Some big developments for Minden’s REC Center will soon be underway with the council granting authority at the March City Council meeting to start projects such as turfing the fields and the creation of a new playground. The council also approved the authority to advertise for bids for a two million-gallon ground storage tank project as well as starting plans to surplus out extra city property.
With the council’s approval, Mayor Nick Cox will now be able to enter into an agreement with Synergy Sports for overall project costs not to exceed $10 million. This comes as a result of plans between the mayor and council to better position Minden’s REC Center for being a contender to host bigger sports tournaments and bring more sports tourism to Minden. One of the first steps is for them to turf the sports fields and make a new playground.
“The council and myself have been working for months to try and figure out how we can best improve the REC Center. We identified that if we really want to get aggressive with sports tourism, the way to do that is to turf the fields,” said Mayor Cox.
“To give you an example, right now games are called off because of the rain. They’re not able to play even though it’s really a pretty day outside. Turf allows a sports facility to be able to play pretty quickly after a storm.”
He went on to say that he believes the REC Center is already one of Minden’s best assets, both for the city and its residents, furthering his reasons for why they should invest more into it.
“By doing this, it will put us in an extremely competitive position. I think our recreation complex is one of the best things that history has done for the future, which is now our present. A lot of families have benefited from the REC Center, not just baseball and softball, but soccer and football comprehensively,” said Mayor Cox.
He also stated that this is an investment that can bring a return on it, and position the REC Center to be a revenue generator for the city.
“We want our REC Center to put us in a competitive way where we can be a contender for sports tourism, and I think this will do it,” said Mayor Cox.
“I think it will be an economic investment that will yield great returns, and we are going to track the monies that are made in the future and be able to pay down on our obligation to do this project. I think it’s going to be a very positive thing for our community, our quality of life, and for the city’s revenue generation.”
At the meeting, the council also approved the authority for the city to start advertising for bids for both the removal of the Clerk Street Water Plant and the construction of a new two-million-gallon ground storage tank at the same place.
“This is a state capital outlay project, y’all have heard us talk about it before, but we were awarded 100% of the funds to build a two-million-gallon ground storage tank over on Clerk Street. We finally have all our ducks in a row and it’s ready to put out for bid,” said Mayor Cox.
Lastly, in the spirit of spring cleaning, the city will be surplusing some old office chairs and plans to do the same with other items that have long been collected in the city. The mayor explained that the reason for this is that the city cannot simply throw things away and that they have to be taken off of the city’s hands through these means for the sake of proper bookkeeping.
“If the leg of this chair decides to give way, we can’t just throw it away. We have to keep it. There’s a sticker on here and it has a number, and if the auditors want number 11159, we have to be able to produce it. The only way we can dispose of anything is to surplus it out,” said Mayor Cox.
“Just for a little explanation, municipalities cannot just throw something away.
We probably have 70 years’ worth of stuff hanging around this building, if not more. We even had fallout shelter stuff from the sixties in the dungeon,” said Mayor Cox. “We donated it to the museum.”
The monthly Minden City Council meetings take place on the first Monday of each month starting at 6 PM at the Minden Civic Center. The meetings are open for the public to attend, and for those who cannot attend in person or who wish to view the meetings after they occur, the meetings are live-streamed on the City of Minden’s Facebook page and YouTube channel titled City of Minden.