Ziese, left, watches as fellow students Emil Brown sauces the dish and Raivyn Johnson, right, waits to box it up. The students prepared and served a free lunch from the program's food truck, Culinary Cruiser, for a senior project on Saturday.
Culinary Cruiser delivers practical experience for Port Townsend students

Part of Career and Technical Education culinary arts program

PC’s enrollment rates show steady growth

Numbers reverse ten-year trend