The Italy Economic Development Corporation voted to move forward with the third phase of the downtown improvement project by redirecting initial plans to build a new community center to purchasing an existing building located at 161 W. Main Street for the same purpose.

Mark Stiles, IEDC president, said this is a larger facility than they had originally planned to build. He said they estimated new construction costs between $450,000 and $500,000, which did not include interior contents.

Wayne Boze, owner of the building — Boze Memorial Inc. — dropped the asking price for the building to $175,000, which includes the furniture located inside the facility.

Stiles said the IEDC authorized him to enter negotiations for the property.

Stiles said Boze agreed to repair the roof and replace damaged interior tiles.

Charles Hyles said he talked with Longhorn Roofing about the roof and felt comfortable with their proposal. He said the roof would be heat-sealed making it energy efficient and virtually waterproof.

Stiles said these improvements make this package very attractive.

Jimmy Hyles addressed the council during the public hearing. 

Hyles said the IEDC would need to provide serving tables and upgrade the kitchen with a minimal amount of money. He said this could serve their purpose very well.

Following a brief executive session, the group returned to open session. Elmerine Bell made the motion and Darrell Rosemond seconded the motion to adopt resolution #R11-1024-01. The motion passed unanimously to proceed with the next phase of the project. This includes modifying the original project so that the property located at 100 and 108 East Main Street be used as a park, public square or city plaza and to begin the process for acquisition of the Boze Memorial Inc. as the new community center facility, all of which constitutes phase three of the project.

Turning to the financial aspects of the project, Tom Little said the city has entered into a contract with Southwest Securities for water projects at 2.39 percent. He said the IEDC should be able to qualify for that interest rate. He said finance rates even up to 3-3.5 percent would be cheaper than public financing.

Initial plans are to finance $304,000, which includes the price of the building along with the costs they have incurred with phases II and I.

The McConnell buildings cost $66,086 and demolition/clean-up, including asbestos removal and engineering charges at 100 and 108 East Main, were $63,262. This totals $129,348.

Stiles put Rosemond, Bell and Hyles in charge of planning some type of plaza or memorial area on the site where they demolished the two buildings.

Stiles said they could use the bricks saved from the demolition as flooring for the area.

Stiles told the group that Mr. Boze has gone out of his way. He said the IEDC is lucky to get two or three projects completed for less than the estimated cost for the new construction cost.

In the financial reports, Teri Murdock, city secretary/administrator, said the operating account has a balance of $334 after spending $3,217 during the month. The money market account has a balance of $77,617. Sales tax income for the month is $4,720.89.

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the group voted to move their next meeting to Thursday, Dec. 1, at 6 p.m.