The Marion County Board of Supervisors signed off on a plan Monday for a company to make repairs to homes at the BusinessPlex to turn them into a facility for veterans.
Open Wings of Outreach Care plans on leasing three homes at the former Columbia Training School and making them a place veterans can live without being put in a nursing facility. Greta Rawls, community relations director with Open Wings, first came to the board in May.
At the board meeting Monday, Shay Rawls, executive director of Open Wings, approached the board about some of the construction problems they have been facing. The organization is working with the Veterans Administration in making the homes in compliance with the VA guidelines and handicapped accessible.
The homes were abandoned and had been vandalized during the time the former training school sat vacant when it belonged to the state. Since the property was turned back to the county, multiple improvements and businesses have been set up and established turning the former training school into an area for businesses.
Open Wings is setting up one home at a time beginning with the house closest to the Marion County Veterans Service Office.
The board in June approved leasing the homes to Open Wings at a cost of $400 per month, per home, plus $55 for liability insurance for each home.
Shay told the board the first home has to be rewired with the lowest estimate being $3,000. Board President Terry Broome also mentioned the outside air conditioner unit had been stolen. When asked about the plumbing, Shay said they haven’t checked it yet. Supervisor Randy Dyess said he thinks the water is actually turned off at the moment.
Board Attorney Drew Foxworth said the lease could be worded as improvements done to the home and may be applied against the lease as long as Open Wings paid the $55 for the liability insurance each month.
Further discussion was held in which the county decided it would credit back against the lease for work pertaining to the electrical, plumbing and air conditioning. Everything else would be the responsibility of Open Wings.
The credit would be determined based on the bids Open Wings receives and presents to the board.
The lease is set to begin Aug. 1.
In other action the board heard a presentation from Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department President Dewayne Stuckey regarding using its Station 5 as a polling place. Stuckey expressed concerns about inadequate heating and cooling in the building. The building itself is one open area where the fire trucks are parked and equipment is stored.
“The community center (in the Union voting district) was deemed not usable as a polling place. The fire department board said the fire station at Keno could be used for voting, but we all recognized it was not an ideal situation at all,” he said.
Stuckey said the reasons include heating and cooling, it is extremely difficult and the need of having to remove the trucks to make room for the polls. At the election last year in November, Stuckey said, the temperature dropped down to 27 degrees, which is not good on the equipment.
Stuckey advised the Tri-Community board voted to allow the Keno station to be a polling place this year, but the board is requesting a permanent solution.
“There is not a whole lot of area to do something to the station. If you add on to it, it will take away some parking area,” Dyess said.
Marion Circuit Court Clerk Janette Nolan added, “When we looked at the issue there was potential to do a little add-on encroaching onto the right-of-way. We could make due being it is such a small voter precinct, but the bigger problem is the land is not the county’s.”
The Keno station sits on land that is privately owned, but the fire department has a lifetime lease. Nolan said she could not request funds for any improvements because the land is not owned by the county.
Broome asked if a room could be built on the inside and was advised there was not enough room for an addition.
Stuckey requested the board discuss the matter and advise the fire department of anything that needs to be done.
The Union precinct has a total of 312 registered voters. n
