A new project might be on the horizon for an amenity in Jefferson.

Jefferson Parks and Recreation Director Denny Hammen says the JPRD Board is looking into a possible expansion of the Greene County Community Center, specifically adding more gym space, because of the larger demand for indoor sports.

“One of the telling things is that we have a line item (in the budget), we do rent the building out, we rent the gym out for many of these occasions, and we have a 154 percent increase over what we did last year in renting those rooms. So that really tells us there’s a demand for more gym space.”  

Hammen says they received a $845,000 gift from the Rory Autenreith Trust for improvements on the community center. He points out the Board originally investigated attaching an indoor pool, but after they hired OPN Architects to go through public informational meetings and conduct surveys, Hammen notes the project would not only be cost prohibitive, especially on the maintenance part, but there wasn’t the community support for it.

“I guess some people think that was a waste of money, but I feel it was probably a very telling way to spend the money and find out what’s probably not going to work, rather than trying to do something and find out it’s not going to work later.”     

The Jefferson City Council approved at its April 23rd meeting to hire OPN Architects for $31,000 to go through the similar process like they did for the indoor pool. Hammen adds the over $800,000 gift will not be enough for an expansion alone and expects to do a capital campaign fundraiser if the Board decides to move forward.