City council approves construction of new senior center along the Bosque River Trail.
Updated: Jan 9, 2022
Stephenville’s senior citizen population is finally getting a new place to hang out.
The city council on Tuesday unanimously voted to construct a new senior center along the Bosque River Trail.
The 4,700 square-foot facility will include a kitchen, offices and three rooms with movable partitions as well as 1,000 square feet of public meeting space.
“Our senior citizens are such an important part of our community and the facility they have been in is simply not acceptable,” councilman Ricky Thurman told Beneath the Surface News. “This is a great example of innovative thinking to address a need in our city without added tax burden to the citizens.”
In May 2020, Stephenville residents voted down a multi-million dollar combined-use facility package that would have included a new senior center.
With that project off the table, city councilman Brandon Huckabee presented an idea to use approximately $1 million in unexpected sales tax revenue and savings to cash fund the project.
“I’m excited that the council was able to find a way to provide a new senior citizens center for our community that was long overdue,” Huckabee said. “This was possible because of council and staff working to maximize every tax dollar and working to promote economic development that is leading to an increase in sales tax revenue that will allow us to address more issues like this going forward.”
Rocky Creek Builders was awarded the bid, which will cost $1.08 million for the senior center and an additional $180,000 for the meeting space.
The project is expected to begin within the next 30 days and will take an estimated six months to complete.
“This is a great thing for Stephenville,” councilwoman LeAnn Durfey said. “We are building a new senior center without raising taxes and using a local builder to do it.
“It’s a win-win for everyone.”
