Steady progress is being made in laying the groundwork for Powell’s proposed rec center.

The rec department is still in the early stages and searching for funding. Some of the funding could be provided by a grant, found by Colette Mild, the chief financial officer at One Health, which could benefit the rec department, One Health and PCSD1.  

Mild approached Park County School District 1, which possesses the land the rec center would sit on, about the United States Department of Health’s grant, part of an effort to enhance health outcomes in rural America.

The grant could reasonably include the school district’s land, the rec center and One Health, Superintendent Jay Curtis told the board during the Sept. 16 meeting. 

“One Health also has some excess land next to their property, and her vision is that if the three of us partnered, we could potentially go after some grant funds that would allow not just [the rec department to build their rec center], which is really targeted at youth and middle aged people who go play basketball,” Curtis said, “But [the grant] could potentially build a facility on One Health property that would be an indoor track, a community kitchen, a community garden [and] a weight room that is designed for our senior citizens … that facility could also be built by those funds.”

He added Mild had mentioned the potential of seniors who are One Health members receiving reduced memberships at the rec center, “through more physical exercise, we could actually improve the health outcomes for all of our community, not just the youth of our community.”

The allocation of land for the rec center is also moving forward. 

The school district has 20 acres of land next to the high school set aside for an elementary school if needed in the future, which is more than enough land.

“If we ever need to replace Parkside the required acreage for an elementary is eight to 10 acres, which means we have an excess of land,” Curtis said.

Curtis asked the board to allow him and Support Services Coordinator Rob McCray to pursue adjusting the boundary lines and annexing the land in order to look into a long term lease with the Rec Center.

“If it came to a point where they were to build and the board would be involved in allowing or considering those pieces,” Curtis said. “If this project never came to fruition, then the property is still worth more to us.”