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Cost cripples public gym plan
By BARBARA BEHRENDT, Times Staff Writer INVERNESS -- A proposal to renovate the old Citrus High School gymnasium into a community gym hit a brick wall with the School Board this week. Board member Sandra "Sam" Himmel had been encouraging the district to build a new building to house agriculture and several other programs rather than renovating the gymnasium to house those classrooms. The old gym then could have been renovated as a community project to provide a place for people to gather for recreation. Superintendent David Hickey also voiced strong concerns about the idea because it was developed outside the district's school planning processes. "It's going to take additional taxpayers dollars to do this thing," he said. Ultimately, Himmel could not convince two other board members that the plan was worth the price, which was at least several hundred thousand dollars and maybe more than $1-million. Himmel said Thursday she still believes the idea has merit. "I'm not sure that what we're doing now is in the best interest of Citrus High School," Himmel said. She had been working for months to get information about the costs of renovating gym space for classrooms versus building new rooms. The red brick building is nearly 50 years old and is one of only two structures on the campus to survive the fire that devastated the rest of the school in 1985. Himmel talked to members of the Citrus County Historical Society and others seeking help to renovate the building for use by the community. School administrators had done estimates on the cost of new construction, and Himmel said there would be a difference of only $282,000. A waiver from the state Department of Education would also be required because the state would not approve building new space when the school already has the space. Himmel argued the school would benefit from having room built for its needs rather than trying to make the gym work as classrooms. She urged the board to separate the gym project from the other major renovation project it has been paired with. That project will renovate the existing cafeteria at the high school into classrooms after the new cafeteria is completed. But work on designing both of those projects has already begun. School construction officials could not tell the board how much money had already been spent which would be lost if the board changed direction on the gymnasium. While Himmel said she was hopeful that the community would fund most of renovations to the old gym if a new classroom building were constructed, School Board attorney Richard "Spike" Fitzpatrick said the board had to be realistic. Renovations, which could cost more than $1-million, would probably have to be done with school district money, he said. "I want to support this," said board Chairwoman Pat Deutschman. She noted that the gym had special meaning to the community since the devastating fire. But the campus at Citrus High does not have much space to expand and if a new agriculture building is built, the flexibility to expand in the future is diminished. Other board members said they didn't want to see money spent on renovating the gym for public use. Board member Ginger Bryant said that was especially true at a time when school district employees still have not gotten their annual raises. Although other board members said they would have liked more information, they said they didn't have the time to gather it because the architect is already at work on plans to build the new classrooms inside the gymnasium. "Our county has no facilities for our kids," Himmel said. "I think we have an obligation to do something if we can." Hickey noted that the district has seven gymnasiums and said officials are going to work hard to make those available to the community during times the schools are not using them. Himmel said Thursday that she was glad to hear Hickey make that commitment. "I plan to hold him to that," she said.
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