Requests made at consecutive meetings of Allen County commissioners opened the door for an improvement that would play well with the multitude of people who attend events on and near the courthouse lawn in downtown Iola.
The requests were for commissioners to permit restroom use in the courthouse during this year’s all-night Relay for Life cancer awareness and fund-raising event, as well as on Thursday evenings for the Farmers Market. Their availability would be a definite perk for the many people who attend band concerts that also unfold on Thursday evenings for a couple of summer months.
Opening the courthouse has expense attached to it — security is a must if the courthouse were opened — and also trying for Ron Holman, maintenance supervisor who works full time each day.
The alternative? Build a small shelter house with handicap-accessible restrooms.
Downtown Iola has no public restrooms other than those in the courthouse, which means people who attend weekend, evening and late night events — think the Charley Melvin festival — literally have no where to “go.”
A shelter also could be a fair-weather venue for folks who work downtown, or just happen to be on the square, to have a leisurely lunch on what is billed the largest public square for many states around. With a couple or so picnic tables a shelter would work well as a place for small gatherings, or where someone so disposed could lounge in the shade with a good book.
Such a building could be situated so that it would be a definite addition to the downtown square, and be another attraction that would certainly enhance our community.
And, since it is in the heart of Iola, city council members surely would want to participate in its construction and maintenance, if nothing more than through utility extension and service.
Call it cooperation for the good of all, which is what good governance is all about.
— Bob Johnson
Shelter a solution to restroom issue
