Fort boosters propose plans

FORT RECOVERY — The building specifications for a new high school athletic/education facility are ready.
Now the Fort Recovery Athletic Boosters organization just has to find $510,000 to build what it is billing as the Student Activity Center.
Boosters met with some Fort Recovery community members to share information about the new facility and brainstorm ideas about how to raise the funds before construction starts at the end of the school year.
The estimated cost for the 16,636-square-foot facility is $590,000. The new building would replace a 16,000-square-foot section of the school that was constructed in 1935.
The activity center will include a 3,900-square-foot weight lifting area, a multi-purpose room that can double as classroom space, an area for indoor batting cages for baseball and softball, a 40-yard straight track and a multi-purpose area that will likely be set up as a half basketball court.
The estimated cost does not include demolition or site work, as that will be handled by the school corporation as part of the publicly-approved bond that is being used for renovations at the high school.
The Fort boosters have a cash balance of approximately $80,000, and will raise funds and/or take out a loan to fund the remainder of the project.  
Treasurer Joe Faller said the $80,000 represents about five to eight years worth of revenue from concessions and fundraisers.
Faller said the average annual income from concessions ranges from about $8,000 to $12,000, with other fundraisers adding about $3,000 annually.
“It’s going to take a lot of projects,” Faller said, in order to raise the remainder.
The fundraising effort will need to move quickly. The boosters will have to submit construction schematics for state approval during the first quarter of 2013. At the end of the school year, the 1935 wing will be demolished and construction is slated to begin as soon as the site is ready, with the hope of being completed prior to the beginning of classes again in August.
Ideally the boosters would like to raise the entire amount, although the notion of taking out a loan for a portion of the cost was discussed, with the caveat that if the boosters fail to raise enough before the end of the school year, the project may need to be pared back.
Faller said he believes the booster club could not comfortably pay for a  loan larger than half of the $510,000 total that must be generated.
“I don’t know that we can service a $300,000 loan,” he said.
The facility is comprised of two sections.
The larger area with the weight room and athletic areas measures 150 feet by 80 feet and will cost around $380,000. The smaller 122-foot by 38-foot area that includes the multi-purpose room, storage and changing rooms and restroom facilities, has a higher per-square-foot cost and would likely be cut from the project if the boosters can’t raise sufficient funds.
In order to raise the $510,000, the boosters have developed a donor system highlighted by offering naming rights for different pieces of the building.
For $100,000, a donor could have naming rights for the entire facility. Naming rights for the weight room, multi-purpose room and basketball court are being offered for $25,000 each, and rights to the track and batting cages are priced at $20,000. Each area would be designated with a plaque or display to acknowledge the contribution.
Booster president Greg Schmitz said he has already received an inquiry about the baseball batting cage as well as preliminary interest in a donor naming the weight room area.
The boosters have also established a level system with six levels for donations ranging from $500 to $10,000 or more. A mural that would include all donors could be done by the FRHS arts classes.
Donor information will be available at upcoming Fort Recovery basketball games and Schmitz said he is meeting with someone who has offered to create a three dimensional computer model of the facility that can be displayed at events.
Fort Recovery football coach Brent Niekamp also suggested shooting video of students working out in the weight room during class time to show the community the conditions in the current facility. That video, he suggested, could also be on display with the 3-D model.
Superintendent Shelly Vaughn and high school principal Jeff Hobbs both liked that idea and Hobbs said he would get some of the visual arts students on the project today.
“The booster/school relationship has been tremendous,” Hobbs said, adding that it won’t just be athletes who will have access and use of the facility. “Every kid in Fort Recovery Local Schools will have a chance to benefit from this.”
Fort Recovery village administrator Randy Diller added that while the boosters haven’t taken on such a large project at one time, the group is capable of generating that kind of cash, noting that since the creation of the football program the boosters have put more than $1 million into it.
“We’ve spent this kind of money and we’ve raised this kind of money,” he said. “(The activity center) is the biggest one we’ve taken on at one time.”
For now, Schmitz encouraged people to get out in the community and share information about the project and how to help, as well as think of some new ideas for fundraising in order to meet the goal.
“Our goal is the big one, to do it all,” Schmitz said.[[In-content Ad]]