Commissioners approved modifications to the Rafter 3C Civic Center building last week, including placing a concrete floor in the arena rather than a modular floor and expanding the paving of the parking lot. Additionally, they approved a contract to install handrails both inside and outside the building.
According to Chris Spross, public works director, the original design for the arena was to have a dirt floor for livestock events with the ability to install a modular floor in the event of car shows, sporting events, or conventions. Because these modular floors eventually degrade, Spross said county staff is recommending a concrete floor instead. With the installation of a concrete floor, the county would have the ability to bring in the dirt when there are livestock events and remove the dirt for other events.
The cost for the concrete floor is $533,829. With the removal of the budget item for the modular floor, the net effect is an increase of slightly less than $400,000 to the budget of the building.
Spross also explained that the original design was to only pave half the parking lot and use lighting from the existing light poles in the gravel parking lot. According to that plan, there would be roughly 304 parking spaces because of a lack of lines delineating parking spaces. Paving the entire space from the building to Sheckler Road, complete with lines, would provide more than 700 spaces. Additionally, the old fences and brush south of the Parks and Recreation building would be removed and the entrance to the Civic Center would be aligned with the lane into the high school, providing for better safety measures for the traffic on Sheckler.
The cost for this modification is a total of $949,100, part of which includes the trenching for electrical needs to install the proper lighting to illuminate the entire area.
Commissioner Greg Koenig was concerned about the increase in the costs. “I want to know how we’re going to pay for this,” he said. “Yeah, it’s great and I love it, but I want to make sure it’s in our budget to add another $1.5 million to the budget.”
Spross said the total cost of the project has increased to $13.1 million but is being offset by more than $5 million in credits. “We’re getting the original COVID money of $2.75 million, we have a guarantee for community block grant funding for $400,000, we’re applying for another $500,000 and we’re fairly certain we can get that earmarked. We’ve received community block grant funding to cover the cost of the generator, and we have a $1 million contribution from the City of Fallon. Out of pocket, we’re at less than $7.5 million to get a $13 million facility for almost fifty percent is a pretty good value.”
County Manager Jim Barbee added that the county has also taken out a $9 million bond. “That should leave about $1.5 million roughly that we have the capacity for along with the building fund, to also look at the courthouse in the next couple of months.” The county has plans to build a new District Court building just west of the existing Courthouse complex to meet legislative requirements to expand the courts.
“A Ferrari at half price is great,” said Koenig, “you still have to come up with that fifty percent.”
Board Chairman Pete Olsen added that sales tax revenues are up $1.15 million higher than last year. “I agree with you Greg, but we’ve managed to scrape the money together to make this happen at once, you’ll never get it as cheap as when you get it all together at once. We should take advantage of that and make the property as finished as we can.”
The costs for the handrails were also approved at $117,820.
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