Iola Recreation Director Jason Bauer sits behind stacks of paper, typing away in his makeshift office across the street from city hall. In one week this will have been his office for a year.
Two floods over that one-year period have put the Recreation Community Building in Riverside Park out of service.
Bauer tries to juggle the tasks of keeping league games on track while the rec building has been out of commission. Currently repairs are a week behind schedule.
Many have looked into other options. At a City Council meeting in May, Councilman Gene Myrick questioned if the city would consider moving rec building activities to Jefferson Elementary School, once it’s vacated for construction of a new elementary school within a couple of years.
Myrick also said some of the other city offices could be moved to the old school.
At the time that seemed like a good option.
Then came the news that Allen Community College was looking into a potential partnership with the city and the county to build a new activity center.
Just the idea brings a smile to Bauer’s face.
“I don’t know if it will happen or not, but it is a hope,” Bauer said. “It may just be a dream, but it is a dream worth pursuing.”
Bauer doesn’t believe the new facility needs to be over the top.
“Everyone wants an indoor pool and I am all for it. But it doesn’t have to be anything extravagant. It just needs to be a pool where people can swim laps. A place the hospital can use for therapy. A place where teams can practice and some get physical activity,” Bauer said. But he understands the costs.
“Anything with the word aquatic in it pretty much doubles the cost. For instance, we just repainted the city’s pool for $55,000. An indoor pool would require temperature control, you would need a way to control the humidity. What kind of chemicals are you going to use? It has to be well thought out, but it would definitely be great for the community to have it.”
While insurance is paying for the current renovation of the rec building, several wonder why Iola keeps pouring money into a flood-prone facility.
“I wasn’t here in 2007, but my understanding is it flooded all the way up to the rims of the basketball goals. Then we have the flood in October and just when we were about to reopen, we get hit with another flood in May,” Bauer said. “To me it just seems something is wrong with that. If you talk to farmers around here, they say the weather is changing. It doesn’t just rain a little bit, it downpours and floods. The weather pattern has changed.’
ACCORDING TO Mayor Jon Wells, if the city wants a new rec center, it will have to come in the form of a partnership. The city does not have the funds to build a new rec center by itself.
